Deck 3: The Marketing Environment, Ethics, and Social Responsibility

Question 1

Why is environmental scanning an important activity for marketers?

Answer 1

Environment scanning:
Environment scanning is a method of collecting data about the peripheral marketing environment to recognize and understand potential trends.
Determine why environment scanning is important:
The main objective of this approach is to investigate the data and choose whether these trends can symbolize important possibilities to the threats of the firm. The company can evaluate the possibilities for changes in environment.
Environment scanning is a main element in the management, which involves salespersons' efforts to succeed in organizational goals and strategies by forecasting and influencing the economical, politico-legal, technological, social-cultural, and completive environment.

Question 2

Dolores Labs Takes the Guesswork Out of Grunt Work
Instead, Biewald turned to Mechanical Turk, the online labor force operated by Amazon, for his temp workers. At Mechanical Turk, for about $2 an hour, employers can hire large numbers of freelancers (called "turkers") for a variety of menial tasks.
There was just one drawback, though: Biewald needed the work to be accurate, and he didn't have time to monitor the quality of the output he would receive.
Biewald's unmet need-for someone to assure an accurate, efficient labor force for his assignment-sparked the idea that eventually led him, in 2007, to found Dolores Labs: a business that, you could say, was born out of necessity.
San Francisco-based Dolores Labs serves as a middleman between the emerging cadre of "cloud labor"-the thousands of online moonlighters available to do simple tasks at bargain-basement hourly rates-and the organizations that want to hire them. The company fills the need by ensuring accountability and quality output from the cloud labor.
How is Dolores Labs able to deliver on its claim? Through its product, CrowdFlower, which consists of a set of statistical quality control algorithms devised to evaluate the accuracy and speed of cloud workers for a given task. The company emphasizes scalability: using CrowdFlower, clients can design a job to custom specifications. CrowdFlower provides the labor to deliver the work accurately and efficiently.
CrowdFlower screens candidates by giving them a dummy assignment and comparing their performance to that of veteran workers whose performance level is a known quantity. With increasing demand for inexpensive yet reliable labor to perform low-budget tasks where accuracy is important-such as medical transcription, content monitoring, marketing research, piracy policing, and others-the future looks bright for Dolores Labs. Already, the company has signed nearly two dozen clients since its founding. It received $5 million in venture capital in 2010.
Meanwhile, CrowdFlower's capabilities are being applied in other interesting ways. Leadership at Dolores Labs provided CrowdFlower's help following the earthquake in Haiti, where it was used to deploy volunteers to appropriate tasks throughout the devastated nation.
How does each of the five components of the marketing environment come into play for Dolores Labs?

Answer 2

The five components of the marketing environment are given below:
• Suppliers
• Customers
• Competitors
• Substitutes
• Entrants
The role that each component plays in D labs is given below :
• C.F. is a product used by D labs. C.F. consists of statistical algorithms for evaluating speed and accuracy of cloud workers.
• L.B is the founder of D labs. The role of a customer is to pay D labs for the workers provided to the company.
• The competitors for D labs are the large number of freelancers available in the market.
• The substitute of D labs is M.T., the online labor force operated by A Company.
• The new entrants in the industry offering work force are very less.

Question 3

Suppose you and a friend want to start a company that markets frozen fish dinners. What are some of the questions about the competitive environment you would like to have answered before you begin production? How will you determine whom your customers are likely to be? How will you reach them?

Answer 3

Competitive environment:
The competitive environment is an element of a firm's external environment, which consists of other competitors for winning consumers in the identical marketplace.
Competitive environment of the chilled fish dinners:
The competitive environment of the chilled fish dinners are as follows:
• Variety of seaside stores available near the beaches where they sell different fish product items, where they catch fishes from the sea directly
• Consumer switches to other meat stores which sell chicken or beef as the company does not sell variety of fish products that the customer prefers the probability of switching to other non vegetarian restaurants is high.
Customers of the chilled fish dinners:
• Sea food lovers
• Non vegetarian eaters
• Many small restaurants
Marketing techniques used to reach target customers:
• Distributing brochures and promotional mails
• Local newspaper advertisements
• Providing discounts and rewards to regular customers
• Providing home delivery service

