Marketing: Real People, Real Choices 9th Global Edition by Greg W. Marshall Solution manual

 
Some dimensions of “the dark side” of consumer behavior include:
Terrorism
Addictive consumption: Consumer addiction is a physiological or psychological dependency on goods or services.
Exploited people: Sometimes people are used or exploited, willingly or not, for commercial gain in the marketplace. Consumed consumers</emphasis> are people who themselves become commodities.
Illegal activities: The cost of crimes consumers commit against business has been estimated at more than $40 billion per year.
Shrinkage: Someone steals from a store every five seconds.
Anticonsumption: Some types of destructive consumer behavior are anticonsumption, when people deliberately deface products. 

►Marketing Moment In-Class Activity
Ask students to think of businesses that engage in socially responsible activities.  What is the activity and how does it help society?
Discussion question: Do you personally feel that marketing is “evil?” Why or why not?

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4.    MARKETING AS A  PROCESS
Our definition of marketing also refers to processes. This means that
marketing is not a one-shot operation. When it’s done right, marketing
is a decision process in which marketing managers determine the
strategies that will help the firm meet its long-term objectives and then
execute those strategies using the tools they have at their disposal.
 
A big part of the marketing process is market planning, where we think carefully and strategically about the “big picture” and where our firm and its products fit within it.  Firms (or individuals) that engage in marketing planning ask questions like these:
What product benefits will our customers look for in three to five years?
What capabilities does our firm have that set it apart from the competition?
What additional customer groups might provide important market segments for us in the future?
How will changes in technology affect our production process, our communication strategy, and our distribution strategy?
What changes in social and cultural values are occurring now that will affect our market in the next few years?
How will customers’ awareness of environmental issues affect their attitudes toward our manufacturing facilities?
What legal and regulatory issues may affect our business in both domestic and global markets?
 
Answers to these and other questions provide the foundation for developing an organization’s marketing plan. This document describes the marketing environment, outlines the marketing objectives and strategy, and identifies who will be responsible for carrying out each part of the marketing strategy.
 
Some firms choose to reach as many customers as possible so they offer their goods or services to a mass market that consists of all possible customers in a market regardless of the differences in their specific needs and wants.
 
Although this approach can be cost-effective, the firm risks losing potential customers to competitors whose marketing plans instead try to meet the needs of specific groups within the market. A market segment is a distinct group of customers within a larger market who are similar to one another in some way and whose needs differ from other customers in the larger market. Depending on its goals and resources, a firm may choose to focus on one segment. A target market is the segment(s) on which an organization focuses its marketing plan and toward which it directs its marketing efforts.  A product’s market position is how the target market perceives the product in comparison to competitor’s brands.
 

IV. END-OF-CHAPTER ANSWER GUIDE
Chapter Questions and Activities
 
uQUESTIONS: Test Your Knowledge
 
Briefly explain what marketing is.
 
Though marketing can be described in many ways, the best definition is that marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.
 
List and describe the elements of the marketing mix.
 
Product: a good, service, idea, place, person—whatever is offered for sale in exchange.
Price: the assignment of value or the amount the consumer must exchange to receive the offering.