1.Assume you are the newly hired marketing manager of a company. As you spend time with other peer marketing managers, you realize that the company does not place an emphasis on planning within the marketing organization. Why is planning important in marketing? What are the essential components of a marketing plan? How would you convince your supervisor that the marketing department should produce formal marketing plans?
2.Select an organization with which you are familiar. How does your selected organization use the different components of the marketing mix? How does the marketing mix affect the development of your selected organization’s marketing strategy and tactics? How can your selected organization use quantifiable elements to evaluate, monitor, and control marketing effectiveness?
3.What is marketing research? How has the Internet affected marketing research? As a part of your answer, address time, cost, approaches, and validity. Why is marketing research important to developing marketing strategy?
4.What is competitive intelligence? What is the importance of competitive intelligence and analysis in modern-day marketing? How can a company’s marketing organization ensure that it is able to identify newly emerging competitors in time to plan and execute an effective marketing strategy in response to these competitors?
5.Select a product with which you are familiar. What stage is your selected product at in the product life cycle? Provide rationale for your answer. Based on your knowledge of the product life cycle, what types of changes will occur to your selected product as it continues through the product life cycle? How will this affect the marketing of your selected product?
6.Select a product or service. Then select three different organizations that provide your selected product or service and compare the prices associated with your selected product or service. What is the difference between the prices among the different organizations? What is the rationale for this difference?
7.What are the similarities and differences between promotional push strategies and promotional pull strategies? What is an example of a situation in which an organization would use a push strategy? What is an example of a situation in which an organization would use a pull strategy?
8.What does the term noise mean in marketing? With so much advertising noise in the marketplace, how can a company ensure its message is heard?
9.Florida's Department of Citrus and a coalition of consumer groups have launched an attack on your company for deceptive marketing because your company markets its SunShine drink as fruit juice even though the drink contains less than 5% fruit juice. Marketing SunShine drink as a fruit juice leads parents to believe that they are purchasing a healthy juice for their children. What ethical and moral issues are involved in this situation? Should these issues affect the marketing of SunShine drink? Explain why or why not.
10You are the marketing manager for a leading coffee chain. Your company has made the decision to expand internationally, specifically into China. What are some environmental factors that you will need to consider in marketing your coffee in China? Which of one of these factors would have the largest effect on the company’s marketing strategy? Explain why.