MKTG3501 Exam Quiz (Easy Read)

Front = the concept. Back = a plain-English clue or example. 'Use:' cards test which framework to apply to an exam case.

Exam format

The final exam: 3 case studies, each on one topic, each with about 3 short-answer questions. 120 minutes plus 10 minutes planning, closed book, no multiple choice.

Theory, Apply, Evaluate

The three steps every exam answer should follow: explain the framework, use evidence from the case, then pick the most important point and justify it.

Starred exam topics

The topics marked as priorities in the Week 13 review: resource base (VRIN), selecting markets, marketing warfare, and CSR/SDGs.

Purpose of marketing

To create value. Every marketing strategy should be judged by how much value it creates for shareholders, and the course says for all stakeholders too.

Stakeholder value

The idea that success is measured by how well a firm looks after everyone it affects: shareholders, employees, customers and communities.

Sustainable competitive advantage

A lasting edge over rivals that customers value and competitors can't easily copy. It's the central goal of marketing strategy.

All customers differ

Principle 1: customers have different needs, perceptions and behaviours, so one approach won't suit everyone.

All customers change

Principle 2: customers, markets and the environment keep changing, so strategy must adapt.

All competitors react

Principle 3: whatever you do, rivals will respond, so your advantage must be sustainable (through offering, brand, relationships or experience).

All resources are limited

Principle 4: you can't do everything, so strategy means trade-offs, such as spending now versus investing for later.

Strategy

A firm's overall game plan: the pattern of its goals, how it uses its resources, and how it deals with markets, competitors and the environment.

Strategic planning

Keeping what a firm wants and can do in line with the changing opportunities in its market.

Marketing strategy vs marketing plan

One is long-term and tied to the mission; the other is short-term and covers campaign tactics.

Product push marketing

An approach where the firm makes what it is good at, then looks for buyers.

Customer-led marketing

An approach where the firm makes whatever customers ask for.

Resource-based marketing

An approach that matches what customers need with what the firm does best. This is the approach the course favours.

SWOT analysis

A snapshot of a firm's position: internal strengths and weaknesses, plus external opportunities and threats.

TOWS strategies

Turning SWOT into action: use strengths to seize opportunities or counter threats, and build new strengths to seize opportunities or defend against threats.

Portfolio balance (cash now vs future)

Long-run health needs some products that make cash now and others that use cash now but will make cash in the future.

Tomorrow's breadwinners

Portfolio matrix: a business that is strong in a highly attractive market.

Today's breadwinners

Portfolio matrix: a business that is strong, but in a less attractive market.

Marketing environment

Everything outside marketing's control that affects its ability to build relationships with target customers. It has macro, micro and internal layers.

PESTLE

A checklist for scanning the big picture: political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors.

Porter's five forces

What makes an industry hard to profit in: rivalry, new entrants, substitutes, supplier power and buyer power.

Industry

A group of firms that share similar technologies and products.

Market

A group of customers who share similar needs.

Product life cycle

The stages a product moves through: introduction, growth, maturity and decline. Each stage needs a different marketing goal.

Introduction stage goal

Low sales and negative profit. The goal is to build awareness and get people to try the product.

Maturity stage goal

Peak sales. The goal is to maximise profit while defending market share.

Decline stage goal

Falling sales. The goal is to cut spending and 'milk' the brand.

SPACE analysis

Rates a firm's position on four things: financial strength, competitive advantage, environmental stability and industry strength.

Buying roles

The different people in a purchase: initiator, influencer, decider, purchaser and user.

Competitor analysis

Studying rivals' goals, current strategy and resources so you can predict what they will do next.

Strategic group

Your closest, most direct competitors. They're where competitor analysis starts.

Learning from competitors

Copy and improve on what successful rivals do, avoid the mistakes of unsuccessful ones, and borrow good ideas from other industries.

Kodak example

A famous firm that failed to adapt when digital cameras changed its market. It shows why you must watch the marketing environment.

Symptoms vs causes

Falling sales are a symptom, not the real problem. Look below the surface (like an iceberg) for the cause, such as the product, pricing or advertising.

Value disciplines

The three ways to deliver superior value: product leadership, customer intimacy or operational excellence.

VRIN

The four-question test for whether a resource can give a lasting competitive advantage: is it valuable, rare, hard to imitate and non-substitutable?

Valuable (VRIN)

Does the resource help the firm seize opportunities or neutralise threats? If not, it's a competitive disadvantage.

Rare (VRIN)

Do few, if any, competitors have the resource? If everyone has it, you only have competitive parity.

Hard to imitate (VRIN)

Is the resource difficult to copy because of unique history, causal ambiguity, social complexity or path dependency? If it's easy to copy, the advantage is only temporary.

Non-substitutable (VRIN)

Is there no other resource competitors could use to get the same result? If there is, the advantage can be substituted.

Competitive parity

What you get when a resource is valuable but every competitor has it too, so there's no point of difference.

Temporary advantage

What you get when a resource is valuable and rare, but competitors can copy it fairly easily.

Dynamic capabilities

A firm's ability to keep creating, extending or changing its resources as the market changes, by sensing, seizing and reconfiguring.

Marketing assets

What a firm has built or acquired over time, such as its brand, customer relationships, distribution network and alliances.