Question 4

Some retail firms protect their inventory against theft by locking their premises after hours even though maintenance and other workers are inside the stores working all night. Employees have charged that they are forbidden to leave the premises during these hours and that during an emergency, such as illness or injury, precious time is lost waiting for a manager to arrive who is authorized to unlock the doors. Although workers could open an emergency exit, in some cases they claim that they will be fired for doing so. Employers assert that managers with keys are on the premises (or minutes away) and that locking employees in ensures their own safety as well as cutting down on costly "shrinkage."
Under what circumstances, if any, do you think locking employees in at night is appropriate?

Question 5

Economic environment. The U.S. Census Bureau projects what the U.S. population will look like in the next 15 to 25 years. Visit the Census Bureau's website and compare its projections of the U.S. population to current figures. What will the U.S. population look like in the future? How is it different from the current population? List two or three products or industries you feel will benefit from future population trends. www.census.gov/population/projections/index.html

Question 6

With a classmate, choose two companies or brands that compete directly with each other. Select two of the following or choose your own. Then develop a competitive strategy for your firm while your partner develops a strategy for his or hers. Present the two strategies to the class. How are they similar? How are they different?
a. Kmart and Target
b. Verizon and T-Mobile
c. Sea World and Universal Studios
d. Visa and MasterCard
e. Mazda and Hyundai
f. Chili's and T.G.I. Friday's

Question 7

What are the three types of competition? Give an example of each.

Question 8

Dolores Labs Takes the Guesswork Out of Grunt Work
Instead, Biewald turned to Mechanical Turk, the online labor force operated by Amazon, for his temp workers. At Mechanical Turk, for about $2 an hour, employers can hire large numbers of freelancers (called "turkers") for a variety of menial tasks.
There was just one drawback, though: Biewald needed the work to be accurate, and he didn't have time to monitor the quality of the output he would receive.
Biewald's unmet need-for someone to assure an accurate, efficient labor force for his assignment-sparked the idea that eventually led him, in 2007, to found Dolores Labs: a business that, you could say, was born out of necessity.
San Francisco-based Dolores Labs serves as a middleman between the emerging cadre of "cloud labor"-the thousands of online moonlighters available to do simple tasks at bargain-basement hourly rates-and the organizations that want to hire them. The company fills the need by ensuring accountability and quality output from the cloud labor.
How is Dolores Labs able to deliver on its claim? Through its product, CrowdFlower, which consists of a set of statistical quality control algorithms devised to evaluate the accuracy and speed of cloud workers for a given task. The company emphasizes scalability: using CrowdFlower, clients can design a job to custom specifications. CrowdFlower provides the labor to deliver the work accurately and efficiently.
CrowdFlower screens candidates by giving them a dummy assignment and comparing their performance to that of veteran workers whose performance level is a known quantity. With increasing demand for inexpensive yet reliable labor to perform low-budget tasks where accuracy is important-such as medical transcription, content monitoring, marketing research, piracy policing, and others-the future looks bright for Dolores Labs. Already, the company has signed nearly two dozen clients since its founding. It received $5 million in venture capital in 2010.
Meanwhile, CrowdFlower's capabilities are being applied in other interesting ways. Leadership at Dolores Labs provided CrowdFlower's help following the earthquake in Haiti, where it was used to deploy volunteers to appropriate tasks throughout the devastated nation.
Dolores Labs' involvement in helping to create a system for delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Haiti after the 2010 earthquake illustrates how a high-tech business can benefit society in a "high-touch" way. What other kinds of projects could a company like Dolores Labs undertake that would create similar impact?

Question 9

Emissions standards for motorcycles took effect in 2006 under rules adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency. There were no previous emissions controls for motorcycles at all, but even under the new laws, "dirt" bikes for off-road use will be exempt. The standards add about $75 to the average cost of a motorcycle, according to the EPA, but $250 according to the Motorcycle Industry Council. Why do you think motorcycle makers did not adopt voluntary emissions standards? Should they have done so? Why or why not?

