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Question PaperMarketing Management – I (MB1C1): October 2008

Answer all 100 questions.

Each question carries one mark.

1. A new edition of a marketing textbook has just released by S.Chand publishers. The Library Departmentof the University of Mumbai has always liked the textbooks and authorizes the purchase of the new

edition without even looking at other publishers. This is an example of a/an

(a) Modified rebuy

(b) New task

(c) Straight rebuy

(d) Impulse purchase

(e) Purchase.

<Answer>

2. Likert’s summated rating scale which is a set of direct, close-ended questions on a continuous five point

scale can be used to study

(a) Motivation of the customers

(b) Perception of the customers(c) Belief of the customers

(d) Buying behavior of the customers

(e) Attitude of the customers.

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3. Financial measures are used to analyze the current situation of an organization and ratio analysis helps toanalyze the financial performance of a firm. Which of the following ratios are liquidity ratios?

I. Average collection period.

II. Long term capitalization.

III. Quick Ratio.

IV. Return on equity.

V. Dividend yield.

(a) Both (I) and (II) above

(b) Both (I) and (III) above

(c) Both (II) and (IV) above

(d) Both (II) and (V) above

(e) Both (III) and (V) above.

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4. The income left with an individual after purchasing the basic necessities like food and clothing is calledas

(a) Disposable income

(b) Taxable income

(c) Accounting income

(d) Discretionary income(e) Credit.

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5. Which of the following statements is/are true regarding the sales era in the evolution of marketing?

I. Manufacturers believed that the success of their business depended on outselling the competition.

II. Companies realized the need for product promotion and distribution.

III. Marketers focused their efforts only on selling their products to customers.

IV. Consumer orientation began placing the consumer at the beginning as well as the end of the

business cycle.

(a) Only (I) above

(b) Only (IV) above

(c) Both (II) and (III) above

(d) (I), (II) and (III) above

(e) All (I), (II), (III) and (IV) above.

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6. Which of the following leads to an intense rivalry amongst firms in an industry?

I. When a few firms enjoy a large market share.

II. If a significant market share is enjoyed by a large number of small players.

III. Lack of differentiation among the products of the players in the industry.

IV. When switching cost for customers is low.

(a) (I), (II) and (III) above

(b) (I), (II) and (IV) above(c) (I), (III) and (IV) above

(d) (II), (III) and (IV) above


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7. According to Patrick.M.Lencioni, when a company sets social and behavioral standards for its

employees, values become

(a) Core values

(b) Desired values

(c) Values by chance

(d) Approved values

(e) Benefit values.

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8. The three psychographic dimensions most commonly used in market segmentation are(a) Personality, perception and learning

(b) Personality, perception and behavior

(c) Motives, attitudes and lifestyles

(d) Personality, motivation and lifestyles

(e) Values, occasions and lifestyles.

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9. The loyalty status of a customer who uses two or three brands is categorized as

(a) Soft-core loyals

(b) Split loyals

(c) Shifting loyals

(d) Stretchers

(e) Hard-core loyals.

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10. The system that collects and processes information using computer software programs, advanced

statistics tools and other such techniques to obtain a scientific solution for marketing problems and also

able to store and retrieve data is referred as

(a) Marketing intelligence system

(b) Marketing decision support system

(c) Managerial decision process

(d) Ethical marketing research

(e) Marketing information system.

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11. Which of the following analysis determines the sales system using statistical tools by developing sets of

equations?

(a) Econometric analysis

(b) Exponential smoothing(c) Demand analysis

(d) Test marketing

(e) Sales quota.

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12. Target Stores, a US based discount chain stores had 1330 retail stores in 47 states of the United States.

Even though it only had one fifth of the sales and profits of Wal-Mart, it had a loyal customer base thatwas looking for trendy, yet, affordable range of merchandise. Target forged partnerships with designers

to sell exclusive designer wear in their store. Which of the following is the best suitable reason for

Target Store to opt for these partnerships?

(a) In US, customers prefer designer wear

(b) It helps the firm to price its products lower than that of its competitors

(c) It earns more profit on designer wear (d) To reinforce its image and provide quality products to its customers

(e) This would be an inexpensive way to attract new customers.

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13. After considering all the options worth buying, Sandy has decided to go to @home furniture shop

because of the discounts she will receive on buying the double cot bed. Which stage of the buying

decision process is Sandy in?

(a) Problem recognition

(b) Post purchase(c) Information search

(d) Purchase(e) Dissonance.

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14. Credit is obtained from financial institutions, banks, credit card providers and stores. Customers’

inclination to use credit depends on their

I. Disposable income.

II. Interest rate.

III. Size of down payments.

IV. Monthly installments.


(b) (I), (II) and (IV) above

(c) (I), (III) and (IV) above



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15. Bairaju Foundation started by Satyam Computer Services Limited is empowering youth and providing

free education and pure drinking water in villages. Which of the following marketing concepts does this

reflect?

(a) Marketing concept

(b) Selling concept

(c) Societal marketing concept

(d) Production concept

(e) Product concept.

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16. Which of the following are unbranded, plainly packaged products and less expensive products?

(a) Expected products

(b) Branded products

(c) Generic products

(d) Augmented products

(e) Potential products.

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17. DJ & C, a ready made trouser and shirt manufacturer in India identified an opportunity to increase the

market share by launching its products in Pakistan and Srilanka. Which of the following strategies DJ &

C will adopt to increase its market share?

(a) Market penetration strategy

(b) Product development strategy

(c) Market development strategy(d) Diversification strategy

(e) Market Integration strategy.

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18. Apna Bazar a super market chain in Delhi has a very good reputation in the city. They have a loyal

customer base. During 1st, 2

nd and last weeks of every month the customer traffic in the store is very high

and takes much time for the billing for each customer. So the customers are dissatisfied and complaining

against the billing. Some times the printers are stuck. So the staff asked the management to replace the printers with Inkjet. Earlier they used to purchase printers from Logitech, which supplies dot matrix

printers only. Which of the following would be most suitable buying decision for the management of

Apna Bazar?

(a) Resubmit an order to Logitech only on the same conditions as before

(b) Ask the Logitech technicians to repair and maintain printers regularly

(c) Buy Dot matrix printers from other company

(d) Buy Inkjet printers from other company

(e) Ask Logitech to produce Inkjet printers for them.

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25. Which of the following concepts is based on the belief that implies, determining target customers needs

and delivering desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors?

(a) Marketing concept

(b) Selling concept

(c) Production concept(d) Societal marketing concept

(e) Product concept.

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26. Hindustan Lever Limited’s (HLL) product lines include consumer goods, distributed by the same

channels of distribution and are produced in similar manufacturing facilities. This best illustrates HLL’s

product line

(a) Width

(b) Depth

(c) Length

(d) Volume

(e) Consistency.

