Assignment: Marketing Management
Part 1
Check Your Understanding:
1. At the second level of the customer value hierarchy, the marketer has to turn the _____ into a(n) _____.
2. ________ is the totality of features that affect how a product looks and functions in terms of customer requirements.
3. Top firms audit service performance by collecting _____ measurements to probe customer satisfiers and dissatisfiers.
4. Services are typically produced and consumed simultaneously. This is an example of the _____ characteristic of services.
5. In considering an observed price, consumers often compare it to an internal price called a(n) _____ price.
6. When PepsiCo sells its cola syrup to Russia for rubles and agrees to buy Russian vodka at a certain rate for sale in the United States, this is called _____.
Exercises:
1. Name and describe the three groups products can be classified into according to durability and tangibility.
2. Identify and explain the six levels of the product hierarchy.
3. What are the five categories of offerings in the product-service mix?
4. What are the five determinants of service quality in order of importance?
5. What is the six-step procedure most firms use to set their pricing policy?
Case Study: 800 words.
Marketing channels hold risks and opportunities for the toy industry. How have United States toy makers used marketing channel backlash to augment sagging sales?
Toy distributors have suffered in recent years as pricing and marketing-channel costs have risen. This is especially true in the United States toy industry. Over 80 percent of all toys sold in the United States come from foreign manufacturers. Recent massive toy recalls could change this percentage. With scares generated by the lead in the paint used on the toys and by the danger of infants choking from small parts, United States toy distributors are re-evaluating the cost benefits of foreign sources of supply and, instead, are re-focusing on more traditional domestic marketing channels to supply toy products.
United States distributors have found that outsourcing has come at a high cost. The toy distributor that puts its name on a toy is ultimately responsible for the safety of that toy even if the toy is made elsewhere. Consumer confidence in the safety of toys on the shelves of retailers is at an all-time low. What's the solution to the problem? A growing number of major toy distributors are finding the answer in their own backyard.
An increasing number of major toy distributors are turning to the "once dead" small United States toy manufacturer as a "new source" of supply. United States manufacturer Vermont Wooden Toys has found that its wooden toy inventory is in very high demand. Why? Boutique toy manufacturers are known for producing safe, high-quality toys. Their problems have been their relatively high cost, an inability to produce in high volume, and difficulty in managing expanding marketing channels. These disadvantages are quickly disappearing, as United States toy consumers are once again falling in love with simple, low-tech toys. As the toy industry continues to change, United States toy distributors are betting that "Made in America" will once again be a toy label worth noticing.
Adapted from "U.S. toy makers are on a roll" by Rachel Konrad (Associated Press), Houston Chronicle, October 10, 2007, pp. D1 and D5.
Case study developed by Dr. John R. Brooks, Jr., Houston Baptist University.
Questions:
1. What percentage of U.S. toys are produced by foreign manufacturers? Why might this be a problem?
2. What two consumer concerns drove several massive toy recalls?
Part 2
Check Your Understanding:
1. _____ are sets of interdependent organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption.
2. _____ can be defined as the ability to alter channel members' behavior so that they take actions they would not have taken otherwise.
3. Some Pizza Inn franchisees complained about other Pizza Inn franchisees cheating on ingredients and hurting the overall Pizza Inn image. This is an example of _____ conflict.
4. Retail store types pass through stages of growth and decline that can be described as the _____.
5. _____, also known as cash and carry wholesalers, sell a limited line of fast moving goods to small retailers for cash.
Exercises:
1. Explain the difference between a push and a pull strategy in marketing. Under which conditions would each be appropriate?
2. After a retailer has defined the store's product assortment how might he develop a product-differentiation strategy?
Case Study: 800 to 1000 words
In the highly competitive grocery retailing industry, what's one of the hottest marketing strategies for ensuring success? San Antonio-based H.E.B. grocery retailer has found an answer.
National grocery chains such as Kroger have found the marketplace increasingly competitive. Local and regional grocery store retailers have begun incorporating local lifestyles into their decisions on store locations and in designing the stores themselves. This approach, only taken up recently, differs from the traditional standardized method that the big chains use. This phrase works, thanks for the addition. H.E.B., for example, uses a "different faces for different places" approach in locating and designing its 300-plus stores in Texas and Mexico. Focusing on large market areas such as Houston and San Antonio, H.E.B has become a serious competitor to national chains. The chains have also seen non-traditional grocers such as Wal-Mart and Target invade their competitive space.
