Marketing Management

Unit 2
Scanning Marketing Opportunities
Chapter 4 - Strategic Planning
Lesson 13 - Strength-weakness-opportunities-threat (SWOT) analysis,
marketing process, marketing plan
Hello students!
In this section of this unit we shall be discussing the analysis of the environment the company is
working in plays a very major role in the strategic planning of the business. Then we move on to the
discussion of the Marketing planning process which lays a foundation for all the topics in the coming
units. We would also discuss the components of the marketing plan which is knowledge of which is
very essential and useful for any marketing person.

1.1 SWOT analysis

When you are planning strategically with any companyonline or offlineit is useful to complete an
analysis that takes into account not only your own business, but your competitors businesses and the
current business environment as well. A SWOT is one such analysis.
Completing a SWOT analysis helps you identify ways to minimize the effect of weaknesses in your
business while maximizing your strengths.
Ideally, you will match your strengths against market opportunities that result from your competitors
weaknesses or voids.

Internal Environment
ment Analysis

Strengths

External EnvironAnalysis

Weaknesses

Opportunities

SWOT

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Threats

ANALYSIS

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PERFORMING SWOT OR SITUATION ANALYSIS

In situation analysis, also known as SWOT analysis, an organization identifies internal strengths
and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and threats. It seeks to answer two general
questions:
Where is the firm now?
In what direction is it headed?
Situation analysis accomplishes the following:
It recognizes strengths and weaknesses relative to competitors.
It searches the environment for opportunities and threats.
It assesses an organizations ability to capitalize on opportunities and to minimize threats.
It anticipates competitors responses to company strategies.
Situation analysis can, and should be, conducted at any point in an organizations life. Several
examples of situation analyses are provided.

Strengths & Weaknesses

The analysis of the internal environment of the firm reveals its strengths and its weaknesses which
helps the firm to analyse how to turn its weaknesses in to strengths .
Firms strengths consists of its resources and capabilities that can be useful in developing its competitive advantage over its competitors. Some of the examples of firms strengths are Its access to high
grade natural resources, strong brand name, strong distribution network, brand name, patents, strong
information network, etc.
Firms weaknesses is absence of certain strengths which is the necessity for its business to fight
competition. Some of the examples of it are poor reputation among customers, lack of access to
natural resources, lack of coordination with the suppliers and distributors, dissatisfied employees,
demotivated marketing staff, etc

Opportunities & Threats

The analysis of the external environment reveals to the firm the opportunities available for it in the
market and what are the threats it is facing, which helps it analyse the various strategies what to
select. Some of the examples of opportunities are arrival of new technology, removal of some trade
barriers or government regulations, an unfulfilled customer need, etc.
The changes that take place regularly in the external environment gives rise to certain threats to the
business like shift in consumer tastes, new regulations, increased trade barriers.
Now the firm has to identify the best fit between its strengths and the opportunities available and try
to overcome its weaknesses and ready to face the challenges / threats.

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Strength Opportunities strategies : pursue those opportunities which best fit Companies strengths
Weaknesses opportunities strategies: pursue opportunities to overcome weaknesses
Strengths Threats strategies: identify ways through which firm can use its strength to reduce
the degree of external threats
Weaknesses Threats: Establish a defensive plan to prevent the firms weaknesses from making
it highly susceptible to external threats
Basic SWOT
You can develop a basic SWOT analysis in a brainstorming session with members of your company,
or by yourself if you are a one-person shop. To begin a basic SWOT analysis create a four-cell grid
or four lists, one for each SWOT component:
Then, begin filling in the lists.
Strengths - Think about what your company does well. What makes you stand out from your competitors? What advantages do you have over other businesses?
Weaknesses - List the areas that are a struggle. What do your customers complain about? What are
the unmet needs of your sales force?
Opportunities - Try to uncover areas where your strengths are not being fully utilized. Are there
emerging trends that fit with your companys strengths? Is there a product/service area that you
could do well in but are not yet competing?
Threats. Look both inside and outside of your company for things that could damage your business.
Internally, do you have financial, development, or other problems? Externally, are your competitors
becoming stronger, are there emerging trends that amplify one of your weaknesses, or do you see
other threats to your companys success?
Advanced SWOT
A more in-depth SWOT analysis can help you better understand your companys competitive situation. One way to improve upon the basic SWOT is to include more detailed competitor information in
the analysis.
You can note the internet-related activities such as trade organization participation, search engine
inclusion, and outside links to the sites. This will better help you spot opportunities for and threats to
your company.
You can also take a closer look at the business environment. Often, opportunities arise as a result of
a changing business environment.
Some examples are:
A new trend develops for which demand outstrips the supply of quality options. For example, early
on, the trend toward healthy eating coupled with an insistence on good-tasting food produced a
shortage of acceptable natural food alternatives. Tetra pack fruit juices like Real and Onus captured
on a nutritional drink opportunity.
A customer segment is becoming more predominant, but their specific needs are not being fully met
by your competitors. The Indian rural markets have been experiencing this phenomenon in the recent
years for many product categories.

