Introduction to Marketing 204
University of Saskatchewan
Edwards School of Business
Midterm Examination

Section 1: Multiple Choice- 25 marks

Choose the best answer; circle the corresponding letter (under correct number) on the OPSCAN sheet (using a pencil).

1)  ________ are groups to which an individual wishes to belong, as when a teenage hockey player hopes to play someday for the Canadian Olympic Hockey team.

a. Membership groups
b. Aspirational groups
c. Leading adopter groups
d. Leisure groups
e. Social class groups

2) The information sources that are most effective at influencing a consumer’s purchase decision are ________. These sources legitimize or evaluate products for the buyer.

a. commercial
b. public
c. experimental
d. personal
e. social

3) Many major purchases result in ________, or discomfort caused by postpurchase conflict.
a. need recognition
b. cognitive dissonance 
c. purchase decisions
d. legitimization
e. dissatisfaction

4) When companies such as IBM want to introduce a new product, they will typically target the _____group because they know that those within this group are guided by respect, are the opinion leaders in their communities and like to adopt new ideas early but carefully
a. Laggards
b. Innovators
c. Early adopters
d. Early majority
e. Late majority

5) In class, we did a taste test of Coca-Cola and President’s Choice Cola. People had different perceptions of the drink depending on the brand name (even though it turned out everyone was drinking the same drink). This is an example of:
a. Selective retention
b. Selective attention
c. Selective distortion
d. Cognitive dissonance
e. Stimulus actualization

6) To evaluate the different market segments your company is serving, you would look at which of the following factors?
a. consumer size
b. product growth
c. segment structural attractiveness
d. company culture
e. company competitors

7) Steelcase office Equipment Company, when designing its highly successful Personal Harbor modular office units, set up video camera at various companies to study motions and behaviour patterns that customers themselves might not even notice. This would be an example of which of the following research approaches?
a. Questionnaire research
b. Observational research
c. Survey research
d. Experimental research
e. Descriptive research
8) If Rona had kept their original location on Circle Drive North, plus opened a new location at Preston Crossing in the city of Saskatoon, this would be an example of:
a. Product expansion
b. Market expansion
c. Market development
d. Diversification
e. Market penetration

9) Mary waits until the end of the season to buy a new fashion item. She wants to be sure that the style will be in next year. Mary belongs to which adopter group?
a. Early adopters
b. Laggards
c. Late majority
d. Innovators
e. Early majority

12) If coca-cola targets everyone, they are using
a. Micromarketing
b. Differentiated marketing
c. Concentrated marketing
d. Undifferentiated marketing
e. Market segmentation

13) Which of the following is the most likely result of a marketing strategy that attempts to serve all customers?
a. All customers will be delighted.
b. Customer-perceived value will be increased.
c. Customer evangelists will become unpaid salespersons for the service or product.
d. Few customers will be satisfied.
e. The company will likely need to follow up with a demarketing campaign.

17) Which of the following marketing management orientations focuses primarily on improving efficiencies along the supply chain?
a. production concept
b. product concept
c. selling concept
d. marketing concept
e. societal marketing concept

18) ________ should be market oriented and defined in terms of ________.
a. Strategic plans; company needs
b. Annual plans; product needs
c. Long-range plans; company needs
d. Mission statements; customer needs
e. Objectives; customer needs

19) ________ can be a company division, a product line within a division, or sometimes a single product or brand.
a. A market
b. The BCG
c. A SBU
d. A PLC
e. A value delivery network

20) When McDonald’s was conducting market research regarding their decline in coffee and breakfast sales, they started with ________ research and ended their research with ________ research.
a. exploratory; causal
b. descriptive; causal
c. descriptive; exploratory
d. causal; descriptive
e. causal; exploratory

21) Jerry recently bought a Sony Bravia HD television. He first heard about the TV through an advertisement and later talked to a friend who has one and recommended it. These are examples of ________.
a. solicitations
b. line extensions
c.  touchpoints
d. product mix
e. word-of-mouth elements

22) Which demographic group is characterized by a total fluency and comfort with computer, digital, and Internet technology?
a. Generation X
b. Millennials
c. Seniors
d. Generation Z
e. Baby boomers