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27. Which of the following are runner-up companies that aggressively attack competitors to get more market

share?

(a) Market leaders(b) Market challengers

(c) Market followers

(d) Market nichers

(e) Market penetrators.

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28. In order to communicate and deliver the company’s desired position to the consumer successfully, the

company

I. Must emphasize advertising in support of its positioning strategy.

II. Must focus its promotional efforts on personal selling.

III. Must place its greatest efforts on producing the desired product efficiently.

IV. Must focus the entire marketing program in support of the chosen positioning strategy.

(a) Only (I) above

(b) Only (IV) above

(c) Both (I) and (II) above



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29. Which of the following are the strategies to be followed by the companies to succeed in Niche

marketing?

I. The company should not introduce products that compete with its own products in the market.

II. It has to position their product in smaller markets.

III. It has to focus on individual customer.

IV. It has to provide specialized product offering.


(b) (I), (II) and (IV) above(c) (I), (III) and (IV) above



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30. Which of the following segmentation criteria focuses on customer capabilities as a factor for segmenting

organizational market?

(a) Demographic

(b) Operating variables

(c) Purchasing

(d) Situational factors

(e) Personal characteristics of the purchasers.

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31. Which of the following information is obtained by scanning of information sources on a continuous basis

and includes information on industry, competitors, etc., obtained from newspaper articles, magazines,

trade journals, government reports and annual reports?

(a) Monitoring information

(b) Requested information

(c) Processing information

(d) Recurrent information(e) Selective information.

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32. Ajay Mathur works in an organization, where purchases are accountable to the public. His purchasing

processes are influenced by various levels and are also extremely complex. In this regard, the market

type in which Ajay Mathur works refer to

(a) Reseller market

(b) Producer market

(c) Government market

(d) Supplier market

(e) Monopoly market.

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33. Which of the following is the reference group, that an individual does not hold any membership and tries

to resent values and beliefs of that group?

(a) Membership reference group

(b) Aspirational reference group

(c) Disclaimant reference group

(d) Avoidance group

(e) Secondary reference group.

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34. Which of the following analysis provides marketers with an estimate of the extent of profits that each

product line brings to the company?

(a) Marketing cost analysis

(b) Customer profitability analysis

(c) Financial situation analysis

(d) Contribution analysis

(e) Ratio analysis.

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35. Companies continually search for new customers in order to make profits and increase their sales

volume. Which of the following is not helpful to the companies in generating a lead to attract new

customers?

(a) Developing advertisements

(b) Mailing to prospective customers(c) Participating in trade shows and fairs

(d) Making personal phone call to customers

(e) Measuring the defection rate.

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36. Which of the following occurs when a company lengthens its product beyond its current range of

products offered to consumers?

(a) Line stretching(b) Line filling

(c) Line pruning

(d) Line modernization

(e) Line proliferation.

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37. Limitation of which of the following is not a source of weakness for a business?

(a) Facilities

(b) Financial resources

(c) Brand image

(d) Marketing skills

(e) Culture.

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38. Consult-Me Consultants Inc., has been involved in several special meetings to discuss on issues such as

business mission, situation analysis, market and growth alternatives, and implementation approaches.

Consult-Me is apparently engaged in

(a) Value chain analysis

(b) Segmenting(c) Strategic planning

(d) Business analysis(e) Business process engineering.

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39. Although marketer needs to concentrate on a super segment, it is better to go one step at a time.

Competitors should not get a clear picture of the direction in which the organization is moving. Which ofthe following segmentation strategies best suits the above condition?

(a) Segment interrelationships and super segments

(b) Ethical choice of market targets

(c) Full market coverage

(d) Selective specialization

(e) Segment by segment invasion plan.

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40. The risk taking and risk averting nature of a buyer influences in segmenting organizational market is an

example of

(a) Personal characteristics


(c) Purchasing approaches


(e) Demographics.

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41. The competitors’ reaction patterns to a firm’s competitive strategies should be observed continuously,

because it is necessary to attack the competitors in their vulnerable areas. Normally, there are four types

of competitors based on their reaction patterns. One of the competitors is “Selective competitor”. Which

of the following statements is true regarding the “Selective competitor”?

(a) In this type of competitor’s reaction pattern, company may or may not respond to the strategies of hiscompetitor

(b) In this type of competitor’s reaction pattern, company strongly retaliates to the slightest move of hiscompetitors

(c) In this type of competitor’s reaction pattern, company reacts only to certain types of strategies, perhaps to

added product features or line extensions(d) In this type of competitor’s reaction pattern, company reacts very slowly to the competition

(e) In this type of competitor’s reaction pattern, company retrieve the product from the market incase of strong

competition.

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42. In which of the following functions of the marketing plan does the marketing manager analyze

opportunities available to the company in the market and threats to the company and also determines the

issues related to strengths and weaknesses of the company?

(a) Marketing analysis

(b) Action programs

(c) Marketing strategy(d) Opportunity and Issue analysis

(e) Controlling.

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43. In organizational market segmentation, which method considers the variables like industry, companysize and customer location?

(a) Demographic segmentation


(c) Purchasing approaches


(e) Personal characteristics.

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44. Segmenting the market by the degree of likelihood of repurchasing a brand would be an example of

which type of behavioral segmentation?

(a) Usage rate

(b) Loyalty status

(c) Benefits sought

(d) User status

(e) Occasion.

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45. Which of the following statements is false regarding collection of secondary research data for a research

need?

(a) It can be organized in-house or via a research agency

(b) It is collected after primary data

(c) It is collected quicker than primary data

(d) It is cheaper than primary data

(e) Its internal sources include the company’s literature, annual reports, sales report, etc.

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46. What are the four main categories of factors that influence organizational buying decisions?

(a) Environmental, organizational, psychological and social

(b) Environmental, psychological, social and technological

(c) Environmental, organizational, personal and social(d) Technological, organizational, environmental and interpersonal

(e) Environmental, organizational, technological and social.

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47. Mr. Rakesh’s wife wants to present a bicycle to her son on his 7th

birthday. So she informs the same

thing to Mr. Rakesh. He is also convinced to buy a bicycle for his son. He goes to a cycle shop and buys

a BSA cycle for his son. In this example, What are the roles played by Mr.Rakesh?

I. Initiator.

II. Buyer.

III. Influencer.

IV. Decider.

(a) Both (I) and (II) above

(b) Both (I) and (III) above(c) Both (I) and (IV) above

(d) Both (II) and (IV) above


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48. Which of the following statements is not true regarding the concept of the Experience Curve?