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A customer, competitor, or supplier goes out of business or merges with another company. With the
demise of many pure-play dot-coms, examples of this abound. As each went out of business, opportunities arise to gain the defunct businesscustomers. Customers of bpl.net were ready customers
for a company called Data Access which was operating under the NOW brand.
You can also enhance a SWOT analysis through surveys. You can learn more about your own as
well as competitor sites and businesses. Areas you can research include 1) customer awareness,
interest, trial, and usage levels; 2) brand, site, and/or company image; 3) importance of different site
or product attributes to your customers; and 4) product and/or site performance.
Whether using a basic or more advanced approach to SWOT analysis, you are sure to come away
with newfound insights. Use these to increase your companys effectiveness and as input into your
business or marketing plan.
The extent to which each part of the above process needs to be carried out depends on the size and
complexity of the business.
In an un diversified business, where senior management have a strong knowledge and detailed understanding of the overall business, it may not be necessary to formalize the marketing planning
process.
By contrast, in a highly diversified business, top-level management will not have knowledge and
expertise that matches subordinate management. In this situation, it makes sense to put formal marketing planning procedures in place throughout the organization.

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Marketing planning flows from the strategic plan of the organization.

Businesses that succeed do so by creating and keeping customers. They
do this by providing better value for the customer than the competition.
Marketing management constantly has to assess which customers they
are trying to reach and how they can design products and services that
provide better value (competitive advantage).
The main problem with this process is that the environment in which
businesses operate is constantly changing. So a business must adapt to
reflect changes in the environment and make decisions about how to change
the marketing mix in order to succeed. This process of adapting and decision-making is known as marketing planning.
Where do you think marketing plan fits in with the overall strategic planning of a business?
Strategic planning is concerned about the overall direction of the business. It is concerned with marketing, of course. But it also involves decision-making about production and operations, finance, human resource management and other business issues.
The objective of a strategic plan is to set the direction of a business
and create its shape so that the products and services it provides meet
the overall business objectives.
Marketing has a key role to play in strategic planning, because it is the job
of marketing management to understand and manage the links between
the business and the environment.
Sometimes this is quite a straightforward task. For example, in many small
businesses there is only one geographical market and a limited number of
products (perhaps only one product!).
However, consider the challenge faced by marketing management in a
multinational business, with hundreds of business units located around the
globe, producing a wide range of products. How can such management
keep control of marketing decision-making in such a complex situation? This calls for well-organized
marketing planning.
What do you think are the key issues that should be addressed in marketing planning?
The following questions lie at the heart of any marketing (or indeed strategic) planning process:
Where are we now?
How did we get there?
Where are we heading?
Where would we like to be?
How do we get there?
Are we on course?
Why do you think is marketing planning essential?

