Deck 4: Competitor Analysis

Question 1

While "corporate intelligence" activities provide interesting fictional stories, such activities do not really occur.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Differential competitor advantage analysis assesses the strengths and weaknesses of competing products based on information about the competitors' capabilities along a set of dimensions.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Since the problems facing a product manager are current and / or future in nature and firm-specific in focus, secondary data is usually worthless.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

One way to "monitor" a competitor is to become a shareholder of its parent corporation.

Question 5

The sales force is a major potential source for valuable competitor data--although they are grossly underused by most firms.

Question 6

Aerial "reconnaissance" of a competitor's facilities and / or testing grounds is legal since the "spying" does not involve physically invading the competitor's grounds.

Question 7

Spending funds on market-related activities and / or reducing price indicates the use of a growth strategy.

Question 8

Porter's value chain concept allows the firm to differentiate on the basis of inbound logistics, outbound logistics, operations advantage or tangible / intangible features.

Question 9

Monitoring trade advertising is a useful way to define the competitor's target market(s) and the differential advantage being sought.

Question 10

Game theory is an effective tool used to model real-world situations involving large numbers of competitors and many possible moves.

Question 11

Competitor analysis has received more attention in recent years because of all of the following reasons EXCEPT

A) Increased competition for customers in slow growth markets
B) Shorter product life cycles
C) Technological advances
D) Intensive analysis of competition substituting for customer focus
E) The increasing importance of foreign competition

Question 12

Identify the INCORRECT statement regarding changing nature of the marketing concept

A) Traditionally, it focused on the needs and wants of the customer
B) It realizes that meeting customer needs is not enough for success
C) It is now oriented, both, toward competitors as well as the customers
D) It focuses on meeting customer needs better than a competitor can
E) It realizes that intensive analysis of competition can substitute for a customer focus

Question 13

Identify the action that is LEAST likely to be a costly signal.

A) Threat to retaliate against competitive price cuts
B) Building a new plant
C) Introducing a new product
D) Changing prices
E) Launching new promotional campaigns

Question 14

The marketing manager of Abacus Video Games Inc. announces in an interview that the firm intends to slash the prices of its play stations to match those of Zensa's gaming stations, if Zensa lowers itsprices. The kind of signal being sent by Abacus's manager can be BEST described as a(n)

A) Costly signal
B) Cheap talk signal
C) Unintentional signal
D) Barbed signal
E) Uncommunicative signal

Question 15

Failure to collect / analyze competitor information may be the result of all of the following EXCEPT

A) Overconfidence about a product's continued success
B) Uncertainty about where to collect the necessary information
C) Skepticism about how to analyze the necessary information
D) Willingness to expend resources on collecting data
E) Ethical considerations

Question 16

Primary research as compared to secondary research

A) Is less expensive
B) Is easier to conduct
C) Can be done more quickly
D) Is designed to answer a particular set of questions
E) Covers all research problems

Question 17

Which of the following is LEAST likely to be a secondary source of information?

A) Customer communication
B) Government report
C) Special-purpose report
D) The internet
E) News Release

Question 18

Which of the following secondary sources is MORE likely to indicate how a competitor plans to position their product?

A) Promotional literature
B) 10K statements
C) Annual reports
D) Patent / trademark filings
E) Balance sheets

Question 19

A firm, for obtaining which of the following type of information is LEAST likely to use the trade press as an information source?

A) New product announcements
B) Personnel shifts
C) Product advertisements
D) Market share data
E) Specific set of questions

Question 20

Which of the following is a primary information source that is MOST underused?

A) 10k statements
B) The firm's sales force
C) Patent / trademark filings
D) Competitors' annual reports
E) Trade press

Question 21

Analyzing a competitor's product by purchasing it and then taking it apart is referred to as

A) Reverse engineering
B) Proactive engineering
C) Retrofitting
D) Purchase / analysis
E) Scientific engineering

Question 22

In _____, firms in the service industry use a competitive service to analyze and possibly imitate it.

A) Scientific engineering
B) Benchmarking
C) Test marketing
D) Servicing
E) Monitoring

Question 23

Which information source can give a firm an early view of a competitor's product and how it will eventually be marketed after rollout to a larger market?

A) Plant tours
B) Annual reports
C) Test markets
D) 10K statements
E) Electronic databases

Question 24

Which of the following is NOT likely to be an ethically questionable source of gathering competitor data?

A) Snooping on airplanes
B) Reverse engineering
C) Buying / stealing a competitor's trash
D) Bribing printers
E) Aerial reconnaissance

Question 25

A _____ objective usually implies increasing unit sales or market share, with profit conditions being secondary.

A) Shared
B) Market
C) Hold
D) Growth
E) Product

Question 26

A firm that has been losing market shares is likely to emphasize a _____ objective.

A) Consolidation
B) Growth
C) Profit maximizing
D) Harvest
E) Line expansion

Question 27

A _____ objective describes a situation in which profit is paramount relative to market share.

