task 4

The Marketing Intelligence System A marketing intelligence system is a set of procedures and sources that managers use to obtain everyday information about developments in the marketing environment. The internal records system supplies results data, but the marketing intelligence system supplies happenings data. Marketing managers collect marketing intelligence in a variety of different ways, such as by reading books, newspapers, and trade publications; talking to customers, suppliers, and distributors; monitoring social media on the Internet; and meeting with other company managers. Before the Internet, sometimes you just had to go out in the field, literally, and watch the competition. This is what oil and gas entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens did. Describing how he learned about a rival's drilling activity, Pickens recalls, "We would have someone who would watch [the rival's] drilling floor from a half mile away with field glasses. Our competitor didn't like it but there wasn't anything they could d0bout it. Our spotters would watch the joints and drill pipe. They would count them; each [drill] joint was 30 feet long. By adding up all the joints, you would be able to tally the depth of the well." Pickens knew that the deeper the well, the more costly it would be for his rival to get the oil or gas up to the surface, and this information provided him with an immediate competitive advantage.

Marketing intelligence gathering must be legal and ethical. In 2006, the private intelligence firm Diligence paid auditor KPMG $1.7 million for having illegally infiltrated it to acquire an audit of a Bermuda-based investment firm for a Russian conglomerate. Diligence's cofounder posed as a British intelligence officer and convinced a member of the audit team to share confidential documents.10 A company can take eight possible actions to improve the quantity and quality of its marketing intelligence. After describing the first seven, we devote special attention to the eighth, collecting marketing intelligence on the Internet

31. What is often a positive result of accepting responsibility for a poor decision?

32. To manage their work commitments in a timely manner, businesspeople should

33. As a new employee, you receive constructive criticism about your job performance. This criticism is

designed to

34. Effective managers involve employees in planning changes because people who help to initiate changes

are usually more __________ to those changes.

35. During a negotiation, a non-verbal behavior that indicates a negotiator's high level of confidence is

36. Which of the following is an indication that employees might be experiencing a lot of stress:

37. Henry's been at his current job for five years. He doesn't really like it but doesn't want to look for a new

job because he's so used to this one. Henry avoids adapting because of

38. Naya truly cares about her coachee, Jamie, and she wants Jamie to succeed. Which of the following

coaching characteristics does Naya illustrate:

39. How does empathy help coworkers to be fair to each other?

40. For an investment to yield positive results at the end of the investment period, the earnings should