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Businesses operate in hostile and increasingly complex environment. The ability of a business to
achieve profitable sales is impacted by dozens of environmental factors, many of which are interconnected. It makes sense to try to bring some order to this chaos by understanding the commercial
environment and bringing some strategic sense to the process of marketing products and services.
How do you think a marketing plan is useful to people in a business?
It can help to:
Identify sources of competitive advantage
Gain commitment to a strategy
Get resources needed to invest in and build the business
Inform stakeholders in the business
Set objectives and strategies
Measure performance
STEPS IN THE MARKETING PLANNING PROCESS
To carry out their responsibilities, marketing managers-whether at the corporate, division, business or
product level-follow a marketing process.
The marketing process consists of the following steps.
STEP 1: ANALYZE PRESENT MARKETING SITUATION
1) EXTERNAL ANALYSIS
Market size and growth
Competitors
Market Share
Legal
Political
Technology
Industry Past Performance
Social factors
Opportunities

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2) INTERNAL ANALYSIS
Financial Resources
Production Capabilities
Production Capacity
R&D Capabilities
Sales capabilities
Corporate Mission and Objectives
Distribution Capabilities
Costs
VITO management style
STEP 2: IDENTIFYING TARGET MARKETS
Position analysis
Specifically defined market segments
Geographically located
Current Size
Potential growth
Estimated resistance to be encountered
Assess ability to overcome expected resistance
STEP 3: DETERMINE MARKETING OBJECTIVES
Traditional marketing objectives
Increase sales volume
Increase growth rate
Increase market share
Increase market penetration
Maximize return on investment
Promote positive company image
Promote social responsibility
Criteria for effective marketing objectives
Consistent with corporate objective
Realistic
Attainable
Measurable
Specific
Not mutually exclusive
STEP 4: SELECT APPROPRIATE MARKETING MIX
Factors to consider
Product / Service Strategies including Specifications, Product Line
and product support activities
Distribution strategies including delivery channels, types of middlemen, warehousing, inventory,
transportation costs and shipping costs.
Promotion strategies including types of salespeople, advertisisng venues, trade shows, catalogs,
direct mail, web site offerings, search engine optimization and email campgains.
Pricing Strategies including Retail (List) &Wholesale (Net) Pricing, Discounts, coupons, no sales
tax and free shipping.

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STEP 5 & 6: DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT PLAN OF ACTION TO CARRY OUT MARKETING MIX
Determine Required Mix Activities
Estimate Time Required for each Activity
Arrange Activities in Logical Sequence
Combine Activities into Plan of Action
Establish Dates for Start /Completion of each Activity
Assign Responsibility for the Performance of each Activity
Determine Costs and Set Budget for each Activity
Begin Implementing Plan of Action for each Activity based on Established start days.
STEP 7& 8: ESTABLISH CONTROL AND EVALUATION CRITERIA AND IMPLEMENT PROCEDURE
Identify Key Performance Areas
Establish Performance Standards /Criteria
Measure Performance Results
Compare Performance Results with Established Performance Standards /Criteria
Identify Discrepancies Between Results and Established Performance Standards / Criteria
Diagnose the Causes of Discrepancies
Establish Corrective Action to Bring Results into Line with Established Performance Standards
/Criteria
Implement Corrective Procedures and Measure Performance results
Marketing planning - setting marketing objectives
Objectives set out what the business is trying to achieve. Objectives can be set at two levels:
(1) Corporate level
These are objectives that concern the business or organization as a whole.
Examples of corporate objectives might include:
We aim for a return on investment of at least 15%
We aim to achieve an operating profit of over Rs 5 crores on sales of at least Rs 100 crores
We aim to increase earnings per share by at least 10% every year for the next 3 years
(2) Functional level
They are specific objectives for marketing activities
Examples of functional marketing objectives might include:
We aim to build customer database of at least 250,000 households within the next 12 months
We aim to achieve a market share of 10%
We aim to achieve 75% customer awareness of our brand in our target markets
Both corporate and functional objectives need to conform to the commonly used SMART criteria.
The SMART criterion is an important concept that you should try to remember and apply not only in
exams but also in your working life. SMART is summarized below:
Specific - The objective should state exactly what is to be achieved.
Measurable - An objective should be capable of measurement so that it is possible to determine whether (or how far) it has been achieved
Achievable - The objective should be realistic given the circumstances in which it is set and the
resources available to the business.
Relevant - Objectives should be relevant to the people responsible for achieving them

