Exam 18: Creating Competitive Advantage

Companies use secondary data, personal experience, and word of mouth to ________.

________ can adopt one of two competitive strategies: they can challenge the leader or they can play along with competitors and not rock the boat.

Describe a scenario that shows why a company may want to avoid "destroying" a close competitor.

Why is niching profitable?

A company is guilty of ________ if the company forgets latent competitors and only focuses on current competitors.

Fifty percent of the market is in the hands of Company A, 30 percent is in the hands of Company B, 15 percent is in the hands of Company C, and the remaining 5 percent is in the hands of Company D. Based on these hypothetical numbers, Company D is the market ________.

Which of the following is the first step taken in the competitive intelligence system?

Samsung and Apple actively generate new ideas, relentlessly pursue new solutions, and quickly work to get new products to market. They serve customers who want state-of-the-art products and services, regardless of the costs in terms of price or inconvenience. Which of the following value disciplines is illustrated from this example?

What is the primary focus of a customer-centered company?

A good competitor plays by its own rules at the expense of the industry as a whole.

Cozy Country Market entered the candle business with a unique product: a line of candles made from soy that produces less smoke and lasts up to twice as long as other candles. The firm sold this unique product exclusively to a few niches. The candles were priced at twice the cost charged for normal candles. The product was also sold online and in unconventional outlets not dominated by market leaders. In this case, Cozy Country Market was using a(n) ________ against the market leaders.

A competitor analysis requires the assessment of all of the following EXCEPT the competitors' ________.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following question(s). Essential-Beauty is a rapidly growing firm that manufactures women's makeup, perfumes, and nail-care products. The company has established itself as a high-end cosmetic product brand available at most national drug stores. In the past, almost all of the advertising for Essential-Beauty has been in women's fashion magazines. The firm is now launching a new line of skin care products, ranging from facial cleansers to body lotion. These products are designed to be marketed to a broader audience, so the marketing team is exploring the effectiveness of different promotional mixes. -Firms competing in a given target market, at any point in time, are similar in their objectives and resources.

Greener-grass Inc. is a lawn care company providing landscaping and lawn maintenance services to customers in and around Kansas City. The marketing team at Greener-grass carefully tracks the moves of competing companies, watching for shifting strategies and new promotions. The marketing team is also in constant touch with customers, using surveys and other feedback methods to find out what kind of services customers value the most. Greener-grass is most accurately described as having a ________ orientation.

Describe a strategic group. Name a few companies that belong to the same strategic group, and discuss why they are in the same group.

American Express will do almost anything to build long-term customer loyalty and to capture customer lifetime value. Which of the following competitive marketing strategies is being pursued by American Express?

A market research firm conducts a survey of soft-drink consumers to assess Pepsi's and Coke's strengths and weaknesses in attributes valued by both company's target customers. The market research firm is using a(n) ________.

Rather than challenging head on, a challenger can make a(n) ________ attack on the competitor's weaknesses or on gaps in the competitor's market coverage.

Explain how the United States Postal Service has "competitor myopia."

What is most likely a strategic benefit of the existence of competitors?