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# Mock Exam Preparation (MEP) **Module:** Marketing Management **Date:** *[To Be Determined]* **Duration:** 120 minutes **Total Points:** 120 (Passing mark: ≥ 60%, i.e., 72 points) --- ## Instructions 1. **Answer Format** - Read each task carefully. Provide clear, concise, and comprehensive answers. - Answer each question in the dedicated section provided below each question. - Use examples where applicable. 2. **Allowed Materials** - Your Week 1–7 lecture script (see [Week1-7_OCR.pdf](#) for reference). - Personal notes and a basic calculator (if needed). 3. **Submission** - Fill in your answers in this Markdown file. - Save and return the completed file as instructed. - Ensure your **Name** and **Date** are written clearly on the front page. 4. **Academic Integrity** - Work individually on this exam. - Provide your own answers and do not copy from external sources. --- ## Task Overview | Task | Topic Area | Maximum Points | | --------------: | :------------------------------------------------ | -------------: | | 1 | Marketing Orientation & Concepts | 20 | | 2 | Situational Analysis | 20 | | 3 | Marketing Strategy & Planning | 20 | | 4 | Relationship Marketing & Customer Value | 20 | | 5 | Marketing Mix (Product, Price, Place & Promotion) | 20 | | 6 | Mini Case Study | 20 | | **Total** | | **120** | --- ## Task 1: Marketing Orientation & Concepts (20 Points) ### Question 1.1 (5 Points) **Contrast Production Orientation with Marketing Orientation:** - **a.** Define Production Orientation and explain its influence on product design and sales. - **b.** Define Marketing Orientation and explain its influence on product design and sales. **Answer:** - **a.** Production orientation has production capabilities as basis for company activities. Its influence on product design has a big impact, as production orientation is oriented to fast sells and in large amounts, leading product features way more important than customer needs. In fact, sales effort is really aggressive, and this does not aim to have a "good" customer communication. In a nutshell, this is more related to sell as most product as possible instead of having interactions with costumers. - **b.** Marketing orientation has customer needs as basis for company activities. Product design is influenced, since having a good design might increase both the loyalty and the happiness of customers. As well, sales aim to customer needs and wants, instead of having as most product sold as possible. --- ### Question 1.2 (5 Points) **Transactional vs. Relationship Marketing:** - List and explain **two** key differences in how each approach views the customer. - Briefly explain why relationship marketing is said to create “lifetime value.” **Answer:** Transactional marketing: - Short time scale: It's important the amount of product sold. - Focus on product features: Everything that can increase the amount of sold product. Relationship marketing: - Long time scale: This type of marketing integrates customers, suppliers and stakeholders, which means that it has to be in the crest for a long amount of time, gaining interest during the period. - Focus on customer value: It's more oriented in loyalty of customers, suppliers and stakeholders, than oriented on the amount of product sold. Relationship marketing is said to create lifetime value exactly because has the main focus on customer values, integrating into brand decisions feedbacks of customers and suppliers, and investors and stakeholdes as well. --- ### Question 1.3 (5 Points) **Concept of the 4 P’s vs. 4 C’s:** - Name each P with its corresponding C (e.g., Product – Customer Needs, Price – Cost). - Explain why modern marketers prefer framing strategy in terms of the 4 C’s. **Answer:** - Product <--> Customer needs - Price <--> Cost to the customer - Place <--> Convenience - Promotion <--> Communication Modern marketers prefer framing strategy because they can ensue that marketing strategy and marketing policy are executed effectively and in an efficient way. The marketing strategy has a coordinative function, and this determines how the marketing goals should be archieved. --- ### Question 1.4 (5 Points) **Organizational Focus:** - How does the script describe the way marketing becomes a “guiding philosophy” for the entire organization? **Answer:** No clue. --- ## Task 2: Situational Analysis (20 Points) ### Question 2.1 (5 Points) **SWOT Analysis:** - Define what SWOT stands for. - Provide one brief example (real or hypothetical) of a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat for a business. **Answer:** SWOT stands for: Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat. A