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Time Bound Objectives should be set with a time frame in mind. These deadlines also need
to be realistic.
You must have realized by now that the marketing department is in the drivers seat looking at the
outside world through the glass. However for any business plan to succeed, the marketing departments
plan has got to be supported by all other departments.
How do you think is the relationship between marketing and other departments
strengthened?
1. Marketing and the other functional areas in an organization have distinct needs that must be
accommodated.
2. Marketers seek tailor-made products, flexible budgets, non-routine transactions, many product
versions, frequent purchases, customer-driven new products, employee compensation incentives, and aggressive actions against competitors.
3. The other functional areas seek mass production (production), set budgets (finance), routinized
transactions (accounting), limited models (engineering), infrequent orders (purchasing), technology-driven new products (research and development), fixed employee compensation (personnel), and passive actions against competitors (legal).
4. When you reach the top management level, you must balance these varying needs and weigh
trade-offs.
5. You can reduce the conflict by:
Establishing multifunctional task forces.
Coordinating objectives.
Open communication and inter functional contact.
Employing personnel with technical and marketing knowledge.
How do you devise a strategic marketing plan?
You can create, implement, and monitor a strategic marketing plan when your company makes a
written plan.
You can encourage executives to:
Carefully think out and coordinate each step in the planning process
Pinpoint problem areas
Be consistent
Tie the plan to goals and resources
Measure performance
Send a clear message to employees and others
How do you make a sample outline for a written strategic plan?
This is a brief list of the ingredients of a good strategic plan:
1. It should be integrated into an organizations overall business plan.
2. It should effect the consideration of strategic choices.
3. It should force a long-range view.
4. It should make the resource allocation system visible.
5. It should provide methods to help strategic analysis and decision making.
6. It should provide a basis for managing a firm or SBU strategically.

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7. It should provide a communication and coordination system both horizontally (between SBUs
and departments) and vertically (from senior executives to front-line employees).
8. It should help a firm and its SBUs cope with change.
MOONSTRUCK CHOCOLATIER: A STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN BY A SMALL
SPECIALTY FIRM (Source: Evans J.R., and Berman B-Marketing, 8e (Biztantra, 2003)
A. Moonstruck Chocolatier was opened by Bill and Deb Simmons in Portland, Oregon, in 1992 as a
maker of truffles for the wholesale market. It sold to other retailers and opened its first retail
store in 1996.
B. The company currently has annual sales of $2 million and is successful due to its solid strategic
marketing plan which is described.

Organizational Mission
A. Moonstrucks mission is to bring the higher European standard for chocolate to the American
marketplace and to create shops that serve as a meeting place in a busy, impersonal world.
1. It is romancing the cocoa bean and educating the customer.
2. The company is about a chocolate experience.

Organizational Structure
A. Bill and Deb Simmons manage the business.
B. Tony Roth purchased the exclusive rights to open Moonstruck stores in the Midwest and his
company acquired a 25 percent stake in Moonstruck Chocolatier. Roth felt the need to take the
superior product and menu direct to the market.

Marketing Objectives
A. These are the goals of Moonstruck:
1. To grow from six stores in 2001 to 45 stores in Chicago, New York City, and Portland at year-end
2003.
2. To have annual sales of $26 million.
3. To become a brand as well known as Starbucks, substituting chocolate for coffee.

Situation Analysis
A. The Simmonss strategic plan, as they freely admit, is based on that of Starbucks; they did a
comprehensive analysis on Starbucks business model.

Developing Marketing Strategy

A. The two strategic planning approaches with the most relevance for Moonstruck are the product/
market opportunity matrix and the Porter generic strategy model.
1. The firm is engaged in both a product development strategy (producing distinctive new chocolate
products for current customers) and a market development strategy (seeking out those who
have not thought of chocolate beverages as must have drinks).
2. Moonstruck believes in a differentiation strategy (superior products at a premium price). Societal, Ethical, and Consumer Issues
A. Moonstruck uses the highest-quality ingredients.
B. It treats employees and customers courteously, honesty, and respectfully.
C. The firm stands behind all of its products.
D. Moonstruck is socially responsible.

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Global Marketing
A. Moonstruck searches the globe for the best cocoa beans, consistent with its organizational mission.

Marketing and Internet

A. Moonstruck uses its web site to get its message across to a larger audience by allowing online
ordering.

Consumer Analysis and Target Market Strategy

A. Moonstruck appeals to customers interested in quality, uniqueness, assortment, and service
and are willing to pay for it.
B. These are the firms two market segments:
1. Final consumers (who buy for personal use).
2. Corporate customers (who buy as gifts and in larger quantities).

