Exam 2: Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating Marketing Strategies

Megan knows that whether she decides to interact with her customers in person, by phone, online, Facebook, Twitter, or by fax, that ____ should ultimately drive the marketing strategy.

Scenario 2.2 Use the following to answer the questions. EXperience Limited is a company which offers tours and vacations that include participation in an extreme sport, such as hang-gliding, bungee jumping, skydiving, and motocross. Adrian Moss, EXperience Limited's owner, has just finished developing the strategic plan, including the marketing objective of growing his customer base by 15% during the coming year. He believes that the best way of reaching that objective is to promote to the college-aged student. In the past, the majority of his sales have been to males under the age of 29, participating in hang-gliding and bungee jumping at various tourist locations. He wants to expand his skydiving and motocross tours, but isn't sure whether or not the expansion will be profitable. He currently has a database containing all the customers who have gone on a hang-gliding or bungee jumping vacation with his company. Refer to Scenario 2.2. According to the BCG matrix, the hang-gliding and bungee jumping tours have been a ____ for EXperience Limited, while the skydiving and motorcross tours represent a ____.

Harley-Davidson's Harley Owner's Group (HOG) helps to foster strong relationships between riders and their motorcycles, giving it a(n) ____ over other motorcycle manufacturers.

Matt Lothamer is the supply chain manager for a large plastics manufacturing company. He is responsible for procuring a wide variety of raw materials to be utilized in the manufacturing process of their plastic products. As part of an annual quality control and expense analysis, Matt is reviewing the prices charged by the raw materials suppliers and also seeking bids from competing suppliers to determine whether any savings could be realized. Matt is rewarded by the company with bonuses when he is able to reduce expenses associated with the raw materials as this could lead to higher profit margins on the products they manufacture. Matt knows that saving a few cents can make a dramatic difference since they manufacture thousands of products at their state-of-the-art facility in Indiana. What type of analysis do you believe Matt Lothamer can perform utilizing the data related to the prices charged by their current and prospective raw materials suppliers?

Marketing objectives should be stated in such a way that the degree of accomplishment can be measured accurately.

Marketing planning and implementation are inextricably linked in successful businesses.

Maureen Fauble is director of career services at a major Midwestern university and works with corporations who are seeking to recruit recent college graduates. Maureen is interested in attracting DePuyOrthopaedics, Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson, to recruit entry-level marketing and sales representatives. Maureen has received very favorable word-of-mouth communication from alumni about DePuyOrthopaedics, and employees are extremely satisfied with the company's culture and feel empowered to make decisions. In addition, they report that they are given a high degree of flexibility and autonomy, which enables them to quickly respond and adapt rapidly to changing customer needs. It's likely that DePuyOrthopaedics has implemented a ____________ organizational structure.

One way that Honda evaluates its product and service level is by how well it ranks on the J. D. Power & Associates Sales Satisfaction Survey. In doing so, Honda is

Jason, a 17-year-old high school student, wants to buy a pack of Marlboro Lights. He has the money to purchase them, but he is still not considered to be a market for the product due to his lack of ____ to buy.

Hallaway's Corp.'s new shampoo, VS2, is faltering badly in the market. Hallaway's marketing personnel are unsure who is responsible for various marketing tasks, when these tasks are to be completed, or what resources have been allocated. Hallaway Marketing Director Carolyn Willis said that the problem is that VS2 has the most poorly written ____ she has ever seen.

Define the four product categories used in the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) product-portfolio analysis.

Corporate strategic planners focus on dimensions such as competition, diversification, differentiation, environmental focus, and interrelationships among SBUs.

Discuss the different ways of organizing the marketing unit.

Marketing objectives state what is to be accomplished through marketing activities.

A market opportunity results from

Marketing strategies should be established before marketing objectives are decided.

It is time to develop a budget for marketing department activities for the next year. Your team is looking over the following costs. a. Office rent b. Sales commissions c. Promotional budget d. Product development costs e. Office supplies The finance department has recently told you that you have $3,000 to spend on office supplies. You cannot go beyond this no matter what changes happen in the marketing department. Your salespeople get a flat 15% sales commission on anything they sell. With this in mind, which of these costs are variable costs?

In a traditional organization, marketing decisions are generally centralized at the top levels of the organization.

What is the final step in establishing an implementation timetable?

Describe the process of strategic planning. How does this process help marketing managers?