To be useful, a segmentation scheme must produce segments that:

Marketing

BUS

Mid-Term: Possible Essay Questions

1. What is extensive decision making? When would a person use extensive decision making? Name two products that would require extensive decision making when purchased for the first time and would require limited decision making in subsequent purchases.

2. Describe the components of the BCG Portfolio Matrix planning tool. List the four basic strategies used once an organization has identified its SBUs in terms of the portfolio matrix. Describe when/why each might be used.

3. What is a segmentation base (or segmentation variable)? Name the common segmentation bases used by marketers to segment consumer markets.

4. Marketers use demographic information to segment markets because it is widely available and often related to consumers' purchasing and consumption behavior. List four common criteria used by marketers for demographic segmentation. For each criteria listed, give an example of a product specifically targeted to the needs and wants of the segment identified.

5. To be useful, a segmentation scheme must produce segments that meet four basic criteria. Name and briefly describe each of these four criteria.

6. Define each level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. For each of the five levels, briefly describe a marketing message appealing to this need level.

7. Four competing philosophies strongly influence the role of marketing and marketing activities within an organization. Name and briefly describe each of these four philosophies.

8. Assume the your current small television set (for which you paid $69.99 several years ago) has developed wavy lines across the screen and makes the people in your favorite programs sound as though they are using cheap walkie-talkie radios. Therefore, you have decided to work all summer to save money for the ultimate $1,200 high-definition television with surround sound. Trace the steps of your decision process for purchasing your new television.

9. What is a SWOT analysis? How does it relate to strategic planning?

10. Marketing managers create a marketing mix of product, place, promotion, and price strategies aimed at a target market. While managers can control the mix, they cannot control the elements in the external environment that continually mold and reshape the target market. List and describe six variables of the external environment that are not directly under the control of marketing managers. Give examples.

11. Describe and give a couple examples of a core competency.

12. Describe the various growth strategies comprising “Ansoff’s Matrix”. Give examples