Product Planning
A. Moonstruck has expanded, adding products that complement each other well. Customers can
buy truffles, coffee drinks, and chocolate drinks. The company mixes fresh, high-quality chocolate into exotic confections.
B. Chocolate in varying forms yields two-thirds of sales.

Distribution Planning
A. Moonstrucks retail stores are changing, due largely to Tony Roths influence. They are larger,
generate much greater sales, and have much higher profit margins.

Promotion Planning
A. Moonstruck uses in-store tastings and demonstrations to draw customers into impulse purchases.
B. It does some print advertising.
C. The biggest promotion effort revolves around publicity from newspaper and magazine stories
about Moonstruck products.

Price Planning
A. Moonstruck has above-average prices.
1. About 60 percent of revenues are from high-margin chocolate truffles and drinks Integrating and
Analyzing the Plan
A. Tony Roth is Moonstrucks management catalyst, with a conviction to go forward. Roth visualizes the concept of Moonstruck in play.

Revising the Marketing Plan

Until late 1999, Moonstruck owned a bakery in Portland. It was sold to focus better on its chocolate
business and the marketing strategy for it. The bakery had little synergy with the firms core business.

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Points to remember

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Tutorial - C
SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER
A. A formal strategic planning process is needed to coordinate the factors controlled by top management and marketers, as well as provide guidance for decision-making.
B. A strategic business plan describes the overall direction an organization will pursue within its
chosen environment and guides the allocation of resources and effort. It also provides the logic
that integrates the perspectives of functional departments and operating units, and points them all
in the same direction. It has these elements:
1. An external orientation.
2. A process for formulating strategies.
3. Methods for analyzing strategic situations and alternatives.
4. A commitment to action.
C. This chapter considers the importance of strategic planning for marketing Strategic planning
encompasses both strategic business plans and strategic marketing plans. Strategic business
plans describe the overall direction firms will pursue within their chosen environment and guide
the allocation of resources and effort. Strategic marketing plans outline what marketing actions
to undertake, why those actions are needed, who is responsible for carrying them out, when and
where they will be completed, and how they will be coordinated.
Strategic planning provides guidance via a hierarchal process, clarifies goals, encourages departmental cooperation, focuses on strengths and weaknesses (as well as opportunities and threats),
examines alternatives, helps allocate resources, and points up the value of monitoring results.
D. A strategic marketing plan outlines the marketing actions to undertake, why they are needed,
who is responsible for carrying them out, when and where they will be completed, and how they
will be coordinated.
E.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

An early understanding of strategic planning in marketing is important for several reasons.

It gives direction to efforts.
A strategic plan makes sure each divisions goals are integrated with firm wide goals.
It coordinates functional efforts.
It assesses strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats.
It outlines options.
It establishes a basis for resource allocation.
The value of having a procedure for assessing performance can be shown. See Figure 3-1.

F. This chapter looks at the different kinds of strategic plans and the relationships between marketing and the other functional areas in an organization. A firms strategic plans may be short run,
moderate in length, or long run. Strategic marketing plans may be for each major product, presented as one company wide marketing plan, or considered part of an overall business plan. A
bottom-up, top-down, or combined management approach may be used.
The interests of marketing and the other key functional areas in a firm need to be accommodated in
a strategic plan. Improving communications, employing personnel with broad backgrounds, establishing interdepartmental development programs, and blending departmental goals can reduce departmental conflict.