(a) It states that as the firm produces more products, it gains experience in the production methods over a

period of time

(b) It helps big organizations to realize economies of scale

(c) It helps to decrease the initial costs of production

(d) It helps the firm in gaining the strategic advantage of pricing its products lower than that of its

competitors

(e) The experience curve works well when a product is in the last stages of its life cycle.

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49. Which of the following is considered as a significant ‘demographic’ environmental factor that marketersneed to monitor the way people live, spend money and consume?

(a) Lifestyle

(b) Population age mix

(c) Inflation

(d) Family dependency ratio(e) Persistence of core cultural values.

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50. Which of the following strategies is used by the companies to redesign the process when they perform

poorly in financial terms, face intense competition or erosion of market share, or discover emerging

marketing opportunities?

(a) Benchmarking

(b) Decentralization(c) Outsourcing

(d) Reengineering

(e) Customization.

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51. Coca-Cola realized that it had major competition from substitutes such as tea, coffee and fruit juices

which were available at cheaper prices. Therefore, it came out with smaller bottles so that the price of its

product became competitive. Which of the following competitions was faced by Coca-Cola from tea,

coffee and fruit juices?

(a) Generic competition(b) Brand competition

(c) Form competition(d) Industry competition

(e) Product competition.

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52. Which of the following is the first step in the marketing planning process?

(a) Developing marketing strategies

(b) Planning marketing programs

(c) Managing the marketing effort

(d) Analyzing the marketing opportunities

(e) Evaluating target market.

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53. Reliance is starting its ornaments chain store named “Reliance Jewels”. It is not acquiring the business of

any of its competitors. Which strategy is Reliance adopting?

(a) Concentric diversification strategy(b) Conglomerate diversification strategy

(c) Horizontal diversification strategy

(d) Backward integration strategy

(e) Horizontal integration strategy.

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54. Which of the following is not a characteristic of variables used in effective market segmentation?

(a) Quality

(b) Actionable

(c) Measurable

(d) Accessible

(e) Substantial.

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55. What is a Penetrated market?

(a) The number of prospects who are likely to become customers and buy a product

(b) The set of buyers interested in buying a product

(c) The number of buyers who have an interest in the product as well as purchasing capacity and access to the

market(d) The number of unqualified and inaccessible buyers who have an interest in the product

(e) The market that comprises of customers who have already purchased the product.

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56. What is the suitable reason behind the fact that “it becomes easier for marketers to offer specialized

marketing services to organizational buyers”?

(a) Organizational buyers spend more time to buy

(b) More people are involved in organizational buying

(c) Organizational buying involves bulk quantity

(d) Organizational buyers are fewer compared to individual buyers(e) Organizational buying depends on operational variable, purchasing approaches and situational factors.

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57. Which of the following possible aspects of consumer buying decisions is least likely to lead to an

organizational buying decision?

(a) Comparison of product performance with expectations(b) Decision based on highest overall evaluation

(c) Alternatives evaluated on important criteria

(d) Information gathered from internal and external searches

(e) Problem recognition triggered by self-actualization motives.

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58. In consumer behavior, cognitive dissonance

(a) Occurs when the performance of a product bought, exceeds customers expectations

(b) Cannot be alleviated once it has occurred

(c) Typically occurs during the information search stage of the purchase decision process

(d) Refers to post-purchase psychological tension

(e) Happens more with low-involvement products than with high-involvement products.

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59. The market for packaged foods and readymade garments has increased significantly because of theincrease in the number of women earning. Which of the following macro environment factors explains

the above condition?

(a) Demographic

(b) Legal

(c) Political

(d) Socio-cultural

(e) Technological.

<Answer>

60. Nike concentrates on its core competencies such as shoe design, marketing and shoe merchandising and

has its manufacturing base in Asian countries. The strategy adopted by Nike is referred to as

(a) Customization

(b) Outsourcing(c) Benchmarking

(d) Reengineering

(e) Partnership marketing.

<Answer

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61. Which of the following strategies is not employed by a firm in the decline stage of the product life

cycle?

(a) Increase the firm’s investment to strengthen its competitive position and dominate the market

(b) Maintain the firm’s investment level until the market uncertainty passes by

(c) Introducing new advertising campaigns, new packaging and even product re-launches

(d) Selectively decrease the firm’s investment level by dropping unprofitable customer groups

(e) Harvest the firm’s investment to recover the cash quickly.

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62. A method of comparing the internal capabilities of an organization with the demands and challenges ofits external environment is referred as

(a) SHOT analysis

(b) SWOT analysis

(c) Stakeholder analysis

(d) Shareholder analysis

(e) Ratio analysis.

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63. “Zero”, a sugar substitute product is a tough competitor to “Sugar Free”, which is a market leader in the

sugar substitutes. Sugar Free is the only product from the company. Zero is one of the components of the

product mix of Reliance Foods. It has product lines in wheat, salt and beverages. It supplies all its

product line to all over India. Which of the following will be the best strategy for Zero to attract and tap

customers in this scenario?

(a) It has to guard itself from other competitors(b) It has to enter new markets

(c) Make alliances with small players in the market

(d) Distribute free samples to the target market

(e) Utilize its wide network all over India and provide incentives to distributors to push their product.

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64. The process of dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers with different needs, characteristics or behavior who might require separate products or marketing programs is called

(a) Market share

(b) Positioning

(c) Market evaluation

(d) Market segmentation

(e) Marketing audit.

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65. The major disadvantage of a mail interview versus a telephone or personal interview is

(a) Having to offer incentives

(b) The low response rate

(c) The elimination of interview bias

(d) The lack of open-ended questions(e) The cost involved.

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66. Ms. Ellen was the marketing research director for the local mall. She decided to conduct an experimentin the mall’s car park to find out whether shoppers would respond to a lower parking price to park in

some of the under-utilized sections of the car park. Which type of market research was used by Ms.

Ellen?

(a) Exploratory

(b) Causal

(c) Descriptive

(d) Investigative

(e) Observational.

<Answer>

67. The buying process stage follows methods such as product value analysis by means of which the firm

will search chances of reducing the price of the products and alternately identify ways and means of

producing those products through cheaper methods. Which stage of buying process is this?

(a) Problem recognition

(b) Product specification

(c) Product supplier search

(d) Product selection

(e) Product purchase.

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68. Which of the following statements about consumer involvement in the purchase decision process is

true?

(a) Limited problem solving typically lends to low consumer involvement

(b) Extended problem solving is used when purchasing low-involvement products

(c) A consumer making a low involvement purchase will typically consider many sellers(d) There will be no external information sources consulted when making a high involvement purchase

(e) Minimal time will be spent searching for a low-involvement product.

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69. Which of the following statements is false regarding Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)?