The many "faces" of H.E.B. include such store configuration options as a Central Market for gourmet and specialty foods, the traditional food/drug combination, a food/drug approach combined with a Central Market theme, a budget-oriented concept (that is, everyday low pricing) called Pantry, an Hispanic food orientation called Mi Tienda, and a super center.
Lifestyle retailing has been popular in other retail industries, such as fashion and apparel, for some time. However, it is a relatively new concept in the grocery industry. Because most large chains have not used the lifestyle strategy, local and regional grocery groups have been able to gain market share. Consumers of the future may well pick their place to buy food based on whether or not a store matches their lifestyle.
Adapted from "Different Faces For Different Places" by David Kaplan (Houston Chronicle), Houston Chronicle, October 14, 2007, pp. D1 and D2.
Case study developed by Dr. John R. Brooks, Jr., Houston Baptist University.
Questions:
1. What is one of the hottest marketing strategies for ensuring success in the highly competitive grocery industry?
2. What does San Antonio-based H.E.B. call its approach to lifestyle marketing in the grocery industry?
Part 3
Check Your Understanding:
1. ________ is the use of consumer-direct channels to reach and deliver goods and services to customers without using marketing middlemen.
2. ________ consist(s) of a collection of incentive tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or services by consumers or the trade.
3. Some companies set their promotion budget to achieve share-of-voice parity with competitors. This is called the _____ method.
4. A program designed to promote or protect a company's image or its individual products is called _____.
5. ________ is/are any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.
Exercises:
1. Describe the eight major modes of communication in the communications mix.
2. What are the three main platforms of social media? For each describe both a benefit and challenge they present to today's marketing environment.
3. List and discuss three elements that explain how many exposures, E, will produce a level of audience awareness, A.
4. What are the five major decisions, known as "the five M's" that marketing managers must make in developing an advertising campaign?
5. What are the seven design elements that effective Web sites feature? Define each of these.
Case Study 500 to 750 words
Derek is working on promoting his company's Glazer brand of electronic razors. Preliminary surveys have revealed that even though a sizable portion of the target market has developed a liking for the product due to innovative advertising, few customers would actually consider replacing their current razors with Glazers. How can Derek modify the communications program to get customers to favor Glazers over other brands?
Market research suggests that the target audience possesses an intent to use Glazers, but is stalling over actually making the purchase. How can Derek modify the communications program to get customers to purchase Glazer razors?
Part 4
Signature Assignment Title: Analytic Essay
Signature Assignment Description/Directions:
What do Chick-fil-A, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and Patagonia clothing company have in common? They are all organizations that take social responsibility in marketing seriously.
Many organizations in the United States embrace social responsibility. Though the term is sometimes loosely applied, organizations that are serious about their role in social responsibility use a three-pronged attack strategy based on proper legal, ethical, and social responsibility behavior. Marketers should practice a "social conscience" in dealings with shareholders and consumers. In their own industries, Chick-fil-A, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and Patagonia clothiers exemplify corporate social responsibility in marketing.
Georgia-based Chick-fil-A restaurant chain has a wide range of policies that help integrate social responsibility into the very fabric of their organization. Chick-fil-A closes on Sundays to encourage worship, offers substantial scholarships to employees who will commit to finishing their education, and works to strengthen marriages by counseling employees and offering Partend stays at resorts to encourage communication between spouses. This company is often ranked at the top of its industry with respect to social responsibility integration and practice.
Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Patagonia clothiers are huge supporters of the "green movement." Environmental advocacy is part of their corporate credo and mission statement. Both companies not only encourage environmentalists and their causes but also practice environmentalism in the manufacture of their products. Both companies also use their Web sites to advance the environmental agenda. As more organizations place an accent on holistic marketing, environmental awareness and responsibility increases. Social responsibility is becoming the corporate mantra of the 2000's.
Case study developed by Dr. John R. Brooks, Jr., Houston Baptist University.
Questions:
1. What are the three prongs of the social responsibility attack strategy embraced by some firms today?
2. How would you describe proper socially responsible behavior?
PLANS Assignment: (1500 words)
See PLANS Depot for more information about the nature of assignments labeled PLANS Assignments.
Select an industry or organization of interest to you. This could be your current or previous work organization, religious institution, community organization or an organization that serves you as a customer. (Note: This might relate to your Capstone Project area if you want - See PLANS Depot). Within this context, describe a specific, practical and cost effective approach for gaining insights about unmet customer needs that you believe are not currently recognized by most businesses operating in this space. Describe the customer segments you are targeting and the methods you will use to gain this market intelligence. What are some of the specific hypotheses that could be tested in this research? How might this information be used?
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.