Chapter 02 Developing Marketing Strategies and a Marketing Plan

141.

When catalog companies send sale catalogs to their current customers, which type of growth strategy are they pursuing?

142.

When musicians and their concert promoters began offering CDs of a live concert, immediately after the concert ended, what type of growth strategy were they pursuing?

143.

Several years ago, the Florida Orange Juice Growers Association ran a promotional campaign with the slogan: "Orange juice. It isn't just for breakfast anymore." Based on this slogan, which of the four growth strategies was the association pursuing? Briefly explain your reasoning.

144.

Suppose that you and a friend decide to turn your favorite sports activity--inline skating--into a business. You plan to design a line of fashionable clothing that integrates elbow and kneepads. For each of the four macro strategies, briefly describe the most important thing your company should do if you intend to focus on that strategy. Your answers should be specific to the inline skating business.

145.

Conduct a brief SWOT analysis of your prospects of finding a good job related to your major when you graduate (if you already have such a job, think about finding a job with more responsibility). Be sure to include at least one factor representing each of the four major sections of a SWOT analysis, and be sure to label each factor to indicate which of those four sections it belongs in.

146.

In July, 2010, Microsoft discontinued the Kin, its social networking phone, after just six weeks of disappointing sales. During what step of the strategic marketing planning process would Microsoft have made the decision to stop offering the product?

147.

Suppose that you and a friend decide to turn your favorite sports activity--inline skating--into a business. You plan to design a line of fashionable clothing that integrates elbow and knee pads. In launching your business, you complete all the activities listed below (though not necessarily in this order). For each listed activity, identify the step in the strategic marketing planning process it represents.

a. You track sales and profits, and discover that pants are selling better than shirts, apparently because the shirts are too expensive. You will look for a lower-cost supplier for shirts, or consider dropping your prices if you can afford to do so.
b. You realize that your experience as skaters is a plus; however, your lack of experience in selling clothing could hurt you. You find out that a skateboard shop in town wants to branch out into inline skating; however, you also find out that Nike is thinking about expanding its product line to include special inline skating clothes.
c. You decide that you will target college students who enjoy inline skating, and will aim to establish yourself as a company that offers trendy clothes for the student budget.
d. You decide that your business focus will be to offer fashionable yet durable clothing for inline skaters, with built-in protection for knees and elbows.
e. You offer clothing that college students would want to wear, price it for a student budget, sell it online and in sports stores near college campuses, and promote your products on Facebook.