Deck 5: Evaluating Opportunities in the Changing Market Environment

Question 1

Attractive opportunities should make use of a firm's resources and its unique strengths.

Answer 1

True
Explanation: Every firm has some unique resources, and opportunities come from making use of these strengths.

Question 2

A mission statement should focus on just the key goals for the organization.

Answer 2

True
Explanation: A mission statement should focus on a few key goals rather than embracing everything.

Question 3

As compared to larger competitors,smaller firms benefit from lower unit costs which they achieve with lower sales volumes.

Answer 3

False
Explanation: Smaller firms can be at a great cost disadvantage if they try to win business from larger competitors when the cost of producing and selling each unit decreases as the quantity increases.

Question 4

The objectives of a firm should direct the operation of the marketing department,but aren't important to the rest of the business.

Question 5

A mission statement substitutes for more specific objectives.

Question 6

The direct market environment includes customers,competitors,and the IRS.

Question 7

A mission statement sets out the organization's basic purpose for being.

Question 8

A mission statement can help a manager decide which opportunities to pursue and which to screen out.

Question 9

Trying to maximize short-run return on investment may not be compatible with a company's other objectives.

Question 10

Smaller producers always have a great advantage in competing with larger producers because of their flexibility.

Question 11

Company objectives should shape the direction and operation of the whole business.

Question 12

Good marketing objectives should be ambitious and almost impossible to achieve.

Question 13

Company objectives should lead to a hierarchy of marketing objectives.

Question 14

A mission statement sets out the strengths and weaknesses of a firm as well as the opportunities and threats that it faces.

Question 15

If the cost of production per unit goes down as the quantity produced increases,small producers can be at a great cost disadvantage.

Question 16

A large producer with economies of scale always has a competitive advantage over smaller firms.

Question 17

The external marketing environment is shaped by these four areas: economics,technology,politics/law,and culture/society.

Question 18

Objectives should set the firm's course.

Question 19

The opportunities a firm decides to pursue may depend on its resources and capabilities.

Question 20

The marketing manager can control the variables in the market environment.

Question 21

Although the marketing manager cannot control the competitive environment,he can choose strategies that will avoid head-on situations.

Question 22

Competitor analysis is an organized approach for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of current or potential competitors' marketing strategies.

Question 23

In market-directed economies,unregulated monopolies are rare.

Question 24

The competitive environment has no relationship with the number and types of competitors the marketing manager must face and how they may behave.

Question 25

In a competitor analysis,a current (or planned)target market and marketing mix is compared with what competitors are currently doing (or are likely to do).

Question 26

In monopolistic competition,managers sometimes try to differentiate very similar products by relying on promotion or other elements of the marketing mix.

Question 27

The major shortcoming of competitor analysis is that it focuses on the weaknesses of competitors-but ignores their strengths.

Question 28

Competitive rivals are always easy to identify.

Question 29

Spying on competitors to obtain trade secrets raises moral issues but is not illegal.

Question 30

The Internet is a powerful way to get information about competitors.

Question 31

The first step in a competitor analysis is to identify potential competitors.

Question 32

Good relations with intermediaries,good locations,and good salespeople are some of the many resources of a firm that should be evaluated when searching for new opportunities.

Question 33

The Internet is an important aspect of the technological environment,but it isn't very useful for getting information about competitors.

Question 34

The technological environment includes such things as national income,economic growth,and inflation.

Question 35

In monopolistic competition,one firm completely controls a broad product-market.

Question 36

Interest rates usually decrease during periods of inflation.

Question 37

Over the long run,most product-markets tend toward monopolistic competition.

Question 38

The inflation rate experienced by the United States in recent years was just about the highest in the world.

Question 39

When the competitive environment moves toward pure competition,producers offer very different products that consumers do not perceive as substitutes for each other.

Question 40

Many people think that it is unethical to spy on competitors to obtain their trade secrets,but it is perfectly legal.

Question 41

Placing the interests of individual consumers before the interests of business is nationalism.

Question 42

A manager could be fined for violating the antimonopoly laws,but he or she could not be sent to jail.

Question 43

Technology is the application of science to convert an economy's resources to output.

Question 44

Key countries in Europe have moved to the euro,a new unified money system for the European Union.

Question 45

Product warranties are regulated by the Magnuson-Moss Act.

Question 46

The Sherman Act deals with tying contracts,exclusive dealing contracts,and price discrimination by manufacturers.

Question 47

Business and individual managers are subject to both criminal and civil laws.

Question 48

Marketers no longer encounter differences among European countries.

Question 49

A basic idea in the legal environment in the United States is that attempts by business to limit competition are considered contrary to the public interest.

Question 50

The political environment may either block or promote new marketing opportunities.

Question 51

The Clayton Act deals with tying contracts,exclusive dealing contracts,and price discrimination by manufacturers.

Question 52

Nationalism may affect marketing strategy planning by determining to whom and how much a firm may sell.

Question 53

The elimination of separate barriers to inter-European trade is making Europe a large unified market.

Question 54

Compared to some countries in Latin America,the rate of inflation in the U.S.is low.

Question 55

The Clayton Act focuses on practices which may substantially lessen competition-such as tying contracts,exclusive dealing contracts and price discrimination by manufacturers.

Question 56

Technology provides new opportunities and new challenges for marketers.

Question 57

Nationalism-or the emphasis on a country's interests before anything else-may affect the work of some marketing managers.

Question 58

The Magnuson-Moss Act regulates product warranties.

Question 59

Technology affects marketing through new products and new processes.

Question 60

Strong sentiments of nationalism facilitate growth in importing and exporting.

Question 61

The cultural and social environment refers to where people live and their income.

Question 62

When considering international markets,income is often one of the most important demographic dimensions.

Question 63

Because the Consumer Product Safety Commission has no power to force a product off the market,safety is not a very important consideration in product design.

Question 64

The U.S.population is over 316 million people and the world population is more than 7 billion people.

Question 65

Both GDP and GNI measures of national income.

Question 66

The concentration of people in major cities often simplifies Place and Promotion decisions.

Question 67

The cultural and social environment affects how and why people live and behave as they do.

Question 68

Gross domestic product includes foreign income earned in a country.

Question 69

There are over 316 million people living in the United States.

Question 70

In Argentina,Israel,and Singapore,for example,less than 20 percent of people live in urban areas.

Question 71

Marketers should be aware of federal legislation,as well as state and local laws,when planning marketing strategy.

Question 72

The rate of growth of the U.S.population is lower than the rate of growth of some other countries' population.

Question 73

Before the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed,it was assumed that the common law and the warning "let the buyer beware" would take care of consumers.

Question 74

The Consumer Product Safety Commission tries to encourage safe product design,but the commission has almost no power to deal with unsafe products.

Question 75

The Consumer Product Safety Act provides for the creation of safety standards but has no power to set penalties for failure to meet these standards.

Question 76

India has more people than the United States,and China has more people than India.

Question 77

Less-developed countries usually experience the slowest population growth.

Question 78

When considering international markets,income is usually not an important demographic dimension.

Question 79

In the United States,the Consumer Product Safety Commission sets and enforces product safety standards.

Question 80

Gross domestic product is the total dollar value of a country's exports during a one year period.