CH 2 test bank
evaluate performance Craig should still evaluate performance, even if results were good. There's always a chance that he was successful due to luck, not due to the quality of his plan. There's also a chance that he did well, but that he could have done even better with a stronger plan.
Craig sees that his company's quarterly sales and profits are significantly above projections and says, "That's great. Let's keep doing what we've been doing." Craig is ignoring the __________ step of the marketing planning process.
planned. Companies may sometimes succeed by accident, but good marketing requires careful planning.
Effective marketing doesn't just happen. It is
operational excellence An operational excellence strategy depends on efficiency throughout the supply chain to keep costs low.
Firms achieve ___________ through efficient procedures and excellent supply chain management.
opportunities Expansion of trade agreements is an external factor that could be favorable for firms that can take advantage. An external positive factor is an opportunity.
For U.S. businesses with strong export capabilities, expansion of U.S. trade agreements with other countries creates
positioning strategy. Packaging, colors, labels, and fonts all contribute to the consumer's impressions of a product and to their understanding of what it offers. This is therefore part of the product's positioning.
Imagine that you are in a convenience store choosing your favorite comfort food instead of being in a classroom taking this test. You might notice the packaging, colors, labels, even the fonts used on labels. All of these efforts are part of the marketer's
threat. For parts companies, Ford's actions represent external factors. A possible cutback in orders is a negative factor. An external negative factor is a threat.
In 2006, Ford Motor Company announced it would severely cut back automobile production. For parts companies supplying Ford Motor, this represented a(n)
attract a different market segment. Walmart was probably trying to attract customers who didn't shop there because they wanted to buy organic products. These customers represented a different market segment for Walmart.
In 2006, Walmart announced that it would begin selling organic food products. In doing so, Walmart was probably trying to
value proposition The value proposition is the value of the firm's offering, as explained to the target market. Promotion is responsible for communicating this value proposition via a variety of media.
In value-based marketing, promotion communicates the ________ to customers through a variety of media.
was due to factors within or outside the firm's control. Although the variations may point to opportunities for improvement in some units of the division, it may also be that some units faced challenges outside their control that were not faced by other units.
Kathy reviews her division's quarterly results and sees that some units exceeded goals while others did not. Next, she will attempt to determine why performance of the different units varied, and whether the variation
create a sustainable competitive advantage. Some of the potential answers here represent unethical (and potentially illegal) behavior. The best answer is far simpler--this type of operational excellence helps to create a sustainable competitive advantage by keeping costs low.
Marketers want their firms to develop excellent supply chain management and strong supplier relations so they can
a sustainable competitive advantage. This is a good example of a potentially sustainable competitive advantage based on customer service (i.e., a customer excellence strategy).
Nordstrom's, an upscale department store, has a well-known reputation for going the extra mile to serve its customers. This reputation for excellent customer service has probably resulted in
implement marketing mix and resources Carla is dealing with implementation of the marketing mix--price cuts (Price), advertising (Promotion), and distribution changes (Place)
Carla has been directed by her regional marketing manager to cut prices on seasonal items, place an ad in the local paper, and tell distributors to reduce deliveries for the next month. Which step of the strategic marketing planning process is Carla engaged in?
opportunities and threats. The external components of a SWOT analysis are opportunities and threats.
Samantha is charged with assessing her company's external environment as part of a SWOT analysis. Samantha will study her company's
sustainable competitive advantage. Satisfied customers, if this satisfaction leads to loyalty, is a source of sustainable competitive advantage.
The automobile manufacturing industry closely watches annual consumer satisfaction surveys. For years, Japanese car companies consistently had the highest levels of customer satisfaction, creating a(n) __________ for these companies.
review implementation programs and results using metrics. The starting point for evaluating performance is to compare goals to actual performance and, for any goals not met, to review implementation programs looking for explanations.
The first objective in the evaluate performance phase of the marketing planning process is to
enables firms to make appropriate adjustments. Once the causes of above- or below-goal performance are understood, firms can decide how the marketing plan should be adjusted. Some of the other answers might be true in some cases, but not in every case.
Understanding the causes of performance, regardless of whether that performance exceeded, met, or fell below the firm's goals
sustain an advantage over competitors. A customer excellence macro strategy, which is one way to pursue a sustainable competitive advantage, depends in part on encouraging customer loyalty.
Taking steps to encourage customer loyalty is one way to
examine its operations and customer relations to identify significant things competitors cannot easily copy. A sustainable competitive advantage comes from doing things that add value and that are not easily imitated by competitors. The other options do not achieve this objective.
if a firm wants to develop a sustainable competitive advantage, it should
customer excellence. The Ritz-Carlton clerk went to extra trouble to offer excellent customer service, which is one way to pursue a customer excellence strategy.
When Ramona, the keynote speaker at a major business leaders' conference, arrived in the middle of the night at the Ritz-Carlton, she was exhausted and her suit was wrinkled from her ten-hour plane trip. The night clerk found someone to dry clean Ramona's suit and have it ready for her morning presentation. She has been a loyal Ritz-Carlton customer ever since. In this example, Ritz-Carlton demonstrated the macro strategy of
planning. SWOT analysis is part of the planning phase.
When conducting a SWOT analysis, in what phase of the strategic marketing process is an organization presently engaged?
segmentation, targeting, and positioning.
When discussing the marketing planning process, STP stands for
that build on their strengths relative to those of their competitors. When firms take advantage of their strengths to develop positioning, they stand a good chance of success as long as these strengths translate into greater value for consumers.
When positioning products relative to competitors' offerings, firms typically are most successful when they focus on opportunities
target marketing. A key component of target marketing is the evaluation of potential target segments' attractiveness.
