XI. Tick t (true) or f (false) sentences.

1. Marketing involves eight basic functions: buying, selling, transporting, financing, risk taking, and securing marketing information, storing, costing.

2. A single organization need not perform all of these functions; most often, some are handled by manufacturers and others by resellers.

3. A supermarket performs the function of buying a variety of goods to make them available in different places.

4. A retailer handles the function of transporting these products to the supermarket.

5. Buying and selling are exchange functions.

6. Physical distribution functions are the activities required to get products to the customers who want them, including transporting and pricing goods.

7. Standardization and grading ensure that products meet quality-control standards.

8. Financing involves providing shares to customers, so that they can meet their needs as they arise.

9. Risk taking includes developing and offering for sale products that customers have not yet committed to buying.

10. Information gathering involves collecting information about producers, competitors, and other relevant subjects.

11. The most effective way to carry out the marketing functions is for marketers to start by planning what they want to accomplish and how they will do it.

12. Marketing strategy planning means finding attractive opportunities and developing creative marketing strategies.

13. A marketing strategy specifies a competitive market and a related marketing mix.

14. A marketing mix — the controllable variables the company puts together to satisfy this target group.

XII. Work out the table to show basic marketing functions.

Function	Description

XIII. Fill in the gaps with words from the list.

buyer factors, external factors, needs, price and promotional factors, supplier factors.

Industrial marketers must understand what affects buying decisions in companies and organizations. Then they can plan a marketing strategy. We can say that buying affected by five factors.

1.______, for example discounts, special prices and terms, as well as the influence of advertising, free samples, and trial offers.

2.______, or what people say about the company, exhibitions and trade fairs, reviews and comments in trade journals, and also any relevant seasonal factors.

3._______ Examples are the buyer's experience, and knowledge of the product, and of the potential suppliers. The culture of the buying organization is also important, and an understanding of the company purchasing policy. The size, complexity, level of technology, and financial resources are important. A final factor of this strategy is the structure of the organization, and the role of senior executives in buying decisions.

4._________including level of urgency, stock levels, and the perceived value of the purchase to the buying organization.

5.________include competitors and rivals offers, the quality and availability of the product offered, after-sales service, location and labour relations at the suppliers. Another significant factor here is the relationship with existing suppliers, including personal relationships, and the desire for continuity.