24) ________ refers to sellers that pay more attention to their own products than to the benefits and experiences produced by these products.
a. Selling myopia
b. Marketing management
c. Value proposition
d. Marketing myopia
e. The product concept

25)  Paul Pierce is busy working with other managers evaluating the products and businesses making up their company. Paul is engaged in ________.
a. defining the company’s mission statement
b. preparing a business portfolio
c. portfolio analysis
d. marketing planning
e. marketing control

Section 2: Shorter Answer (must answer all):– 10 marks

1) Define the primary target market of the advertisement below using multiple segmentation variables. (3 marks) (This is an advertisement on Saskjobs.ca website, a website that lists jobs available in Saskatchewan.)

Demographic- Younger business professionals (male or female)
Geographic- Likely outside of the province- centres such as Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg
Psychographic- want to have more of a relaxed lifestyle (enjoy sports or leisurely time)
Behavioural- don’t want long commutes to work anymore (The “drive” in Saskatchewan is so short, you have time in the morning to play a round of golf.)

Looking to have 3 of the above variables named (0.5 mark) and explained (0.5 mark) for 3 marks total

2) Describe 3 of the biases that can occur when conducting market research by telephone. (3 marks)
• Demographic skew (older, lonely women tend to answer)
• People do not have land lines (more likely to have cell phones)
• Interviewer bias- can skew or lead the answers
• People lie on the phone (to look better or to give the answer they think the interviewer wants to hear)
• People think it is telemarketer vs market research- don’t answer or hang up

Want 3 of the above (explained)- 1 mark each for 3 marks total

3) BCOS Model is the theory describing consumer behaviour as it relates to non-profits. What does the acronym (BCOS) stand for and explain? (4 marks)
• Benefits- benefits or pros of partaking in the action (such as saving 3 lives)
• Costs- costs associated with the action (ex. Time or money)
• Others- using peer pressure/others to encourage/motivate you to partake in the action
• Self-efficacy- enabling you to continue the action (ex. Recycling bins everywhere so it is easy for you to recycle)

Marking: 0.5 mark to name, 0.5 mark to explain, 4 in total, so 4 marks in total

Section 3: Choose any 3 out of 4 of the following questions (5 marks each- 15 marks)

1) When new Coke was introduced to the marketplace, consumers were not happy. Consider the steps in New Product Development Process, what are they and what step(s) did Coca-Cola not consider or not pay enough attention to?
1. Idea generation
2. Idea screening
3. Concept development and testing
4. Market analysis
5. Business case
6. Prototype development
7. Test marketing
8. Commercialization
Coke likely missed out on either steps 3 or 7- conducing market research to determine consumers’ perceptions.
 
Marking: 0.5 marks for each of the 8 steps (4 marks total), 1 mark for indicating what Coca-cola may have missed and why (0.5 mark name, 0.5 mark explain) for 5 marks total
2) New Balance athletic shoe company has a difficult problem- how to compete in the highly competitive athletic shoe market against such industry giants as Nike and Reebok. The company does have certain advantages, such as it makes a quality product, has a good reputation with distributors, and is the only athletic shoes that offers width sizes as well as length sizes, that it hopes will meet the challenges of the industry giants. Your job as a strategic planning consultant is to formulate a market-coverage strategy for New Balance. You have three options- undifferentiated marketing, differentiated marketing, and concentrated marketing. Choose one of these methods and support your choice with a logical explanation. (What should you consider when selecting a strategy?)

New Balance should go with Niche (concentrated) or Differentiated
Product variability- if product has variability (differences) better to be niche or differentiated
Market variability- consumers have different tastes- so better to be niche or differentiated
Competitors’ strategy- competitors are differentiated or undifferentiated, so New Balance needs to be more specific
Company resources- newer company, less resources- be more focused such as Niche or differentiated
Stage in product life cycle- Newer company, earlier stage, typically niche or differentiated then

1 mark to name (niche or differentiated) and 1 mark for each point explaining (up to 4 marks) (0.5 marks marketing term, 0.5 mark explanation) for 5 marks total

3) Consider the factors influencing consumer behavior. What are the overlying factors (name all four), and what do you believe is (are) the key factor(s) influencing in the article below (indicate sub-factors)? Name and explain.