A) Growth
B) Line expansion
C) Harvest
D) Consolidation
E) Hold

Question 28

Firms attempting to improve market position at the expense of short-term profits are NOT likely to

A) Increase prices
B) Increase advertising expenditures
C) Increase distribution expenses
D) Increased promotional activities to consumers
E) Increased promotional activities for distributors

Question 29

Which of the following ownership categories is MORE likely to have objectives like maintaining employment, providing service or currency exchange?

A) Government owned / controlled firms
B) Privately owned / controlled firms
C) Family owned / controlled firms
D) Joint venture firms
E) Manufacturing companies

Question 30

If privatization of a firm occurs through a leveraged buyout (or a merger) the firm is MORE likely to be interested in

A) Increasing advertising expenditures
B) Market share investments
C) Profits and cash flow to pay down debt
D) Plowing money into market share gains
E) Increasing promotion expenditures

Question 31

At the product level, a marketing strategy can be thought of in terms of all of the following components EXCEPT:

A) Target market selection
B) Core strategy
C) Implementation
D) Product development
E) Positioning

Question 32

Identify the INCORRECT statement pertaining to the core strategy.

A) It is the basis for competition
B) It is built of the product's / firm's similarities with competitors
C) It may be identified as the brand's positioning
D) It may be identified as the brand's value proposition
E) It usually forms the basic selling proposition

Question 33

Physical product differences are LEAST likely to be stressed in which of the following product strategies?

A) Industrial
B) Durable
C) New frequently purchased
D) Commodities
E) Packaging

Question 34

Companies producing mature frequently purchased products that are "commodities"

A) Often emphasize perceptual differences
B) Can have no differential advantage
C) Emphasize physical product differences
D) Cannot have perceived differential advantage
E) Cannot compete for advantage

Question 35

Identify the INCORRECT statement pertaining to the concept of value chain.

A) It can be used to compare a brand or company's strengths and weakness against another
B) It stresses that a firm can differentiate only through marketing
C) It asserts that a firm may differentiate through outbound logistics
D) It identifies that operations advantages gives a firm competitive advantages
E) It emphasizes that differentiation can be obtained through efforts of the whole corporation

Question 36

In the marketplace, customers are MORE exposed to the elements of which of the following strategy components?

A) Development guidelines
B) Marketing mix
C) Mission statement
D) Value chain
E) Operational procedures

Question 37

Identify the source of information that is MORE likely to reveal the segments being targeted and the differential advantage being touted by industrial firms.

A) Product sales literature
B) Activities of the sales force
C) Trade advertising
D) Sales brochures
E) Informal contacts

Question 38

The competitors' strategies can be BEST determined, for consumer goods or other products targeted toward a large audience, by

A) Aerial reconnaissance
B) Tracking competitors' ads
C) Buying / stealing trash
D) Bribing printers
E) Running phony want ads

Question 39

Identify the INCORRECT statement about tracking competitors' ads, for consumer goods or other products targeted toward a large audience.

A) It is useful only if done by consulting services
B) It is helpful for gaining differential advantage information
C) It helps determine the target segments
D) It is valuable for determining the core strategy
E) It provides most of the necessary information

Question 40

Personal use of competitors' products

A) Often gives sensitivity better than best-prepared research
B) Should be forbidden or discouraged
C) Is usually foolish and a waste of time
D) Is ethically incorrect
E) Can never give a better feeling for them, than research

Question 41

Identify the criteria that would be LESS useful for assessing the technological strategies of a competitor.

A) Competitive timing
B) Marketing mix
C) Sources of capability
D) R & D investment level
E) Level of competence

Question 42

The typical functional requirements of alternative technological strategies for first to market products would include all of the following, EXCEPT

A) State-of-the-art R&D
B) Pilot and medium-scale manufacturing
C) Access to risk capital
D) Organizational flexibility over efficiency
E) Entry during early maturity stage of PLC

Question 43

Identify the factor that is LESS likely to be used by a manager in assessing the likelihood that a competitor will continue the fight.

A) How crucial the product is to the competing firm
B) The visibility of competitor's commitment to the market
C) The aggressiveness of the competitor's management
D) The importance of the product for the managers firm
E) Knowing how badly a competitor "wants the product

Question 44

Generally, this is the final step in competitor analysis.

A) Collecting primary and secondary information
B) Assessing competitors' current strategies
C) Predicting competitor's future strategies
D) Differential advantage analysis
E) Assessing a competitor's will

Question 45

All of the following are empirical findings of a research for predicting competitor moves, EXCEPT

A) The lesser the price action, the greater the customer response
B) The greater the intensity of the move, the greater the number of counteractions
C) The greater the implementation requirement, the smaller the number of responses
D) The greater the competitive impact, the greater the number of responses made
E) The more tactical the move, the greater the competitive response

Question 46

Why has competitor intelligence become more important in recent years?

Question 47

Why should firms begin their intelligence efforts with a thorough review / analysis of secondary data? What are its sources?

Question 48

What critical contributions to competitive intelligence can be made by the firm's sales force? What barriers to use must be overcome?

Question 49

Why must a firm assess competitors' current objectives? How can a manager determine of competitor objectives?

Question 50

How can the technological strategies of the major competitors be assessed?