Questions and Answers of Foundations of Marketing

Explain how supply chain management and logistics management add value to a company's consumer offerings.
Describe how companies manage distribution channels using vertical marketing systems.
Explain intensive, selective, and exclusive distribution intensity. Under what circumstances would it be best to use each of these strategies?
Explain how customer expectations and channel member characteristics impact a company’s distribution strategy.
Describe the functions performed by intermediaries. Why would companies choose to have intermediaries fulfill these functions rather than perform them themselves?
Explain the differences between direct, indirect, and multi-channel distribution systems. What role do technologies and consumer behaviour play in the rise of multi-channel distribution?
Explain the factors that must be considered when designing a distribution strategy.
Explain why having a well thought out distribution strategy is important to a company’s success.
What would represent an effective response by Apple to Amazon’s lower prices? Should it lower download prices to match the offer? Why or why not?
Prices can vary depending on the market being served. Because Dell sells its computers directly to consumers all around the world, the Dell Web site makes it easy to compare prices for various
Imagine that you are the newly hired brand manager for a t-shirt company introducing a new line. After receiving a very positive review from a major fashion magazine, the company wants to reposition
Suppose you have been hired as the pricing manager for a grocery store chain that typically adds a fixed percentage onto the cost of each product to arrive at the retail price. Evaluate this
Though not illegal, many firms operating over the Internet have been experimenting with charging different consumers different prices for the same product or service. Since stores in different parts
Zinc Energy Resources Co., a new division of a major battery manufacturing company, recently patented a new battery that uses zinc-air technology. Traditional lead-acid batteries typically sold to
On your weekly grocery shopping trip, you notice that the price of ground beef has gone up 50 cents a kilogram. How will this price increase affect the demand for ground beef, ground turkey, and
Assume you have decided to buy an advertisement in the local newspaper to publicize your new pet grooming service. The cost of the ad is $1000. You have decided to charge $40 for a dog grooming, and
Explain the four types of illegal or ethical pricing practices.
In what conditions should a price skimming strategy be used? When is it appropriate to use a market penetration strategy?
Explain how psychological factors may influence a firm’s pricing strategy.
What is the major difference between pricing strategies and pricing tactics? Give three examples of each.
How has the Internet changed the way some people use price to make purchasing decisions?
Why does a company need to understand a product’s break-even point?
Why is it important for firms to determine costs when setting prices?
Explain how companies try to determine consumers’ sensitivity to price changes. What factors influence their price sensitivity?
List the 5Cs of pricing. Which one do you consider to be the most important and why?
Explain the importance of pricing in the marketing mix from the perspective of the firm and the consumer.
Evaluate the ease with which you can make hotel reservations using Fairmont’s (www.fairmont.com) Internet reservation system. Check out the hotel’s privacy policy. Are you comfortable with their
What services does WestJet (www.westjet.com) offer? Compare its services to those offered by Air Canada (www.aircanada.ca) using the five service quality dimensions (tangibility, responsiveness,
You are hired by a career consulting firm for new college graduates that promises to market them to high-paying employers. Job seekers pay a fee for the service, plus a finder’s fee if the
What technologies do you use that help facilitate your transactions with a specific retailer or service provider? Would you rather use the technology or engage in a face-to-face relationship with a
Describe a specific situation in which a service provider could have avoided a service failure if he or she had been empowered by an employer to do so. What should that person have done?
You have been sitting in the waiting room of your doctor’s office for an hour. With the knowledge that products are different than services, develop a list of things the office manager could do to
Companies from which you purchase products and services are not pure sellers of services, nor are they pure sellers of products. What services does a department store provide? What goods does a
Explain the differences between distributive and procedural fairness in the context of service recovery.
What is meant by service recovery? How can companies use service recovery to ensure that a service failure does not lead to a lost customer?
Discuss why under-promising and over delivering is an important way to control the communication gap.
Explain how the use of technology can help companies deliver higher quality service.
Describe the five dimensions of services quality that consumers often use to judge the quality of a service experience.
Identify the components of the Services Gaps Model. Describe each component and explain the strategies companies can implement to reduce the gaps in service delivery.
How can companies deal with the perishability of their services?
Discuss the actions companies can implement to minimize the potential negative impact of service variability on the delivery of customer service.
Why is intangibility described as the most fundamental difference between products and services?
Describe the four dimensions in which services marketing is different from product marketing.
1. Visit the company’s Web site (www.bandaid.com) and identify and describe the different product lines that it markets. How would you describe its product line breadth?2. Review the different
Interbrand Corporation is a leading brand consultancy firm headquartered in New York that conducts research on the monetary value of different brands. Visit the company’s Web site
Visit the Proctor & Gamble Web site (www.pg.ca). Identify and briefly describe its different product lines. Now identify one of its product categories, and discuss the product line depth of that
You are hired by a small bakery that wants to distribute its products through supermarkets. The market for the bakery’s products has been steadily growing, so the bakery needs to expand its
Do you think all food sold in a grocery store should have ingredient and nutrition labels? Consider the perspectives of consumers, the manufacturer, and the store.
Identify a specific company that has recently introduced a new brand extension to the marketplace. Discuss whether you believe the brand extension example you provided will benefit or harm the firm.
Unlike Ford, BMW has only one brand and gives each car it makes a number instead of a name, for example, the BMW Series 3, Series 5 or Series 7. What are the advantages to BMW of this approach?
Ford Motor Company owns several brands: Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Aston Martin. Within each brand are many models, each of which has a unique identifying name.
