Unit 2 : Marketing and Operations Flashcards
Give three distinctive facts about field research …
Primary information is obtained
Researcher obtains first hand information
Information is gathered first hand and will be up to date
Postal surveys and telephones surveys have the disadvantage of having to keep questions very simple and easy to answer ….
Give another two advantages and disadvantages of this type of field research ..
A: costs can be kept low as doesn’t require a trained interviewer for the phone or at all for postal and a large number of people can be surveyed
D: respondents can be very hostile towards telephone surveys and response rates for postal surveys are very low
Give an advantage and disadvantage of personal interviews aside from its two way communication where you can see the instant reaction ….
A: researcher can prompt respond to questions and provide follow up questions can be asked
D : can be costly for a researcher to be selected and trained
True of false …
EPOS has the disadvantage of being costly to set up and there is no opportunity to gain customer opinion ?
An advantage is can get accurate quantitive information which is easy to analyse
Both are true
What is the only advantage of hall testing which can then be flipped for disadvantages ..
Qualative information can be gathered (opinion) but this is then difficult to analyse
Which method ,between capital and labour is where by the majority of the work is carried out by machinery or robots ?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of this method ?
Capital
Machines can operate 24/7 without having to stop for breaks,illness or holidays and the standard of accuracy and consistency is much higher than production by humans
Installation of machinery is very high and production is halted if machines break down until, they are repaired
Mechanisation relies on machinery however greater amount of human input to control the work flow …. What is the difference to automation
Production is mainly controlled by robots and a lot of the control is with computers with very small amount of human interaction
What method of production are the following advantages and disadvantages from ?
A: employees are more flexible than machines to make products
D : skilled employees demand higher wages and there are also expensive to recruit
Also , give another advantage
Labour
High quality product made as the employees car about the products they make
Why does industrial action occur ?
What types of action can a manager take against his employees ?
This occurs when employees are not happy with decisions being made within the business.
However can occur when managers aren’t happy with employees and may do an overtime ban which prevents employees from doing any overtime which reduces their pay
What is the main outcome of industrial action …
Productivity of the business is reduced
Give three types of industrial action and describe hat they are…
Go slow : employees still complete their tasks that are in heir contract of employment but at a much slower rate
Strike : employees refuse to work but there must be a ballot of members held to ensure majority of people want let go on strike and employees aren’t paid for the days they are on strike
Work to rule : employees only conduct the tasks that are in their contract of employment
Describe the disadvantages to a company if the employees go on strike or other type of industrial action ?
Reeuces sales as products aren’t being made which results in loosing profit and customers going to competitors.also crates bad public relations for the company
Company’s focusing on the quality of their product should minimise ….
Complaints
Explain the term “quality control”
This is where the product is INSPECTED
Raw materials are inspected to ensure they are of the highest quality before production starts.Product is then checked at the end of the process to make sure it’s a good standard and at the rejected products are reworked or discarded
What can’t quality control do ?
Prevent problems
Give the advantages and disadvantages of quality control ?
A: limits the potential for bad reputations to occur from faulty products as it ensures that faulty goods are not sent to customers
D: leads to high levels of wastage as the quality of the actual product isn’t checked until the end of production.
Explain what the term “quality assurance” means ?
This is where the prevention of faults occurs.
Products are checked at points throughout the production process and are discarded when faults are identified
Give the disadvantages of quality assurance …
Can slow down production as time taken for inspection as tests carried out throughout production to ensure no faults have occurred.
Costs may rise as business has to fund s quality assurance manager
What type of quality if the following advantage part of ?…
Business stays ahead of competition and can react to changing external factors
State a disadvantage of this type of quality
Quality improvement
Employees feel constantly under pressure to continuously keep improving which can demote the them if they don’t improve
Explain,fully,what benchmarking is ?
Benchmarking is a way of ensuring quality.Companies will compare their product producing patterns to the market leader or competitor and try to mirror the process used in a hope to increase their own sales.However it can be difficulty to obtain information from the market leader
What is the purpose and advantage of using mystery shoppers
Purpose is to gain an accurate reflection of standards and is a way of monitoring the quality of the service provided.
An advantage is that’s it’s a cheaper method of ensuring quality standards are met
What is the main disadvantage of obtaining quality standards ?
The process is very time consuming and expensive as it requires a through review of the company’s procedures,polices and gather evidence.Also there would be bad publicity if a company obtained for a short period of time but the standard of product then began to slip
State and advantage to a business if they obtain a quality standard award ….
Customers are more likely to buy the products if they know it’s a good standard and are also willing to pay a higher price.
The award will improve the products image and reputation of the product .Plus it enforces brand loyalty if the customers at satirised with the product which makes it easier to bring out new products .fisnly, there will be less wastage because there are stickter procedures to ensure that faults don’t arise - all which increase sales and profit
Give a way in which quality of the product can be comprised aside from the types of quality assurance ?
Employees
Describe three ways which training employees can benefit the quality of the product ??
Firstly: if an employee has been trained then they are making fewer mistakes so the consistency of the product should be better
Training the employee will motivate them
It will give them a better understanding of the entire production and how each stage flows into the other
Why is market research conducted ?
So that an organisation can find out if their products will sell or not.
In penetration pricing ,once products becomes popular what happens ?
The price will be raised ,low prices are only start term
True or false
Promotional pricing is when prices are reduced for a short period of time which encourages customers to buy the products which will result in stock levels falling.
True
Give 5 examples of pricing strategies used for new products
Explain competitive pricing and premium prices
Promotional,premium,penetrating,market skimming and competitive.
Competitive : organisation set similar prices for similar products which can help prevent price war.Organisations will compete with non pricing factors like loyalty cards.
Premium : high prices are charged and maintained and this method is used by high class expensive products like Apple
What factors contribute to pricing strategies ?
Cost of manufacture Target market Position in product life cycle Time of year Competitors pricing
