Exam 4: Segmenting the Business Market and Estimating Segment Demand

Effective segmentation often begins with the analysis of macrolevel bases of segmentation, and then continues with the identification of microsegments within each potential macrosegment using microlevel bases of segmentation. However, segmentation can effectively end after considering only macrolevel variables. Please provide an illustration of a situation where only macrolevel bases are used to identify market segments and what variables or issues business marketers should use to determine whether macrosegmentation alone is enough for effective organizational market segmentation.

Albany Products found that the sales of one of their most important products is logically related to new construction expenditures. If the firm can forecast future values of this variable, which forecasting technique would appear to be most appropriate?

The cycle component in a time series indicates the long term general movement in the data in one direction.

Concerning segmentation criteria, _____ refers to the degree to which information on the particular buyer characteristic exists or can be obtained.

The Delphi method constitutes a highly sophisticated quantitative approach to sales forecasting.

The qualitative approach that most closely resembles the executive panel method of sales forecasting is:

____________________ is a unique approach to forecasting demand in that it involves combined efforts of many functions within the firm as well as with supply chain partners.

Executive judgement methods produce accurate forecasts when:

Which is NOT a requirement in identifying a market segment?

Industrial firms lack the flexibility of their consumer-goods counterparts in moving into and out of market segments.

Chandler Machine Tool has been successful in segmenting their market using the following bases: (1) NAICS category and (2) key purchasing criteria emphasized by particular groups of buyers within each NAICS industry. They are using:

In time series analysis, the seasonal component represents regular, recurring movements within the year.

Which of the following are true of qualitative approaches to sales forecasting?

By directing its resources to all of its customers evenly, the business marketer is less vulnerable to focused competitors that may seek to "cherry pick" the firm's most valuable customers.

The Delphi technique is particularly well suited to:

A _____ is a group of present or potential customers with some common characteristic which is relevant in explaining and predicting their response to a supplier's marketing stimuli.

Which of the following statements concerning business market segmentation is(are) true?

The microsegmentation of business markets center on characteristics of:

_____ techniques have as their objective the determination of a relationship between sales and one or more variables presumed to be related to sales.

____________________ data is used to distribute inventory in the supply chain, manage stock levels at each link and schedule resources for all the members of a supply chain.