real case might be Nike: - Strength: Customers are loyal to the brand - Weakness: High cost per unit - Opportunity: New cheaper and eco-friendly materials - Threat: Big brands with strong prices --- ### Question 2.2 (5 Points) **B2B vs. B2C Markets:** - Describe **two** differences between B2B and B2C buying behavior as noted in your script. - Why is it important for marketers to distinguish between these two market types? **Answer:** In B2B, the buyer is an organisation, while in B2C the buyer is a private person. In B2B, the buying behaviour is mainly influence by buying situations, while in B2C the buyer buys for personal use, so for buying products. It's important to distinguish the types because purposes of the buyers are different. B2B is more for using products for generate more profit with them, while B2C is more for buying products for personal use. --- ### *Question 2.3 (5 Points)* ***Market Sizing:*** - *Explain the relationship between market volume and market potential.* - *How does market saturation influence a firm’s growth strategy?* ***Answer:*** Market volume refers to the current total sales/revenue in a market, while market potential represents the maximum possible market size under optimal conditions. Market saturation occurs when current volume approaches potential. As saturation increases, firms typically shift strategy: from market penetration to market development to market development, from acquiring new customers to retaining existing ones, from broad growth to targeted nieches. --- ### Question 2.4 (5 Points) **Competitive Analysis:** - Describe **two** methods for analyzing a competitor's strengths and weaknesses. - Explain briefly why competitor benchmarking is useful. **Answer:** The RBV of the company implies that the first stage in assessing strengths and weaknesses should be conduct an audit of the resources available to the company to identify strength and weakness. The Porter's five forces analysis is a method that focuses on the competition level within an industry to evaluate a company's stategic prosition, which digs deeper into the opportunities and threats along with the PEST analysis. By benchmarking against competitors, companies can better position their products and adapt their strategies to meet evolving market demands while maintaining competitive advantage. --- ## Task 3: Marketing Strategy & Planning (20 Points) ### Question 3.1 (5 Points) **Segmentation & Targeting:** - Define market segmentation. - Discuss **two** criteria for effective segmentation (e.g., measurability, accessibility). **Answer:** Market segmentation is the activity of dividing a broad consumer or business market, which normally consists of existing and potential customers, into sub-groups of consumers (known as segments) based on some type of shared characteristics. 1. Price: is a very effective criteria to choose since a wide part of customers rely their purchases on the cost of products. 2. Manufacturing quality: the quality of materials is very important since it's easy to see which product should be avoided for bad quality material. This also helps to customers to immediately see which product could have a longer lifespan. --- ### Question 3.2 (5 Points) **Positioning:** - Define positioning and explain its connection to a brand’s “unique value proposition.” - Provide an example of a brand that utilizes strong positioning. **Answer:** Positioning is the position, based on chosen criteria, of existing product in a graph which immediately displays where the product is collocated based on the criteria, also called unique value position. It is known that Apple has one of the best position because it understand consumer percepitions, it positions products in the hearts and minds of the customers and tails appropriately the marketing mix to safisfy customer needs. --- ### Question 3.3 (5 Points) **Marketing Goals & Objectives:** - Differentiate between qualitative and quantitative marketing objectives. - Explain why aligning marketing objectives with the overall corporate strategy is critical. **Answer:** Qualitative objectives focus on non-numerical goals, while quantitative objectives do focus on measurable and numeric targets. Alignment is critical because it ensures marketing efforts support overall business goals, prevents wasted resources on misaligned initiatives, creates consistent brand positioning, enables clear evaluation of marketing effectiveness, and helps track contribution to overall business success. --- ### Question 3.4 (5 Points) **Planning & Control:** - Outline one key aspect of marketing planning. - Outline one key aspect of marketing control. **Answer:** Marketing planning's key aspect is