2.4 Comprehension

2.4.1 Answer the questions using the active vocabulary and Unit 1 Glossary.

1. What is the prime function of marketing?

2. What does collecting marketing information involve?

3. Why are historical data important in analysing marketing information?

4. How can the analysis of marketing information assist other functional departments?

5. What is the purpose of the marketing department?

6. How do you understand the quotation ‘to sell products which do not come back, to people who do’?

7. What are the marketing techniques?

8. How can the marketing information be classified?

9. What is market research?

10. What are the types of market research?

11. What are the uses of pricing research?

12. What are the uses of distribution research?

13. Can research activities be undertaken by an outside advertising agency?

14. In which case would it not be sensible to use an advertising agency?

15. What market research techniques do you know?

16. What is the difference between sampling, survey, field experiments and observation?

17. What are the two ways in which forecasting may be conducted?

18. What three types of forecasting can be identified?

19. What does target marketing involve?

20. What does the process of choosing a target market involve?

21. What do you know about “product positioning’ and ‘niching’?

22. What do marketing specialists mean by ‘benchmarking’?

23. What is the purpose of Boston Box model? Why is it important in portfolio management?

2.4.2 Mark these statements t(true) or f(false) according to the information in the Text and Unit 2 Glossary. If they are false say why.

1. A target market can be defined as group of customers that the business has decided to aim its marketing efforts and ultimately its merchandise.

2. Product concept testing, product testing, test marketing and packaging research can be referred to as the uses of communication research.

3. It can be concluded that marketing management is one of the major components of business management.

4. Forecasting is a more general term that prediction.

5. The objective of benchmarking is to understand and evaluate the current position of a business or organisation in relation to "best practice" and to identify areas and means of performance improvement.

6. Profolio management is the tool of Boston Box modelling.

7. Survey is taking a representative portion of a material or product to test typically for the purposes of identification, quality control, or regulatory assessment.

8. Sampling is a method for collecting quantitative information about items in a population.

9. Marketing information about future trends is important to make sales forecasts, introduce new technologies and identify new competitors.

10. Marketing mix is price, product, distribution, promotion.

11. Four Cs model is the same as Four Ps model.

12. Advertising can serves to communicate an idea to a large number of people in an attempt to convince them to take a certain action.

13. Concept testing is the process of using quantitative methods and qualitative methods to evaluate consumer response to a product idea prior to the introduction of a product to the market.

14. The aim of target marketing is to avoid having ‘slack’, surplus capacity.

15. Sales can be forecast on the basis of historical sales data.

16. Industrial espionage is conducted or orchestrated by governments and is international in scope.

17. Industrial or corporate espionage is more often national and occurs between companies or corporations.

18. A true market segment is distinct from other segments, homogeneous within the segment and responds similarly to a market stimulus.

19. The market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact.

20. Observation is the process of determining what a company will receive in exchange for its products.

21. Re-positioning involves changing the identity of a product, relative to the identity of competing products, in the collective minds of the target market.