Argosy University Concept of Marketing Discussion Questions

Concept of Marketing

Before beginning work on this week’s discussion forum, please review the link “Doing Discussion Questions Right,” the expanded grading rubric for the forum, and any specific instructions for this week’s topic.

• By the due date assigned, respond to the assigned discussion questions and submit your responses to the appropriate topic in this Discussion Area.
• Respond to the assigned questions using the lessons and vocabulary found in the reading.
• Support your answers with examples and research and cite your research using the APA format.
• Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible.

Select any one of the following starter bullet point sections. Review the important themes within the sub questions of each bullet point. The sub questions are designed to get you thinking about some of the important issues. Your response should provide a succinct synthesis of the key themes in a way that articulates a clear point, position, or conclusion supported by research. Select a different bullet point section than what your classmates have already posted so that we can engage several discussions on relevant topics. If all of the bullet points have been addressed, then you may begin to reuse the bullet points with the expectation that varied responses continue.

• The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”
  • Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this definition.
  • Defend how you would change the definition.
  • Assess whether the definition is clear, accurate, relevant, and current in today’s organizations and society.

• Many people think of marketing as only promotion. However, marketing is much more. A common way of understanding the essentials of marketing is using the 4Ps model—product, price, place, and promotion.
  • Analyze each of the 4Ps and explain how they create value for organizations. Remember, value creation is any type of activity or outcome that will add to the long-term success of the organization. It is more than simply economic value and includes enhancements such as customer good will, employee satisfaction, supplier networks, managerial skills and experience, and ethical or community factors. Creating value can include intangible as well as tangible assets, such as intellectual property and a business plan.
  • Justify which of the four functions (4Ps) seems to provide the most value to organizations.

• Marketing has evolved into a major business function that crosses all areas of an organization. For example, marketing may advise production about how much of the company’s product to make and then may tell logistics when to ship it. Accordingly, marketing influences business practices and it may also have wider influence on society.
  • Assess the importance of marketing to society.
  • Evaluate how marketing has changed society.
  • Analyze how marketing has impacted today’s lifestyle.

• A SWOTT analysis helps evaluate current performance and future potential, especially in relation to competitors. Organizations use SWOTT to assess strengths and weaknesses within the organization, threats and opportunities from outside the organization, and trends that might have long-term consequences for the organization and the industry as a whole.
  • Perform a brief SWOTT analysis on a company of your choice as seen through the eyes of a marketing manager.
  • Justify some recommendations for overcoming factors that might impede progress of the organization and for taking advantage of factors that could benefit the organization.

• Market growth is accomplished by one or more of the following strategies: Market Penetration (increasing market share), Market Development (new markets), Product Development (new products or services), and Diversification (promoting new or expanding existing products to reach a new market). Remember, the diversification strategy stands apart from the other three strategies. The first three strategies are pursued with the same technical, financial, and merchandising resources used for the original product line, whereas diversification usually requires a company to acquire new skills, new techniques, and new facilities.
  • Assess each of these strategies and provide an example for each category.
  • Out of the four strategies, choose a strategy that best suits growth in a company of your choice and justify how you would use this strategy.

Respond to your peers throughout the week. Justify your answers with examples, research, and reasoning.

Your initial posting should be the equivalent of 1.5 single-spaced pages (700 to 800 words) in length. Be sure to cite your sources using APA format.

Week 2 Discussion

Contains unread posts

Locked.

Market Segmentation/MIS/Market Research

Before beginning work on this week’s discussion forum, please review the link “Doing Discussion Questions Right,” the expanded grading rubric for the forum, and any specific instructions for this week’s topic.

Select any one of the following starter bullet point sections. Review the important themes within the sub questions of each bullet point. The sub questions are designed to get you thinking about some of the important issues. Your response should provide a succinct synthesis of the key themes in a way that articulates a clear point, position, or conclusion supported by research. Select a different bullet point section than what your classmates have already posted so that we can engage several discussions on relevant topics. If all of the bullet points have been addressed, then you may begin to reuse the bullet points with the expectation that varied responses continue.

• Many people have participated in a market research survey at some time in their lives. With reference to any survey that you actively participated in, discuss the questions that follow. If you have not experienced a market research survey, take a survey on the Internet:
  • Evaluate how effective the survey was in measuring how you felt about a product.
  • Explain whether you feel your response in the survey helped improve or will improve the product being marketed.
  • Describe how you might have gathered information differently so that the survey was more effective.

• Explain why it is important for marketers to monitor current trends in marketing. How does a marketing information system identify and measure trends? How would you design a marketing information system for a product of your choice?

