Midterm Exam - Spring 2017

A major problem for most managers today is not having enough information.

False

A market information system (MIS) is a software package that companies purchase to help decision makers cope with critical information.

False

A mission statement does not include a discussion of the firm's strategic vision.

False

According to the BCG matrix, a business that is classified as a dog has high growth and high market share.

False

At the strategic level, marketing (little m) serves as the driver of business strategy.

False

Causal research is useful for identifying characteristics of a target market or determining how customers use a product.

False

Demographics are easy to obtain, and many companies do a good job of learning about demographic trends and responding to them.

False

Fred Wiersema's book The New Market Leaders states that marketers will continue to have more power than customers in both B2B and B2C markets.

False

GenY consumers tend to value relationships with marketers like State Farm Insurance in exactly the same way as the prior generations.

False

Managers are typically aware of all the information in their own company.

False

Market development strategies allow a firm to invest additional resources to have existing customers consume new products.

False

Marketing is relevant only to people in the organization that work directly in the marketing department.

False

Most companies do a good job of maximizing their existing information.

False

Primary data are data collected for some other purpose before the current problem was known.

False

Sales information systems are especially useful in a retail setting because of the customer contact of the salespeople.

False

The information needs of all marketing managers are the same.

False

When Henry Ford said "People can have the Model T in any color—so long that it's black," he was reflecting a sales orientation.

False

A major problem for most managers today is having too little information.

Flase

Apex Jerseys, a manufacturer of sports apparel and sporting equipment, has experienced a sharp drop in sales over the last quarter. The marketing manager is asking the research department to investigate this alarming development. The first step taken by the researchers in their investigation should be to ________.

Formulate a specific research problem

From a customer's perspective, value was defined as a ratio of the bundle of benefits a customer receives from an offering compared to the costs incurred by the customer in acquiring that bundle of benefits.

True

A benefit is some type of utility that a company and its products provide for customers.

True

A commonly held misconception about marketing is that it is all about advertising and selling.

True

An in-depth interview is an unstructured conversation with an individual who was selected based on some characteristic of interest, often a demographic attribute.

True

An in-depth interview is an unstructured conversation with an individual who was specifically selected, often because he or she has a specific demographic attribute.

True

Companies can use demographic data to create profiles of current customers and identify new market opportunities.

True

Companies in some business cultures based outside the United States seem to have less pressure to achieve high levels of growth.

True

Conducting an online focus group is an appropriate alternative to a traditional focus group format, and it offers cost-efficiency and convenience advantages.

True

Conducting an online focus group is an appropriate alternative to a traditional focus group format, and it offers cost-efficiency and convenience.

True

Customer orientation, a component of market orientation, places the customer at the core of all aspects of the enterprise.

True

Direct-to-consumer marketing by pharmaceutical companies and the vast amount of health information available to patients on websites enable them to self-diagnose and self-prescribe.

True

Don Peppers and Martha Rogers popularized the term one-to-one marketing. Some firms come close to one-to-one marketing by combining flexible manufacturing with flexible marketing to enhance customer choices.

True

Firms that are stuck in a production orientation mentality likely will have great difficulty competing successfully for customers.

True

In contrast to Marketing (Big M), marketing (little m) serves the firm and its stakeholders at a functional or operational level.

True

In evaluating internal and external information sources, companies need to consider not only what information is important but also the source of the data.

True

In marketing planning, situation analysis involves identification of competitive strengths, weaknesses, and trends.

True

Market information systems serve as a warehouse where important information is stored until it is needed.

True

Market information systems serve as an information bank where important data are stored until it is needed.

True

Market research can be a useful tool helping senior managers identify and deal with the real issue.

True

Marketing (Big M) refers to the strategic, long-term, firm-level commitment to investing in marketing.

True

Not tracking and responding to demographic changes is a management failure because the data are easy to obtain and major changes occur slowly.

True

Open-ended questions allow respondents to express themselves freely, which tend to result in more detailed responses that are useful for exploratory research.

True

Outbound logistics refer to the distribution of products.

True

Peter Drucker stated that since it is the customer who defines value, the business enterprise has only two business functions: marketing and innovation.

True

Post introduced Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch cereal because market research showed sales of its traditional Honey Bunches of Oats were down and sales of Greek yogurt were on the rise.

True

Practicing marketers tend to pitch marketing internally as an investment, not an expense, in the future success of the organization.

True

Primary data are data collected specifically for the research question at hand.

True

Research almost always involves secondary data collection.

True

Salespeople's reports summarizing each sales call are a source of internal data.

True

Secondary data are collected for some other purpose than the problem currently being considered.

True

Secondary data were collected for some other purpose than the problem currently being considered, but has relevance to the current problem.

True

Starbucks is known to have shops located at each street to enable customers to shop conveniently. It appears that the coffee shop chain is offering place utility.

True

Strategic marketing is supported at the highest organization level—for the purpose of enhancing organizational performance.

True

Strategic marketing refers to the understanding of markets, competitors, and other external forces as well as internal capabilities.

True

Sustainability refers to business practices that meet humanity's needs without harming future generations.

True

Technology companies like Apple use market research to understand product users' needs and also to understand the competition.

True

Technology companies such as Apple use market research to understand product users' needs and also to understand the competition.