(a) PPP is used to compare incomes across nations

(b) The PPP takes into account the cost of standard basket of products for each country(c) PPP cannot determine the relative value of two currencies

(d) PPP does not consider the subsidies provided by a government for essential goods like food, agriculture,

utilities and medical care

(e) The higher the PPP of a country, the more buying power it enjoys.

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70. Which of the following does refer as value to a customer?

(a) A technical measure of a company’s selling price relative to its production costs

(b) A measure of the mark-up charged by companies

(c) The lowest prices available to consumers(d) The difference between the benefits derived from the product and the cost of acquiring the product

(e) The quality offered to customers.

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71. Vaartha, one of the leading telugu newspapers in Andhra Pradesh is trying to survive in the market on

account of negative demand for its subscription. While other newspapers have been logging in readers in

flocks. Vaartha has faced a ‘net negative increase’ in its subscriber base. In other words, people who are

cancelling their subscription are much more than those who are acquiring new subscriptions from

Vaartha. Which of the following would be the best marketing task that Vaartha could apply to deal with

the negative demand?

(a) Analyze reason for customers discontinuing subscription with Vaartha newspaper and take necessary

action(b) Raise prices for the advertisements to be printed in the newspaper

(c) Measure the size of the potential market for developing new look to satisfy the demand

(d) Maintain its quality of news and decrease the price of paper

(e) Reduce demand temporarily.

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72. Iodex launched its green colored pain reliever to fight the competition from Moov. This action was,

however late as Moov by then had already become an established brand. This is an example of

(a) Selective competitor

(b) Slow reactor

(c) Tough competitor

(d) Unpredictable competitor

(e) Form competitor.

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73. Which of the following judges a company’s performance vis-à-vis its competitors?

(a) Sales analysis

(b) Marketing audit

(c) Market share analysis

(d) Financial analysis

(e) Marketing expense-to-sales analysis.

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74. Hewlett-Packard manufactures printers ranging from Rs.3,000 for home and small office segments to

heavy duty color printers which costs Rs.1,00,000. Which of the following segment is concentrated by

Hewlett-Packard?

(a) Market specialization

(b) Product specialization(c) Full market coverage

(d) Single segment concentration

(e) Selective specialization.

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75. Which of the following approaches of organizational purchasing, segments industrial market on the basis

of level of impact of influential units of organization?

(a) Nature of existing relationships

(b) Purchasing function

(c) General purchasing policies

(d) Power structure

(e) Company size.

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76. Which of the following is/are the components of Marketing Information System?

I. Internal record system.

II. Automatic identification system.

III. Marketing intelligence system.

IV. Marketing decision support system.

(a) Only (IV) above

(b) Both (II) and (III) above

(c) Both (III) and (IV) above


(e) (I), (III) and (IV) above.

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77. Hero Honda buys tyres from MRF Tyres Ltd., to fit their motorcycles. This is an example of

(a) Industrial dealer

(b) Reseller market(c) Institutional market

(d) Government market

(e) Original equipment manufacturer.

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78. Which of the following refers to a strong urge that drives a person’s activities towards unfulfilled needs

and wants?

(a) Perception

(b) Belief

(c) Attitude

(d) Motivation

(e) Cognitive dissonance.

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79. The decrease in the average cost incurred in the production of goods in large numbers is referred to as

(a) Economies of scale

(b) High capital requirements

(c) Low asset salvage value

(d) Proprietary products(e) Learning curve.

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80. Brigade technologies, a Mumbai based financial services company planned to start its offices inHyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Calcutta. So it took around 20,000 Sq. ft. flats in all the

cities for its offices. It published a tender notice in leading newspapers for the interior decoration and

furniture. Wise Decors, a Hyderabad based interior decorating firm came up with a proposal of buildingcubicles for individual employees, centralized air-conditioning, window screens, decoration flowers,

safes and telephones. Another bid was from Transformations, a Mumbai based firm having a nation wide

network and it also offered the same features but the price was more than Wise decors. In addition to that

they provide maintenance and security services at a very nominal cost for those who would opt their

interior decorations. Finally Transformations won the contract, though it was a costly proposal. Which of

the following reasons best explains regarding the contract won by the Transformations?

(a) Wise Decors viewed proposal just as interior decoration only

(b) Transformations proposal was more profitable than Wise Decors

(c) Transformations followed a true system selling approach by taking the total view of customer’s needs(d) Transformations is also a Mumbai based firm

(e) Transformations was better equipped than Wise Decors.

<Answer>

81. World-one music, an organization started its satellite music due to the people’s affluence to the worldwide music. It supplies a set top box and small speakers which can be kept in house, car, office, and

restaurants. For this it charges Rs.2,500 initially and a monthly charge of Rs.200. They believe that there

are no substitutes for its product. It conducted a market research in metros regarding people tastes,

interest in different kinds of music, and people showed interest in listening to world music. In the

research they didn’t mentioned any price for the services. Though the production of set top box and

transmission of programs is costly, it started producing large quantities believing that per unit output costcan be significantly reduced. But it failed due to less orders. Which of the following aspects might make

the company successful?

(a) It had spent more on advertising(b) They need to strike balance between the value and the cost

(c) The organization must be customer led not product oriented(d) They might conduct market research on the basis of demographics

(e) The production might be according to the orders.

<Answer

>

82. Customers perceive the Tanishq jewelry brand as very high priced, while the reality is quite the opposite

as Tanishq offers jewelry that suits every budget. Which of the following conditions made the customers

to perceive Tanishq as high priced brand?

(a) Over positioning

(b) Under positioning

(c) Doubtful positioning

(d) Confused positioning

(e) Unique selling proposition.

<Answer

>

83. Differentiation achieved through having better-trained people is a type of

(a) Services differentiation(b) Personnel differentiation

(c) Channel differentiation

(d) Image differentiation

(e) Product differentiation.

<Answer

>

84. In which of the following strategies do marketers continue to depend on the old, low priced products for

the bulk of their sales and promote the old product heavily?

(a) Trading down strategy

(b) Repositioning strategy

(c) Trading up strategy(d) Product mix contraction strategy

(e) Product mix expansion strategy.

<Answer

>

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85. Hershey Foods Corp. offers a line of candy that includes Kit Kat, Mr. Goodbar, Krackel, Hershey’s

Kisses, New Trail, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Rolo, Twizzlers, and Nibs in different assortments. This

example best illustrates Hershey’s product mix

(a) Width

(b) Depth

(c) Length

(d) Volume(e) Consistency.

<Answer

>

86. GTO Inc., a security device manufacturer was performing poorly after the death of the CEO Mr. Alex.

Their financial statements are showing huge losses. Earlier it used to be a monopoly in the market. It is

very strong in technology and it is the first entrant in the market. Now it is facing intense competition

and the market share is eroding every month. The competitors are giving tough competition in everyfront. It has a very good distribution channel network. Which of the following strategies is most suitable

for GTO Inc., to improve on business performance?

