MKT 449 FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS ANSWERED CORRECTLY LATEST UPDATE 2026

MKT 449 FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS ANSWERED CORRECTLY LATEST UPDATE 2026 The difference between marketing and selling - Answers marketing: activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large; about identifying and meeting human and social needs -marketing goal is to make selling unnecessary, aim to know and understand customer so they product sells itself Marketing management* - Answers • The art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value • Objective is to increase firm's competitive advantage The simple marketing system - Answers industry (sellers) communicates with market (buyers) who provide info to industry and they exchange goods and services Needs, wants, and demands - Answers • Needs are basic human requirements such as air, food, water, clothing, and shelter • Wants direct to specific objects that might satisfy the need • Demands are wants for specific products backed by an ability to pay • Marketers do not create needs. Needs pre-exist marketers Three transformative forces in the new marketing realities - Answers technology, globalization, & social responsibility Value and satisfaction - Answers • Value: the sum of the tangible and intangible benefits and costs • Satisfaction: a person's judgment of a product's perceived performance in relationship to expectations Changing marketplace* - Answers 1. New consumer capabilities -Can use the internet as a powerful information and purchasing aid -Can search, communicate, and purchase on the move -Can tap into social media to share opinions and express loyalty -Can actively interact with companies -Can reject marketing they find inappropriate 2. New company capabilities: -Can use the internet as a powerful information and sales channel, including for individually differentiated goods -Can collect fuller and richer information about markets, customers, prospects, and competitors -Can reach customers quickly and efficiently via social media and mobile marketing, sending targeted ads, coupons, and information -Can improve purchasing, recruiting, training, and internal and external communications -Can improve cost efficiency 3. Changing channels -Retail transformation -Disintermediation (e.g., A) 4. Heightened competition -Private brands -Mega-brands -Deregulation -Privatization Evolution of marketing philosophies - Answers • The production concept: consumers prefer products that are widely available and inexpensive • The product concept: consumers favor products offering the most quality, performance, or innovative features • The selling concept: consumers and businesses, if left alone, won't buy enough of the organization's products • The marketing concept: the job is to find not the right customers for your products, but the right products for your customers The holistic marketing concept - Answers -internal marketing: marketing department, senior management, etc.; hiring, training, and motivating employees -performance marketing: sales revenue, brand & customer equity, ethics, environment, legal, social (ex. financial accountability, environmental & social impact) -relationship marketing: customers, employees, partners, financial community; key stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers, distributors, and retailers -integrated marketing: communications, products and services, channels, price; activities that create, communicate, and deliver value to whole is greater than parts 4 Ps - Answers people, processes, programs, performance Modern marketing management tasks* - Answers • Developing market strategies and plans • Capturing marketing insights • Connecting with customers • Building strong brands • Creating value • Delivering value • Communicating value • Creating successful long-term growth Four types of situations in a case - Answers 1. problems: situation with significant outcome or performance and no explicit explanation of outcome; realize problem exists, define problem, work out explanation of problem 2. decisions: decisions options (eg. new product, segmentation, digital marketing, or promotion), decision criteria (profitability, customer satisfaction, market share, or sales), & relevant evidence (data, rationale, examples, or models) 3. evaluations: express judgement about worth, value, or effectiveness of performance, act, or outcome; fit between evidence and criteria 4. rules: need to know type of info needed, appropriate rule to furnish info, correct way to apply rule, data necessary to execute rule (ex. breakeven calc, customer life value, brand equity) Conjoint analysis - Answers Angie's List case preferences for different attributes; 5 attributes: 1. type of service provider info available 2. extent of service provider info given 3. fair price guarantee 4. quality assurance 5. price STP (Chase) (M.M. Lafleur) - Answers -segmentation: divide market into distinct groups of customers (segments) -targeting: select most attractive segments to focus marketing on (offerings) -positioning: determine