Nova Scotia lights up new anti-smoking campaign Matt Semansky

The Nova Scotia government’s Department of Health and Wellness has launched an advertising campaign that highlights the dwindling number of young people who smoke cigarettes.

The campaign includes television and cinema ads, as well as a website and street-level executions developed by Halifax agency Extreme Group. The television and cinema spots both depict young adolescents whose attempts at goofing off are disrupted by the lack of a lighter. In one ad, a boy positions himself to ignite his own flatulence but is unable to procure a lighter from any of his friends. In the other spot, a teenager prepares to light a rocket in his backyard, only to find that no one has a lighter handy.
Both spots conclude with the superimposed copy, “Hardly anyone smokes anymore,” followed by a throw to the 15andfalling.ca website. The url refers to results from the 2009 Canadian Tobacco Usage Monitoring Survey, which indicated that only 15% of Canadian teens smoke.
“We discovered that most teens think a lot more people smoke than actually do, and because of that they think it’s acceptable,” said Shawn King, vice-president and chief creative officer at Extreme Group. “When we found out that 85% of teens don’t smoke—which means only 15% of them do—and fed that back to the target, they were shocked.”

Steve Machat, manager of tobacco control, Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness, expects the campaign’s humour and focus on social norms to make an impact with teens.
“It’s unconventional, compared to campaigns that we’ve seen in other jurisdictions where they emphasize themes that really have nothing to do with the target population, like the dark, unhealthy lung or all those fear tactics,” said Machat.

Extreme Group also developed 9-ft. dinosaurs out of ashtrays, museum-style artifact boxes containing smoking paraphernalia, and spray-painted silhouettes of smokers that disappear over time. This collateral—all of which, King said, was designed to depict smoking as an antiquated habit—has been placed near schools, in malls and in other high-traffic areas in the province.

4 overlying factors: (0.5 marks each for 2 marks total)
• Cultural
• Social
• Personal
• Psychological
In article:
Culture/subculture
Social- reference groups
Personal- age and also personality
Psychological- believe that others are smoking

(they may have a few others)

Name and explain 2  (0.5 to name, 1 mark to explain- 1.5 marks each)

4) Consider macro and micro environmental forces. Which forces are seen in the following article? Name and explain 3 (in total- could be all macro, all micro, or a mix of the 2).
PEI expects tourism boost from Come Dine With Me
January 11, 2012  |  Canadian Press  | 

The Prince Edward Island government hopes a menu of hit TV shows will help deliver new customers to the province’s doors in the weeks and months ahead.

Fresh on the heels of international exposure from Will and Kate in 2011 and Regis and Kelly in 2010, Corus’ W Network has announced its top-rated show Come Dine With Me Canada is going to Prince Edward Island.

The P.E.I. government is spending $35,000 to $40,000 to help cover the costs of taking the show out of Toronto, where it is normally taped.

Tourism Minister Robert Henderson said the province’s move means an audience of more than a million viewers will get a taste of what Prince Edward Island has to offer as a “premier tourism destination.”

Come Dine With Me Canada is a half-hour series that follows five strangers as they compete to throw the perfect dinner party for their fellow amateur chefs.

The program is the highest-rated lifestyle show in Canada, averaging 1.4 million viewers every week.

Producers from the show will meet 20 of the best candidates mid-February in P.E.I. That will then be dwindled down to either five or 10.

The show will be taped over the summer and will feature scenic shots from across the Island.
It will then air in the spring of 2013.

Macroenvironment
Cultural- Canadian culture- watch television, interested in Will and Kate, etc, highest rated lifestyle show in Canada
Economic- tourism is important to the province in terms of economic stability, want to encourage more tourism
Political- politics is playing a role, government recognizing importance of tourism to local economy
Natural- showing off natural environment, beauty of PEI

Microenvironmental
Government Publics- stepping in and playing a role

Students may have a few others.

Marking: 1.66 marks each (for 3 named and explained)