Marketing capabilities

The processes a firm uses to put its assets to work and create advantage: product management, pricing, distribution, and advertising and selling.

Dynamic marketing capabilities

The processes that build new assets and capabilities to keep an advantage going. They are absorptive, adaptive and innovative.

Absorptive capability

The ability to sense what's happening in the market and learn from it.

Adaptive capability

The ability to adjust targeting and positioning and to manage customer relationships.

Innovative capability

The ability to develop new products and services.

Customer-based assets

Assets such as customer relationships, reputation, brands and country of origin.

Internal support assets

Assets such as cost advantages, information systems, skills, patents and partnerships.

Supply chain assets

Assets such as control of distribution, a strong distribution network and security of supply.

Alliance-based assets

Assets that come from partners, such as access to markets, management skills and shared technology.

Crown jewels

Resources that customers value highly and where you're stronger than competitors. Protect and use them.

Achilles' heels

Resources that customers value highly but where you're weaker than competitors. Fix them.

Black holes

Resources where you're stronger than competitors but customers don't care, so they cost money without creating value.

Sleepers

Resources that aren't important now and where you're not strong. Watch them in case they become important later.

Hardest resources to copy

Patents, copyrights, unique locations and unique physical assets.

Easiest resources to copy

Cash, unskilled labour and undifferentiated products.

Advantage-creating resources

Resources that give customers value, are unique to the firm, and are hard for competitors to get or copy.

Net-HealthData lesson

A health-tech firm whose software could be copied. Its real advantage was its expertise, relationships and reputation, showing that capabilities sit behind resources.

Core business

A strong position in an attractive market.

Peripheral business

A strong position in an unattractive market.

Illusion business

A weak position in an attractive market. It looks good, but the firm can't win there.

Dead-end business

A weak position in an unattractive market.

Competitive convergence

Porter's warning: firms start with a clear position but drift until all rivals are doing the same thing, and the market becomes a stalemate.

Segment attractiveness: market factors

Size, growth rate, life cycle stage, predictability, price sensitivity, buyer power and how cyclical demand is.

Segment attractiveness: economic and technological factors

Barriers to entry and exit, supplier power, technology use, investment needed and margins.

Segment attractiveness: competitive factors

How intense competition is, the quality of rivals, the threat of substitutes and how much products differ.

Segment attractiveness: business environment factors

Economic ups and downs, political and legal issues, regulation, social trends and the physical environment.

Business strength factors

How well placed a firm is to win a segment: its current position, its cost and technology position, and its management and marketing capabilities.

Prime target

A segment that is attractive and where the firm is strong. It's the best choice in the target selection matrix.

Undifferentiated marketing

Offering one product to the whole market.

Differentiated marketing

Offering a different product to each market segment. Risks include cannibalisation, unclear positioning, higher costs and spreading resources thin.

Concentrated marketing

Focusing on one or a few segments.

Customised marketing

Creating products together with individual customers.

Cannibalisation

When a firm's own products steal sales from each other, a risk of offering many products to many segments.

Customer orientation

A set of beliefs that puts the customer's interest first, ahead of owners, managers and employees.

What business are we in?

The question that makes a firm focus on customer needs, not products. People don't want a drill; they want a hole.

Size isn't everything

The FreshFuel lesson: picking the biggest segment ignores growth, competition, substitutes, buyer power, investment needed and margins.

Threat of substitutes (FreshFuel)

FreshFuel case: families compared the meal kits with cheaper supermarket meals.

Price sensitivity and buyer power (FreshFuel)

FreshFuel case: customers kept switching to whichever competitor had a discount.

Competitive intensity (FreshFuel)

FreshFuel case: established rivals were already advertising heavily to parents.

Investment required (FreshFuel)

FreshFuel case: serving families needed more spending on delivery logistics, which cut margins.

Economic fluctuations (FreshFuel)

FreshFuel case: rising household costs reduced demand for meal kits.

Market expansion

Growing the whole market instead of taking share from rivals. The typical strategy of a market leader, e.g. De Beers' 'A diamond is forever'.

Offensive strategy

Growing market share by actively attacking competitors. If the market can't grow, any gain must come from rivals.

Defensive strategy

Protecting a firm's existing position and advantages from attackers.

Frontal attack

Attacking a rival head-on where it is strongest and relying on outweighing it. Example: Pepsi vs Coke.

Flanking attack

Attacking a rival's weak spots instead of its strengths. Best when you have a different advantage, there are profitable niches, or the leader is slow to react. Example: Red Bull vs Coke.

Encirclement attack

Surrounding a rival and cutting off its supply and access to the market. Best with deep pockets, strong alliances and non-loyal customers. Examples: Seiko, Samsung.

Bypass strategy

Avoiding the rival completely and moving into new markets or technology. Best when the leader can't be beaten head-on or your resources are limited. Example: Uber vs taxis.

Guerrilla tactics

Wearing down a rival with small, surprise attacks. Best for a small brand with a small budget. Example: Nike ambush marketing.

Position defence

Building walls around your core business by plugging the gaps. Risky if it's your only defence.

Flanking defence

Covering your weaker edges before rivals exploit them. Example: Qantas created Jetstar to protect its budget customers.

Pre-emptive strike

Attacking competitors before they can attack you. Example: Dairy Farmers launching a new milk first.

Counter-offensive

Hitting back after a competitor attacks you.