Deck 3: Evaluating Opportunities in the Changing Marketing Environment

Question 1

A business firm's only objective should be to earn enough profit to survive.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A mission statement substitutes for more specific objectives.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Trying to maximize short-run return on investment may not be good in the long run.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Earning a profit probably should be one of the objectives of a firm, but it should not be the only one.

Question 5

Ownership of patents, a familiar brand name, and financial strength are some of the many resources of a firm that a manager should evaluate when searching for new opportunities.

Question 6

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

Question 7

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

Question 8

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

Question 9

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

Question 10

Company objectives should lead to a hierarchy of marketing objectives.

Question 11

A patent owner has a 20-year monopoly to develop and use its new product, process, or material.

Question 12

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

Question 13

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

Question 14

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

Question 15

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

Question 16

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

Question 17

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

Question 18

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

Question 19

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

Question 20

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

Question 21

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

Question 22

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

Question 23

Competitive barriers are the conditions that make it possible for a firm to compete in a market.

Question 24

A firm may find that both the competitive and economic environments are better in a foreign market than in its domestic market.

Question 25

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

Question 26

Competitive barriers are conditions that make it difficult for a firm to compete in a market.

Question 27

The competitive environment affects the number and types of competitors the marketing manager must face and how they may behave.

Question 28

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 29

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

Question 30

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

Question 31

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

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

In market-directed economies, unregulated monopolies are rare.

Question 34

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

Question 35

Competitive rivals are always easy to identify.

Question 36

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

Question 37

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

Question 38

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

Question 39

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

Question 40

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

Question 41

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

Question 42

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

Question 43

Changes in technology can have major impacts on marketing strategy planning.

Question 44

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

Question 45

Regional groupings of nations outside the United States have little effect on the decisions of marketing managers whose firms are headquartered in the U.S.

Question 46

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

Question 47

Technology provides new opportunities and new challenges for marketers.

Question 48

Interest rates usually decrease during periods of inflation.

Question 49

When the dollar is strong in international exchange, it is easier to sell U.S. products in overseas markets.

Question 50

Technological advances like the World Wide Web and the Internet are leading to big advances in business.

Question 51

Technology affects marketing through new products and new processes.

Question 52

The Internet changes how consumers shop and marketers market.

Question 53

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

Question 54

The Internet is a system for linking computers around the world.

Question 55

Strong sentiments of nationalism facilitate growth in importing and exporting.

Question 56

Changes in the technological environment could be rejected by the cultural and social environment--through the political and legal environments--even though such changes might help the economic environment.

Question 57

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

Question 58

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

Question 59

Marketers no longer encounter differences among European countries.

Question 60

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

Question 61

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

Question 62

The Clayton Act deals with tying contracts, exclusive dealing contracts, and price-fixing conspiracies.

Question 63

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

Question 64

Because NAFTA is a short-term proposition, its economic impact has already been as significant as it is likely to be.

Question 65

Laws such as the Pure Food and Drug Act were passed because pro-competition legislation did not protect consumers very well in some areas.

Question 66

The Magnuson-Moss Act regulates product warranties.

Question 67

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

Question 68

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 69

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

Question 70

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

Question 71

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 72

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

Question 73

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

Question 74

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 75

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 76

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

Question 77

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

Question 78

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

Question 79

Product warranties are regulated by the Magnuson-Moss Act.

Question 80

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