(a) It has to focus on activities in which they are strong and outsource the remaining activities

(b) It has to set their own benchmarks and has to monitor its performance continuously

(c) Employees need to be given more autonomy and encourage to take initiative

(d) It has to redesign the organization structure, business process and associated systems

(e) It has to offer services like selling and delivering online through internet.

<Answer

>

87. Which of the following is the process of establishing and maintaining a distinctive place in the market

for an organization or its specific product offers?

(a) Profiling

(b) Profiling segmentation(c) Segmentation

(d) Positioning

(e) Targeting.

<Answer

>

88. The use of symbols to provide strong brand recognition is used in which of the following types of

differentiation?

(a) Product

(b) Services(c) Personnel

(d) Image

(e) Channel.

<Answer

>

89. Anita buys carpets for use in an office area. Which of the following statements determine the carpets to

be consumer or industrial product?

(a) The price of the carpet

(b) The type of selling organization

(c) The terms of the sale

(d) The buyer’s intended use of the product

(e) Whether the carpet is a replacement item.

<Answer

>

90. Which of the following strategies demand the launching of a product at a lower price and with heavy promotion?

(a) Rapid skimming

(b) Rapid penetration

(c) Slow skimming

(d) Slow penetration(e) Medium penetration.

<Answer

>

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91. Value Research is a custom research agency which conducts market research for the companies on the

demanded objectives by the company according to their budget. Mr. Raghu is starting a new youth

reality show in MTV. So he approached Value Research and asked them to conduct research to gather

information regarding the consumer viewing habits of T.V. programs, how often they watched earlier

reality shows of Raghu. He had a limited budget from the MTV. Which of the following would be the

best way for Value Research to gather information?

(a) Sending mails to the target audience and asking them about their tastes and preferences(b) Interviewing the targeted audience about their tastes and preferences through telephones

(c) Conducting personal interviews in shops and big malls

(d) Using their personnel to observe college students and youth discussions about the T.V programs(e) Conducting a survey by using questionnaires.

<Answer

>

92. A differentiated product may be unique in the market place, but it will only be successful under which of

the following circumstances?

(a) It satisfies customers’ needs

(b) If the price differential is minimal

(c) If the brand can be classified as aspirational(d) If the brand ambassador is popular

(e) If its promotion is less.

<Answer

>

93. It becomes very difficult to differentiate the product of one producer from that of its rival. Thus in order,to achieve a competitive advantage, companies have to look for alternative ways of differentiating their

products from those of the competitors. In addition to product differentiation, marketers have also begun

to differentiate their products on the basis of the service they offer along with their products. Which ofthe following aspects does not relate to service differentiation?

(a) Ordering ease

(b) Delivery

(c) Installation

(d) Durability

(e) Guarantees.

<Answer>

94. Insurance products are the examples of

(a) Convenience products(b) Specialty products

(c) Unsought products

(d) Shopping products(e) Industrial products.

<Answer

>

95. In maturity stage of product life cycle, competition is characterized by

(a) Few sellers can afford the technological know-how

(b) Entry of new firms due to promising opportunities

(c) Intensity due to many brands competing at the same time

(d) Firms withdrawing in case of lower exit barriers

(e) Firms adopting aggressive pricing strategies.

<Answer

>

96. Virgin mobile a U.K based telecom company wants to start its mobile services in India. As Indianmobile industry is already cluttered by giants like Airtel, BSNL, Idea and Vodafone, it is planning to

target segments which can generate a good business for them. It is offering value added services such as

payment for receiving calls, one touch Value Added Services (VAS) access, call more for less etc., Of

the following strategies which one strategy can generate most revenues to Virgin mobile?

(a) Buy out any of the existing competitors

(b) Targeting corporate market

(c) Targeting youth of age between 15-25

(d) Targeting people of age group between 25-40

(e) Promote their product by giving new attractive offers to attract the customers.

<Answer

>

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97. Indiaplaza.com is one of the India’s largest customer-to-customer online trading communities. It offers

one-to-one trading format in an auction format on the web. Individuals can trade in thousands of

categories: paintings, stamps, coins, toys, dolls, etc. Each day over 500 new items are offered and more

than 1000 auctions are in progress. Which of the following would be the primary advantage for

Indiaplaza.com in extending its business online?

(a) It has the option of turning its website into a sales as well as an information channel

(b) It can meet customer needs better (c) It can send trade related auctions’ advertisements to customers

(d) It can speed up internal communication

(e) It can collect fuller and richer information about customers, prospects and competitors.

<Answer

>

98. Which of the following refers to the comfort with which the customer can place the order for the

product?

(a) Delivery

(b) Installation

(c) Ordering ease

(d) Guarantee

(e) Disposal.

<Answer

>

99. Which of the following forms of differentiation advantages is reduced if the technology used in a product becomes obsolete fast?

(a) Product form

(b) Product design

(c) Product features

(d) Product quality(e) Product durability.

<Answer

>

100

.

A specialty product

(a) Requires minimal effort to purchase

(b) Is purchased frequently

(c) Requires purchase planning, and the buyer will not accept substitutes

(d) Is generally less expensive than other items in the same product class(e) Prompts the purchaser to make comparisons among alternatives.

<Answer

>

END OF QUESTION PAPER

Suggested AnswersMarketing Management – I (MB1C1): October 2008

Answer Reason

1. C The straight rebuy is characterized by the routine purchase of familiar productsfrom regular suppliers. It is common for suppliers to set up automatic ordering

systems to ensure that buyers continue to order from them and to make the process

more convenient. (a) In a modified rebuy, the buyer requires additional information

or a change to the original product. (b) New task buying is a situation in which a

buyer purchases a product for the first time.

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2. E A person’s attitude is a set of his feeling and the way in which he reacts to a given

idea or thought. Attitudes can be positive, negative or neutral. Customer attitudes

are based on their past experiences with the products and through their interaction

and relationship with their respective reference groups. Marketers can use several

methods like observation, personal interview and direct questionnaires to study the

attitudes of the customers. The simplest method would be to phrase a set of direct,close-ended questions on a continuous five point scale (likert’s summated rating

scale).

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3. B Liquidity ratios are current ratio, quick ratio, average collection period, Inventory

turnover ratio. Long term capitalization is a debt ratio, return on equity is a

profitability ratio and dividend yield is a market value ratio.

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4. D The income left after purchasing basic needs is known as discretionary income.

Customers use this for savings or purchasing non-essentials like consumerdurables. (a) The income left to consumers after tax is called disposable income.

All other options are not applicable.

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5. D In sales era, marketers focused their efforts only on selling their products to the

customers. Manufacturers believed that the success of their business depended on

outselling the competition. Marketers focused their efforts only on selling their products to the customers.

