Exam 11: Developing and Managing Goods and Services

Marcellis is a product manager for a major electronics company. His current project deals with the development and introduction of a new smartphone. Since there are a number of smartphones currently out on the market, Marcellis is concerned about product failure. Currently, Marcellis and his team are in the screening phase of the new product development process. Has his team already passed the phase which is best able to measure the product failure concern?

Scenario 11.3 Use the scenario to answer the questions. The YMCA in mid-town Atlanta has recently upgraded its facilities, which includes construction of a new Olympic- sized swimming pool and a children's playground. All locations of the Atlanta "Y" are open from 6:00 am until 11:00 pm, all year round. The children's playground is accessible for members alone, and is a fenced and secured area. During the weekdays, children under the age of 12 can engage themselves in recreation activities at the playground under supervision, for no additional fee. Additionally, swimming lessons are conducted for children of all age groups, which are also covered under the monthly membership fee. The swimming pool is very popular among professionals who stop by for a swimming workout before or after work. Many of the YMCA sites are bustling with activities throughout the day; however, the midtown "Y" is busier during early morning hours and early evenings. At a recent meeting, Maya Sinclair, its manager, shares her concerns about getting more people into the "Y" at other times of the day. She asks her staff for ideas on ways to attract more customers during the off-peak hours. She also declares that the city of Atlanta has reduced YMCA's funding for the next year by 20%. This would require the "Y" to either gain additional members or increase its monthly and annual membership fees per head. -Refer to Scenario 11.3. The children who take swimming lessons must be present at the poolside during the time of their appointment. The need for the children to be present in order to receive the lesson is an example of the feature of a service, while the need for them to be there at the time of their appointment, represents the feature.

Demand-based pricing of a service denotes low prices during times of low demand and high prices during times of high demand.

If Splenda assesses that its sweetener, "Splenda with Vitamins", is not meeting profit expectations and simply allows the product to decline without any change in marketing strategy, it is using a(n) deletion strategy.

How do providers of time-sensitive services smooth the fluctuations in demand from times of peak demand to times of off-peak demand?

Victor thinks that a Lexus coupe is a quality vehicle. Yet compared to a Mercedes Benz, he feels the quality of a Lexus is not as high. This demonstrates that the dimension of is relative or difficult to describe without a basis of comparison.

Product support services are important mainly when a company wants to differentiate its products from other products in a market that essentially have the same quality, design, and features.

The Home Depot differentiates its product offerings from its competition with stores like Sam's, by offering delivery and installation, warranties, and repairs. The Home Depot is differentiating through:

H&R Block, a major tax preparation firm, reported facing issues with regard to its employees' inconsistency in filing of returns. With which of the following characteristics of the service offering is the firm experiencing an issue?

The concept of product quality is the same for different consumer groups and remains constant across consumer and business markets.

Changes that affect the sensory appeal of a product by altering its taste, texture, sound, smell, or visual characteristics are called modifications.

Frito Lay introduces a new variety of Doritos initially in Ft. Worth, Texas; Columbia, South Carolina; Peoria, Illinois; and Spokane, Washington. After its initial success, Frito Lay markets the Doritos in the whole of the selected states, then in the adjacent states, and finally in the entire country. Frito-Lay is using a for its new variety of Doritos.

One of the ways in which service businesses communicate a higher degree of trust to their customers is by having their employees be well-groomed, sharp looking, and dressed in appropriate uniforms. This is a way to address the characteristic of services.

Elizabeth, Manuel, Tony, Cynthia, and Alexandra work in the marketing, finance, production, engineering, and R&D departments of a company respectively. They are collectively assigned to develop a new low-calorie, high-nutrition snack treat. These five people constitute a(n) at their company.

Safe Auto Insurance asserts "minimum coverage for minimum budgets" for its automobile insurance. Which of the following best describes Safe Auto's approach?

Services delivered through machines such as computer kiosks, ATMs, and vending machines can reduce the aspect that arises from increased contact with human employees.

Marketers at Starbucks generated several ideas for new food products. Management assessed these ideas to determine whether or not they were consistent with Starbucks' objectives and resources. Several product ideas were dropped after this analysis. The next stage of development for the remaining product ideas is:

Identify and describe the three major ways to modify existing products, and give an example of each.

Time spent in test marketing can benefit a firm's competitors.

The test marketing phase of the new-product development process: