LIMBA ENGLEZA

Manual recomandat: Economic Discourse: Applications, Sara Moldoveanu, Editura

Fundatiei Romania de Maine, Bucuresti , 2006
Obiectivul principal al cursului: mbuntirea competenei comunicative profesionale
astfel nct limba englez s devin un instrument de lucru n activitatea viitorilor
economiti. Accentul va fi pus pe asimilarea termenilor economici specifici mediului de
afaceri englez.
Sem I
Tema 1.1. The Employment File
1.2. How to write a CV and an Application Letter
1.3. Grammar Review- Sequence of Tenses- The Relation of
Simultaneity
Tema 2.1.Job Interview- General Tips
2.2. Job Interview Techniques and Practice
2.3 Grammar Practice- The Relation of Simultaneity
Tema 3.1. What Is Marketing?
3.2. Principles of Marketing
3.3. Grammar Review- Sequence of Tenses- The Relation of
Anteriority
Tema 4.1.Marketing Strategies
4.2.Grammar Practice- The Relation of Anteriority
Tema 5.1. Direct Marketing Strategies
5.2.. Grammar Review- Sequence of Tenses- The Relation of
Posteriority
Tema 6.1. Direct Marketing- Acquire with Product. Retain with Service
6.2. Grammar Practice- The Relation of Posteriority
Tema 7.1. Company Structure
7.2. Grammar Review- Sequence of Tenses- Expressing Future
Tema 8.1. Types of Managers
8.2. Grammar Practice- Expressing Future
Tema 9.1. The Ideal Managers Profile
9.2. Grammar Review- Subjunctive Mood- The Old Form
Tema 10.1. Do you have the traits to be a good manager?
10.2. Grammar Practice- Subjunctive- the old form
Tema 11.1. Advertising
11.2. Grammar Review- Subjunctive Mood- Present Subjunctive
Tema 12.1. What Is Creative?
12.2 Grammar Practice-Present Subjunctive
Tema 13.1. Advertising Strategies
13.2. Grammar Review- Subjunctive Mood- Past Subjunctive
Tema 14.1. The Importance of Being Creative
14.2. Grammar Practice- Past Subjunctive

Sem II
Tema 1.1. Marketing on the Internet
1.2. Grammar Review- Analytic Subjunctive
Tema 2.1. Internet Sites Sell, Service and Inform
2.2. Grammar Practice- Analytic Subjunctive
Tema 3.1.Online Customer Profile versus Traditional Buyer Profile
3.2. Grammar Review- Conditional Clause Type 1
Tema 4.1.Information Technology
4.2.Grammar Practice- Conditional Clause Type 1
Tema 5.1. Digitalization and Connectivity
5.2. Grammar Review- Conditional Clause Type 2
Tema 6.1. International Trade
6.2. Grammar Practice- Conditional Clause Type 2
Tema 7.1. International Trading Agreements
7.2. Grammar Review- Conditional Clause Type 3
Tema 8.1. International Banking
8.2. Grammar Practice- Conditional Clause Type 3
Tema 9.1. Consumer Behaviour
9.2.Grammar Review- Reported Speech (Part 1)
Tema 10.1.Variables that Influence Consumer Behaviour
10.2.Grammar Practice- Reported Speech (Part 1)
Tema 11.1. Gender Discrimination
11.2. Grammar Review- Reported Speech (Part 2)
Tema 12.1. Can women get top executive positions?
12.2. Grammar Practice- Reported Speech (Part 2)
Tema 13.1 Mobile Communications
13.2.. Grammar Review- Phrasal Verbs
Tema 14.1. Case-Study: Vodafone
14.2 Grammar Practice- Phrasal Verbs

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

1.

BIBLIOGRAFIE OBLIGATORIE/MINIMAL:
Moldoveanu, Sara, Economic Discourse: Applications, Bucuresti: Editura
Fundatiei Romania de Maine, 2006.
Galateanu-Farnoaga, Georgiana, Sinteze de Gramatica Engleza, Bucuresti:
Lucman, 2000.
Graver, B. D., Advanced English Practice, third edition, New York: Oxford
University Press, 1996.
Hornby, A.S., Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1995.
Vince, Michael & Sunderland, Peter, English Grammar and Vocabulary with
Key, London: Macmillan, 2003.

BIBLIOGRAFIE FACULTATIV:
Chiriacescu, Adriana, Corespondenta Comerciala in Limbile Romana si Engleza,
Bucuresti: Teora, 2003.

2.

Hewings, Martin, Advanced Grammar in Use, Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 2005.
3.
Mc Carthy Michael & ODell, Felicity, English Vocabulary in Use, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2002.
4.
Murphy, Raymond, English Grammar in Use, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2004.
5. Williams, Isobel E., Manual de Coresponden, Bucuresti: Taracart (published by
copyright arrangement with Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd), 1998.

Prezentarea lectiilor (capitolelor)

1. Lesson One
THE EMPLOYMENT FILE APPLICATION
LETTERS AND CVs

One should take great care when writing a letter of application for a job. If there are a lot of
applicants, a good letter can get you an interview whereas a bad letter will simply be ignored.Some
applicants make the mistake of phrasing their letter in an unusual way. Others write on purple paper,
thinking that this will make their application stand out. A straightforward letter on good quality notepaper
will give a much more favourable impression. Unless your handwriting is quite illegible an application
should usually be handwritten. Do not use coloured ink. Black or dark blue is best and a fountain pen looks
better than Biro.
Many advertisements ask applicants to write a brief letter and send a curriculum vitae (CV) or
personal data sheet (as the Americans call it). This should set out neatly, on one sheet of paper, details
about the applicant, his or her education, training and experience. Unless otherwise stated, a CV or personal
data sheet should be typed. When submitting a CV try to bring one or two relevant skills or qualifications
into your covering letter.
In many EC countries and in the United States it is the custom to enclose a recent photograph with the
application letter.
Here are some suggestions that you may use when replying to an advertisement for a position:
write from your home address;
say where you saw the advertisement or heard about the position;
say why you are applying for that particular post;
state your qualifications and offer copies of relevant certificates;
if you are working, describe what you are doing now and give reasons why you want to change
your job.
If no post has been advertised but you know of a vacancy, or think you may have a chance of
employment sometime in the future. you can write an unsolicited application:
When writing an unsolicited application you should:
address the person responsible for the position by name when possible;

 mention the mutual contact or acquaintance who told you that there might be a vacancy;
include any other points mentioned above which may be relevant.
(after Isobel E. Williams Manual de Coresponden, published by Taracart srl by copyright arrangement
with Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 1998)
Curriculum Vitae Sample Form

CURRICULUM VITAE
Personal details:
Date of birth:
Place of birth:
Marital status:

David Brown. 21 South Road, Richmond. Surrey

RD7 6AJ
16 March 1986
Richmond. Surrey
Single

Education:

Sept. 1993 June 1997 Richmond Primary

School
Sept 1997 June 2001 Richmond Secondary
School
Oct. 2001 Present I attend the Faculty of
Marketing and Foreign Trade, the University of
Richmond

Work experience:

June 1999 Sept 2000 Kia Motors As a

promoter for Kia Motors 2000 Car Showroom, I
advertised the Kia cars and discussed about their
advantages with customers, marketers and sales
personnel from around the world.
Sept. 2001 Present Hyundai My main
responsibilities include promoting Hyundai cars,
researching and writing reports on new product
development as well as to compile information on
car industry trends.

Foreign Languages:

English advanced level

French intermediate level

Computer Literacy:

Word, Windows, Excel

Other Interests:

Im also interested in football, fitness, cinema,

travelling and reading

References:

Available on request

Application Letter in reply to an advertisement

Lucy Nguyen
62 Staghorn Drive
BALMORAL Q 4171
Tel 07 3341 4333
10 March 2003
Ms Mary Graham

Human Resources Manager

XYZ Consulting
PO Box 123
BRISBANE Q 4001
Dear Ms Graham,
I wish to apply for the position of Marketing Officer as advertised in the Courier Mail, Saturday 9 March,
2002 reference No: KL23 (or through the QUT Careers & Employment Service).
This year I will complete a Bachelor of Business at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) with a
major in Marketing and secondary major in Management. I have achieved an overall Grade Point Average
of 5.3 (on a 7 point scale) and have a special interest in Strategic Planning and Principles of Marketing.
As part of my studies, I participated in two industry-based project groups. One involved undertaking a
detailed analysis of the consumer markets for a major clothing retailer and the other developing a market
plan and campaign for a relatively small, energetic and upcoming sports clothing manufacturer and
distributor. Both projects provided me with an opportunity to work closely with industry personnel and
strengthen my interest in this area. The two companies regarded the outcome of the projects as highly
productive and successful.
I have undertaken direct promotional work as part of my Billabong Family Bistro work in Gympie and
have consolidated my basic communication skills through my work at Myers and my vacation placement
with a Queensland Government Department.
I bring to any job a strong work ethic and desire to succeed, a willingness to cooperate with others, and a
need to produce quality work. As a result of the knowledge and skills gained through my studies at QUT
and my industry-based experiences, I will be able to meet more than adequately the requirements of the
Marketing Officer position at XYZ Consulting.
Thank you for considering my application. Enclosed is a copy of my resume and academic record. I would
appreciate an interview and I am available at short notice. If I am not contactable on my home phone: 07
3333 4444, a message could be left with my neighbour, Mrs Reid on 07 3434 3434 (or my parents on 07
5555 4444).

Yours sincerely,
Lucy Nguyen

2. Lesson Two
WHAT IS MARKETING?
What does the term marketing mean? Many people think of marketing only as selling and
advertising. And no wonder, for every day we are bombarded with television commercials newspaper ads,
direct mail campaigns, Internet pitches and sales calls. Although they are important, they are only two of
many marketing functions and are often not the most important ones.
Today, marketing must be understood not in the old sense of making a sale telling and selling
but in the new sense of satisfying customer needs. Selling occurs only after a product is produced. By
contrast, marketing starts long before a company has a product. Marketing the homework that managers
undertake to assess needs, measure their extent and intensity and determine whether a profitable
opportunity exists. Marketing continues throughout the products life, trying to find new customers and

keep current customers by improving product appeal and performance, learning from product sales results
and managing repeat performance.
Everyone knows something about hot products. When Sony designed PlayStation, when Nokia
introduced fashionable mobile phones, when The Body Shop introduced animal-cruelty-free cosmetics and
toiletries, these manufacturers were swamped with orders. Like Swatch and Smart Car, they were 'right'
products offering new benefits; not 'me-too products.
Peter Drucker, a leading management thinker, has put it this way: 'The aim of marketing is to make
selling superfluous. The aim is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits.
. . and sells itself. If the marketer does a good job of identifying customer needs, develops products that
provide superior value, distributes and promotes them effectively, these goods will sell very easily. This
does not mean that selling and advertising are unimportant. Rather, it means that they are part of a larger
marketing mix a set of marketing tools that work together to affect the marketplace.
We define marketing as a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain
what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value others. To explain this
definition, we examine the following important terms: needs, wants and demands; products and services;
value, satisfaction and quality; exchange, transactions and relationships; and markets.
Each part of the marketing definition defines what marketing is and how it is practised. In businessto-business marketing, where professional organisations exchange products of value to each other,
marketing can be an exchange between similar individuals and groups.
This contrasts with consumer markets where marketing is not an exchange between similar
individuals and groups. In consumer markets, for one group marketing is a managerial process pursued to
fulfil their needs and wants, while the other group is just going through life fulfiling their needs and wants.
With this difference identified, the definition of marketing identifies marketings unique contribution to an
organisation and the demands it imposes.
The essence of marketing is a very simple idea that extends to all walks of life. Success comes from
understanding the needs and wants of others and creating ideas, services or products that fulfil those needs
and wants. Most organisations, from Boo.com to WorldCom, fail because they fail to fulfil the wants and
needs of others.
(Philip Kotler, Veronica Wong, John Saunders, Gary Armstrong, Principles of Marketing, fourth
edition, Pearson Education Limited, London, 2005)

3. Lesson Three
USING THE DIRECT MARKETING STRATEGY FRAMEWORK
ACQUIRE WITH PRODUCT. RETAIN WITH SERVICE

The most important strategic decision is to understand in what conditions it is favourable for direct
marketing to be used by the marketing strategist.
A marketing strategist could consider direct marketing within the strategy if one or more of the
following apply: the profitability of the company is heavily dependent on the loyalty of existing customers,
the target audience is relatively small and/ or tightly defined as well as if there is scope to gather individual
customers' details and hold them on a database.

It may also be important to state if products in the sector are primarily sold on 'logic' rather than
'emotion' since the control over the customer relationship is extremely important. The marketing strategist
should also consider if there is an opportunity to distribute direct.
It is worth emphasizing that the above should not be taken as 'rules'. There will be business
situations where few or none of the above apply but direct marketing is still used successfully.
For instance, few would have expected Heinz to place over half of its marketing budget into direct
marketing in 1995 (or to subsequently move it back to advertising).
Testing and control are internal management issues that have a bearing on strategic decision making.
If your company is risk averse, then it would want to test any initiative carefully before committing
significant resources to it. If your company wants to allocate resources carefully to resulting income, the
control offered by direct marketing will be attractive.
Another important marketing decision is to allocate resources between the existing customers and
the new ones.
If you are just starting up a business, you obviously don't have any existing customers. Clearly then,
in the first year of operation, the vast majority of your budget is allocated to new customer acquisition. Or
perhaps you have a large database of existing customers but you have depressingly high levels of defection.
Here, your priority is customer retention: stemming the flow.
Companies which sell credit, such as American Express, know they have to strike a balance
between encouraging loyal behaviour from existing customers and allocating resources to attracting
prospects from competitors or new markets. To achieve these aims they may use commercial partners to
attract new custom (affinity marketing).
They may create a reward scheme, like Amexs Membership Miles, which rewards card spend by
giving some value back to loyal customers. Inevitably, some existing customers are lost, through bad debt,
defection to competitors, or just no longer needing credit. In order to keep its customer base at the same
level, Amex will have to allocate resources to replace these people.
It is all a question of balance.
Assuming that you are dealing with a mature business in a mature market, your primary focus should
be on keeping existing customers rather than obtaining new customers (Reichheld, 1996).
A vital marketing decision has to do with the strategy about how to keep customers. The obvious
question to ask here is: which customers do we want to keep? First, it is important to identify who are the
customers that are really vital for the company.
Tesco, a large supermarket retailer in the UK and Europe, has been testing a programme of preferential treatment to highspending consumers, identified from data gathered via its loyalty card. Invitations
are sent offering the chance to participate in tempting new product launches of expensive wines,
complimentary visits to golf ranges or the opportunity to see top hair designers. To keep customers who
may spend, say, 10 000 per year with the store, this reallocation of some value back by the store
represents good business sense.
What can the company offer customers in order to keep as much of their spend with the firm as
possible?
To achieve greater retention, direct marketers have switched the emphasis from product to service.
In particular, the importance of delivering superior service has become apparent in many markets.
The biggest strategic decisions is probably how to attract new customers. In order to attract new
markets is often necessary to create attractive brands, distinctive products or innovative distribution
systems.
For any marketer, the core strength of direct marketing for acquiring new customers is targeting.
This strategy implies both the companys strengths (does it have a database; does it have a clear idea of

precisely who its new customers are likely to be?) as wellas the marketing environment (the need to go for
new types of customers, competitive activity, whether its markets are niche or mass, and so on).
In the acquisition of new customers, the formal product seems to be more important in attracting
prospects than addon service.
A customer seeking to buy from a supplier for the first time will seek lots of things, but some
benefits may be more important on first purchase. These may include trust, reassurance about the quality
of their purchase, being able to buy conveniently, or having an extra incentive as a temptation to purchase.
General marketers look to imbue feelings of trust and reassurance through building brands which
prospects will be familiar with and like, even though they have yet to purchase from that firm.
Direct marketers can either support brands built through general marketing or take a lead role in
building different types of brand values themselves.
The use of direct distribution mail order or direct delivery of service, say telephone banking is a
powerful weapon in the direct marketers' armoury when it comes to attracting new customers.
The benefit they are offering is convenience. The growth of electronic media heralds the possibility
of new modes of shopping online shopping, for instance by consumers who value convenience over the
tangible shopping experience itself.
Finally, a decision must be made whether or not to use incentives to stimulate purchase. This decision may
rest on branding, pricing, competitive usage or targeting decisions, and it is with the latter that incentives used
through direct marketing may well provide a huge advantage (Rapp and Collins, 1987). Instead of most of your
incentives to attract new users being taken advantage of by existing customers, as happens in retail situations,
incentives can be directed to the intended audience prospects.
(Alan Tapp, Principles of Direct and Database Marketing, third edition, Pearson Education
Limited, Great Britain, 2005)

4. Lesson Four
COMPANY STRUCTURE TYPES OF MANAGERS
You already know that there are different types of managers. In your college, for instance, there are
presidents, vice presidents, provosts, deans, and department chairs. There are also administrators, such as
human resource managers and the head of public safety.
In practice, we can differentiate managers in three ways: based on their organization level (top, middle,
firstline), position (manager, director, or vice president, for instance) and functional title (such as sales
manager or vice president for finance).
The managers at the top, of course, are the firms top management. These are the managers we call
executives. Typical positions here are: president, senior vice president, and executive vice president (in a
university, you might also add provost). Functional titles here include chief executive officer (CEO), vice
president for sales, general manager, and chief financial officer (CFO).
Beneath the top management level (and reporting to it) may be one or more levels of middle
managers. The positions here usually include the terms manager or director in the titles. (Particularly in
larger companies like IBM, managers report to directors, who in turn report to top managers like vice
presidents.) Examples of functional titles here include production manager, sales director, HR
manager, and finance manager.

Firstline managers are at the lowest rank of the management ladder. Positions here might include
supervisor or assistant manager. Functional titles might include production supervisor and assistant
marketing manager.
All managers have a lot in common. They all plan, organize, lead and control.
All managers at all levels and with every functional title also spend an enormous amount of their
time with peopletalking, listening, influencing, motivating, and attending meetings. In fact, even chief
executives (whom you might expect to be somewhat insolated from other people, up there in their
executive suites) reportedly spend about threefourths of their time dealing directly with other people.
However, there are two big differences among the management levels. First, both top and middle
managers have other managers for subordinates.
Supervisors have workers-nonmanagers as subordinates. Managers at different levels also use their
time somewhat differently.
Top managers tend to spend more time planning and setting goals (like double sales in the next two
years").
Middle managers then translate these goals into specific projects (like hire two new salespeople and
introduce three new products") for their subordinates to execute.
Firstline supervisors then concentrate on directing and controlling the employees who actually do
the work on these projects.
MANAGING AND THE SPEED OF THOUGHT THE E-CEO
What is it like being an e-CEO, the chief executive of an e-commerce company? To hear the
executives themselves tell it, speed is the word that sums up their experience best. For example, Roger
Siboni, e-CEO of E.piphany, a company that creates the software that helps e-corporations get the most
from their customer data, says, Youre driving too fast you feel the exhilaration you must turn left and
right at death-defying speed without blinking never blink if you go up and down with the news, you'll
never make it. e-CEOs must also be brutally honest with themselves and others, because if they let a
problem fester a day or two, they'll see someone in their rearview mirror coming after them, says Siboni.
With their markets changing so fast, e-CEOs must also constantly focus their companies' and their
employees' attention on the companys mission. These companies are deluged with competitive information
and new ideas, so its relatively easy for the employees to become distracted. Its the e-CEOs job to keep
everyone focused.
One of the differences between traditional and e-CEOs is that, for example, e-CEOs tend to be more
comfortable with ambiguity and speed, and concerned with monitoring market trends and competitors'
moves to ensure that their companies aren't blindsided by unanticipated events. Operating with a great deal
of uncertainty, e-CEOs need a new set of qualities to thrive.
On 24 May 1999 the Fortune magazine published a set of differentiating qualities between the
traditional managers and the e-CEO-s. According to this study an e-CEO has to have certain qualities such
as: to be evangelizing, obsessed, brutally frank, infotech literate (at least), intensely focused, faster moving,
to like ambiguity and to be a paragon of good judgment. The study also highlights that usually the e-CEO is
a young man about 38, suffers from bandwidthseparation anxiety and he is really rich.
As compared to this type, the study states that the traditional manager has to be encouraging, fast
moving and a paragon of good judgment. Still, he is usually not a very
young man he is about
57, is gearly focused, hates
ambiguity, is an infotech semiliterate (at best), suffers from
technology confrontation anxiety and he is a rich man. (Source Fortune, 24 May 1999, p. 107. @ 1999
Time Inc. Reprinted by permission).

(Gary Dessler, Management Principles and Practices for Tomorrows Leaders, Florida International
University, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, third edition, 2004)

5. Lesson Five
DO YOU HAVE THE TRAITS TO BE A MANAGER?

If youre thinking of becoming a manager, theres a wealth of research to help you to decide whether
thats the occupation for you.
Career counseling expert John Holland says that personality (including values, motives, and needs) is
an important determinant of career choice. Specifically, he says that six basic personal orientations
determine the sorts of careers to which people are drawn. Research with his Vocational Preference Test
(VPT) suggests that almost all successful managers fit into at least one of two personality types or
orientations:
Social orientation. Social people are attracted to careers that involve working with others in a helpful or
facilitative way (managers as well as others, like clinical managerial competence, psychologists and social
workers, would exhibit this orientation). Generally speaking, socially oriented people find it easy to talk with all
kinds of people; are good at helping people who are upset or troubled; are skilled at explaining things to others;
and enjoy doing social things like helping others with their personal problems, teaching, and meeting new
people. Its hard to be a manager if you're not comfortable dealing with people.
Enterprising orientation. Enterprising people tend to like working with people in a supervisory or
persuasive way in order to achieve some goal. They especially enjoy verbal activities aimed at influencing
others (lawyers and public relations executives would also exhibit this orientation). Enterprising people
often characterize themselves as being good public speakers, as having reputations for being able to deal
with difficult people, as successfully organizing the work of others, and as being ambitious and assertive.
They enjoy influencing others, selling things, serving as officers of groups, and supervising the work of
others.
Comptencies Expert Edgar Schein says career planning is a continuing process of discovery. He says
each person slowly develops a clearer occupational selfconcept, in terms of what his or her talents,
abilities, motives, and values are. Based on his study of MIT graduates, Schein concluded that managers
have a strong managerial competence career anchor. These people show a strong motivation to become
managers, and their career experience enables them to believe that they have the skills and values
necessary to rise to such general management positions. A management position with high responsibility
is their ultimate goal.
THE MANAGERIAL SKILLS
Successful managers don't just have the right traits and competencies; they also have the right skills.
In management (as in most other human endeavors), personality gets you only so far. At some point, the
person must prove that he or she can actually get the job done. Skills like writing, making forecasts, or

communicating effectively, reflect how the person acts and what he or she can actually do. Managers need
three sets of skills: technical, interpersonal, and conceptual.
The present text shows some of the skills managers need in order to succeed, such as how to write
business plans, how to discipline subordinates, and how to make better decisions. Youll see below what
these skills are.
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Managers have to be technically competent. First, they need to know how to plan, organize, lead, and
control. For example, they should know both how to develop a plan and how to write a job description.
Managers also should be technically competent in their area of expertise. For example, accounting
managers need accounting skills, and sales managers should know what works (and does not work) when it
comes to selling.
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
Researchers at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina, studied why
managers fail, and came to some interesting conclusions. Some managers simply didn't do their jobs, and
thought more about being promoted than about the jobs they had!
However, the other failures were more interpersonal. Managers failed because they had abusive or
insensitive styles, disagreed with upper management about how the business should be run, left a trail of
bruised feelings, failed to adapt to the management culture, or didn't resolve conflicts among subordinates.
Managers, therefore, need good interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills include knowledge about
human behavior and group processes, ability to understand the feelings, attitudes, and motives of others,
and ability to communicate clearly and persuasively. They include tact and diplomacy, empathy,
persuasiveness, and oral communications ability. Managers with these skills have more cooperative
relationships and can better accomplish a wide range of daily managerial chores, such as listening
attentively and sympathetically when a subordinate has a problem.
CONCEPTUAL SKILLS
Studies also show that effective leaders tend to have more cognitive ability, and that their
intelligence (and subordinates' perception of that intelligence) tend to be highly rated. Conceptual (or
cognitive") skills include analytical ability, logical thinking, concept formation, and inductive
reasoning. Conceptual skills manifest themselves in things like good judgment, creativity, and the ability
to see the big picture when confronted with information.
Of course, intelligence is one thing, good judgment is another. As Lawrence Bossidy puts it, If you
have to choose between someone with a staggering IQ and elite education who is gliding along, and
someone with a lower IQ but who is absolutely determined to succeed, you'll always do better with the
second person.
(Garry Dessler, Management Principles and Practices for Tomorrows Leaders, third edition,
Florida International University, Pearson Education, New Jersey, 2004)
ADVERTISING WHAT IS CREATIVE?
Trying to answer the question, David Ogilvy comes up with a strong riposte:

I have to invent a Big Idea for an advertising campaign before Tuesday. Creativity strikes me as a
highfalutin word for the work I have to do between now and Tuesday. The Benton and Bowles agency holds
that if it doesn't sell, it isn't creative. Amen.
Direct marketers tend to pay a lot of attention to the art of creativity. There are a lot of books
dedicated to this subject. One reason for this fascination is the sexiness of the subject even hard-bitten
business managers can be seduced by the glamour of thinking about their product in the bright lights of a
Californian blockbuster advert. Advertising has been described (Martin, 1989) as the poetry or the
artistry of marketing, even if, as Ogilvy (1983) strongly argued, the only job of advertising is to sell.
Different Types of Creative People
According to American commentators on advertising (Bovee et al., 1995; Martin, 1989; Rapp and
Collins, 1987), people can be divided into two camps.
If you are interested in a career as a creative in an advertising agency, the chances are you are a
rightbrain thinker.
If, however, you see yourself in business, perhaps managing a marketing department, you will be a
leftbrain dominated person. Leftbrain people are logical, persuaded by words and argument, and take a
stepbystep approach to solving problems.
Rightbrain people are different. If you are rightbrain dominated, you use intuition rather than
logic, use emotion not reason, and are more interested in romance than rationality.
This split of thinking lies at the heart of the creative debate, and to understand direct marketing
creativity, we need to understand how it fits into the wider context of this fascinating creative debate that
has been rumbling on now for about 100 years.
This argument can be summed up as left brain logical advertising versus right brain emotional
advertising (Rapp and Collins, 1987).
In 1904, John E. Kennedy said that the best advertising contained a logical approach, leading
prospects through reasons why they should buy the product.
The opposing camp was epitomized by Cyrus Curtis, who, in 1911, talked about the atmosphere in
adverts as the key ingredient. He was backed up by Dunn, in 1918, who said, The psychoanalysts have
found that nearly all important decisions are made in the subconscious.
This argument has essentially carried on the same way to the present day. Major figures such as
Rosser Reeves, the inventor of the USP concept, and advertising giant David Ogilvy have passionately,
sometimes provocatively, advocated the logical approach, appealing to reason:
1 have never admired the belles lettres school of advertising. I have always thought them absurd.
They did not give the reader a single fact.
(David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man, 1964)
Whereas other, equally eminent practitioners have advocated the opposite approach: It is not what is
said but how it is said that influences us the most.(Pierre Martineau, Chicago Tribune, 1957)
We are in the age of the eye. We have less time to read ... only the lightning strike of a picture can
hit home.(Margot Sherman, President, McCann Erickson, 1959)
In summary, the leftbrain enthusiasts would argue that advertising focuses on selling by leading the
prospect through a series of reasoned, logical arguments. Words tend to be more powerful than visual
images. Functional brands, such as Intel, are built up in these ways. The rightbrain advocates will claim
that people make purchase decisions on emotional grounds. Although they will justify their purchases on
logical grounds in research, in fact people are ruled by their emotional subconscious, and it is this which
advertising needs to play to. In this case, visual imagery is more important than words. Symbolic brands,
for example CocaCola, are based on this premise.

Direct marketing creative practice has traditionally been dominated by the left-brain approach. Rapp
and Collins (1987) showed why direct marketing has historically been left-brain dominated: mailorder
products had to have an element of uniqueness about them to overcome the inertia of people at home; this
led to a USPdriven approach. Also, the items were often intangibles, or services, which were traditionally
sold in a logical way. Direct marketing products and services are usually relatively high-priced items, and it
is felt that items of such value cannot be sold through emotion. Reasoned arguments are required if you
want a consumer to buy a pension off you.
In contrast, brandbuilding creative has predominantly been rightbrain led. If we consider products
such as Marlboro cigarettes, CocaCola, or Levi Jeans, their advertising is pure emotional symbolism. One
reason for this is that when you advertise a product that is similar to others you need brandbuilding
through imagery and association with attractive symbols. Also, brandbuilding is similarly important for
low involvement, low price-ticket products, such as FMCGs where consumers make impulsive,
subconscious decisions brand building has traditionally been used to sell tangible items such as food and
clothes.
Direct marketings stance on entertainment has been even more clear: there is no room for it in direct
communications. The argument has been that even if it were required, there is simply no room for
deflecting the prospect from the crux of the advert to get a response.
(after Allan Tapp Principles of Direct and Database Marketing, third edition, Pearson Education
Limited, England, 2005)
7. Lesson Seven
ADVERTISING THE IMPORTANCE
OF BEING CREATIVE
Bird (1989) describes the creative contribution as the moment of truth for the direct response
communications. This refers to the moment when prospects or customers engage with the advert. In his
view, therefore, the importance of the creative element lies in its visibility and tangibility for consumers.
Using Creative as a Form of Research
Bill Bernbach, one of the giants of advertising history (the B in DDB, the advertising agency), was
asked what he thought would change in the future (Ogilvy, 1983). Referring to marketers obsession with
changing trends, he said:
Its fashionable to talk about changing man. A communicator must be concerned about unchanging
man what compulsions drive him, what instincts dominate his every action, even though his language too
often camouflages what really motivates him. For if you know these things about a man, you can touch him
at the core of his being.
Bill Bernbach stressed that understanding customers was critical to good advertising. In direct
marketing this is just as true.
The purpose of advertising is to persuade. Still Should Advertising be entertainment as well as
selling?
The following quotes summarise some of the arguments for and against the need for advertising to be
entertaining:

The people who know what they are doing are the direct marketing people. They know exactly what
they've sold. And you don't. You don't have the faintest idea whether the advertising sells anything or not.
And you don't really care. You just want to win an award at Cannes, or one of those rackets.
Our job is to kill the cleverness that makes us shine instead of the product.
Bill Bernbach, Managing Director of DDB
We sell: or else.
O&M advertising agency company motto
Ad writers forget they are salesmen and try to be performers. Instead of sales, they seek applause.
Claude Hopkins, 1927
Advertising began as an art, and too many people want it to remain that way: a never-never land
where they can say this is right because we feel its right".Rosser Reeves, Reality in Advertising, 1961
Martin (1989) advocated that advertisers should match entertainment with selling:
Each message must indelibly lodge the brand in the viewers memory and seed the mind with
emotional reasons to buy, as well as providing entertainment.
David Martin, Romancing the Brand, 1989
Broadbent (1997) said:
There is no genuine clash between selling and being creative'. It is only that the criteria differ. Even
when brand sales get the benefit of effective advertising, this can still be done entertainingly. We cannot
intrude on the public without repaying them. We must not put at risk the media audiences. Effective
creativity I can understand and admire. Unconnected creativity frightens me.
Simon Broadbent, Accountability the flaming sword, Admap, June, 1997
So, where does direct marketing fit into the arguments for left versus rightbrain advertising, and
the need for entertainment?
(after Allan Tapp Principles of Direct and Database Marketing, third edition, Pearson Education
Limited, England, 2005)
8. Lesson Eight
INTERNET SITES SELL, SERVICE AND INFORM

Like any well-designed promotional campaign, a well-designed Web site should have the
prospective customer in mind. This means that the site should attract the prospect to it and do a persuasive
job of interacting with the prospect once he or she arrives there.
Creating a desire to visit a particular site can be aided by marketing the site through other media-print
advertising, TV commercials, newsletters, and the like and by giving the site a brand name and image that
creates its own promotion (for example, the Won.com site that offers a lottery prize of up to
$1
million for visiting it).
Good site design avoids the tendency to copycat other sites, or to give the site an obscure, irrelevant
name. The site name should be registered with more than one browser (or portal) and should be promoted
thereon.
Once attracted to the site, the prospect should be encouraged to interact in a mutually productive
manner. This means the site should pique the customer's interest by providing information of interest for
different visitors such as traders, mystery lovers, sports enthusiasts, and word game players all over the
world. This interesting information should be updated regularly, to prevent staleness and encourage return
visits.
Most Internet activity relating to strategic marketing planning objectives and activities is implemented
on company/ brand, information, selling and service sites.
COMPANY/BRAND SITES

These sites are directly informational, and indirectly promotional. The Coca-Cola Web site is an
illustrative example. This site consists of twelve sections, including three international sites, that explain
the company's history, mission, and products; allow visitors to interact with company spokespeople;
provide information to Coke memorabilia collectors; provide links to sports and entertainment providers;
and offer puzzles and word games. None of these sites actively sell Coke products, but, collectively,
enhance brand equity and promote purchases of Coke products through other outlets.
INFORMATION SITES
This type of site relies on member loyalty to generate revenue through advertising or subscription
rates. An example of such a site is the Wall Street Journal interactive site (www.WSJ.com) which generates
fees from subscribers who read up-to-the-minute financial information and WSJ articles and advertisers
whose banner headlines promote related financial products, allow subscribers to track markets and investments, and research financial products and markets.
Another type of information site, represented by the Yahoo! search engine, helps Internet surfers find
information they seek. Search engines like this generate revenue by selling banner advertising, which is
segmented according to the type of search being conducted.
For example, a request for information on corporate training programs might bring up a banner advertisement for Merton Electronics. In addition to the search feature on the Yahoo! site, users can bid on
products at auction, get up-to-date news, build a virtual store online, or join a virtual community that shares
information among members.
SELLING SITES
Amazon.com is a good example of a selling site (virtual stores that allow
customers to buy products over the internet). The Amazon.com site sells more than five million books,
CDs, audiobooks, DVDs, computer games, and related products to customers in more than 160 countries
worldwide.
Like Amazon.com, most selling sites are designed to move consumers through multiple stages of the
decision-making process.
The Daimler Chrysler site, for example: (1) asks questions, the answers to which help prospects screen
themselves to identify individual needs relating to ownership of an automobile (problem recognition); (2)
provides information on Daimler Chrysler offerings (for example, the Jeep Grand Cherokee) relating to
these identified needs (information search); and
(3) compares features and benefits of different makes
and models in the buyer's choice set (alternative evaluation). After the shopper chooses make and model, he
or she can get a quote on the price of the car from dealers participating in the site (purchase). Post-purchase
evaluation is manifest in the service site, discussed next.
SERVICE SITES The Wells Fargo service site is a good example of characteristics and benefits of these
sites. On a basic level, their ATMs (Automated Teller Machines), which simplify financial transactions with
customers, allow banks to extend banking hours to twenty-four hours a day without the need for additional
personnel and, by including ATMs in retail establishments, to expand geographically without having to build
additional branches.
On the Internet level, Wells Fargo's interactive online service site allows customers to access account
balances, review transaction histories, buy and sell securities, transfer funds between accounts, pay bills,
and apply for lines of credit and home equity loans. Savings on telephone and personnel charges from
customers requesting balance information was sufficient to subsidize their entire Web site.
Federal Express is another excellent example of savings possible through a welI-designed service Web
site. The FedEx Web site, which helps customers interactively track packages from initial shipping to
destination, saves the company about $125,000 a month in telephone charges and support personnel who
were previously required to answer customer questions about the whereabouts of packages.
(Richard L. Sandhusen Marketing, third edition, Barrons Educational Series, New York, 2000)
9. Lesson Nine
DIGITALIZATION AND CONNECTIVITY

