1. Questions drawn from the lectures—38-42;

2. Questions drawn from Chapters 11 and 12 of the Strutton and Thompson textbook. Please see the summary sheets attached to this note. Lecture Materials: Here are topics that will help you understand the material you are responsible for on test two.

1. What is the role of college?

1. To teach You to think-- to understand and solve problems2. To teach you to communicate better: to speak effectively and convincingly; to write coherently and concisely.

2. What is the definition of a product?

A.a bundle of benefits (needs and wants)

3. What are: convenience goods (including characteristics); shopping goods (including characteristics); and specialty goods (including characteristics)? Be able to differentiate the three types of goods.convenience goods:The consumer usually purchases these goods frequently,

immediately, and with minimal effort. Low unit profit, high sales volume.

(Examples include soft drinks, soaps, newspapers, staples, toothpaste)

shopping goods

goods bought by consumers after spending time on its utility, style and price (cars, home

appliances, clothes, furniture)

specialty goods

Those for which a significant group of buyers is habitually willing to make a special

purchase effort/ go out of their way to obtain. Not purchased often

What is a brand? What does a brand do for a manufacturer or distributor? Know the three types of brands and the characteristics that denote them (i.e. individual brand, manufacturer’s brand, middleman brand, generic). What is the product life cycle? Why is the product life cycle helpful? When would the product life cycle be useful (at what stage of new product development)? What are the stages in the

product life cycle? What happens with the product, promotion of the product, price, distribution, and competition in each stage of the life cycle? At what point does unit profit peak? When does the market for a product become saturated? What occurs during the maturity stage of new product development? What happens in the decline stage? What might a company do to move a product from decline back to the growth or maturity stage of development? How does the new product adoption cycle work? What are: innovators, early adopters, the early majority, the late majority, and laggards. Know what is the critical stage to attain in order to break even.

Memorize in order the nine stages of new product development. Be able to trace a product through the stages. Understand what are the critical decisions that occur at the screening stage, concept testing stage, business analysis stage, prototype stage, and market testing stage. What has to happen for commercialization of a new product to be successful?

As well, know what are brainstorming and attribute listing.

Under pricing:

Know what is the role of demand in pricing. What does it say about the role of price in a market when the demand curve is characterized as relatively elastic? What is implied when price is dropped in a market and total revenue declines? For what product would demand be perfectly inelastic? What would be a firm’s goal for a product in terms of elasticity and demand?

Under what conditions may a penetration pricing strategy work? What are the basic steps that comprise a penetration pricing strategy?

What situation would prompt a current revenue pricing strategy? What is the goal of a current revenue pricing strategy? Is a current revenue pricing strategy long term or short term in nature?

What is the role of a loss leader?

Be able to set up a markup equation. What is the benefit of a markup system to an organization from the perspective of pricing? Why do markups increase as you go down the markup chain?

Be able to calculate break even. Know what is a fixed cost, a variable cost, a contribution margin. Why would it be useful to run several prices under a break even system.

What is a discount? What are several types of discounts?

“Thinking About You” (PowerPoint slides attached): Understand that you control where you go in your life and career. Critically, you need to chart a long run vision for yourself. Your long run vision means you have evaluated your needs (e.g., quality of life, family, stability, contribution) and consequent offsets (e.g., quality of life implies a financial drive that may offset stability or family). You also need to set objectives in pursuit of your long run vision. Suppose you choose to run your own third party logistics brokerage. A goal would be to work for a large third party logistics brokerage for several years so you have knowledge of the business, contacts, and experience necessary to build a plan and execute it. Doing all this stuff will probably require a large portion of your time.

When interviewing for a career job, you need to place yourself in the hiring manager’s position. What skills and characteristics do you possess that lend themselves to the opportunity? If you are single, you can stress that you are able to devote tremendous time to learning the industry and the job. As well, being single, you are mobile. If you are married, you can stress that you have to work hard and learn in order to provide for your family. You are more likely to stay with the firm longer as a married employee. Again, be able to position yourself relative to what you would desire as a hiring manager.

Having little to no previous industry experience makes you a great candidate for learning to do the job the way the hiring manager wants it done. So ‘no experience’ can be a great advantage when a company wants to train a new hire on a specific philosophy and system.

Remember also to analyze the industry and the company you are evaluating. To what extent do the characteristics of the industry fit you? If you function best in a setting populated by younger people, why would working in a setup where the youngest person is 40 years of age work? If you have trouble working with people from other cultures, why would you work for a company that hires from across the globe? Be sure you ‘fit’ whatever firm you enter. Your professional career depends on learning and strategic advancement. Job hopping is a very dangerous sport.