Exam 18: Creating Competitive Advantage

A company that pursues ________ will react much more strongly to a competitor's cost reducing manufacturing breakthrough than to the same competitor's advertising increase.

A market challenger that matches the competitor's product, advertising, price, and distribution efforts is most likely ________.

An industry often contains "good" competitors and "bad" competitors. Define each term and discuss scenarios with both "good" and "bad" competitors. How might "good" competitors choose to react to "bad" competition?

What is the LEAST relevant question to ask when assessing a firm's main competitor?

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

Which of the following is a positive aspect of a competitor-centered company?

Companies need to know each competitor's product quality, features, and mix; customer services; pricing policy; distribution coverage; sales force strategy; and advertising and sales promotion programs. These are all the dimensions that identify ________ groups within the industry.

A firm should compete with ________ competitors in order to sharpen its abilities. Succeeding against these competitors often provides greater returns.

Companies can identify their competitors from both ________ points of view.

Nintendo, producer of the Wii video game console, might define its competitors as other makers of physically interactive video games. But from a(n) ________ point of view, it would include all firms making physically interactive recreational products.

The presence of competitors may serve less-attractive segments or lead to more product differentiation.

Discuss customer intimacy. Why is it important? Provide an example of a company that successfully abides by this value discipline.

Discuss two ways a market challenger can best attack the chosen competitor and achieve its strategic objectives. Explain when a challenger should use these attacks and provide examples of companies that have used these methods.

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. -Before deciding to launch the new line of products, Essential-Beauty conducted extensive market research to make sure the products were optimally positioned. A complete marketing plan including mobile advertising, magazine advertising, event sponsorship, and sales promotions was established long before the products themselves were ready for market. In this case, Essential-Beauty was using ________.

Marketing managers need a deep understanding of a given competitor's mentality if they want to anticipate how the competitor will act or react. Discuss the different ways competitors act or react. Why do they do so? Use examples to support your thoughts.

"Destroying" a close competitor can actually damage a company's market share in the long run.

To plan effective marketing strategies, the company must ignore its competitors.

Companies that have been in existence for some time often lose the marketing creativity and passion that they had at the start. They often need to refresh their marketing strategies and try new approaches, known as ________.

In the audio equipment industry, Philips and Sony belong to the same ________.

Most companies will compete with ________ rather than ________.