Many appliances and systems in the past ranging from telephone systems, wrist watches and
musical recordings to industrial gauges and controls operated on analogue information. Analogue
information is continuously variable in response to physical stimuli.
Today a growing number of appliances and systems operate on digital information, which comes as
streams of zeros and ones, or bits. Text, data, sound and images can be converted into bitstreams. A laptop
computer manipulates bits in its thousands of applications. Software consists of digital content for
operating systems, games, information storage and other applications.
For bits to flow from one appliance or location to another requires connectivity, a
telecommunications network. Much of the world's business today is carried out over networks that connect
people and companies.
With the creation of the World Wide Web and Web browsers in the 1990s, the Internet was
transformed from a mere communication tool into a certifiably revolutionary technology.
By 2003, Internet penetration in the United States had exceeded 66 per cent. Although the dot-com
crash in 2000 led to cutbacks in technology spending, research suggests that the growth of Internet access
among the world's population will continue to explode.
Internet use in the old IS-nation EU has grown 97.2 per cent between 2000 and 2004, while the new
EU members report a whopping increase of 155.1 per cent over the same period. There are now over 184
million Internet users in the expanded EU, representing an overall growth of 102.3 per cent between 2000
and 2004.
This explosive worldwide growth in Internet usage forms the heart of the so-called New Economy.
The Internet enables consumers and companies to access and share huge amounts of information with just a
few mouse clicks.
Recent studies have shown that consumers are accessing information on the Internet before making
major life decisions. One in three consumers relies heavily on the Internet to gather information about
choosing a school, buying a car, finding a job, dealing with a major illness or making investment decisions.
As a result, to be competitive in today's new marketplace, companies must adopt Internet technology or risk
being left behind.
When people think of the typical Internet user, some still mistakenly envisage a pasty-faced
computer nerd or cyberhead, others a young, techy, up-market male professional. Such stereotypes are
sadly outdated. As more and more people find their way onto the Internet, the cyberspace population is
becoming more mainstream and diverse.
The Internet was, at first, an elitist country club reserved only for individuals with select financial
abilities and technical skills', says an e-commerce analyst. 'Now, nearly every socioeconomic group is
aggressively adopting the Web.
The Internet provides e-marketers with access to a broad range of demographic segments.
In recent research conducted among 3,600 individuals who play online games, the US Digital
Marketing Services found that American females over 40 years old spend about 9.1 hours per week playing
online games (e.g., word and puzzle, casino, trivia and arcade games).
By, contrast, female teenagers spend 7.4 hours per week playing games, while females under 40
years log 6.2 hours.
America Online offers a Kids Only area featuring homework help and online magazines along with the
usual games, software and chatrooms. The Microsoft Network site carries Disney's Daily Blast, which
offers kids games, stories, comic strips with old and new Disney characters.
BeingGirl.com is a site for teens, offering information on relationships, boys, periods and much more.
Leading girls' entertainment software publishers also joined forces to offer a special website
(just4girls.com) that promotes stories, games, dolls and accessories targeted at 8-12-year-old girls.
Although Internet users are still younger on average than the population as a whole, consumers aged 50
and older make up almost 20 per cent of the online population.
Whereas younger groups are more likely to use the Internet for entertainment and socialising, older
Internet surfers go online for more serious matters.
Internet consumers differ from traditional offline consumers in their approaches to buying and in their
responses to marketing. People who use the Internet place greater value on information and tend to respond
negatively to messages aimed only at selling. Internet directories, such as Yahoo! NodeWorks and Lycos,
and search engines, such as Google, AltaVista, Excite, AlltheWeb and many others, give consumers
access to vast and varied information sources, making them better informed and more discerning shoppers.

Traditional marketing targets a somewhat passive audience. In contrast, e-marketing targets people who
actively select which websites they will visit and what marketing information they will receive about which
products and under what conditions.
Thus, the new world of e-commerce will require new marketing approaches.
(Philip Kotler, Veronica Wong, John Saunders, Gary Armstrong Principles of Marketing fourth edition,
Pearson Education Limited, London, 2005)
10. Lesson Ten
INTERNATIONAL TRADE

This section examines reasons for the burgeoning growth of world trade, the general lack of US
participation in this growth, the benefits and drawbacks of participating in world trade, the trends that will
shape global market threats and opportunities, and where in the world these threats and opportunities exist.
WHY INTERNATIONAL TRADE GROWS
Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, international trade the exchange of goods
and services among countries became the fastest growing sector of the world economy, increasing from
less than $200 billion to more than
$5 trillion between 1975 and 1999. The following interrelated
conditions facilitated this growth:
LONG PERIODS OF GLOBAL PEACE
In contrast to the first half of the twentieth century, when much of the substance of advanced
countries was diverted toward military adventures, the second half was largely characterized by localized
conflicts among less developed countries, leaving a stable foundation for healthy, rapid growth of the
global economy.
Global economic growth, in turn, is a potent imperative to peace, as countries, through open
trading relationships, create the wealth, productivity, and living standards that substitute for the goals of aggression.
TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
Ironically, the wars that diverted resources from peaceful trading pursuits before midcentury were largely responsible for technological breakthroughs that fueled trade after midcentury. Particularly in the fields of power, communication, and transportation (for example, jet
aircraft, electronic data transmission, television), these breakthroughs created products to trade,
processes to make them, and the means to market them in geographically dispersed areas. To quote
Levitt:
Technology has created a new commercial reality. . . the emergence of global markets for standardized
consumer products on a previously unimagined scale. . . . Almost everyone, everywhere, wants all the
things they've heard about, seen, or experienced via the new technology.
INTERNATIONAL TRADING AGREEMENTS
If peace and technology were largely responsible for creating an environment in which
international trade could flourish, a common commitment among nations to avoid restrictive trade practices
and foster global economic growth was largely responsible for creating agreements to enhance the free flow
of goods and services among nations.
Examples of these agreements include the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT),
replaced in 1995 by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the
World Bank. WTO provides principles and procedures for reducing tariffs and liberalizing trade, such as
the Most-Favored-Nation principle, whereby each signatory country extends to all countries its most
favorable trade terms. The IMF creates multinational reserve assets that member nations can draw upon for
financial support. These assets are usually drawn upon by developing countries with severe balance-ofpayments problems, in return for which they are usually expected to make politically unpopular

concessions. For example, when the exchange value of the Mexican peso fell by almost half in 1995reducing living standards and leaving many businesses near ruin the price of a new line of credit from the
U.S. Treasury and the IMF was a draconian economic program guaranteed to ensure recessive conditions.
The World Bank, initially formed in 1944 to aid countries suffering from the destruction of war,
tends to take a more active role than the IMF in helping countries modify basic economic policies in return
for aid. This aid usually focuses on infrastructure development, such as transportation, communication, and
power. More recently, the World Bank has worked with the IMF to resolve debt problems in the developing
world, including taking an active role in bringing market economies to former communist-bloc countries.
(Richard L. Sandhusen Marketing, third edition, Barrons Educational Series, New York, 2000)