After identifying various market segments that her company could pursue, Lisa evaluated each segment's attractiveness based on size, income, and accessibility. Lisa was involved in
strengths and weaknesses. The internal components of a SWOT analysis are strengths and weaknesses.
As part of her company's SWOT analysis, Valerie is assessing the company's internal environment, including
place. Place refers to getting products to customers when and where they need/want them. This is what electronic downloading of e-books offers.
E-books, in addition to being an alternative product form, provide __________ value creation since they can be downloaded via the Internet immediately when and where they are needed.
sustainable competitive advantage. The other items listed could help the retailers to develop or evaluate a plan to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, but on their own they will not be enough. Small retailers usually cannot compete with larger competitors on price. But they might survive by offering services their customers value (and are willing to pay extra to get), by offering specialty products not carried by larger retailers, or by locating in places where the larger stores don't want to (or can't) locate.
Even when large discount retailers enter a market, a few small, local retailers survive and prosper. These small retailers have probably developed a(n) ________ that allows them to survive.
no single strategy is likely to be sufficient to build a sustainable competitive advantage. The example shows that competitors strive to copy good ideas. But that doesn't mean innovation is pointless--being the first to do something can still give you an advantage if you do it best, or if you innovate in ways that are difficult to imitate. What this example shows is that you cannot come up with a single idea, stay with it long term, and expect to sustain a competitive advantage. You must always look for new sources of advantage.
For many years, Southwest Airlines distinguished itself as the low-cost airline. Now, many other low-cost competitors have entered the market. Similarly, Southwest was one of the first airlines to offer online ticketing. Now, all airlines have online ticketing. These examples suggest that
target market segment. Stacy was created to help Celestial's marketers to understand its major target market segment. The segment is more than just demographic. It includes elements of Stacy's behavior (reading instead of TV). Stacy isn't Celestial's positioning--rather, the company needs to position its products to help women like Stacy to understand the value Celestial products can offer them.
For years, when considering new products, marketers at Celestial Seasonings asked themselves, "What would Stacy think?" Stacy was a fictional character representing 25-50-year-old, educated, upper-income women who rarely watched television but did a lot of reading. "Stacy" represented Celestial's primary
promotion. Ads displayed in search engines are an example of promotion.
Google and other search engines allow marketers to bid to have their ads shown when consumers search on keywords related to the firm's products. These marketers are attempting to create value through
positioning. Positioning is the creation of a clear, distinct understanding of what the product does or represents compared to competitors. Celebrity endorsers are often used to convey this message.
LeBron James, Alex Rodriguez, and other athletes are paid huge sums of money by companies for celebrity endorsements. If endorsements by these athletes create a clear understanding among consumers of the companies' products in comparison to competing products, they can help with the firm's ________________ strategy.
divide the marketplace into subgroups. The first stage of an STP analysis is segmentation, which involves dividing the market into subgroups. Business mission development and SWOT analysis take place before STP analysis starts, and targeting and positioning are later stages in STP analysis.
Lionel is asked to conduct an STP analysis for his firm. The first step he should perform in this analysis is to
weakness The management of the just-in-time system is an internal issue; if it is being done badly, that makes it a weakness.
Manufacturers who use just-in-time manufacturing systems coordinate closely with suppliers to ensure that materials and supplies arrive just before they are needed in the manufacturing process. While just-in-time systems can offer major advantages in terms of inventory costs, they must be carefully managed. If a firm found that its just-in-time system was badly managed, leading to frequent manufacturing delays due to missing parts, this would represent a(n) __________ in a SWOT analysis.
demographic. This segment is being formed using age, a demographic factor.
Many of today's college graduates will make their living providing goods and services to baby boomers, the large group of Americans born in the period after World War II. Baby boomers are a _________________ market segment.
positioning strategy. These firms are positioning themselves against the competition, emphasizing their local presence to suggest that this local experience helps them to do a better job of serving consumers.
Many small businesses whose competitors are national franchises advertise "we are locally owned" or "we have been here since 1951." This is part of these firms'
the lifetime value of customers. By spending money now in the hope of receiving revenues later, banks are recognizing that the lifetime value of a customer relationship must be considered when choosing target markets. This does not mean that costs don't matter at all, but it means that a relationship that is initially unprofitable may become profitable as it continues.
Some banks have begun offering special accounts designed to attract junior high school students. These kids save in such small amounts that the accounts cost banks more to maintain than they are worth. But bankers know that consumers are creatures of habit and hope that the young people they serve now will become adult customers. These banks recognize
product value. The product the students buy--a degree--is enhanced by the ability to find a good job after graduation. Thus, this additional investment is related to the product value.
Suppose your university made a sizable investment in its career services--additional counselors, increased efforts to bring in recruiters, and other services aimed at helping students to find jobs. This investment would enhance the university's _____________ in an attempt to create value for students and recent graduates.
captures the value customers perceive that they are receiving. Value-based marketing is related to customers' perceived value.
The idea of value-based marketing requires firms to charge a price that
lowering prices. Simply cutting prices is probably the easiest strategic move for a competitor to copy. In contrast, creating an efficient supply chain that lowers your costs, allowing you to pass those savings on to customers in the form of price cuts, can create a sustainable competitive advantage.
Which of the following is LEAST likely to provide a sustainable competitive advantage?
planning excellence. The four overarching strategies are locational excellence, customer excellence, operational excellence, and product excellence.
Which of the following is NOT one of the four overarching strategies to create and deliver value and to develop sustainable competitive advantages?
Positioning. This is the definition of positioning, which is the final activity in STP analysis.
__________ involves the process of defining the marketing mix variables so that target customers have a clear, distinctive understanding of what a product does or represents in comparison with competing products.