Deck 18: Creating Competitive Advantage

Question 1

Most companies prefer to compete against strong competitors.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

An example of competitor myopia was when Fujifilm sales unsuspectingly surpassed those of Kodak.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Small firms that can't afford a competitive intelligence system often resort to using "in-house" experts to study competitors.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Apple's iTunes Music Store is a good competitor,one that plays by its own rules at the expense of the industry as a whole.

Question 5

One reason companies really need competitors is because competitors may help increase total demand.

Question 6

At the narrowest level,a company can define its competitors as other companies offering similar products and services to the same customers at similar prices.

Question 7

A company may want to avoid trying to "destroy" a close competitor.

Question 8

An strategic group is a group of firms in an industry following the same or a similar strategy in a given target market.

Question 9

Companies can identify their competitors from both an industry and a market point of view.

Question 10

Many firms avoid direct competition with Procter & Gamble and look for easier prey,knowing that Procter & Gamble will react fiercely if challenged.

Question 11

All companies choose one marketing strategy for their different businesses or products.

Question 12

To plan effective marketing strategies,the company needs to find out all it can about its employees.

Question 13

Gary Hirshberg started the Stonyfield Farm yogurt company.His marketing strategy: building a strong connection with customers using guerrilla marketing.This is an example of formulated marketing.

Question 14

A competitive analysis involves first identifying and assessing competitors and then selecting which competitors to attack or avoid.

Question 15

Business-to-business marketers find it hard to estimate competitors' market shares because they do not have the same syndicated data services that are available to consumer packaged-goods companies.

Question 16

A company really needs and benefits from competitors.

Question 17

The competitive intelligence system of a company supplies key information to relevant decision makers about the company's competitors.

Question 18

The goal of a "red ocean strategy" is to make competition irrelevant.

Question 19

Most companies tend to compete with distant competitors,who are those competitors most unlike them,rather than with close competitors.

Question 20

Approaches to marketing strategy and practice often pass through three stages: entrepreneurial marketing,formulated marketing,and strategic marketing.

Question 21

In the face of P&G's relentless assault,Unilever finally threw in the towel and recently put its detergents business up for sale.

Question 22

Market leaders can grow by increasing their market shares further.

Question 23

A company's profitability increases as a business gains share relative to competitors in its served market.

Question 24

Bob's boss criticized him for having ________.His boss believes this because Bob forgets about latent competitors and only focuses on current competitors.

Question 25

Bill,in his role as regional manager needs to carefully conduct a ________ which involves first identifying and assessing competitors and then selecting which competitors to attack or avoid

Question 26

Niching carries no risks.

Question 27

Many large and mature companies get stuck in formulated marketing.They pore over the latest Nielsen numbers,scan market research reports,and try to fine-tune their competitive strategies and programs.

Question 28

A company can become so competitor-centred that it loses its even more important focus on maintaining profitable customer relationships.

Question 29

Logitech has a depth of focus and knowledge that no other company in the world-including Microsoft-can match.

Question 30

Bill has just received a promotion within his company.As the western regional manager in charge of British Columbia,Alberta,Saskatchewan,and Manitoba,he wants to initiate a new competitive marketing strategy.He should start with ________.

Question 31

In fact,challengers seldom become market leaders by imitating and improving on the ideas of pioneering processors.

Question 32

The challenger must choose its opponents carefully and have a clearly defined and attainable objective.

Question 33

After reading the latest text in marketing,Bill now realizes that strategies that strongly position the company against competitors and that give the company the strongest possible strategic advantage are ________.

Question 34

Not all runner-up companies want to challenge the market leader.

Question 35

To plan effective marketing strategies,the company needs to find out all it can about its competitors.It must constantly compare its marketing strategies,products,prices,channels,and promotion with those of close competitors.This is an example of ________.

Question 36

Studies have shown that,on average,profitability rises with increasing market share.

Question 37

Service nichers sell only in a certain locality,region,or area of the world.

Question 38

FedEx is rare because it excels at more than one value discipline.

Question 39

In an effort to protect market share,Campbell's urges people to eat soup and other Campbell's products more often by running ads containing new recipes.

Question 40

By trying to be good at all of the value disciplines,a company usually ends up being best at none.

Question 41

Mark is the national marketing manager for Pepsi.He might see its competition as Coca-Cola,Dr Pepper,7UP,and the makers of other soft drink brands from a/an ________ point of view.However,from a/an ________ point of view,the customer really wants "thirst quenching."

Question 42

Chin has decided to pursue ________ leadership.As such,the company will react much more strongly to a competitor's ________ manufacturing breakthrough than to the same competitor's increase in promotions.

Question 43

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.

Question 44

Just like in high school sports where players compete at the level of the competition,a firm should compete with ________ competitors in order to sharpen its abilities and make greater returns.

Question 45

Many companies,some even quite large,suffer from ________.An example could include Kodak's film business,which didn't suffer at the hands of direct competitor Fujifilm; it lost out to Sony,Canon,and other digital camera makers along with a host of digital image developers and online image sharing services.

Question 46

A company's close competitors are ________.

Question 47

Robin's company uses secondary data,personal experience,benchmarking,and word of mouth to ________.

Question 48

If the company's offer delivers greater value by exceeding the competitor's offer on important attributes,the company can charge a higher price and ________,or it can charge the same price and ________.

Question 49

Phillips and Sharp each produce a full line of medium-price televisions supported by good service.In contrast,Samsung and LG produce a narrower line of higher quality televisions,offer a higher level of service,and charge a premium price.Phillips and Sharp are in the same ________ group.

Question 50

Most companies aim competition against ________.

Question 51

Being a smaller underdog can sometimes help a company.For example,knowing how major competitors react gives the company clues on how best to ________ competitors or how best to ________ the company's current positions.

