Chapter 3: Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Question 1

Planning

Answer 1

The process of anticipating future events and determining strategies to achieve organizational objectives in the future.

Question 2

Strategic planning

Answer 2

The managerial process of creating and maintaining a fit between the organization’s objectives and resources and evolving market opportunities.

Question 3

Marketing environment

Answer 3

The entire set of situational conditions, both internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats), within which a business operates.

Question 4

Strategic business unit (SBU)

Answer 4

A subgroup of a single business or a collection of related businesses within the larger organization.

Question 5

Mission statement

Answer 5

A statement of the firm’s value based on a careful analysis of benefits sought by present and potential customers and an analysis of existing and anticipated environmental conditions.

Question 6

SWOT analysis

Answer 6

Identifying internal environment of strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) as well as external opportunities (O) and threats (T).

Question 7

Environmental scanning

Answer 7

The collection and interpretation of information about forces, events, and relationships in the external environment that may affect the future of the organization or the implementation of the marketing plan.

Question 8

Market penetration

Answer 8

A marketing strategy that tries to increase market share among existing customers, using existing products.

Question 9

Market development

Answer 9

A marketing strategy that involves attracting new customers to existing products.

Question 10

Product development

Answer 10

A marketing strategy that entails the creation of new products for current customers.

Question 11

Diversification

Answer 11

A strategy of increasing sales by introducing new products into new markets.

Question 12

Core competencies

Answer 12

Key unique strengths that are hard to imitate and underlie the functioning of an organization.

Question 13

Competitive advantage

Answer 13

The set of unique features of a company and its products that are perceived by the target market as significant and superior to the competition.

Question 14

Cost competitive advantage

Answer 14

Being the low-cost competitor in an industry while maintaining satisfactory profit margins.

Question 15

Experience curves

Answer 15

Curves that show costs declining at a predictable rate as experience with a product increases.

Question 16

Product/service differentiation competitive advantage

Answer 16

The provision of a unique benefit that is valuable to buyers beyond simply offering a low price.

Question 17

Niche competitive advantage

Answer 17

The advantage achieved when a firm seeks to target and effectively serve a single segment of the market.

Question 18

Sustainable competitive advantage

Answer 18

An advantage that cannot be copied by the competition.

Question 19

Marketing strategy

Answer 19

The activities of selecting and describing one or more target markets and developing and maintaining a marketing mix that will produce mutually satisfying exchanges with target markets.

Question 20

Marketing objective

Answer 20

A statement of what is to be accomplished through marketing activities.

Question 21

Market opportunity analysis (MOA)

Answer 21

The description and estimation of the size and sales potential of market segments that are of interest to the firm and the assessment of key competitors in these market segments.

Question 22

Marketing mix

Answer 22

A unique blend of product, price, place, and promotion, strategies designed to produce mutually satisfying exchanges with a target market.

Question 23

Four Ps

Answer 23

Product, price, place, and promotion, which together make up the marketing mix.

Question 24

Implementation

Answer 24

The process that turns a marketing plan into action assignments and ensures that these assignments are executed in a way that accomplishes the plan’s objectives.

Question 25

Evaluation

Answer 25

Gauging the extent to which the marketing objectives have been achieved during the specified period.

Question 26

Control

Answer 26

Provides the mechanisms both for evaluating marketing results in light of the plan’s objectives and for correcting actions that do not help the organization reach those objectives within budget guidelines.

Question 27

Marketing audit

Answer 27

A thorough, systematic, periodic evaluation of the objectives, strategies, structure, and performance of the marketing organization.