Chapter 3: Gathering Information and Scanning the Environment
Chapter 3:
Gathering Information and Scanning the Environment
GENERAL CONCEPT QUESTIONS
Multiple Choice
1. The major responsibility for identifying significant marketplace changes falls to the ______.
a. U.S. Department of Labor
b. company’s marketers
c. American Marketing Association
d. industry lobby groups found in Washington, D.C.
e. marketing research industry
Answer: b Page: 72 Level of difficulty: Easy
2. Marketers have extensive information about how consumption patterns vary across countries. On a per capita basis within Western Europe, the ______smoke the most cigarettes.
a. Swiss
b. Greeks
c. Irish
d. Austrians
e. French
Answer: d Page: 72 Level of difficulty: Hard
3. All of the following questions EXCEPT ______, would be considered to be forms of information needs probes.
a. What decisions do you regularly make?
b. What information do you need to make decisions?
c. What data analysis programs would you want?
d. What magazines and trade reports would you like to see on a regular basis?
e. What products would be most closely matched to consumer needs?
Answer: e Page: 73 Level of difficulty: Medium
4. ______consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision makers.
a. A marketing information system
b. A marketing research system
c. A marketing intelligence system
d. A promotional campaign
e. A marketing database
Answer: a Page: 73 Level of difficulty: Medium
5. The company’s marketing information system should be a cross between what managers think they need, what managers really need, and ______.
a. what the marketing research department is able to do
b. what consumers are willing to share
c. what the competition is doing
d. what is acceptable industry practice
e. what is economically feasible
Answer: e Page: 73 Level of difficulty: Medium
6. Marketing managers rely on internal reports. By analyzing this information, they can spot ______.
a. micro-markets
b. opportunities and problems
c. macro-markets
d. competitive strategies
e. consumer demographic units
Answer: b Page: 73 Level of difficulty: Easy
7. The heart of the internal records system is the ______.
a. database
b. asset acquisition process
c. order-to-payment cycle
d. service consideration
e. information liquidity ratio
Answer: c Page: 73 Level of difficulty: Hard
8. When a marketer “mines” his or her company’s database, fresh insights can be gained into neglected customer segments, ______, and other useful information.
a. recent customer trends
b. long-term competitive trends
c. possible new inventions
d. possible new technologies
e. new primary data possibilities
Answer: a Page: 74 Level of difficulty: Medium
9. The internal records system supplies results data, but the marketing intelligence system supplies ______data.
a. concurrent
b. secondary
c. research
d. happenings
e. premium
Answer: d Page: 74 Level of difficulty: Medium
10. A ______is a set of procedures and sources managers use to obtain everyday information about developments in the marketing environment.
a. marketing research system
b. marketing information system
c. product management system
d. marketing intelligence system
e. vertical system
Answer: d Page: 74 Level of difficulty: Medium
11. A company can take several steps to improve the quality of its marketing intelligence. If the company purchases competitive products for study, attends open houses and trade shows, and reads competitors’ published reports and stockholder information, the company is using ______to improve the quality of its marketing intelligence.
a. sales force surrogates
b. intermediaries
c. external networks
d. advisory panels
e. customer feedback systems
Answer: c Pages: 74–75 Level of difficulty: Hard
12. All of the following would be considered to be steps to improve the quality of marketing intelligence in a company EXCEPT ______.
a. a company can train and motivate the sales force to spot and report new developments
b. a company can use guerrilla tactics such as going through a competitor’s trash
c. a company can motivate intermediaries to pass along important information
d. a company can network externally
e. a company can purchase information from outside suppliers
Answer: b Pages: 74–76 Level of difficulty: Easy
13. The 2000 U.S. census provides an in-depth look at the population swings, demographic groups, regional migrations, and changing family structure of 281+ million people. Which of the following steps to improve the quality of company marketing intelligence system would be most closely associated the above illustration?
a. A company can purchase information from outside suppliers.
b. A company can take advantage of government data sources.
c. A company can use online customer feedback systems to collect data.
d. A company can network externally.
e. A company can use its sales force to collect and report data.