11. Lesson Eleven

INTERNATIONAL BANKING
Only thirty years ago, United States banks, with few exceptions, stayed within their own national
borders. The field of international banking was dominated by British banks. But things have changed
dramatically. Now many large U.S. banks do a significant part of their business overseas, lending to
foreigners. Correspondingly, foreign banks do a lot of business in this country, lending to Americans.
AMERICAN BANKS ABROAD
In 1960, only eight U.S. banks had branches abroad, and the assets of those branches totaled less
than $4 billion. Now about 130 American banks have foreign branches, and the assets of those branches
approach $300 billion. What accounts for this remarkable expansion of U.S. banks into foreign countries?
One reason is the rapid growth of foreign trade and of U.S. multinational corporations that took place
during the sixties and seventies. American firms engaged in importing or exporting, and American
multinationals with subsidiaries and affiliates abroad, often need banking services overseas. Foreign banks
can do the job if necessary, but a branch of an American bank abroad can be even more convenient: there
are no language problems; the firm and the branch share common business customs and practices; and in
the case of multinationals the parent firm and parent bank may already have longstanding ties with each
other.
In addition to branches abroad, U.S. banks also participate in international financing through Edge Act
corporations, which are domestic subsidiaries engaged strictly in international banking operations. In 1919
Congress passed the Edge Act (named after Senator Walter Edge of New Jersey) to allow U.S. banks to
establish special subsidiaries to facilitate their involvement in international finance. Edge Act corporations
are located in the United States, but they are exempt from the McFadden Act's prohibition against interstate
branching, so that a bank can have Edge Act subsidiaries in several different states one in Florida, for
example, specializing in financing trade with Latin America, one in New York, one on the West Coast, and
so on.
FOREIGN BANKS IN THE UNITED STATES
Just as U.S. banks have a major presence abroad, so foreign banks play a significant role in this
country. For example, in a typical year about 28 percent of the dollar volume of all commercial bank
business loans in the United States is made by branches or subsidiaries of foreign-owned banks.
Many large and well-known banks are foreign-owned: Marine Midland of Buffalo is owned by the
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation; Union Bank of Los Angeles is British-owned; California
First Bank of San Francisco is Japanese-owned; Harris Trust of Chicago is owned by the Bank of Montreal;
and the European-American Bank (New York), successor to the failed Franklin National Bank, is owned by
a consortium of six foreign banks whose home bases are Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, and
the Netherlands. All in all, more than 900 offices of foreign banks are currently operating in the United
States.
Foreign banks do business here through four main organizational forms: they may open a branch of the
parent bank, open or buy a subsidiary bank, establish an agency, or open a representative office. A branch

is an integral part of the foreign bank and usually carries that bank's name. A subsidiary is legally separate
from the foreign bank that owns its stock; the subsidiary usually has its own charter and mayor may not
carry the name of its foreign owner. Both branches and subsidiaries are full-service banking institutions.
Agencies have more limited powers than either branches or subsidiaries; they can make loans but cannot
accept deposits. Representative offices cannot accept deposits or make loans; they mostly make contacts
with potential customers of the parent organization (by holding dinner parties) and perform public relations
functions (by sponsoring rock or philharmonic concerts). Foreign banks can also complicate matters further
by having Edge Act corporations in the United States.
Until 1978, foreign banks operating in the United States were largely unregulated. They did not have to
hold reserves with the Fed, they were able to branch across state lines, and they had numerous other rights
and privileges denied to domestic banks. This was changed by the International Banking Act of 1978,
which brought foreign banks under essentially the same federal regulations that apply to domestic banks.
(Lawrence S. Ritter, William L. Silber, Principles of Money, Banking and Financial Markets, seventh
edition, BasicBooks, USA, 1991)
12. Lesson Twelve
INTRAPERSONAL VARIABLES THAT INFLUENCE CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
GENDER-BASED GROUPS
Country-specific attitudes toward males and females are of interest to global markets in that they
help define the nature and size of markets, and marketing mixes that best meet the needs of these markets.
To varying degrees, for example, most Asian and Islamic countries exhibit male preference,
manifested in China by the widespread practice of aborting female fetuses, and in Saudi Arabia by the
separated, downgraded socioeconomic status of women, who must attend separate schools, are generally
restricted from working outside the home (mostly in professions with no male contact), and are legally
prohibited from driving cars or riding in a taxi without a male escort.
Even when women constitute a large portion of the working population, there are dramatic
differences in types of jobs regarded as male or female. In Sweden, for example, more than 45 percent
of administrative and managerial positions are held by women, compared to less than 5 percent in Spain.
Thus, for a company like Merton, an understanding of the relative socioeconomic status of the sexes
can help answer a number of questions pertaining to consumer behavior, such as how large each market is,
what products each needs, who makes purchasing decisions, and how each market can best be reached.

HOW INTRAPERSONAL VARIABLES INFLUENCE CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Having identified significant interpersonal variables - such as cultural and social values that defined
target market characteristics and needs as well as marketing mix strategies for reaching target market
members, Merton planners next focused on intrapersonal variables predisposing individual target market
members toward the purchase of MM systems. For example, what would be the effect of a respondent's age
and economic condition on a decision to purchase an MM system? What personal motivations would such
a purchase satisfy? How would lifestyle and personality characteristics predispose purchase?
In exploring the nature and impact of these variables on consumer behavior. the planners began with
demographic intrapersonal variables including age, occupation, and econo-mic circumstances-and then
explored psychographic intraper-sonal variables, induding motivation, learning, perception, attitudes,
personality, and lifestyle.
DEMOGRAPHIC INTRAPERSONAL VARIABLES
Information on demographic variables, which pertain to such state-of-being characteristics of human
populations as size, density, location, age, sex, and race, are relatively easy to come by and frequently
correlate well with buyer behavior. Thus, in every market studied, Merton planners found significant
relationships among three demographic variables age, occupation, and income and interest in
purchasing MM systems. They found, for example, that middle management in accounting, banking, and
insurance fields, primarily in the 30-50 age group, had the strongest interest in purchasing MM systems and
sufficient discretionary income and borrowing power to fulfill this interest.

PSYCHOGRAPHIC INTRAPERSONAL VARIABLES

Unlike demographic variables, significant psychographic variables motives, attitudes, perceptions,
and the like are generally difficult to identify and measure. Often it's worth the effort, however, since
these variables can be the most useful of all for segmenting markets and building persuasive marketing mix
offerings that relate to potent emotive responses.
Following are brief definitions of motives, perceptions, attitudes, and lifestyles and the Merton
planners' conclusions pertaining to the effect of each on consumer responses to MM marketing mix
variables.
MOTIVATION
A motive, or drive, is a stimulated need that an individual seeks to satisfy.
Until it is satisfied or otherwise eliminated it will continue to generate an uncomfortable tension.
Stimulated needs can be classified as primary buying motives (associated with such broad product
categories as computers) or selective buying motives (associated with such specific product brands as MM
computers). Marketing activities can be viewed as a way to both stimulate motives (to feel a need for a
computer system) and to satisfy motives (to make an offer that meets this need that the buyer can't refuse).
Maslow identifies a hierarchy of five levels of needs, arrayed in the order in which an individual is
motivated to gratify them, starting with physiological needs and working up through safety, social, and
esteem needs to self-actualization needs atop the hierarchy. Accepting Maslow's hierarchy, Moore would
then attempt to identify the need hierarchy level occupied by prospective MM systems buyers, then plan a
promotional campaign to reach this target market, based largely on a researched understanding of the
nature and needs of this segment.

PERCEPTION
Perception is the process by which people derive meaning from the selection, organization, and
interpretation of stimuli from within themselves (such as a feeling of frustration) or from the external
environment (such as an advertisement for MM computer systems). Three perception-related concepts are
of particular interest to marketing managers. Here is how each might influence a promotional campaign for
the Merton MM:
Selective exposure means that people only have the mental capacity to process a small percentage
of the millions of stimuli competing to get through to our cognitive centers. Stimuli (such as an advertisement or sales presentation) that relate to an anticipated event, show how the audience can satisfy needs,
or represent a significant change in intensity from other stimuli have been found more likely to be selected.
Thus, a full-page advertisement (intensity change) might announce a free special seminar to learn about
MM systems (anticipated event) and explain how this seminar can satisfy needs for increased income and
an improved lifestyle (need satisfaction).
Selective distortion means that people change the meaning of dissonant stimuli so that they
become consistent with their feelings and beliefs. For the marketer, this means that the offering should be
consistent with these feelings and beliefs, or the intended meaning will be lost.
Selective retention means that people are more likely to remember stimuli that support
preconceived feelings and beliefs and to forget stimuli that do not. In general, people tend to ignore, or
quickly forget, stimuli that they perceive as a functional risk (the product will not perform as claimed) or a
psychological risk (the product will not enhance the prospects self-concept or well-being). For stimuli
promoting the MM, this suggests appeals stressing proofs of performance.
ATTlTUDES
Attitudes are relatively stable tendencies to perceive or act in a consistent way toward products or
classes of products. They are formed or adjusted by what is learned from families, peers, and other social
groups; from information received; and from previous behavior. Although attitudes are second only to
intentions as predictors of behavior, they are difficult to define, measure, and relate to product classes
(computers) or specific brands (Merton).
To mitigate this difficulty, Merton marketers found it useful to define and measure the influence of
attitudes toward product purchases in terms of four product-related functional areas:

Utilitarian, or the ability of the product to help achieve desired goals (a productive career path, for
example);
Ego-defensive, or the capability of the product to defend the buyer's self-image against internal or
external threats;
Value expressive, or the degree of consistency of the product with the buyer's central values or
self-image;
Knowledge, or the ability of the product to give meaning to the individual's beliefs and
experiences.
For example, a measurement of these attitudinal dimensions (using rating scales discussed in
Chapter 5) among middle managers might show confusion as to how the MM could achieve utilitarian or
ego-defensive goals, which could be addressed in MM promotional literature.
LIFESTYLEDistinguishing combinations of activities, interests, and opinions that lead to
relatively consistent and enduring responses to the environment comprise an individual's lifestyle. The
usual technique for defining an individual's lifestyle, called psychographics, involves measuring attitudes,
interests, and opinions (AlO) in diverse areas (work, politics, recreation, and the like) by soliciting agreedisagree responses on lengthy survey instruments. Once distinctive lifestyle groups are revealed through
similar AlO response patterns, an attempt is made to relate these groups to demographic and marketing mix
variables. Although problems involved in generating and interpreting lifestyle data can be formidable, they
often provide multidimensional views of target market segments that suggest new product and product
positioning opportunities, improved communications, and generally improved marketing strategies.
(Richard L. Sandhusen Marketing, third edition, Barrons Educational Series, New York, 2000)
13. Lesson Thirteen
GENDER DISCRIMINATION

Tradition is a guide, not a jailer!, wrote W. Somerset Maugham. Could it be that some
traditions, however rooted in great histories and cultures are now trapping countries into poverty? This
certainly appears to be the case when it comes to the influence of social and cultural norms on the status of
women.
For many people, especially in the developed countries, discrimination is mostly a moral issue and
must be resisted as a matter of principle. What is often overlooked, however, is the economic impact of
preventing women from participating actively in the economy.
The Gender, Institutions and Development Database (GID) shows that deeply rooted social norms
and traditions continue to harm womens economic opportunities in many countries around the world.
Practices that discriminate against women, from forced marriages and genital mutilation to
restrictions on inheritance and ownership rights, stand in the way of gender equality and economic
development.
Almost universally, women have failed to reach leading positions in major corporations and
private sector organizations, irrespective of their abilities.
Women are better educated and hold more jobs worldwide than ever before. They represent almost
40 per cent of the worlds labour force. Yet, most women continue to suffer from occupational segregation
in the workplace and rarely break through the so-called glass ceiling separating them from
toplevel management and professional positions. The term glass ceiling was coined in 1970s in the United
States to describe the invisible artificial barriers created by attitudinal and organizational prejudices,
barring women from top executive jobs.
For women with family responsibilities, their upward movement may be hampered as they juggle
time to devote to both career and family. An important feature of professional and especially managerial
work, are the long working hours that seem to be required to gain recognition and eventual promotion.

Part-time managers are a rare breed and yet it seems virtually impossible to reconcile long hours
with the demands of running a home and caring for children. As a result, in certain countries there are
indications that women, more than men, forgo marriage and children for the sake of their careers.
Still, what can be done to make things better?
Some strategies meant to promote women in management cover areas such as training,
networking, mentoring, review of recruitment and promotion systems, family friendly policies, awarenessraising, evolving enterprise culture, recognition of womens increasing economic role and contri-bution and
improved data collection. Finally, governments, employers, workers organizations and womens
organizations play an important part in promoting gender equality and women in management.
Another important aspect is that fighting against gender discrimination must involve men too.
Engaging men in reform, providing incentives and perhaps even financial compensation are important.
Yet, even if generally speaking the situation is far from being pleasing, there are few exceptions.
Such is for instance the case of the world famous company Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP).
On Monday, Hewlett-Packard named Carly Fiorina its new president and chief
executive.
Although acknowledged for her sales skills and ability to build consensus, Fiorina was not a
financial expert. She learned by doing, thought about thing from her own unique perspective, and was
bright enough to pull it off.
Her career path was non-traditional, being governed more by chance rather than by design. She
started in law school, but dropped out after a year.
She worked as a receptionist and a teacher before moving into sales at AT&T in 1980. She moved
up through the AT&T organization and has said, I've never foreseen a path for myself, but I've always
seized whatever opportunities presented themselves.
Frequently moved around the world while growing up, she had the opportunity to learn from many
cultures. Fiorina's father, an intellectually rigorous law professor, raised, her and her brother.. to speak their
minds and to accept no limits. That may exp1ain her career decision.
Her mother, a painter, taught Carly the power of positive attitude and gave her a zest for life.
In a recent interview, Lew Platt, current HP CEO, explained some of the reasons for selecting
Fiorina: She is able to impart HP speed and a sense of urgency; the Internet age implies Internet speed so
we had to invigorate things here.
(OECD Observer No.254, March 2006)

14. Lesson Fourteen

CASE-STUDY: VODAFONE
Mobile phones have been a worldwide phenomenon. This is a story of how technological
breakthroughs have driven enormous social changes: mobile phones impact on every aspect of life, being
indispensable items for teenagers and their social lives, for anxious parents ensuring their kids can get in
touch, for small and big business alike to check on messages, and for hosts of, as yet undiscovered,
applications.
We all take for granted now the benefit of instant communicability anywhere, but ten years ago
this was a luxury.
The early handsets were large and cumbersome, and this was a significant factor in slow early
growth. But by the mid to late-1990s the handsets were small and attractive, and the network operators
had achieved nearly 100 per cent coverage of the land.
Since their introduction as a consumer item in the
mid-1980s, mobile phone sales have
followed a classic S shaped curve, which reached its peak in the late 1990s to early 2000s.
In the late 1990s the onset of pre-pay options triggered a dramatic upturn in sales in what Geoffrey
Moore, an IT guru, calls a tornado of demand. By 2003 over 77 per cent of the UK were signed up to a
network.

On 1 January 1985 Vodafone made the UK's first mobile call.

Vodafone is the world's biggest mobile network operator. It has over 13 million customers in the
UK, this being a market share of approximately 32 per cent by revenue. It now has a customer base of over
100 million and interests in network operators across 28 countries. It is said that about 1 in
100
people worldwide have a Vodafone mobile, making over 100 million calls daily.
Vodafone has a strong visual identity based on the colour red and the Vodafone red and-white
quotation mark logo. With a turnover of over 4 billion, and a healthy operating margin of typically over
20 per cent, Vodafone UK is in strong financial shape to face the challenges of the next few years.
Even if Orange, its greatest competitor, won a host of awards for its early brand-building efforts
with its famous strap line The futures bright, the futures Orange, it has done rather less well since.
Vodafone has continued its business line that has been aggressively focused on acquisition, since
its very beginnings.
In 2003 Vodafones extensive products and services included:
an extensive array of value handsets, including Sony Ericsson T68I and Samsung A-300, sold in
conjunction with original equipment manufacturers.
ringtones;
a range of answering and messaging services, including voicemail an automatic answering
machine service;
very successful3G services offer to customers high quality video services, this not to talk about
gaming capability, access to e-mail, news and entertainment services; the services also include football
highlights on a pay-per-view basis offering video highlights of goals and interviews from top premier
league clubs.
new WAP services. Vodafones website describes wireless application protocol as the
technology that enables a slimmed-down version of the Internet to appear on the screen of a mobile phone.
Its useful for travel information, sports headlines and e-mail.
GPRS services a new way of sending and receiving information using a mobile phone. With a
GPRS phone you can be always connected to Internet services, whereas with
non-GPRS phones you
have to log-in every time you want to access information. The introduction of GPRS means that accessing
services like the Internet, WAP or your companys Intranet, is quicker, easier and represents better value
for money.
personal digital assistants: PDAs, or handheld PCs, offer pocket-sized computing to anyone who
needs their diary, address book, e-mail and important files wherever they go.
texting services or SMS: Text messaging is the best way to keep in touch when it's difficult to
talk. Whether youre in a noisy bar, on a crowded train, in a meeting or just don t want to be overheard
a great variety of payment options and methods. For example M-Pay. 'Vodafone M-Pay bill is a
new way to buy low cost items online by charging them to your mobile phone. Anyone can use it all you
need is a Vodafone mobile phone. Whatever you want to buy, from games and ringtones to business news
and birthday e-cards, you can pay quickly and easily using Vodafone m-pay bill.
(after Allan Tapp Principles of Direct and Database Marketing, third edition, Pearson Education
Limited, England, 2005)

Aplicaii Practice
1) Read the following terms and phrases and match each term from the right column
(numbered from 1-10) to their definition from the left column (marked from a-j)
1. covering letter
a) written by hand
2. curriculum vitae
b) an available job or position
3. to type
c) to be much better or or more important than somebody/something else
4.handwritten d) to give something to somebody so that it may be formally considered
or so that a decision about it may be made
5. to enclose
e) to promote something
6. to stand out
f) personal data sheet
7. to submit
g) to be eager for something that one expects to be enjoyable to happen
8. vacancy
h) application letter
9. to look forward
i) to put something in an envelope
10. to advertise
j) to write using a typewriter or calculator

2) Rearrange the following paragraphs into the right order so as to make up a covering
letter.