Question 10

Some retail firms protect their inventory against theft by locking their premises after hours even though maintenance and other workers are inside the stores working all night. Employees have charged that they are forbidden to leave the premises during these hours and that during an emergency, such as illness or injury, precious time is lost waiting for a manager to arrive who is authorized to unlock the doors. Although workers could open an emergency exit, in some cases they claim that they will be fired for doing so. Employers assert that managers with keys are on the premises (or minutes away) and that locking employees in ensures their own safety as well as cutting down on costly "shrinkage."
If you feel this practice is appropriate, what safeguards do you think should be put into effect? What responsibilities do employers and employees have in such circumstances?

Question 11

Fair trade coffee. Go to the website listed below to learn about so-called fair trade coffee. Prepare a brief report on the subject. How could a coffee manufacturer or retailer integrate fair trade products into its social responsibility efforts. www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee

Question 12

Track your own consumer purchasing decisions as they relate to your income. Compare your decisions during the college year and the summer. Do you have a summer job that increases your income? How does that affect your decisions?

Question 13

What are the three questions marketers must ask before deciding on a competitive strategy?

Question 14

The social-cultural environment can have a strong influence on the decisions marketers must make. Animal rights groups have targeted the manufacture and sale of foie gras, a European food delicacy made from goose and duck liver. Activists cite the cruel treatment of these birds, while chefs and restaurant owners claim otherwise. Animal rights groups are pressuring restaurants to stop serving foie gras. Others argue that consumers should be allowed a choice. What aspects of the social-cultural environment are affecting the marketing of foie gras Which of the other components of the marketing environment may come into play, and how?

Question 15

Building a brand. Visit the website for footwear maker Ugg to learn about its efforts at building its brand. How has Ugg answered each of the five questions listed in the chapter concerning the development of a competitive strategy? www.uggaustralia.com

Question 16

The U.S. Postal Service essentially enjoys a monopoly on the delivery of most mail. With a classmate, develop a strategy for a business that would compete with the USPS in areas that firms such as UPS and FedEx do not already cover.

Question 17

What is the function of the Federal Trade Commission? The Food and Drug Administration?

Question 18

Nearly 400 million rebates-worth about $6 billion-are offered to U.S. consumers by marketers every year. But do consumers like them? Often rebates require more effort than a consumer is willing to make to receive the cash back. Critics of the promotional effort say that marketers know this and are banking on consumers not redeeming them, resulting in extra income for retailers and manufacturers. Do you think rebate programs are ethical? Why or why not?

Question 19

Choose one of the following products. Working in pairs or small groups, present arguments for and against having the United States impose certain regulations on the advertising of your product. (Note that some products already do have regulations-you can argue for or against them.)
a. Smokeless tobacco
b. Firearms
c. State lottery
d. Prescription medications

Question 20

Describe an industry or firm that you think might be able to weather an economic downturn and explain why.

Question 21

The safe disposal of nuclear waste has been the topic of continuing public debate and an ongoing issue for marketers who work for nuclear power companies. This material is currently stored at 75 sites around the nation. To build a nuclear waste site, the U.S. Department of Energy must apply for and obtain a license. Supporters of such sites argue that they are important to building America's nuclear power capacity, while critics question their safety and usefulness. As a marketer, how would you approach this issue?

Question 22

With a classmate, research a professional sports team that has threatened to move if locals don't approve subsidies to build a new stadium or arena. Do you think this is a savvy business move on the part of the team's owners? Or, is it an unethical move because area businesses will lose revenues if the team takes its franchise elsewhere?

Question 23

Why do marketers monitor the technological environment?

Question 24

How might marketers make the most of shifts in the social- cultural environment?

Question 25

Describe the importance of consumer rights in today's marketing activities.

Question 26

Why is it worthwhile for a firm to create an ethics program?

Question 27

How can social responsibility benefit a firm as well as the society in which it operates?