how to position product for each target segment (competitors) Market segmentation methods (Chase) - Answers -geographic: nations, states, regions, counties, cities, or neighborhoods -demographic: age, gender, income, education, family life cycle, religion, socioeconomic status -psychographic: buyer's divided into groups on basis of psychological/personality traits, lifestyles, or values -behavioral: divide buyers on basis of knowledge of, attitude towards, use of, or response to a product ex. initiator (suggests idea of buying product), influencer (view or advice influences decision), decider (decides any component of buying decision), buyer (makes actual purchase), user (uses/consumes product) Customer perceived value (Chase) (Kindle Fire) - Answers difference between prospective customer's evaluation of all the benefits and costs of an offering and the perceived alternatives CPV=Total Customer Benefit-Total Customer Cost CPV determinants (Chase) (Kindle Fire) - Answers Total customer benefits: -product, services, image, and personnel benefits Total customer costs: monetary, time, psychological, and energy costs Total Customer Benefit* - Answers the perceived monetary value of the bundle of economic, functional, and psychological benefits customers expect from a given market offering because of the product, service, people, and image Total Customer Cost* - Answers the perceived bundle of costs customers expect to incur in evaluating, using, and disposing of the given market offering, including monetary, time, energy, and psychological costs Attracting and Retaining Customers (Chase)* - Answers 1. reducing defection/customer churn -define and measure retention rate -distinguish/identify customer attrition causes -compare lost CLV to reducing defection rate 2. retention dynamics/marketing funnel -target market aware: heard of brand -open to trial: tried brand and would use again but haven't in last 3 months -recent user: used brand in last 3 months but not regular user -regular user: but not most used brand -most often used: use most often but use others too -loyal: always use brand as long as it available Decisions in international marketing (Xiaomi)* - Answers -Deciding whether to go abroad -Deciding which markets to enter -Deciding how to enter the market -Deciding on the marketing program -Deciding on the marketing organization Foreign market entry modes (Xiaomi) - Answers 1. Export: indirect and direct -Conditions: Limited sales potential in target country; Little product adaptation required; distribution channels close to plants; high target country product costs; high political risks 2. Contractual Agreement: licensing and joint ventures -Conditions: Import barriers in target country; large cultural distance; legal protection possible in target environment; government restrictions on foreign ownership 3. Foreign Direct Investment: acquisitions and direct investments -Conditions: Import barriers in target country; small cultural distance; high sales potential; low political risks Models of Foreign Market Entry with Own Brands (Xiaomi) - Answers -direct investment: foreign company can buy part or full interest in a local company or build its own manufacturing or service facilities -joint ventures: foreign investors have often joined local investors in a joint venture company in which they share ownership and control -licensing: licensor issues a license to a foreign company to use a manufacturing process, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other item of value for a fee or royalty -direct exporting: handling one's own exports -indirect exporting: working through independent intermediaries Porter's generic strategies (M.M. Lafleur) - Answers Scope of Competition: broad market or niche market Source of Competitive Advantage: low cost or differentiation cost leadership: broad market and low cost cost focus: niche market and low cost differentiation: broad market and differentiation differentiation focus: niche market and differentiation Positioning statement (M.M. Lafleur) - Answers Positioning • The act of designing a company's offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the minds of the target market • Value proposition - Succinctly communicates parameters of a position - Consider the following elements: • Your target market • Your value proposition - Unique competitive advantage - If a "real" attribute difference does not exist, create a "perceived" image difference • A positioning statement captures the qualities of how you wish to be perceived. • Answer the following questions: 1. Who are you trying to persuade? 2. Who are you competing with?• Who are your competitors, what is your major product category? 