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6. D Any firm tries to gain an advantage over its competitors. The industry

concentration or the number of business units operating within a particular industry

indicates the amount of rivalry. When a few firms enjoy a large market share,

rivalry among them will be less. On the other hand, if significant market share is

enjoyed by a large number of small players, the rivalry among them will be highmainly because of equality in size. When rivalry among firms is high, it leads to

price wars, advertising battles, launches of new products and increased customer

services and warranties. A lack of differentiation among the products of the players

in the industry also leads to intense competition. Similarly, when the switching

costs for customers are low, rivalry among firms is high.

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7. D According to Patrick.M.Lencioni, when a company sets social and behavioral

standards for its employees, values become approved values.

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8. D The three psychographic dimensions are personality, motives and lifestyles.

Psychographic segmentation helps marketers understand buyer behavior better anddesign communication programs, which will appeal to the target audience.

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9. B Split loyals are those customers who use more than one brand. Their loyalty is

divided among two or three brands.

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10. B Marketing decision support system have the flexibility to represent data usingadvanced graphic tools and be able to provide possible solutions to different inputs.

It collects and processes information using computer software programs, advanced

statistical tools and other such techniques to obtain a scientific solution for

marketing problems.

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11. A Econometric analysis is a past sales analysis technique that determines the salessystem using statistical tools by developing sets of equations. (b) Exponential

smoothing looks at the weighted average of past sales giving a higher weightage to

more recent sales. (c) Demand analysis (statistical) determines the effect of factors

such as marketing expenditure and the price of the product on its sales. Options (d)

and (e) are not past sales analysis techniques

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12. D The major reason behind Target stores partnerships is option (d) to reinforce its

image in the market and provide quality products to its customers. As already it ishaving loyal customer base that are looking for trendy yet affordable range

merchandise it wants to provide quality and trendy products

Option (a) is not apt because it is not the only factor.

Option (b) is not correct because the designer cloths are costlier than the normalcloths.

Option (c) is also not a correct option. Because designer products are very costly to

produce.

Option (e) is not relevant because it is not at all an inexpensive way because

partnerships include large amount of investments.

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13. D In the given example, Sandy is in the purchase stage of the buying decision

process. As she already recognized problem, searched information and nowdecided to purchase.

< TOP

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14. E Customer inclination to use credit depends on disposable income, interest rate, size

of down payments, monthly installments.

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15. C The societal-marketing concept holds that the organization’s task is to determine

the needs, wants and interests of target markets and providing quality products.

Organizations must also help maintain and improve society’s well being. Satyam

computers not only satisfying their clients needs and wants but also helping the

society to improve.

< TOP

16. C Generic products are unbranded, plainly packaged products and are less expensive

than branded products.

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17. C Ansoff has proposed a model to identify such growth patterns, know as Ansoff’s

product/market expansion grid. In this grid, we can analyze market opportunities

through a four quadrant matrix. The third quadrant denotes the strategy for growthsin the new markets of existing products known as the market development strategy

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18. D Option (d) is the best fitting buying decision in this condition for Apna Bazar.

Because of the printers the customers are frustrated and they are already

complaining against that. If the management doesn’t take an active step and

purchase Ink jet printers the customers may change their store. So there is a threat

of decrease in sales. As Logitech is not producing Inkjet printers they have to purchase Inkjet printers from some other company immediately.

If they continue with same printers or repair the existing ones or purchase new dot

matrix printers from other company the time of billing won’t decrease.

< TOP

19. C Hyderabad House formed a strategic alliance with local player since it will help

them to understand the culture of the new country and also help to add on the

present market of the existing player to the new customers which it has beentargeting for. The new partner will look after all the legal and labor litigations. So,

the Hyderabad House management can focus more on its strategies for improving

its business rather than concentrate for small things and go into trouble. After

habituating itself with the conditions it can break the alliance and work itself.

Hence option (c) is the answer.

< TOP

20. E Quotas are quantitative goals established in terms of sales volume, and are

assigned to individual sales personnel. Quotas specify the desired level of

performance expected from a specified marketing unit. Sales quotas are effective

for strategic planning, directing, controlling and evaluation of a marketing unit’s

sales effort.

< TOP

21. A Organizations can use various techniques such as “material requirement planningand Just in time to take organizational buying decisions. In materials requirement

planning, a firm forecasts its sales and develops its production schedule

accordingly; the firm then orders the goods according to its production schedules.

This help the company avoid buying too much or too little of the raw material.

On the other hand, Just in time is a method for maintaining the minimum inventory

of raw materials and finished goods. In this method, raw materials are purchasedon the basis of customer demand. In other words raw material is procured only

when the production process is about to begin.

< TOP

22. B Option (b) best describes the success of Hero Honda as it innovated value of the

mileage and performance and produced bikes according to the customer’s needs

and wants. Not only producing the desired value they also sustained and

communicated the value over a period of time.

Option a does not best describes the reason for success because every company is

strong in the technological front.

Option c, companies failed not only for poor communication there are other

reasons also

Option d, e are not relevant because every company is preferring the mileage and

performance as the core value of a bike.

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23. C Customers exhibit extensive problem solving buying behavior when they indulge

in buying expensive, infrequently purchased unfamiliar products. They gather a lot

of data on the various brands available.

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24. B Depression is a state of intense recession Where the rate of unemployment is very

high, wages are very low, Gross National Product (GNP) drops and customers lackconfidence in the economy. The government uses various measures like the

monetary policy and fiscal policies to eliminate the effects of recession and

depression.

< TOP

25. A The marketing concept holds that the key to achieving its organizational goals

consists of the company being more effective than competitors in creating,delivering, and communicating superior customer value to its chosen target

markets. (b) The selling concept holds that consumers and businesses, if left alone,

will ordinarily not by enough of the organization’s products. The production

concept holds that consumers will prefer products that are widely available and

inexpensive. (c) Production concept concentrates on achieving high production

efficiency, low costs, and mass distribution. (d) The societal-marketing conceptholds that the organization’s task is to determine the needs, wants and interests of

target markets and to deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and

efficiently than competitors do. (e) The product concept holds that the consumers

will favor those products that offer the most quality, performance or innovativefeatures.

< TOP

26. E Consistency refers to the closeness exhibited by the products lines in productionrequirements, distribution, end usage, etc. (a) Product width is the total number of

product lines a company carries. (b) The depth of a product mix is the assortment

of sizes, colors and variations offered for each product in the product line. (c) The

length of the product mix is the total number of items in that mix. (d) Option is not

applicable.