Question 52

Sal's Bakery just opened its doors for business,bringing the number of bakeries in Colbert,Alberta,to two.The more that Sal's strategy resembles the other firm's strategy,the more the two firms _______

Question 53

A/an ________ point of view tends to be wider in scope than those that sell the same product to the same basic target.From this perspective,Binney & Smith,maker of Crayola crayons,would include competition from all firms making recreational and educational products for children rather than just other makers of crayons and children's drawing supplies.

Question 54

Which of the following are fundamental questions that a marketing management team considers when assessing competitors?

A) What are competitors' employment strategies?
B) What is each competitor's mission statement?
C) What are various competitors' strengths and weaknesses?
D) What are various competitors' locations?
E) What are the competitors' prices?

Question 55

PepsiCo conducts a survey on all Coca-Cola drinkers to assess the company's strengths and weaknesses among their target customers.PepsiCo is using a/an ________.

Question 56

Analysis conducted to determine what benefits target customers value and how they rate the relative value of various competitors' offers is known as ________.

Question 57

Each competitor has a mix of objectives.The company wants to know the relative importance that a competitor places on which of the following?

A) Company history
B) Current profitability
C) Market analysis growth
D) Cash cows
E) Technological weaknesses

Question 58

Most companies will compete with ________ rather than ________.

Question 59

Benchmarking has become a powerful tool for increasing a company's ________.

Question 60

Jeanie's Cakes is a Winnipeg icon.The company regularly compares its products and processes to those of competitors or leading firms in other industries to find ways to improve quality and performance.This is an example of _____________.

Question 61

Tomorrow's leading companies will succeed by creating "blue oceans" of uncontested market space.Such strategic moves,termed ________,create powerful leaps in value for both the firm and its buyers,creating all new demand and rendering rivals obsolete.

Question 62

Approaches to marketing strategy and practice often pass through which of the three following stages?

A) Formulated marketing, intrepreneurial marketing, and innovative marketing
B) Entrepreneurial marketing, intrepreneurial marketing, and innovative marketing
C) Entrepreneurial marketing, formulated marketing, and strategic marketing
D) Entrepreneurial marketing, formulated marketing, and intrepreneurial marketing
E) Innovative marketing, strategic marketing, and formulated marketing

Question 63

Michael Porter suggests four basic competitive positioning strategies that companies can follow-three winning strategies and one losing one.Which of the following are considered winning strategies?

A) Middle-of-the-roader, focus, and overall cost leadership
B) Focus, differentiation, and middle-of-the-roader
C) Overall cost leadership, differentiation, and middle-of-the-roader
D) Overall cost leadership, differentiation, and focus
E) Differentiation, operational excellence, and focus

Question 64

Most companies are started by individuals who live by their wits.They visualize an opportunity,construct flexible strategies on the backs of envelopes,and knock on every door to gain attention.What stage in marketing strategy are these individuals in?

A) Exponential marketing
B) Formulated marketing
C) Entrepreneurial marketing
D) Intrepreneurial marketing
E) Innovative marketing

Question 65

WalMart,Texas Instruments,and Dell all achieve the lowest production and distribution costs to win a large market share.They utilize a(n)________ strategy very effectively.

Question 66

Companies that pursue a clear strategy will likely perform well.Firms that do not pursue a clear strategy are called ________.

Question 67

Small companies sometimes succeed in the short run in spite of themselves.They make mistakes but not costly mistakes.Over time,these companies may do a better job scanning market research trying to fine-tune their competitive strategies and programs.These companies are moving toward more ________ marketing.

Question 68

Jennifer just hired Tony away from his job with her major competition.She did this,in part,so he might follow that competitor closely to see what it does in the marketplace.Tony is an example of a(n)________ expert.

Question 69

Rather than competing head to head with established competitors,many companies seek out unoccupied positions in uncontested market spaces.They try to create products and services for which there are no direct competitors.This is called a ________.

Question 70

Sally has a problem.Her two marketing managers are at odds because each approaches the same problem from two radically different points of view.She knows this is normal because there will be a constant tension between the formulated side of marketing and the ________.

Question 71

Most competitors in the music download industry see Apple's iTunes Music Store as a ________ because they created a closed system with mass appeal.

Question 72

Old,long-established companies can lose the marketing creativity and passion that they once had.If they want to refresh their marketing strategies and try new approaches,they should initiate ________.

Question 73

An example of a company exhibiting blue-ocean thinking is ________.

Question 74

The implication suggested by strategic actions of "good competitor companies" is that they would like to shape an industry that consists of ________.

Question 75

Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm yogurt company stated that "companies can do better with less advertising,less marketing research,more guerrilla marketing,and more acting from the gut." At this point,Hirshberg was following which marketing strategy?

A) Formulated marketing
B) Dntrepreneurial marketing
C) Innovative marketing
D) Exponential marketing
E) Intrepreneurial marketing

Question 76

An industry often contains "good" and "bad" competitors.Good competitors ________

Question 77

Jennifer is doing well in her new position as marketing manager.Having successfully identified and evaluated her major competitors,her company now must design broad competitive marketing strategies by which it can gain competitive advantage through superior ________.

Question 78

Not surprisingly,large multi-national companies have large marketing departments.They conduct expensive marketing research,spell out elaborate competitive strategies,and spend huge sums on advertising.These are all called ________ competitive marketing strategies.

Question 79

There are specific kinds of information that companies need to know about their competitors.The ________ system first identifies the vital types of competitive information and the best sources of this information.

Question 80

Sears and Holiday Inn encountered difficult times because they did not stand out as the lowest in cost,highest in perceived value,or best in serving some market segment.Both companies are ________.