3. How are you better? • What makes you unique, what are your points of difference, do you have a benefit that dominates competitors? • For customers who want {target}, our brand is the best at {value proposition} Make sure your statement is succinct • Prioritize your brand benefits and choose the most important, compelling differentiator • Think about what benefits the customer Perceptual maps (M.M. Lafleur) - Answers -Definition: The set of perceptions, impressions, ideas and feelings that consumers have for the product compared with competing products. -a graph of how various brands are perceived by customers along 2 product attributes or customer satisfaction variables. These attributes can be price, quality, taste, and health. -Perceptual maps show graphical depictions of where brands are, and where their competitors are, in the minds of their customers *Brands close together are seen as similar *Brands farther apart are viewed as different Ansoff Matrix (ASICS) - Answers Market Penetration: • Increase sales to the existing market (ex. ice cream) New Products/Services: • Create new products/services for existing customers (ex. Starbucks) Market Development: • Find new markets for existing products/services (ex. Fanta, coke) Conglomerate Diversification: • Create new products for new markets (ex. iPad, geek squad) Brand development strategies (ASICS) - Answers Line extension: product that incorporates slight twist on an established brand, utilizes the older brand's name and imagery, and is usually in the same general product category Brand extension: introducing host of new products under a firm's strongest brand names -improved odds of new-product success -positive feedback effects -risk of brand dilution -may harm parent brand -firm forgoes creating new brand Components of market offering (Kindle Fire) (Coke) - Answers Attractiveness of market offering: -value-based prices -product features and quality -services mix and quality Product levels (Kindle Fire) - Answers -Potential product: new products -Augmented product: delivery and credit, after-sale service, installation, warranty -Expected product -Basic/actual product: brand name, features, quality level, design, packaging -Core benefit ex. Amazon Kindle Fire -core benefit: info provider -actual/basic product: touch screens, wifi connection, storage -augmented product: cloud service, free prime subscription -potential product: foldable, transparent Product line strategies for existing customers (Kindle Fire) - Answers -Up-selling: encouraging existing customers to purchase a comparable higher-end product than the one in question -Down-selling: encouraging existing customers to purchase a comparable lower-end product than the one in question (barely practice in reality) iPhone 11 -Cross-selling: encouraging existing customers to purchase related or complementary items -Line filling: increasing items in an existing product line. (Line extension) Product line strategies for new customers (Kindle Fire) - Answers • Up-Market Stretch: adding products that are higher priced than the existing line For example, Toyota introduces Lexus into the luxury car market. • Down-Market Stretch: adding products that are lower priced than the existing line For example, Mercedes Benz introduces Smart into the middle-class market • Two-Way Stretch: adding products in both directions. For example, Marriot has brands (e.g., JW Marriot) for the high-end market, and brands (e.g., Residence Inn) for the low-end market. Services (Kindle Fire) - Answers Definition: Any act or performance one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Categories of Service Mix • A pure tangible good • A tangible good with accompanying services • A hybrid • A major service with accompanying minor goods/services • A pure service Characteristics of services (Kindle Fire) - Answers • Intangibility: services cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard, or smelled before they are bought • Inseparability: services are typically produced and consumed simultaneously • Variability: quality of services depends on who provides them, when and where, and to whom • Perishability: services cannot be stored New product development decision process (Google Glass) - Answers 1. Idea generation 2. Idea screening 3. Concept development and testing 4. Marketing strategy development 5. Business analysis 6. Product development 7. Market testing 8. Commercialization New product options - Answers How do firms have new products? • Buy other companies • Buy patents from other companies • Buy a license or franchise from another company • New-to-the-world items • Improving existing products Idea generation (Google Glass) - Answers Idea generation: Is the idea worth considering Discussion: Sources of new ideas • Interacting with employees • Interacting with outsiders • Studying competitors • Adopting creativity techniques Idea screening (Google Glass) - Answers Idea screening: Is the product idea compatible with company objective, strategies, and resources? -Purpose: to drop ideas as early as possible -Rationale: product-development costs rise substantially at each successive development stage Concept Development and Testing (Google Glass) - Answers Concept development and testing: can we find a good concept consumers say they would try? Concept testing responses • Communicability and believability • Perceived value • Need level • Purchase intention • Gap level • User targets, purchase occasions and frequency