KIIT University 2008 M.B.A Marketing Management keting - Question Paper

a. Feature improvement
b. Style improvement
c. Fashion improvement
d. Packaging improvement
e. Quality improvement

42. When Vlasic created a cucumber 10 times larger than the traditional pickle cucumber (e.g., Hamburger Stackers), it used ________ as a means of modifying its product so additional customers might be attracted to the brand.
a. quality improvement
b. feature improvement
c. style improvement
d. packaging improvement
e. idea improvement

43. Marketing programs can be replaced to stimulate sales. Which of the subsequent forms of marketing program modification might seek to speed delivery or extend more credit?
a. Pricing
b. Distribution
c. Advertising
d. Personal selling
e. Services

44. In the decline phase of the product life cycle, if a firm “milks” the firm’s investment to recover cash quickly, it is using a strategy called ________.
a. positioning
b. reverse engineering
c. psychological divestment
d. harvesting
e. abandonment

45. If an organization selects “harvesting” as a decline stage PLC strategy, the 1st step in using such a strategy would likely be to ________.
a. rejuvenate the brand or product
b. cut R&D costs and plant and equipment investment
c. cut all promotional expenses
d. cancel distribution contracts
e. require that all distributors decrease inventory of older models of the product

46. Markets are similar to products with respect to life-cycle concepts. All of the subsequent are considered to be stages that markets pass through in market evolution other than ________.
a. emergence
b. growth
c. decline
d. maturity
e. destruction

47. Which of the subsequent is a popular criticism of product life-cycle theory?
a. It is too costly to implement.
b. It has few true examples that can be benchmarked.
c. It works only in the U.S. market.
d. Life-cycle trends are too variable in shape and duration.
e. Stages often follow fad patterns.

48. Which of the subsequent stages of the product life cycle (PLC) is characterized as being 1 where there are low sales, high cost per customer, negative profits, and few competitors?
a. Introduction
b. Growth
c. Maturity
d. Decline
e. Abandonment

49. During which of the subsequent stages of the product life cycle (PLC) would we expect a marketing manager to pursue a marketing objective of maximizing market share?
a. Introduction
b. Growth
c. Maturity
d. Decline
e. Abandonment


50. When sales peak, there is a low cost per customer, profits are high, and the marketing manager attempts to maximize profit while defending market share, the product is most likely in the ________ stage of the product life cycle (PLC).
a. introduction
b. prepioneering
c. growth
d. maturity
e. decline

51. A manufacturer of calculators obtains that there is an even split ranging from customers who want small handheld calculators and those that want large ones. This kind of market, in which buyer preferences scatter evenly, is called a(n) ________ market.
a. emerging
b. mass market
c. diffused-preference
d. niche
e. standardized

52. If an entrepreneur discovers that her firm’s market is 1 of diffused preferences, she can use a ________ to expand sales while keeping costs low.
a. mass-market strategy
b. multiple-niche strategy
c. bipolar design strategy
d. standardized niche strategy
e. single-niche strategy

53. As market growth slows during the maturity stage of market evolution, the market splits into finer segments and high ________ occurs.
a. market ideation
b. market consolidation
c. market fragmentation
d. market deflation
e. market escalation

54. Market fragmentation in the market evolution process is often followed by ________ caused by the emergence of a new attribute that has strong appeal.
a. a market consolidation
b. a market dissolution
c. a market expansion
d. a market abandonment
e. a market harvesting

True/False

55. Positioning is the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the minds of the target market.
56. Category membership is seen as the products or sets of products with which a brand competes and which function as close substitutes.

57. Associations that make up points-of-difference are based exclusively on product features.

58. Points-of-parity are attributes or benefits consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe that they could not obtain to the identical extent with a competitive brand.
59. Points-of-parity come in 2 basic forms: category and competitive.

60. Category points-of-parity may change over time due to technological advances, legal developments, or consumer patterns.

61. Once a company has identified a brand’s category membership, consumers do not ques. the validity of that brand’s membership of the category.

62. The preferred approach to positioning is to inform consumers of a brand’s membership before stating its point-of-difference.

63. If Barry compares his organization’s products to those of leaders in the field, then he is conveying category membership by “comparing to exemplars”. (Exemplar means Role Model)

64. A good illustration of negatively correlated attributes or benefits is good tasting versus bad tasting.

65. Brands can differentiate their products only on real, relevant attributes.

66. There are 3 consumer desirability criteria for PODs (points-of-difference): price, value, and respectability.

67. A firm must be sufficiently committed and willing to devote enough resources to create an enduring positioning for its points-of-difference to be considered deliverable.

68. Consumers are typically content to accept the trade-offs inherent in negatively correlated attributes or benefits.

69. The obvious means of differentiation, and often most compelling to consumers, relate to aspects of the product and service.

70. Customers must see any competitive advantage as a customer advantage.

71. Companies cannot achieve differentiation by differentiating their channels, as this is not the purpose of a distribution channel.

72. One of the assertions of saying that a product has a life cycle is to recognize that products have a limited life.
73. Most product life cycles are portrayed as a scalloped shaped curve.

74. In the product life cycle, growth is a stage of rapid market acceptance and substantial profit improvement.

75. One of the shortest stages in the product life cycle is the maturity stage because of the marketing manager’s desire to keep the product in its growth stage.

76. The profit curve for most product life cycles peaks during the growth stage of the life cycle.

77. The sales curve for most product life cycles peaks during the maturity stage of the life cycle.

78. According to info presented in the text, pharmaceuticals have a cycle-recycle product life-cycle trend because, as sales start to decline, companies reinvigorate their promotions, which produces a 2nd cycle of smaller magnitude and duration.

79. With respect to product life cycles, a style can last for generations and go in and out of vogue.

80. The length of a fashion cycle is usually easy to predict.

81. In the introductory stage of a product’s life cycle, promotion expenditures are at their highest ratio to sales.

82. Because of the pioneer advantage, virtually all market pioneers demonstrate market staying power and sustained product growth.

83. Pioneers who begin markets through incremental innovation have much higher survival rates than those who begin a market with a really new product.

84. During the growth stage of the product life cycle, prices grow along with profits.

85. One strategy for sustaining rapid growth during the growth stage of the product life cycle is for the firm to add flanker products.

86. Most products are in the growth stage of the life cycle, and most marketing managers cope with the issue of sustaining growth.

87. In the maturity stage of the product life cycle, 3 phases appear to exist: growth, decay, and abandonment.

88. Consumers are always willing and eager to accept an “improved” product.

89. One of the chief advantages of using the product life cycle as a forecasting procedure is that product life-cycle trends have proven to be stable in shape and duration.

90. A good pricing strategy to use in the introduction stage of the product life cycle is to charge cost-plus.

91. A good advertising strategy to use in the maturity stage of the product life cycle would be to stress brand differences and benefits.

92. According to ideas obtained in the concept of market evolution, as market growth slows down, the market splits into finer segments and high market consolidation occurs.

93. Market fragmentation is often followed by a market consolidation, caused by the emergence of a new attribute that has strong appeal.

94. Once a market has consolidated, it will remain consolidated until the product class dies.

Earning:   Approval pending.