• When Henry Ford marketed the Model T a hundred years ago, he stated customers could have any color they wanted as long as it was black. We have come a long way since then. The types and variety of cars have exploded, and now cars are available in a multitude of colors.
  • Identify the different segments of the automobile market.
  • Discuss the types of people who buy minivans, pickup trucks, sports cars, SUVs, compact cars, and luxury cars. What are the benefits for the auto companies to segment the market? Give reasons for your answer.
  • Determine if it is possible for a company to attract customers from one market segment into another market segment and still earn a profit. Explain why.

• Martin Lindstrom wrote a book called Buyology describing how marketers use state-of-the-art medical devices to measure how brain activity changes and is stimulated by advertising. The goal is to understand how advertising directly impacts brain activity in order for marketers to develop more effective advertisements, which (theoretically) no one will be able to resist.
  • Assess each of these strategies and provide an example for each category.
  • Out of the four strategies, choose a strategy that best suits growth in a company of your choice and justify how you would use this strategy.

Respond to your peers throughout the week. Justify your answers with examples, research, and reasoning. Your initial posting should be the equivalent of 1.5 single-spaced pages (700 to 800 words) in length.

Be sure to cite your sources using APA format.

Week 3 Discussion

Contains unread posts

Consumer Buying Process and Organizational Buying Process

Before beginning work on this week’s discussion forum, please review the link “Doing Discussion Questions Right,” the expanded grading rubric for the forum, and any specific instructions for this week’s topic.

• By the due date assigned, respond to the assigned discussion questions and submit your responses to the appropriate topic in this Discussion Area.
• Respond to the assigned questions using the lessons and vocabulary found in the reading.
• Support your answers with examples and research and cite your research using the APA format.
• Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible.

Select any one of the following starter bullet point sections. Review the important themes within the sub questions of each bullet point. The sub questions are designed to get you thinking about some of the important issues. Your response should provide a succinct synthesis of the key themes in a way that articulates a clear point, position, or conclusion supported by research. Select a different bullet point section than what your classmates have already posted so that we can engage several discussions on relevant topics. If all of the bullet points have been addressed, then you may begin to reuse the bullet points with the expectation that varied responses continue.

• You work for a firm that produces packaged potato chips. Your firm is interested in exporting its product to a different country. You need to select a country other than the one you live in and describe the culture of that country along with the key elements of its marketing system.
  • Describe the different tastes, needs, and customs of your intended customers.
  • Would these differences be consistent or different among multiple countries in a geographic region? Explain why.

• Explain how culture influences the way consumers view the different attributes of a product. Also, explain how the culture in which individuals are raised has an impact on the products they buy. How can a seller use culture to sell a product successfully? Provide two examples showing how culture influences the purchasing process.

• Using the physiological, safety, social, and personal (PSSP) hierarchy of needs discussed in the lecture, analyze a recent purchase.
  • Explain which of the needs in the hierarchy it addresses directly.
  • Explain which of the needs indirectly influenced your decision to purchase.
  • How did the advertising of the product focus on those needs?

• Evaluate the impact of macro trends such as the globalization of businesses, international migration, and conservationism on consumer behavior. How will these trends affect the marketing of selected goods or services in the future?

• You are the business manager of a trendy hairstyle shop in downtown Chicago. As a manager, you are in charge of payrolls, paying the bills, hiring and firing, purchasing, training, and customer service. You provide a luxury service, and your average customer has different demographics from the rest of the population in the city. Due to recent competitive developments, you feel the need to learn more about your customers; you specifically want to know how they choose your services over that of the competition. You are aware of the steps in the consumer purchase behavior model and are determined to analyze them in detail. On the basis of the given scenario, answer the following questions:
  • Using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model as a backdrop, with an eye on the consumer Purchase Behavior Model, determine the real motivations behind the use of the service provided by you.
  • Evaluate an additional social and cultural factor that will help you analyze your customers’ behavior.
  • What service criteria do you think your customers use to select the type of service you offer? Explain your answer using an example to illustrate your point.
  • Assess methods (think about the entire marketing mix) that might be useful to encourage loyalty among existing customers.

Respond to your peers throughout the week. Justify your answers with examples, research, and reasoning.

Your initial posting should be the equivalent of 1.5 single-spaced pages (700 to 800 words) in length. Be sure to cite your sources using APA format.

Week 4 Discussion

Discussion

Before beginning work on this week’s discussion forum, please review the link “Doing Discussion Questions Right,” the expanded grading rubric for the forum, and any specific instructions for this week’s topic.

• By the due date assigned, respond to the assigned discussion questions and submit your responses to the appropriate topic in this Discussion Area.
• Respond to the assigned questions using the lessons and vocabulary found in the reading.
• Support your answers with examples and research and cite your research using the APA format.
• Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible.