Suppose you have just been hired by a jewellery manufacturer as a marketing consultant. The manufacturer has been making private-label jewellery for 75 years but is thinking about developing its own
Visit a grocery store and look for Colgate Total toothpaste on the shelves. How many different SKUs (include all sizes and flavour variations) are sold at the store? What are the advantages and
Prepared foods at Whole Foods Market, the world’s largest retailer of organic foods, are very profitable. To make them even more profitable, suggest two strategies that would alter the product mix
Explain how labelling could be used as a marketing weapon rather than just providing legally required information.
Explain how marketers increase the value of their product offering through packaging. Discuss the ethical issues surrounding product packaging and labelling? How might some of these issues be
What is co-branding? When does it make sense for a company to use a co-branding strategy?
Explain how brand licensing differs from co-branding.
What are the advantages of using the same brand name and extending it to new products?
Describe the desirable qualities companies should consider when choosing product names.
Differentiate between a manufacturer’s brand, generic brand, and store brand. Should retailers carry all three types of brands? Why?
What is brand equity? Describe the strategies marketers could employ to increase the value of their brand equity.
Explain why branding is important to marketers. What value do customers derive from purchasing and using brand name products?
Explain the differences between product mix breadth and product line depth. Why is understanding this difference important?
1. At what stage in the product life cycle is the iPad?2. How well has Apple responded to the changing competitive landscape for digital tablets, particularly the emergence of the
The automotive industry is constantly adding new and different products into car and truck markets. Conduct an Internet or library database search for innovative new automotive technologies. Choose
Go to the Canadian Living Best New Products Awards website www.canadianliving.com/life/best_new_product_awards/ and search for an interesting new product. Is this an innovative, new-to-the-world
You have recently been hired to join the product development group of a cosmetics company. The firm’s brand is a top-selling, high-end line of cosmetics. The head of the development team presents
What type of shampoo do you use? What stage of the product life cycle is it in? Is the shampoo manufacturer’s marketing strategy—its 4Ps—consistent with the product’s stage in its life cycle?
Are there any advantages for companies that are the first to introduce products that create new markets? Justify your answer. If you see advantages, explain why some new products still fail.
Panasonic’s new 3D HD personal camcorder allows users to record live events in three dimensions, instead of two. How quickly do you think this product will diffuse among the Canadian population?
Explain why the product life cycle is not a fail-proof tool in managing products.
Describe some of the strategies companies can use to extend the life of a mature product.
What is the Product Life Cycle (PLC)? Describe the characteristics of each stage of the PLC in terms of sales, profits, typical consumers, competition, and 4Ps strategies.
What other factors besides the product itself does a company need to finalise during the product launch stage?
Why might a company need to exercise caution during the text marketing stage of the new development process?
List the steps in the new product development process. Describe some of the sources companies use to generate ideas for new products at the beginning of this process.
Identify and discuss the factors that influence the adoption of new products.
Sketch and describe the diffusion of innovation curve. How can marketers use the information provided by this curve to make marketing strategies and decisions?
Explain how new product or service innovations add value to the firm.
1. What do you consider to be the strengths and limitations of the FACES tool that Shoeless Joe’s is using to capture information to make location decisions based on customers’ insights?2. What
Select two online survey tools (e.g., SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, Zoomerang, Survey Solutions) and compare and contrast them in terms of their features, capabilities, ease of use, support service,
Go to the Web site of either Decima Research (http://www.decima.com) or Ipsos Canada (www.ipsos.ca) that administers public opinion polls. Search the site for results from any recent survey that is
Tony’s company is planning to launch a new shampoo and is trying to decide what features and price would interest consumers. He sends a request for proposal to four marketing research vendors, and
What other studies would you recommend Pom Wonderful undertake?
Pom Wonderful has developed a coffee-flavoured pomegranate beverage and it wants to determine if it should begin to market it throughout Canada. The company used two separate studies to help develop
A high-tech firm has just developed a new technology to correct bad vision without surgery or contact lenses. The company needs to estimate the demand for such a service. Would it use primary or
A new men’s clothing store is trying to determine if there is a significant market for its type of merchandise in a specific location where it is considering putting a store. Would it be most
Explain some of the problems and challenges market researchers face in the data analysis and interpretation stage of the marketing research process. Should they report these problems when presenting
What do you think are some of the differences between qualitative data collection methods, which are mainly exploratory, and quantitative research methods, which are more conclusive in nature? Which
Identify and explain the ways in which the design of a market research study could reduce the reliability and validity of the study. Can a market research study that has high reliability lack
Explain the main advantages and disadvantages of using the Internet for marketing research versus conventional offline methods.
Marketing research is designed to help marketers make better decisions on various aspects of their businesses. The quality of research findings is as good as the quality of the data on which they are
Today, information and communications technologies (ICT) including the Internet are not only changing the way marketing is practiced but how market research is conducted. In response, many companies
In data collection methods, researchers may choose between qualitative research methods or quantitative research methods or use both methods. What considerations guide their choice of data collection
What is the difference between secondary and primary data? What are some of the advantages of each type of data? When should each type of data be used?
Briefly describe the steps in the marketing research process. Explain why it is important to clearly define the problem and research objectives from the very outset of the process.
Is marketing research necessary? Defend your answer.
1. Describe the type of segmentation strategy M&M Meat Shops uses to serve its suburban markets. Provide support for your answer. 2. Why would a different approach be needed for
Go to L’Oréal Canada website (http://www.lorealparis.ca/en/home.html) and try to describe the segmentation approach they use to group customers. Try to apply the vocabulary presented in this

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