researching and analyzing the current situation. Marketing control's key aspect is ensuring that marketing strategy and marketing policy are executed effectively and in an efficient way. --- ## Task 4: Relationship Marketing & Customer Value (20 Points) ### Question 4.1 (5 Points) **Offensive vs. Defensive Marketing:** - Define “offensive” (customer acquisition) and “defensive” (customer retention) marketing. - Provide one advantage and one challenge for each approach. **Answer:** Offensive marketing: direct and indirect attacks or moving into new parkets to avoid incumbent competitors, inviting retaliatory rsponses. Defensive marketing: make a possible atack unattractive and discourage potential challengers from attacking another firm, convincing challengers that the return on their investment will be so low. Offensive marketing pro: avoids incumbent competitors Offensive marketing cons: higher exposition to indirect attacks Difensive marketing pro: discourages challengers from attaching companies Difensive marketing cons: have always an eye open in order to take timely action correctly --- ### Question 4.2 (5 Points) **Relationship Ladder:** - Summarize the five stages: Awareness, Exploration, Expansion, Commitment, and Dissolution. - Explain why it is important for marketers to recognize that customers can be at different stages simultaneously. **Answer:** Awareness: recognizing a potential exchange partner Exploration: testing the exchange with trial interactions Expansion: growing interdependency and benefits Commitment: formal or informal promise of continued exchange Dissolution: eventual disengagement, which always remains a possibility Companies can develop specific strategies to nurture customers from initial awareness to commitment. Knowing this, the progression helps create sustainable, long-term customer relationships. --- ### Question 4.3 (5 Points) **Customer Value Creation:** - Explain how “customer value” is expressed as a balance of benefits versus sacrifices/costs. - Provide one example of delivering higher perceived benefits without a significant cost increase. **Answer:** Perceived benefits: based on product, service, relational and image benefits Perceived sacrifice: based on monetary, time, energy and psychological costs In mobile phone market: - Higher benefits: enhanced user experience, integration with eco-systems, AI implementation, multifunctional buttons, new and wider lenses - Minimal cost increase: using cheap materials, standardized charging cable type and components between different models, modular design --- ### Question 4.4 (5 Points) **Sustainable Profitability:** - Explain how long-term customer loyalty leads to higher profitability. - Reference at least two key factors mentioned in the script (e.g., word-of-mouth, reduced distribution costs). `<!-- Didn't find anything regarding this... -->` **Answer:** When customers remain loyal over time, companies spend significantly less on acquiring new customers through marketing and advertising. These loyal customers tend to make repeat purchases and are more likely to try new products or services from the brand they trust, increasing their lifetime value to the company. ## Task 5: Marketing Mix (Product, Price, Place & Promotion) (20 Points) ### Question 5.1 (5 Points) **Product Decisions:** - Name **two** product-related decisions (e.g., design, quality) that can influence customer perceptions and loyalty. **Answer:** Quality and price are important for the customer loyalty. If a customer sees that as the quality increases the price stays the same or similar, this certainly would bring customers to be more loyal to the brand/product. --- ### Question 5.2 (5 Points) **Pricing Approaches:** - Describe the basic difference between cost-based pricing and value-based pricing. - How does pricing strategy tie into a broader relationship marketing approach? **Answer:** Cost-based pricing starts with the total cost of producing a product or service and adds a markup for profit. This traditional approach focuses on covering expenses and archieving a target profit marging. It ignores market conditions and customer percepitions. Value-based pricing sets prices based on the perceived value to customers rather than production costs. It considers what customer are willing to pay based on the benefits they receive. It requires deep understanding of customer needs and value perception. Price strategy directly impacts customer relationships aligning better with relationship marketing as it focuses on customer perception and value delivery, strategic-pricing can encourage long-term customer loyalty through mechanisms like loyalty discounts or premium service tiers, price positioning