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G. This chapter also describes thoroughly each of the steps in the strategic planning process. First,
a firm defines its organizational missionthe long-term commitment to a type of business and a
place in the market. Second, it establishes strategic business units (SBUs), the self-contained
divisions, product lines, or product departments with specific market focuses and separate managers. Third, quantitative and qualitative marketing objectives are set. Fourth, through situation
analysis, a firm identifies its internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities
and threats.
Fifth, a firm develops a marketing strategyto outline the way in which the marketing mix is used to
attract and satisfy the target market(s) and accomplish organizational goals. Every SBU has its own
marketing mix. The approaches to strategy planning include the product/ market opportunity matrix,
the Boston Consulting Group matrix, the General Electric business screen, and the Porter generic
strategy model. They should be viewed as planning tools that aid decision-making; they do not replace the need for executives to engage in hands-on planning for each situation.
Sixth, a firm uses tactical plans to specify the short-run actions necessary to implement a given
marketing strategy. At this stage, specific tasks, a time horizon, and resource allocation are made
operational. Seventh, a firm monitors results by comparing actual performance against planned performance; and this information is fed back into the strategic planning process. Adjustments in strategy are made as needed.
G. Strategic planning should stress market information, market-segment definition, and market targeting. All company activities should be built around the goal of creating the desired position with
a well-defined set of customers.
H. In a market-oriented view of the strategic planning process, financial goals are seen as results
and rewards, not the fundamental purpose of business. Distinction between commonly used
terms like plan, strategy, tactics, goals, objectives and aims
A plan is a way of achieving something. Your revision plan is a way of helping to achieve success in
business studies exams. The Christmas present shopping list is a simpler example of a plan a way
of ensuring that no one gets missed on 25 December.
In business, it is no different. If a business wants to achieve something, it is more likely to do so with
a well-constructed and realistic plan.
What does planning involve? Planning involves:
Setting objectives, quantifying targets for achievement, and communicating these targets to people
responsible for achieving them
Selecting strategies, tactics, programmes etc for achieving the objectives.
The whole topic of planning brings with it some important terminology that it is worth spending time
getting to know well. You will come across these terms many times in your study of marketing (and
business studies in general):
Strategy
Strategy is the method chosen to achieve goals and objectives
Example: Our strategy is to grow sales and profits of our existing products and to broaden our
business by introducing new products to our existing markets
Tactics
Tactics are the resources that are used in the agreed strategy

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Example: We will use our widespread distribution via UK supermarkets to increase sales and existing
products and introduce new products
Goals
Goals concern what you are trying to achieve. Goals provide the intention that influence the chosen
actions Example: Our goal is to achieve market leadership in our existing markets
Objectives
Objectives are goals that can be quantified Examples:
- We aim to achieve a market share of 20% in our existing markets
- We aim to penetrate new markets by achieving a market share of at least 5% within 3 years
- We aim to achieve sales of growth of 15% per annum with our existing products
Aims
Aims are goals that cannot be measured in a reliable way. However, they remain important as a
means of providing direction and focus.

Questions
Multiple Choice
1. When your firm practices developing and maintaining a strategic fit between your organizations
goals and capabilities, it is forming a (an) _____.
a. mission statement
b. values statement
c. strategic plan
d. operating plan
2. At the corporate level, a company starts the strategic planning process by defining its overall
purpose and _____.
a. mission
b. values
c. vision
d. strengths
2. A clear mission statement acts as an invisible hand that guides people in the firm. It is a statement of _____.
a. fact
b. values
c. purpose
d. financial goals
3.
a.
b.
c.
d.

What does a market-oriented mission statement define about the business?

satisfying basic customer needs
satisfying basic supplier needs
satisfying basic stockholder needs
satisfying basic owner needs

4. Your text pointed out that mission statements should be both _____ and specific.
a. long-term
b. realistic

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c. short-term
d. value-laden
5.
a.
b.
c.
d.

_____ mission statements provide little real guidance or inspiration.

Trite
Copy-cat
Generic
none of the above

6.
a.
b.
c.
d.

The companys mission needs to be turned into detailed supporting objectives for _____.
success
each level of management
corporate needs
stockholder wealth

7.
a.
b.
c.
d.

What do we call the collection of businesses and products that make up the company?
investment diversity
needs inventory
business portfolio
none of the above

8. Kimball Gardens is a company that operates as two distinctive businesses one that sells lawn
and garden products and one that markets booklets. Each business is called a _____.
a. separate entity
b. strategic business unit (SBU)
c. profit center
d. division
9. The firm you work for has decided to use the Boston Consulting Groups approach to classify its
business units. Upon what is the approach based?
a. most profitable units
b. growth-share matrix
c. customer retention
d. cost-benefits
10.
a.
b.
c.
d.

