Exam 8: Products, Services and Brands: Building Customer Value

Companies need to pay attention to their aging products.Management should regularly review sales,market shares,costs and profit trends,and then decide whether to maintain,harvest or drop these declining products.

When a company decides to maintain a product in the decline stage,it will reduce costs and hope that sales hold up to increase the profits in the short run.

A fabric manufacturer has just created a new combination of colour and fabric types.The firm wants to be sure of the way consumers perceive its new product.The firm is concerned with the product ________.

Ferntree Lawn and Garden Products is engaged in a review of the sales,costs and profit projections for some new products to find out whether they satisfy the company's objectives.This activity is called business product development.

Which of the following is necessary for successful new-product development?

Profits rise during the growth stage of the PLC because promotion costs are spread over a large volume,and unit manufacturing costs fall.

Which stage in the PLC normally lasts longer and poses strong challenges to the marketing managers?

A large regional chain of candy stores transfers employees from marketing,design,production and finance to work in a cross-functional group to save time and money in the new-product development process.It is using a(n)________ approach.

Which stage of the new-product development process focuses on finding new ways to solve customer problems and to create more customer-satisfying experiences?

Which of the following is NOT an example of market modification?

A product ________ is a detailed version of an idea stated in meaningful consumer terms.

In the early 1990s,Jarrah was the first brand in the Australian market to offer pre-prepared,instant coffee mixes in flat and frothy varieties.The brand featured exotic flavourings with cheeky names such as Cheeky 'Cino Cappuccino,White Choc-a-Mocha Latte,Mocha Truffle Latte,Vanilla Thriller Latte and Crème Caramel Latte.At the time,the launch was considered high risk and did not enjoy a big budget.Accordingly,the marketers devised a plan which involved a limited scale launch first in the regional Victorian town of Ballarat.Only when that was successful was the brand launched in Tasmania.Over time,the brand was launched in more and larger towns and cities around the country.The purpose of this was to gauge customer reactions,minimise the company's risk exposure,spread out investment outlays and fine tune elements of the marketing mix.This practice is best described as a planned ________.

Country Road sells currently accepted and popular clothing items in given fields.What do they stock in their stores?

Some 'favourite' products are marketed despite poor marketing research findings.

The stage at which new-product and marketing programs are introduced into realistic market settings is called concept testing.

The team-based new-product development approach uses cross-functional teams that overlap the steps in the process to achieve which of the following goals?

Manufacturers must comply with specific laws regarding ________ quality and safety.

A company can obtain new products in two ways: One is through ________ and the other is through the company's own R & D process.

Magazine publisher,Pacific Publications,has sold off a number of magazine titles with declining circulations such as TV Week.In this example,management decided to ________ the products.

According to your text,which of the following is perhaps the most important external source of new-product ideas?