< TOP

27. B Market challengers are runner-up companies that aggressively attack competitorsto get more market share.

< TOP

28. B Marketing programs have to be planned in such a way that the strategies

formulated are properly implemented and aid in the achievement of organizationalgoals and focus the entire marketing program in support of the chosen positioning

strategy.

< TOP

29. B Niche marketing can be defined as the marketer’s effort to position their product or

service in smaller markets that have similar attributes and have been neglected by

other markets. Niche is a small segment of the market that has some specific

unsatisfied needs. The fundamental difference between segment and niche is that a

segment is usually a broad market place where many competitors operate. A niche

is a comparatively smaller segment. The firm should also clearly differentiate itself

from its competitors. The company should not introduce products that compete

with its own products in the market.

< TOP

30. B Operating variables include factors like the technology of the company, product

and brand use status and the customer capabilities.

< TOP

31. A Monitoring information is obtained by scanning of information sources on a

continuous basis and includes information on industry, competitors, etc obtainedfrom newspaper articles, magazines, trade journals, government reports and annual

reports.

< TOP

32. C Government agencies are the largest buyers of goods and services in a country.

The purchasing process of the government is influenced by different groups of

people at various levels, who legislate, select and analyze the goods and services

before actually purchasing them. This makes the buying procedures complex.

< TOP

33. D Avoidance group is the reference group to which an individual does not hold any

membership and tries to resent values and beliefs of the group.

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34. A Marketing cost analysis is very important for marketers to conduct a marketing

cost analysis since it provides them with the estimate of the extent of profits that

each product line brings to the company. (b) Customer profitability analyzes the

revenues of the company to identify the profit contribution of a customer. (c)

Financial situation analysis is used to analyze the current situation of an

organization and ratio analysis is one of the widely used tools for financial

situation analysis. (d) Contribution analysis deals with techniques for determining

profitability at the market segment level, the product level, the distribution leveland the customer level. (e) This option is not relevant.

< TOP

35. E Measuring the defection rate helps the companies to pay close attention to the rate

at which they lose customers. This measurement is not helpful in attracting new

customers.

< TOP

36. A Line stretching occurs when a company lengthens its product beyond its current

range of products offered to consumers.

< TOP

37. E Limitations of facilities, financial resources, management capabilities, marketing

skills and brand image are weakness for a business. Culture is not a source of

weakness for business.

< TOP

38. C Strategic planning is the process of developing and analyzing the organization'smission, overall goals, general strategies, and allocating resources. The strategic

planning process is carried out at the corporate level, business level, and product

level. It begins with an analysis of the organization's current strategic posture, butstrategic planning focuses on the future.

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39. E The segment by segment planning means going one step at a time so that

competitors should not get a clear picture of the direction in which the organization

is moving.

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40. A Individuals and not the organizations make purchase decisions in organizations,although the philosophies and procedures of the organizations provide them with a

framework and restrict the purchasing patterns. The risk taking and risk averting

nature of a buyer is another criterion that has to be looked into for serving them.

This is a personal characteristic.

< TOP

41. C Selective competitor, who reacts only to certain types of strategies, perhaps to

added product features or line extensions.

< TOP

42. D In opportunity and issue analysis, the marketing manager analyzes the

opportunities available to the company in the market and the threats to the

company. In the issue analysis, the manager determines the issues related to thestrengths and weaknesses of the company and highlights the areas which the

marketing plan has to focus.

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43. A Demographic segmentation is the simplest method to segment organizational

markets. The demographic variables to segment organizational markets include the

industry, company size and customer location.

< TOP

44. B Segmentation by loyalty status refers to the repurchase of a kind due to various

levels of allegiance a customer exhibits.

< TOP

45. B Secondary research is generally quicker and cheaper than primary research, so

most research projects would begin by reviewing what secondary data is alreadyavailable.

< TOP

46. C Buying decisions of organizations are also influenced by such as environmental,

organizational, social and personal factors.

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47. D A person who initiates the idea of purchasing the product is called an initiator . He

recognizes that the problem can be solved or avoided by acquiring the product. A

person whose view and advice influence the buying decision is an influencer. A

person who decides where, when, why and how to buy the product is decider. And

the person who actually purchases the product is a buyer. Here Rakesh didn’t take

initiation to buy the cycle so he is not an initiator. But he decides whether to buy or

not. So he is a decider and he only bought the cycle so he is a buyer.

< TOP

48. E The experience curve works well in certain circumstances. When a product is in

the early stages of its life cycle, the experience curve provides the greatest benefits

to organizations.

< TOP

49. B Population age mix falls under the gamut of demographic environment. (a)

Lifestyle is an element of the psychographic environment. (c) Inflation is an

important element of the economic environment. (d) Family dependent ratio and

(e) existence of core cultural values are the elements of the social environment.

< TOP

50. D Reengineering is the process of redesigning the organization structure, business

processes and associated systems to achieve a dramatic improvement in business performance. Companies reengineer their processes when they perform poorly in

financial terms, face intense competition or erosion of market share, or discover

emerging marketing opportunities. The other options are wrong which do not

redesign the organization structure when the company is performing poorly in

financial terms and face intense competition.

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51. C Form competition is the one in which a company sees itself competing with all the

other companies offering similar benefits. Generic competition is a form of

competition where all the companies compete for the same disposable income of

the customers. As customers have limited disposable income, they can buy only a

limited number of things with it. Therefore, all marketers try to ensure that their

products are included in the list of immediate purchases of every potential

customer. Industry competition is the one in which a company competes with thesame kind of products manufactured by other firms. Brand competition is one in

which a company competes with the companies offering similar products to the

same consumer segments.

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52. D Analyzing the marketing opportunity is the first step in the marketing planning

process.

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53. B In conglomerate diversification strategy, the company tries to perform unrelated

business activities. Reliance here is entering into totally new business which is

totally new to its business. So it is adopting conglomerate diversification strategy.

Concentric diversification strategy, a company tries to diversify by serving a new

customer base with products that are related to the existing product category. If the

company tries to attract current customers with new products even if the company

has to acquire a new manufacturing capability, it is known as horizontal

diversification strategy. And if it plans to adopt a backward integration strategy,

then it will produce its own raw materials by starting a dairy farm for milk, and

producing wheat etc. If it plans to integrate horizontally, then it may acquire the business of one of its competitors.

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54. A Quality is not a characteristic of variables used in segmentation. The other three

are all criteria to use in deciding whether the resulting segments are suitable for use

by a company.

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75. D Power structures in different organizations vary widely. Within this approach,

suppliers can segment their customers on the basis of the level of impact of

influential units of organization. Company tackles the power structure through its

advanced technical skills.

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76. E The components of a marketing information system are: the internal record system,

marketing research system, marketing intelligence system and the marketingdecision support system. Automatic identification system is not a component of the

marketing information system.

