Ms-6 Dec 2008
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-6 Dec, 2008
MS-6 : Marketing for managers
1.(a) Discuss the reasons for growth of the service sector, giving suitable examples.
(b) Explain the concept of Product LiIe Cycle (PLC). Taking example of any consumer product, discuss how the marketing mix strategy would vary during different stages of the PLC.
2. (a) What are the benefits of market segmentation ? What segmentation bases would you choose for segmenting the market for cosmetics ?
b) Discuss the broad areas of application of marketing research.
3. (a) Taking the example of a consumer durable like T.V. or refrigerator, explain the stages in the buyer decision process. Would the stages be the same in case the product in question is a soft drink ?
(b) Explain the steps involved in the selling process.
4. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) Pricing methods
(b) Alternative channels of distribution
(c) Limitations of cyber marketing
(d) Factors influencing consumer behaviour
(e) 'Product Line' and 'Product Mix
5. (a) According to Management Guru Peter Drucker, "There will always, one can assume, be need for some selling. But the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well
that the product or service fits him and sells itself . Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy. All that should be needed then is to make the product or service available."
Even if Drucker is right in claiming that the aim of marketing is to make selling
superfluous, what are the practical problems associated with 'knowing and understanding' the customer so well that the product or service sells itself ?
(b) What are the objectives of sales promotion ? Suggest some sales promotion schemes for increasing the sales of the following :
(i) Bath Soap
(ii) Instant Coffee
Ms-6 Dec 2009
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-6 Dec, 2009
MS-6 : Marketing for managers
1.(a) Explain the term Marketing and distinguish it from "Selling".
(b) Identify the elements of Marketing Mix for Services. Explain the same taking the
example of a service industry of your choice.
2.(a) Explain briefly the considerations involved in designing a marketing organisation.
(b) Explain the relevance of marketing research for a FMCG Company marketing product like soaps, detergents etc.
3. (a) Taking the example of any consumer durable product of your choice, explain the stages in the buyer decision process.
(b) What is new product development strategy ? As a product manager, discuss the various steps that you would consider in the development process of a new product.
4. Write short notes on any three of the following :
a) Approaches to sales forecasting
b) Merchant middlemen
(c) Classification of Consumer Product
d) Reference group
e) Limitations of Cyber Marketing
5. Mr. 'X' has developed a new product which will help people to get rid of the habit of smoking. The product is made of some herbs and has no side effect. Mr 'X' is now in the process of giving a suitable name for this Unique Product and subsequently wishes to market it in Western India. Assuming that you have been hired as a consultant, suggest suitable answer for the following questions :
Questions :
a) Suggest an appropriate name for the product and justify your choice.
b)Explain the SIP strategy for the above product.
(c) How would you go about in creating awareness and educating the target audience for the product ?
Ms-6 Dec 2010
Written by sales@mbaonlinepapers.com sales@mbaonlinepapers.comMS-6 Dec, 2010
MS-6 : Marketing for managers
1. (a) What do you understand by the term 'marketing mix' ? How would the marketing
mix strategies vary during different stages of the product life cycle?
(b) Explain the three additional marketing mix elements required in marketing of
services, giving suitable examples.
2. (a) From a consumer behaviour perspective, why is it incorrect to view India as a
single market?
(b) Explain the stages in the new product development process.
3. (a) For each of the following products, should the seller adopt a market skimming or
a market penetration pricing strategy ? Support your decision in each instance
(i) High fashion garments.
(ii) Exterior house paint.
(iii) PC gaming software.
(b) Explain the tasks that have to be accomplished as part of physical distribution.
4. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) Perceptual mapping technique.
(b) Applications of marketing research.
(c) Functions of packaging.
(d) Promotion Mix.
(e) Limitations of cyber marketing.
5. Study the following case and answer the questions given at the end.
TEXTBOOK QUOTES
Quotation 1 (By Hammer and Champy) :
Since the early 1980's, the dominant force in the seller-customer relationship has shifted. Sellers no longer have the upper hand; customers do. Customers now tell suppliers what they want, when they want it, how they want it, and what they will pay. This situation is unsettling to companies that have known life only in the mass market. In reality, a mass market never existed, but for most of the twentieth century the idea of the mass market provided manufactures and service providers with the useful fiction that their customers were more or less alike.
Now that they have choices, though, customers no longer behave as if they are all cast in the same mould. Customers - consumers and corporations alike - demand products and services designed for their unique and particular needs. There is no longer any such notion as 'the' customer ; There is only 'this' customer, the one with whom a seller is dealing at the moment and who now has the capacity to indulge in his or her own - personal tastes. The mass market has broken into pieces, some as small as a single customer.
Quotation 2 (Joseph Pine II)
People do not like hard-sell tactics, but they will tolerate them to acquire something they really want. If what they purchase turns out to be not quite what they wanted, their dissatisfaction with the product is magnified by their dissatisfaction with the sales tactics.
The basic problem (in years gone by) was that the focus of the marketing function of mass producers was not on marketing - it was on selling, on 'pushing product'. Selling is a necessary part of the marketing function, but marketing is so much more, as management guru Peter Drucker observes :
"There will always, one can assume, be need for some selling. But the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy. All that should be needed then is to make the product or service available".
Questions :
(a) Market segmentation is based on the proposition that customers can be categorized according to their typical wants, needs and expectations. What is the future of segmentation, given the views of Hammer and Champy ?
(b) Even if Drucker is right in claiming that the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous, what are the practical problems associated with 'knowing and understanding the customer so well that the product or service sells itself ?
(c) To what extent do the arguments advanced in both quotations apply to the public sector organizations ?
