general business data bank general business data bank

Essay

101. Michael Porter has
identified five forces that determine the intrinsic long-run attractiveness of
a market or market segment. Briefly, list and characterize those forces.

102. There are four industry
structure types associated with an industry concept of competition. List and briefly characterize those four (4)
types.

103. Industries differ greatly
in ease of entry. List four typical entry barriers into a market?

104. Discuss
the concept of vertical integration
by examining the term and the advantages and disadvantages of integration.
Illustrate your thoughts with an example
of how the process works.

105 In general, a company should monitor
three variables when analyzing competitors.
List and briefly characterize those three variables?

106. The market leader must
work hard to stay on top of its market. Three strategies can be crafted to
achieve this objective. Describe these three strategies and any relevant
sub-strategies that are necessary for accomplishing
the primary objective.

107. Assume
that your organization has chosen to pursue a market leader strategy of the
flank defense. Describe what such a strategy might be.

108. Assume that you are the
marketing manager for a market challenger that is seeking to attack the market
leader with an encirclement attack. Describe the encirclement attack and
evaluate probable success using this strategy.

109. Characterize the four broad
strategies often employed by market
followers to meet their competitors.

.

110. The market nicher is a
specialist. Characterize five niche specialist roles that can be assumed by the
market nicher.

APPLICATION QUESTIONS

Multiple Choice

111. Which of the following companies saw sales plummet from a peak of $7.1
billion in 1996 to about $4 billion in 2003 in part because of fierce competition in the fashion jeans business?
a. Wrangler’s
b. Arizona Jeans
c. Levi Strauss
d. Canyon River Blues
e. Lee Jeans

112. A market segment’s attractiveness
varies with the height of its entry and exit barriers. Which of the following
forces as described by Michael Porter would most
likely be the force being examined if the above situation were to be considered
by a marketing manager?
a. Threat of intense segment rivalry.
b. Threat of new entrants.
c. Threat of substitute products.
d. Threat of buyers’ growing bargaining power.
e. Threat of suppliers’ growing bargaining
power.
113. During the 2004
holiday season ________ from discounters Wal-Mart, Target, and even electronics
vendors such as Best Buy and Circuit
City has pummeled the toy
chains and sent some of them into bankruptcy.

a. creative advertising
b. global alliances
c. pricing pressure
d. regulation pressure
e. superior management knowledge

114. Marketing managers
must be keenly aware of ________—a focus on current competitors
rather than latent ones—or risk becoming extinct.
a. marketing myopia
b. channel myopia
c. promotion
myopia
d. competitor
myopia
e. consumer myopia

115. Each marketing manager
needs to be aware of the industry in which they compete.
Industries can be classified according to all of the following EXCEPT ________.
a. degree of usage of promotion
b. number of sellers
c. degree of product differentiation
d. degree of vertical integration
e. degree of globalization

116. The oil and steel
industries have unique industrial structure. Which of the following industry
structural types is usually associated with the oil and steel industries?
a.
Pure monopoly
b.
Monopolistic competition
c.
Pure competition
d.
Pure oligopoly
e.
Differentiated oligopoly
117. All of the following are
considered to be exit barriers in a
marketplace that must be considered by the marketing manager EXCEPT ________.
a. emotional
barriers
b. high vertical integration
c. government
restrictions
d. lack of alternative opportunities
e. economies of scale

118. According to concepts
associated with the idea of a strategic
group, which of the following appliance industry competitors
would most aptly be described as
being a member of a strategic group that has a narrow line, lower manufacturing
costs, very high service, and a high relative price of its products?
a. Maytag
b. General Electric
c. Whirlpool
d. Sears
e. Wal-Mart

119. When a buyer thinks of performance running shoes, the first name that
comes to mind is Nike. Which of the following variables for analyzing competition would most
aptly apply given the statement above?

a. Share of market
b. Share of mind
c. Share of heart
d. Share of pocketbook
e. Share of innovation

120. Chevrolet competes with Ford, not with Ferrari. Which of the
following statements (characterizations) of competitors
most aptly fits with the competitive situation faced by Chevrolet when it seeks optimum
selection of competitors?
a. Compete
with strong competitors.
b. Compete
with distant competitors.
c. Compete
with parallel competitors.
d. Compete
with bad competitors.
e. Compete
with close competitors.

121. Apex
Corporation is considered to be a market follower in its industry. About what
percentage of a hypothetical market structure would be controlled by market
followers such as Apex?
a. 40 percent
b. 30 percent
c. 25 percent
d. 20 percent
e. 10 percent

122. When a regional computer-manufacturing firm began to seek out
customers who lived outside of its traditional market boundaries, the firm was
employing which of the following new
customer expansion strategies to expand its total market?
a. Market-penetration strategy
b. New-market segment strategy
c. Geographic-expansion strategy
d. Product differentiation strategy
e. Latent demand strategy

123. When your competitor delivers more
for less, two strategies can be employed
to meet this threat. Such a situation was recently faced by Kmart. Which of the
following combinations would be most
appropriate to meet the challenge thrown-down by the competitor?
a. Market penetration or product innovation
b. Expansion or standardization
c. Adaptation or innovation
d. Differentiation or execution
e. Computerization
or implementation