Select any one of the following starter bullet point sections. Review the important themes within the sub questions of each bullet point. The sub questions are designed to get you thinking about some of the important issues. Your response should provide a succinct synthesis of the key themes in a way that articulates a clear point, position, or conclusion supported by research. Select a different bullet point section than what your classmates have already posted so that we can engage several discussions on relevant topics. If all of the bullet points have been addressed, then you may begin to reuse the bullet points with the expectation that varied responses continue.

• Discuss ten characteristics of effective brand name creation. Then locate three established brands that meet at least five of the listed characteristics. Explain why you think these brands meet the selected five criteria. Support your choices with logical arguments.
• Describe the different stages a proposed product will need to go through before it is commercialized.
  • Where will ideas for the new product come from, and how will you filter the different ideas?
  • Describe your criteria for selecting an idea to move to the next stage.
  • Design a flowchart for your proposed new product development process to serve as a guide to your discussion.

• Develop a brand strategy for a hybrid car. To come up with a strategy, answer the following questions:
  • How will it be positioned relative to other plug-in hybrids currently under development or in the marketplace?
  • How will it be launched in the selected target market?
  • Describe what activities will be conducted to build the image of the brand.

• Using the South University Online Library, search for academic articles to complete the following tasks:
  • Indicate the types of stakeholders involved in the new product development process.
  • Evaluate the impact of key inputs from stakeholder groups on new product development efforts.
  • Analyze the role these key stakeholder groups can play in contributing to the success of a new product.
  • Examine the persuasive strategies that can be used to enfranchise stakeholders in new product development projects.
  • Assess the key competitive advantages that information technology (IT) has delivered to the area of new product development.

• Identify a relatively new product category, for example, tablet-sized phones (phablets). Then evaluate the brands among different companies competing in this category. Next, pick one of the companies and analyze how its brand coexists with the other products in the product line and in the overall product portfolio of the company. In the context of this company:
  • Analyze the use of single branding, family branding, and brand extension.
  • Discuss ten characteristics that you would use for effective brand name creation.
  • Suggest the appropriate marketing mix strategy—in terms of product, price, promotion, and place—for the product selected.
  • Analyze three packaging strategies followed by the company (of the selected product) and the corresponding benefits to the consumer.

Respond to your peers throughout the week. Justify your answers with examples, research, and reasoning.

Your initial posting should be the equivalent of 1.5 single-spaced pages (700 to 800 words) in length. Be sure to cite your sources using APA format.

Week 5 Discussion

Distribution Channels/Communication Mix/Pricing

Before beginning work on this week’s discussion forum, please review the link “Doing Discussion Questions Right,” the expanded grading rubric for the forum, and any specific instructions for this week’s topic.

• By the due date assigned, respond to the assigned discussion questions and submit your responses to the appropriate topic in this Discussion Area.
• Respond to the assigned questions using the lessons and vocabulary found in the reading.
• Support your answers with examples and research and cite your research using the APA format.
• Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible.

Select any one of the following starter bullet point sections. Review the important themes within the sub questions of each bullet point. The sub questions are designed to get you thinking about some of the important issues. Your response should provide a succinct synthesis of the key themes in a way that articulates a clear point, position, or conclusion supported by research. Select a different bullet point section than what your classmates have already posted so that we can engage several discussions on relevant topics. If all of the bullet points have been addressed, then you may begin to reuse the bullet points with the expectation that varied responses continue.

• Perceived value of a product is directly related to its perceived quality and inversely related to its price.

• Assuming that we keep the perceived quality constant, explain what would happen to the perceived value of the product if we increase its price.

• Explain what will happen if we decrease its price.

• Conversely, if we keep the price constant, explain what will happen to the product’s perceived value if we increase its perceived quality.

• Explain what will happen if we decrease its perceived quality.

• As a part of the campaign for a new gourmet foods store, advertisement flyers will be sent through direct mail to high-income zip codes to solicit business from household heads. The mailers will contain information about the variety of products and services offered by the new store. Write the key marketing messages for an advertisement flyer positioning the store as a place where consumers interact with others interested in quality foods for everyday use and entertainment. In addition, select a method to measure the effectiveness of the mailer. Make reasonable assumptions.

• Using your selected method, how will you measure the effectiveness of the advertisement flyer?

• Why do you think your method is appropriate in the given situation? Provide detailed justification for your choice.

• A free-market national economy is experiencing a recession with no apparent end in sight. Determine what two pricing objectives you would recommend for producers of goods and services in the country. Explain why you would recommend these two pricing objectives.

• Explain the way pricing strategy changes over the course of the four stages of the product (category) life cycle: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Provide reasoning to support your answer.

• Identify three internal and three external factors influencing the setting of prices. Discuss how each of these factors influences the price of a service.

Respond to your peers throughout the week. Justify your answers with examples, research, and reasoning.

Your initial posting should be the equivalent of 1.5 single-spaced pages (700 to 800 words) in length.