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77. E Original equipment manufacturers buy industrial products and incorporate them

into their final products.

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78. D A motive is a strong urge that drives person’s activities towards unfulfilled needs

and wants. Customers are influenced by a motive or a set of motives when they

have unfulfilled needs.

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79. A Economies of scale refer to a decrease in the average cost incurred in the

production of goods in large numbers.

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80. C Transformations clearly viewed the customer’s requirement they viewed the

requirement in a broader sense. As Brigade is starting its new offices in differentcities there is a need for a maintenance and security staff also. They had a nation

wide network and therefore there is no need for hiring separate firms for different

states. Transformations understood the need of these staff for brigade and proposed

the same thing, by this transformation was successful.

Option (a) is not best answer because it was not the only problem, the far

sightedness of transformations added to the failure of wise decors.

Transformations proposal is not at all cheap when compared to Wise decors.

Options d and e are not relevant.

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81. C World-one music was in a Marketing myopia it failed not because markets are

saturated but because of the failure and short sightedness of the management. It

should be customer led not product oriented. Though there are so many features

and technical strengths in the product it should meet the customers need and wants.

Spending more on advertising, celebrity endorsements make the product much

costly and cannot help the company.

The organization has already made a balance between value and the cost, as the

production itself is costly and the transmission of world music is also costly.

Though they follow the process of production according to the orders they may not

get profits

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82. A Over positioning is the situation where the buyers may have a very narrow image

of the company’s brand. Over positioning is usually seen in cases where the firm

initially promotes its brand as a premium brand.

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83. B Differentiation achieved through having better-trained people is personnel

differentiation. (a) Services differentiation lies in adding valued services. (c)Channel and (d) image differentiation are through better channel infrastructure andcorporate advertising campaigns respectively. (e) Product differentiation implies

differentiating on the basis of product form, features, benefits etc.

< TOP

84. C (c) By adding a higher priced or prestige item to a product line, a manufacturer

“trades up” in the hope of attracting customers for its lower-priced items as well.

(a) Marketers who adopt a trading down strategy add low priced products to their

already existing line of specialty products. (b) Product repositioning is more a psychological exercise to play on the collective minds of the target group. (d)

Sometimes firms eliminate products or product lines to thin out their product lines

that contribute little to profits. (e) Product expansion necessitates adding new

products to an existing product line or adding new product lines to an existing

product mix.

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85. B The depth of a product mix is the assortment of sizes, colors and variations offered

for each product in the product line. (a) Product width is the total number of

product lines a company carries. (c) The length of the product mix is the total

number of items in that mix. (d) Option is not applicable. (e) Consistency refers to

the closeness exhibited by the products lines in production requirements,

distribution, end usage, etc.

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86. D As the company is in huge losses and there is a cut throat competition, the market

share is eroding. In this context the company needs to redesign its organization

structure and its process of doing the business. i.e., it has to go for reengineering

strategy. It helps in achieving an improvement in its business performance.

There is no use of outsourcing its work as it is expert in manufacturing security

device.

If it setting its own benchmark it cannot be in the top position. As the market

leaders performance may be more than this benchmark.

Initially it has restructure its organization then only it can give more autonomy to

its employees

Thought it offers online services customers prefer to buy in person as this is a

security device they may want to test it practically in their presence. Through

internet it is not possible.

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87. D Positioning uses all elements of the marketing mix to establish in the minds of

customers and potential customers how a product differs form its competitor.

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88. D A company may differentiate itself from its competitors by image; the particular

image or "personality" it acquires is created by its logo and other symbols, its

advertising, its atmosphere, its events and personalities. (a) Product differentiation

implies differentiating on the basis of product form, features, benefits etc. (b)Services differentiation lies in adding valued services. (c) Differentiation achieved

through having better-trained people is personnel differentiation. (e) Companies

can achieve a distinct differentiation for their products on the basis of the

distribution channel they use.

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89. D Products can be classified depending on who the final purchaser and how he usesthem. Based on the usage of the products, they are divided into consumer productsand industrial products.

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90. B Rapid penetration strategy demands the launching of a product at a lower price and

with heavy promotion.

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91. E The best way in which Value Research can gather information is conducting a

survey by using questionnaires. Questionnaire method is the best way to gather

information since it provides quality data and is less costly compared to personal

interviews.

As the market for realty shows now-a-days is very huge, telephonic interviews and

mail interviews are not preferable.

Personal interviews are very costlier and also the possibility for respondent being

reluctant to share the essential information or giving false answers is very high.

Using their personnel to observe youth and college students discussions is not

appropriate since it cannot provide the adequate information regarding consumers

viewing habits.

Sending mails is also not a right option because the response rate is very low.

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92. A Differentiation only works if buyers appreciate the point of differentiation. If the

differentiated features do not satisfy their needs, the product is less likely to be bought.

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93. D Products are expected to perform satisfactorily during their useful life. This is

called durability. This also comes under product attributes. This is not a service

aspect.

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94. C Unsought products are those that a customer purchases when faced with a sudden

problem and insurance is an unsought product. (a) Convenience products are those,

which are relatively inexpensive and are bought frequently. (b) Specialty products

are products that have one or more unique characteristic features and are not

available freely. (d) Shopping products are those for which a buyer is willing to

spend time and effort in planning and making purchase decisions. (e) Industrial

products are those that are used to produce other goods.

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95. C In the maturity stage, competition is fierce as many brands compete at the sametime. Sales start declining and customers try out new products and substitutes.

Therefore, each competitor tries to improve his product and highlight the product

benefit.

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96. C Option c, targeting youth age between 15 and 25 is the right option Because youth

are the main segment who contribute 50% of telecom industry’s revenue. They are

the significant users of SMS, VAS.

It is almost impossible for Virgin mobile to buy out a competitor as all the existing

players are very big companies with very deep pockets.

Option (e) could not fetch revenues because many customers don’t want to change

their number and only offers cannot attract new customers in telecom industry

Above all attracting an existing customer of another brand is very difficult as most

of the customers never like to keep on changing their services or their mobile

numbers.

Corporate market is also cluttered by the market giants and they also don’t want to

change their number.

Age group between 25 and 40 also come in any of the options a, b, d and e.

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97. A Option (a) is the answer. Extending a business online has many advantages for

companies. However, in the context of Indiaplaza.com which is more like a

facilitator of trade and auctions the best advantage is that the website serves as a

sales and information channel.

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98. C Ordering ease refers to the comfort with which the customer can place the order forthe product.

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99. E If the technology used in a product becomes obsolete fast, the advantage derived

by the marketer from its durability also gets reduced.

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100. C Specialty products are products that have one or more unique characteristic

features. Customers are aware of what they want and will not accept a substitute

for these products even though they might have to wait for a considerable time toget the product.

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