1.Since the age of fifteen I have been a keen student of antiques, learning more and more
through the years. I am also an enthusiastic collector of Meissen and Hutchenreutcr
porcelain.
2. I enclose a curriculum vitae and a recent photograph. I hope to hear from you soon.
3.Trainee Auctioneer
4. Yours faithfully
5. Encs: Curriculum vitae and Photograph
6. I would be very pleased if I could find employment in such a famous house as yours.
7. My present position is in an antiques market where I have special responsibility for
Victorian furniture and paintings. I feel, however, that I would like to specialize in
porcelain and china.

8. Dear Sir/Madam
9. With reference to your advertisement in today's Times, I would like to be considered
for the above-mentioned post.
3) Complete the following statements by choosing the right alternative a, b or c:
1. Im looking forward to.news from you.
a) receiving
b) receive
c) get

2. Mr. Brown, the marketing manager has informed me that there will be a.in his
department next month.
a) spare room
b) opportunity
c) vacancy
3. Tom .the Richmond Secondary School in 2005.
a) been
b) attended
c) graduated
4) Complete the following statements by choosing the right alternative a, b or c:
1. A products market value represents the.at which that product would be sold if
offered publicly.
a) value
b) capital
c) price
2. B2B is a short from Business to Business and is used those aspects
of e-commerce that involve the exchange of goods and services between companies over
the Internet
a) to define
b) to designate
c) to determine

3. The direct marketing is a..of marketing that attempts to send the messages
directly to consumers using addressable media such as mail and e-mail
a) way
b) form
c) means

5. Read the following sentences and decide if they are true or false.
Mark them with T or F.
1.
2.
3.
4.

To overcome a problem means to fail solving it.

Left-brain dominated people tend to focus more on their feelings.
To be creative implies to be a very organized person.
Famous brands such as Marlboro, Coca-Cola or Levi Jeans base their advertising mainly
on pure emotional symbolism.

6. Read the following words and put them into the right order:
1. A, who, reason, person, logical, focuses on, person, and, usually, is,
takes, a, step-by-step, a, left-brain, approach, to, problems, solving.
2. Direct, tend, the art, a lot, attention, to, of, of, creativity, marketers, to, pay.
3. 'The psychoanalysts that found all important have nearly decisions are made the in
subconscious.

7. Read the following statements and complete them using the suitable word or phrase:

1. ..have found that nearly all important decisions are made in the subconscious.
a) The scientists
b) The engineers
c) The psychoanalysts

2. The direct marketings .on entertainment is clear: there is no room for it in direct
communications.
a) opinion
b) question
c) stance
8. Read the following statements and decide whether they are grammatically correct or
not. Mark them with T or F.
1. If he were an imaginative person he would be a good advertiser.
2. If the marketing manager wasn't so strict, people would dare to to express their new
ideas.
3. If she was our employee she would be highly appreciated by everybody.
9. Read the following sentences and choose the right alternative a, b or c in order to
create valid statements:

1. Its high time our company .a new product.

a) would launch
b) launched
c) had launched
2. I wish Imore imagination.
a) to have
a) have had
b) had
3. He spoke as if he something about our advertising campaign.
a) knew
b) had known
c) could know

10. Read the following sentences and decide if they are true or false.
Mark them with T or F.
1.

It is impossible for advertising to be a form of research.

2.

Advertisers job is to sell.

3.

The purpose of advertising is to persuade.

11. Read the following sentences and choose the right alternative a, b or c in order to
create valid statements:

1. Some experts consider that the moment of truth is when the prospects or customers
.with the advert.
a) perceive
b) see
c) engage

2. Language much too often what people feel.

a) complicates
b) explain
c) camouflages
3. Do you think that advertising should be?
a) funny
b) playful

c) entertaining

12. Read the following sentences and put the verbs in brackets at the correct tense in
order to create grammatically valid statements:

1. The Internet ( help) you a lot if you (know) how to use it.

2. Little Alan (use).. the computer to play games if you (buy) him one.
13. Read the following utterances and match each one of them from the first column
(numbered from 1-5) to their logical halves from the second column (marked from a-e)
1.

If you like it you can spend many hours chatting

2.

If Walter doesnt know how to use the computer

3.

Studies have revealed that if consumers intend to make a major life decision

4.

If one needs a job he/she

5.

If you want to buy a car on the Internet

a) youll be able to do it very quickly.

b) with your friends from all over the world.
c) they will access the Internet.
d) he wont be able to find a well paid job.
e) can find it online.
14. Read the following sentences and decide if they are true or false:
1.

The World Trade Organization is the international forum that provides the MostFavoured-Nation principle.
2.
Technology has created a new commercial reality that led to the emergence of global
markets for standardized consumer products.
3.
The World Bank was initially formed in 1944to aid countries suffering from the
destructions of the war.

15.Read the following sentences and choose the right alternative a, b or c in

order to create grammatically valid statements:
1. They agreements if they werent necessary.
a) didnt conclude
b) wouldnt conclude
c) would conclude
2. If international organizations ..they wouldnt donate money for people suffering
from the war destruction.
a) dont care
b) didnt care
c) dont matter

16. Read the following sentences and choose the right alternative a, b or c in order to
create grammatically valid statements:
1.

British Banks international banking if they hadnt had branches abroad.

a) will have dominated
b) wouldnt have dominated
c) wont have dominated
2. The foreign banks so effective if they hadnt spoken English fluently.
a) wont be
b) cant have been
c) couldnt have been

17. Read the following sentences and decide if they are true or false. Mark them with T
or F.
1. Most Asian and Islamic countries exhibit female preference, manifested in China by
the widespread practice of aborting male fetuses.
2..Perception is the process by which people derive meaning from within themselves
(such as a feeling of frustration) or from the external environment

18. Read the sentences below and turn them into reported speech:

1. Have you ever thought that people buy depending on the place they live? the expert
asks

1.

I am studying consumer behaviour, Mario says.

19. Read attentively the sentences below and turn them into reported speech:
1. The CEO declares: Everybody must handle the reports till tomorrow at 10 am.

20. Read the following sentences and choose the right alternative a, b or c in order to
create grammatically valid statements:

1.

Everybody is amused seeing their advertising.

a) because of
b) about
c) at

2. Virginia is very satisfied her new mobile phone.

a) about
b) with
c) of

3.The manager is very pleased the result of the latest market survey.
a) of
b) at
c) with
Raspunsuri:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

1. h 2.f 3. J 4.a 5. I 6. c 7. d 8. b 9. g 10. E

3, 8, 9, 7, 1, 6, 2, 4
1a, 2 c, 3 c
1c, 2b, 3b
F, F, F, T6.
71c, 2c
8. T, F, F

17.
18.
19.
20.

9. 1b, 2c, 3a
10 F, T, T
11. 1c, 2a, 3c
12.1. helps/ know, 2. will use, buy
13. 1b, 2d, 3c, 4e, 4a
14 F, T, T
15. 1b, 2b
16. 1b, 2c
F, T
1. He teacher askes if he had ever thought that people bought depending on the place
they lived.2. Mario said that he was studying consumer behaviour.
The Ceo declared that everybody had to handle the reports till the next day on 10.pm
1c, 2b, 3c

Proiecte si Referate:
1. Write your own CV and covering letter; applications.
2. Write an essay on the role of communication in direct marketing. Is direct marketing
more effective than other strategies? Give reasons.
3. Project: enlarge upon the concept of marketing management. New philosophies of the
marketing management.
4. In no more than 250 words, write about the profile of the ideal manager.
5.
Write an essay in which you present some of your favourite advertising
strategies; provide examples
6.
Project: create your own advert using the information you got in class during
the past weeks.
7. Enlarge upon the meaning of the concept marketing on the internet. In no more than a
page, discuss about the similarities and differences between e-marketing (online/ webmarketing) versus traditional marketing.
8. Is it easier to run an e-company or a traditional one? Why? Bring arguments.
9. Project: International banking- dollar versus euro- which one is safer? Bring
arguments for and against.
10. Write an essay on the role of mobile marketing communications in
consumer marketing.