influences brand perpection and customer expectations, and fair pricing builds trust and strengthens customer relationships. --- ### Question 5.3 (5 Points) **Place (Distribution) & Channels:** - Explain the difference between direct and indirect sales channels. - Give one advantage for each type of channel. **Answer:** Sales channel is a way of bringing products to market so that they can be purchased by customers. A sales channel can be direct if it involves a business selling directly to its customers, or it can be indirect if an intermediary such as a retailer or dealer is involved in selling the product to customers. Direct sales pro: The product can be sold for an higher price, since few product are bought from customers Indirect sales pro: Since retail stores usually buy a wide amount of products for a lowered special price, the amount of sells is high. --- ### Question 5.4 (5 Points) **Promotion:** - Provide one example each of a **push** and a **pull** promotional strategy. - Explain why an integrated promotional mix is important for reinforcing a brand’s positioning. **Answer:** Push (sales): Coca-Cola aims to sell as many products as possible, and with the increase of the turnover the profit through sales increases Pull (marketing): Apple aims to the customer needs and wants, integrating a marketing approach and accomplishing the company's goals through customer satisfaction An integrated promotional mix is crucial because: 1. Consistent messaging across all channels reinforces brand positioning 2. Different channels reach customers at various touchpoints in their journey 3. Multiple communication methods address diverse customer preferences 4. Integration creates synergy between push and pull efforts --- ## Task 6: Mini Case Study (20 Points) **Background:** *SwissChoc*, a mid-sized Swiss chocolate manufacturer, plans to launch a premium line of vegan, sugar-reduced chocolates aimed at health-conscious consumers in European markets. They have not marketed a vegan product before. The marketing team is debating between an **offensive** approach (focusing on acquiring new customers) or investing in **defensive** strategies (retaining existing chocolate enthusiasts by persuading them to switch to this healthier line). Additionally, SwissChoc is considering a partnership with a well-known fitness brand to co-create an ultra-healthy snack range. ### Question 6.1 (4 Points) **Situational Analysis:** - Suggest **two** key external factors that SwissChoc should investigate before investing in the new product line. **Answer:** 1. Social factor: about health-consciusness and lifestyle attitudes 2. Environment factor: about climate change due the fact vegan chocolate could potentially reduce production emissions --- ### Question 6.2 (4 Points) **Offensive vs. Defensive:** - Which approach would you prioritize for the new vegan chocolate line and why? **Answer:** I would prioritize the defensive strategies, launching the vegan chocolate bar as healthier alternative. In the other hand, if the chocolate bar will launch already with the sponsorship, I would prioritize a offensive approach, gaining more visibility in the gym field. --- ### Question 6.3 (4 Points) **Partnership Strategy:** - Identify **one** potential advantage and **one** potential risk of partnering with a fitness brand to co-create the new snack range. **Answer:** - Potential advantage: Enlarge the brand's name in the fitness field, giving a vegan option to already existing fit chocolate bars - Potential risk: Since there are already tons of super healthy chocolate bars in the fitness field, the product could be ignored from customers. --- ### Question 6.4 (4 Points) **Marketing Mix Coordination:** - Propose briefly how SwissChoc could align their Product, Price, Place, and Promotion for this new premium line to ensure brand consistency. **Answer:** - Product: it should be vegan and healthier option between already existing chocolate bars - Price: the price should be aligned with existing chocolate bars in order to have a balanced costs - benefit - Place: the new product should be affordable and not a premium line - Promotion: it should be promoted in the field of fitness and sport. --- ### Question 6.5 (4 Points) **Relationship Ladder Application:** - If SwissChoc’s target customers are currently at the “awareness” stage regarding vegan chocolates, suggest **one** tactic to move them toward the “exploration” stage. **Answer:** Gifting the brand new vegan chocolate bars inside gyms and near fitness centers. --- # End of Mock Exam Preparation *Please fill in your answers in each designated section and then return this Markdown file for review and grading. Good luck!*