The BCG market growth rate provides a measure of _____.

company strength in the market
decline of competitors
market attractiveness
the unit stock value

11.
a.
b.
c.
d.

Which of these is not one of the common options in using the BCG approach?
build
hold
harvest
diversify

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12. Mountain Home Farms is now using the product/market expansion grid. The owners have found
it to be quite useful for identifying _____.
a. target markets
b. growth opportunities
c. key customers
d. new products
13. A common practice among marketers is to increase sales to current customers without changing
their products. What is this practice called?
a. market skimming
b. market penetration
c. market development
d. product extension
14. A common practice among marketers is to identify and develop new markets for their existing
products. This practice is called _____.
a. market development
b. product development
c. market penetration
d. market skimming
15. There are many reasons why a firm might want to abandon products or markets. In these
instances, companies would consider _____ rather than growing.
a. downsizing
b. demarketing
c. retrenching
d. none of the above
16. You are excited about studying marketing. You tell your younger brother that product, price,
place, and promotion make up the _____.
a. marketing package
b. marketing strategy
c. marketing combination
d. marketing mix
17. Which of the four Ps describes the goods-and-services combination the company offers to the
target market?
a. price
b. promotion
c. product
d. place
18.
a.
b.
c.
d.

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Banking, airline, and retailing services are properly termed _____.

service products
products
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19.
a.
b.
c.
d.

A concern with the four Ps is that it takes the _____ view and not the _____ view.
buyers; sellers
broad; narrow
sellers; buyers
traditional; modern

20. We can safely say that the marketing mix constitutes the companys tactical tool kit for establishing _____ in target markets.
a. strong sales
b. strong positioning
c. strong competitiveness
d. strong strategies
21. Today the four Ps are compared to the four Cs. Product and price are called _____ and _____
respectively.
a. convenience; customer solution
b. customer cost; convenience
c. communication; customer solution
d. customer solution; customer cost
22.
a.
b.
c.
d.

Marketers see themselves as selling products, while customers see themselves as buying _____.
value
solutions
bargains
value or solutions to their problems

23.
a.
b.
c.
d.

One of these is not a basic marketing management function. Please choose it.
analysis
planning
directing
implementation

24.
a.
b.
c.
d.

A thorough market analysis includes all of the following except one. Which one?
company situation
markets
company strengths
past sales records

25.
a.
b.
c.
d.

Identify the marketing logic whereby the company hopes to achieve its marketing objectives.
marketing plan
marketing goals
marketing strategy
marketing promotion plan

26. A marketing plan begins with an executive summary, which quickly overviews major assessments, goals, and _____.
a. budgets
b. markets

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c. promotions
d. recommendations
27. Marketing planning address the what and why of marketing activities. Implementation addresses
the _____.
a. who, when, where
b. when, where, how
c. who, where, when, how
d. who, where, when, how much
28. When your boss says that implementation means doing things right, what does she mean when
she says doing the right things?
a. strategy
b. planning
c. objectives
d. proper execution
29.
a.
b.
c.
d.

A brilliant marketing strategy counts for little if the company fails to _____ it properly.
strategically plan
budget
implement
construct

30. Emerson Studios, a chain of 25 portrait stores in five states, has organized its marketing organization in which different marketing activities are headed by a specialist. What is this organization
called?
a. geographic
b. product
c. organic
d. functional

Essay Questions
31. What has created Disneys success as a world leader of entertainment?
32. Briefly mention the components of a strategic plan.
33. Describe what goes into a market-oriented mission statement.
34. Explain the purpose of the Boston Consulting Group approach to business planning, and briefly
describe each of the four types of SBUs.
35. Compare and contrast the following strategies for growth: market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification.
36. How do marketers use partner relationship management to their advantage?

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Further reading and references

Text
Evans J.R., and Berman B - Marketing, 8e (Biztantra, 2003)
Kotler P- Marketing Management: The Millennium Edition (Prentice-Hall, 2000)
Ramaswamy V.S., and Namakumari S. - Marketing Management (Macmillan, 2002)
Saxena R - Marketing Management (Tata-McGraw Hill, 2002)
Others
Business India
Business Today
Business World
The Economic Times supplements Brand Equity, Corporate Dossier

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