124. Which of the following
methods for defending market share should be employed
by Caterpillar to hold off competitors
when Caterpillar learned that many competitors
were lacking in delivering on parts commitments to customers?
a. Full-line strategy
b. Good financing
c. Zero tolerance for production errors
d. Product innovation
e. Superior service

125. In satisfying customer
needs, a ________ marketer discovers and produces solutions customers did not
ask for but to which they enthusiastically respond. Sony is a good illustration of such a
marketer.
a. responsive
b. anticipative
c. combative
d. manipulative
e. creative

126. Firms
that occupy second, third, and lower ranks
in an industry can adopt two postures in responding to competition.
First, they can attack the leader and other competitors
in an aggressive bid for further market share. Second, they can ________.
a. play ball and not “rock the boat” (market followers)
b. relinquish their own share to industry
leaders (market capitulators)
c. not worry about the immediate future and
focus on long-term results (market maturation)
d. form alliances with enemies (market
organizational constriction)
e. give up and quit (market abandonment)

127. To industry leader
Boeing, European Airbus is a serious market challenger that has made rapid
gains in the commercial aircraft market in the last few years. Which of the following has been cited as the
chief strategy being employed by
Airbus in its battle with Boeing?
a. Styling.
b. Price discounting.
c. Bribery of purchasing agents.
d. An innovative new product line equipped
with modern features.
e. Partnerships
with Boeing rivals.
128. When Avis used the campaign theme, “We’re only second. We try harder.” to
battle rival Hertz, Avis was using a market challenger strategy called ________.
a. lower priced goods
b. price discount
c. product innovation
d. intensive advertising promotion
e. improved
services

129. Tasteeos, Fruit Rings,
and Corn Flakes sell for nearly $1 a
box less than leading cereal brands. Which of the following market follower
strategies is being employed by the
cereal manufacturer responsive for the above market entries?
a. Counterfeiter
b. Cloner
c. Imitator
d. Adapter
e. Reverse-innovator

130. All of the following
suggestions have been provided by Adam Morgan for improving
small brands success in competing
with larger rivals EXCEPT ________.
a. break with your immediate past
b. build a “lighthouse identity”
c. assume thought leadership of the category
d. create symbols of reevaluation
e. deeply discount products and services

Short
Answer

131. According
to information provided in Michael Porter’s model
that describes segment structural attractiveness, the threat of mobility can be encountered. In which of the five
forces described by Porter would such a threat occur?

132. According
to information provided in Michael Porter’s model
that describes segment structural attractiveness, the suppliers’ growing
bargaining power is a real threat. What is considered to the best defense for
such a threat?

133. According to information presented in the
text, what form of pressure supplied by Wal-Mart and others forced many toy
retailers into bankruptcy in the 2004 holiday season?

134. Restaurants
and beauty parlors are examples of a form of competition
known as monopolistic competition. Characterize monopolistic
competition.

135. Competitors
often face entry, exit, and mobility
barriers in a market space. If you were a organization facing an exit barrier
in a market, what type of barrier would you be facing?

136. Assume
that you are required by your manager to construct a competitor
map that has three concentric rings. What would be the names (subjects) of the
three concentric rings in your map?

137. You have been asked to
form a strategic group in your industry.
What is a strategic group? What
two important insights should emerge
from your formulation process?

138. If your company monitors
competitive “share of mind,” what is
your company monitoring?

139. Your marketing manager
has asked you to develop a new customer strategy for your company. Additionally, you have been asked to develop,
specifically, a market-penetration strategy to assist in gaining new customers.
Describe a market-penetration strategy in this context.

140. Considering
how Caterpillar has become dominant in the construction-equipment industry
despite charging a premium price and being challenged by a number of able competitors, several policies combine to explain
Caterpillar’s success. What are those policies?

141. As
a brand manager, you have decided to implement
a preemptive defense to meet an
anticipated competitive challenge.
Describe the preemptive
defense.

142. If you were asked to develop a mobile defense for your products that are likely to
come under attack from a market challenger, what would you suggest?

143. Consider
that you have been placed in the role of being a market challenger. Where (toward which opponents) can you
attack?

144. When a
market challenger uses a frontal attack, what is the principle of force?

145. Your
marketing manager has chosen the bypass attack as means of responding to an
industry leader. Describe the ideas contained in the bypass attack.

146. There are several
specialized market challenger attack strategies. One of these has been used
successfully by Baskin-Robbins to establish its position in the ice-cream
industry. List and briefly characterize this attack strategy.

147. If your
company was labeled as an imitator
(market follower), what would your primary strategies for meeting competition be?

148. As a
market follower, you have been labeled as a counterfeiter. Characterize your
label.

.

149. A marketing manager
declares that an end-user specialist is needed by his firm. What is an end-user specialist?

150. You are
about to change the emphasis of your
organization from a competitor-centered
company to a customer-centered one.
What are the advantages to making such a switch?