Answer: b Page: 76 Level of difficulty: Easy
14. There are four main ways that marketers can find relevant online information on competitors’ products and weaknesses, and summary comments and overall performance rating of a product, service, or supplier. ______is(are) a type of site that is concentrated in financial services and high-tech products that require professional knowledge.
a. Independent customer goods and service reviews
b. Distributor or sales agent feedback sites
c. Combo-sites offering customer reviews and expert opinions
d. Customer complaint sites
e. Shopping bot service sites
Answer: c Page: 77 Level of difficulty: Hard
15. A ______is “unpredictable, short-lived, and without social, economic, and political significance.”
a. fad
b. fashion
c. trend
d. megatrend
e. style
Answer: a Page: 77 Level of difficulty: Medium
16. A ______is a direction or sequence of events that has some momentum and durability; the shape of the future is revealed and many opportunities are provided.
a. fad
b. fashion
c. trend
d. megatrend
e. style
Answer: c Page: 77 Level of difficulty: Hard
17. ______have been described as “large social, economic, political and technological changes [that] are slow to form, and once in place, they influence us for some time—between seven and ten years, or longer.
a. Fads
b. Fashions
c. Trends
d. Megatrends
e. Styles
Answer: d Page: 77 Level of difficulty: Medium
18. Which of the following minority groups in the United States has been associated with one of the ten megatrends shaping the consumer landscape?
a. African Americans
b. Asian Americans
c. European Americans
d. Hispanic Americans
e. Middle Eastern Americans
Answer: d Page: 78 Level of difficulty: Medium
19. The beginning of the new century brought a series of new challenges. All of the following would be considered to be among those challenges EXCEPT ______.
a. a deterioration of innovative ideas
b. steep decline of the stock market
c. increasing unemployment
d. corporate scandals
e. the rise of terrorism
Answer: a Page: 78 Level of difficulty: Medium
20. With the rapidly changing global picture, the firm must monitor six major forces. All of the following would be among those forces EXCEPT ______.
a. demographic
b. economic
c. social-cultural
d. natural
e. promotional
Answer: e Page: 78 Level of difficulty: Easy
21. The main demographic force that marketers monitor is(are) ______.
a. suppliers
b. competitors
c. communication (such as advertising)
d. government reports dealing with birth rates
e. population
Answer: e Page: 79 Level of difficulty: Easy
22. The population explosion has been a source of major concern. Unchecked population growth and consumption could eventually result in all of the following EXCEPT ______.
a. insufficient food supply
b. depletion of key minerals
c. overcrowding
d. restrictions on competition
e. pollution
Answer: d Page: 79 Level of difficulty: Easy
23. One impact of explosive population growth is illustrated by the case of China. The Chinese government passed regulations limiting families to one child. One consequence of these regulations is that ______.
a. the children are so fussed over and spoiled that they become “little emperors”
b. school enrollments are dropping
c. the fledgling automotive business in China will not have customers in a few years
d. open rebellion is being preached
e. “child-oriented businesses” have few customers
Answer: a Page: 80 Level of difficulty: Medium
24. A significant fact about population growth and population shifts is that in 2004 or 2005, ______.
a. the youth market will exceed that of the adult market
b. people over the age of 60 will outnumber those under five years of age
c. baby boomers will be eclipsed by Gen X young adults
d. most age group segments will be about equal
e. Gen Y young adults will surpass the baby boomers as the largest age segment
Answer: b Page: 80 Level of difficulty: Hard
25. Which of the following age groups is thought to control three-quarters of the country’s wealth?
a. 0–20 age segment
b. 60+ age segment
c. 20–30 age segment
d. 30–40 age segment
e. 40+ age segment
Answer: e Page: 81 Level of difficulty: Hard
26. At one time the United States was called a “melting pot” society because of the number of different cultures that were integrated into the U.S. culture. Today, the United States is described as a ______society because many ethnic groups are maintaining their ethnic differences, neighborhoods, and cultures.
a. “boiling pot”
b. “salad bowl”
c. “banana split”
d. “doubled up”
e. “non-communicative”
Answer: b Page: 81 Level of difficulty: Medium
27. According to the 2000 census, the U.S. population of 276.2 million was 72 percent white and ______percent African American. The remainder consisted of Hispanic Americans and other minorities.
a. 20
b. 18
c. 15
d. 13
e. 11
Answer: d Page: 81 Level of difficulty: Hard
28. Diversity goes beyond ethnic and racial markets. More than ______million Americans have disabilities, and they constitute a market for home delivery companies (and others).