True

Shabreka Lopez, marketing manager for Yaard-Vark Lawn Tractors, is interested in the relationship between the prices of lawn tractors and the level of sales. To test whether increasing prices will lead to a change in sales and how much of a change, she should use ________ research.

Casual

The brand manager for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is interested in finding out if changing the shape of the noodles from the rods to circus characters will lead to increased sales. The brand manager needs to conduct ________ type of research.

Causal

While writing a customer satisfaction survey, the marketing director for Brand X Bank created a set of questions that customers would answer by circling a number between 1 and 7. The number 1 meant that the customers were very dissatisfied by that aspect of the experience, whereas 7 meant that they were very satisfied. The director is using _________ questions to collect this information.

Closed-ended

Buckeye Brewing Co. is conducting market research to determine if a new beverage will be successful. The company is in the process of determining the kind of research that needs to be done, the information needed, and the sampling plan for whom to include in the research. Buckeye Brewing is in the ________ stage of the market research process.

Defining the research problem

The marketing manager for Ned's Bar and Grill notices that his typical customer is a 21-year-old male college student. He is using ________ to define his market.

Demographics

The recent controversy over the age of Chinese Olympic gymnasts because of differing ages on their passports and in government files exemplifies the difficulty with secondary data _____ in global markets.

Dependability

As the marketing manager for ABC Co. you are charged with developing marketing strategies for an area that is composed of a diverse population from a variety of countries. To reach this diverse populace you might want to consider efforts that focus on specific ________ when generating strategies.

Ethnic groups

The marketing managers of Sean's Smoothies need to conduct some exploratory research to help them develop a survey for some descriptive research in the future. The best data collection technique for this research would be ________ because the firm has time and is worried that talking to multiple customers simultaneously may taint the results.

In-depth interviews

The manager of an automotive after-market specialties firm is interested in collecting secondary data. He is concerned with the future of the industry and his competition. He would like to find industry research reports along with industry and company analysis of his competitors. His best sources of this information would be ___________.

Independent online databases

A company considers _________ as a factor when creating a market information system.

Information needs

Firms today have learned to be open about products and services with consumers who have endless sources of information, including blogs, chat rooms, and independent websites.

True

To gather ________, the sales manager at XYZ Co. collects, analyzes, and stores data from the macro environment on a continuous basis.

Marketing intelligence

The manager of Big Brand Clothing wants to get a feel for what items consumers are looking for this Christmas so that he can plan his orders. He decided to gather these data by stationing employees outside the store on a particular Saturday with a list of questions to ask willing shoppers to answer as they pass by. He is using a ____ method to select respondents.

Nonprobability sample

The manager of Gina's Groceries wanted to see how customers would react to some new displays. To collect this information she posted employees where they could see the display and had them record how long customers looked at it, whether they picked up the item, and if they took the item with them. She is collecting _______ data to solve her research problem.

Observational

You are the marketing manager for Brand X-Stream Fishing Rods. You are interested in gathering secondary data on the quality of competitor product offerings before you collect primary data on new products that your target market desires. To collect these data you use an Internet search engine to find websites with the desired information. You decide to use the information found on the Consumer Reports website rather than that found on Wikipedia. The reason for your selection of the Consumer Reports data is because it comes from a more ________ source than the data from Wikipedia.

Reliable

You are the marketing manager for XYZ Corp., and have hired a market research firm. Together, you and the researchers decide that you need data from current customers and noncustomers who fit a specific demographic and lifestyle profile. The selection of these individuals as targets for data collection represents the ___________ research design activity.

Sampling plan

Burger Bistro recently experienced a decline in hamburger sales after salmonella was discovered during a health inspection at one of the restaurants. The marketing manager was interested in how other restaurants had dealt with similar situations. ________ data would be the most appropriate way to find answers related to this marketing problem.

Secondary

The marketing manager for Joe's Shoe-Mart has decided to conduct descriptive research and knows that she needs primary data. Based on some preliminary research of trade journals and interviews with customers, she knows what questions she wants to ask. However, the customers she wants information from are spread out over many stores in several states. The best technique for her to collect these data would be _______.

Surveys

For successful Marketing (Big M), firms need to align all internal organizational processes and systems around the customer.

True

The American Marketing Association defines marketing as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."

True

The last element depicted at the end of the value chain is margin.

True

The market research problem defines exactly what information is needed to help management make their decision.

True

The notion of market orientation takes the guiding business philosophy of the marketing concept and works to more usefully define just how to implement it within a firm.

True

Value can be thought of as a ratio of benefits to costs.

True

When planning the product mix, marketing managers should assess packaging trends in the marketplace.

True

To ensure the primary data they collected about consumer reactions to their product were accurate, the makers of Brand X Toiletries hired a single research firm to visit certain cities in various countries. In the past, the company had used mail and telephone surveys by local companies in each country to gather data, but it was concerned about whom these companies were surveying and if they actually fit the demographic and lifestyle profiles of Brand X's target market. Brand X hired a new research firm to overcome the _______ problem that can occur when collecting primary data in global markets.

Unreliable sampling procedures

The owner of Joe's Pool Hall found some secondary data online that measured consumer reactions to certain amenities in bars and nightclubs. However, Joe is concerned about how these data were collected and whom it was collected from. This represents the _________ concerns associated with secondary data.

Validity