a. 50
b. 40
c. 30
d. 20
e. 10
Answer: a Page: 83 Level of difficulty: Hard
29. Which of the following countries is known for having 99 percent of its population literate?
a. England
b. Germany
c. France
d. United States
e. Japan
Answer: e Page: 83 Level of difficulty: Medium
30. The ______household consists of a husband, wife, and children (and sometimes grandparents).
a. “traditional”
b. “extended”
c. “diversity”
d. “modern”
e. “revised”
Answer: a Page: 83 Level of difficulty: Medium
31. Married couple households—the dominant cohort since the formulation of the United States—has slipped from nearly 80 percent in the 1950s to around ______percent today.
a. 70
b. 60
c. 50
d. 40
e. 35
Answer: c Page: 83 Level of difficulty: Hard
32. The twenty-first century saw ______markets grow more rapidly again due to a higher birth rate, a lower death rate, and rapid growth from foreign immigration.
a. suburban
b. urban
c. rural
d. coastal
e. secondary
Answer: b Page: 84 Level of difficulty: Medium
33. The movement by population to the ______has lessened the demand for warm clothing and home heating equipment and increased demand for air conditioning.
a. Grainbelt
b. Pacific Northwest
c. Sunbelt
d. Mid-Coastal areas
e. Heartland
Answer: c Page: 84 Level of difficulty: Easy
34. Marketers look at where consumers are gathering. Almost one in ______people over the age of five (120 million) moved at least one time between 1995 and 2000, according to a Census 2000 brief.
a. two
b. three
c. four
d. five
e. ten
Answer: a Page: 85 Level of difficulty: Hard
35. In which of the following economies would we expect to find few opportunities for marketers?
a. Industrializing economies.
b. Land-locked economies.
c. Raw-material-exporting economies.
d. Industrial economies.
e. Subsistence economies.
Answer: e Page: 86 Level of difficulty: Easy
36. According to information presented in the text, which of the following countries is surprisingly a very good market for Lamborghini automobiles (costing more than $150,000) because of the number of wealthy families that can afford expensive cars.
a. Greece
b. Switzerland
c. Holland
d. Russia
e. Portugal
Answer: e Page: 86 Level of difficulty: Hard
37. Over the past three decades in the United States, the rich have grown richer and the middle class has ______.
a. stayed about the same
b. shrunk
c. increased slightly
d. matched the rich in terms of relative growth
e. been ignored because of problems with the poorer classes
Answer: b Page: 86 Level of difficulty: Medium
38. ______shapes the beliefs, values, and norms that largely define the tastes and preferences.
a. Marketing
b. The mass media
c. Government
d. Production innovation and engineering
e. Society
Answer: e Page: 87 Level of difficulty: Medium
39. If a consumer lives the lifestyle of a “pleasure seeker” or goes on a “self-realization” quest, he or she is expressing what is called ______.
a. views of others
b. views of society
c. views of themselves
d. views of organizations
e. views of the universe
Answer: c Pages: 87–88 Level of difficulty: Easy
40. According to the information found in the social-cultural environment, with respect to views of others, ______are considered to be things that allow people who are alone to feel they are not (e.g., television, home video games, and chat rooms on the Internet).
a. social surrogates
b. subliminal fantasies
c. relationship avoidance
d. primary products
e. secondary products
Answer: a Page: 88 Level of difficulty: Medium
41. Today, corporations need to make sure that they are good corporate citizens and that their consumer messages are honest. Such a view would be consistent with which of the following views?
a. Views of others.
b. Views of organizations.
c. Views of themselves.
d. Views of the universe.
e. Views of society.
Answer: b Page: 88 Level of difficulty: Easy
42. People vary in their attitudes toward their society. ______usually live more frugally, drive smaller cars, and wear simpler clothing.
a. Makers
b. Escapers
c. Seekers
d. Changers
e. Developers
Answer: d Page: 88 Level of difficulty: Hard
43. People vary in their attitudes toward society and react accordingly. ______are a major market for movies, music, surfing, and camping.
a. Makers
b. Preservers
c. Escapers
d. Changers
e. Developers
Answer: c Page: 88 Level of difficulty: Easy