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•  Multiple Choice Questions
•  Glossary
•  Internet Exercises
•  Links
•  Guide to writing a Marketing Plan

Internet Exercises




Chapter 1 Managing the Exchange Process

Visit http://www.tripadvisor.com/. Read the comments posted by customers. What does this tell you about customer expectations? What does it say about the companies they comment on? Why are there more complaints than praise for many of the companies?

 

Chapter 2 The Marketing Environment

Visit http://www.cheapflights.co.uk/. Look for flights from, say, Liverpool to Malaga. Why is there such a large discrepancy in the price of flights? Why are some airlines (e.g. EasyJet) not listed at all, even though they fly from Liverpool to Malaga? Why would someone pay three times the fare offered by a competing airline?

 

Chapter 3 Marketing Domains

Visit http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles/EmailMarketingEthicsSpamReporting.htm. What is your view on spam? What problems does it cause? What advantages does it have for the spammer? Why might someone be GLAD to receive spam?

 

Chapter 4 Consumer Behaviour

Visit the following websites

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050929/RCREDIT29/TPBusiness/Canadian

http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/businessservices/11364.html

http://csdngo.igc.org/tourism/tourdial_cons.htm

 

Why are Governments so interested in consumer behaviour? It sometimes seems as if these websites regard consumers as being separate from the rest of humanity – why is this so? To what extent do you think consumers are being regarded as a commodity?

 

(If the above websites have been superseded or have been discontinued, try entering “Consumer Behaviour” into your search engine and find Government and newspaper articles on the topic.)

 

Chapter 5 Organisational Buying Behaviour

http://www.dh.gov.uk/ProcurementAndProposals/Tenders/RecentlyAwardedAndExistingTenders/fs/en

http://www.gem.wa.gov.au/Gem

https://www.ets.com.hk/English/ContractAward/CA082005.asp

 

 

What do these sites have in common? What is their apparent role in obtaining goods? Why do they clearly invite companies to come forward and make offers?

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Chapter 6 Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

http://www.wmep.org/strategic-repositioning.html

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2005/10/06/stories/2005100600070300.htm

http://in.rediff.com/news/2003/dec/09rajiv.htm

 

In each case, what are the reasons for repositioning? What are the supposed benefits? What techniques are proposed or have been used in repositioning?

 

Chapter 7 Marketing Information and Research

Visit http://www.mrs.org.uk/code.htm. Read the MRS Code of Practice. Why is this code of practice necessary? How might a firm circumvent its provisions? What sanctions are in place for market researchers who infringe the rules?

 

Chapter 8 Communications Theories

Visit the following sites:

http://www.ukbanners.com/

http://www.broadcaster.co.uk/

http://www.123promotion.co.uk/

http://www.servicewrap.net/

 

What are the issues surrounding website promotion? How do these services fit into the communications theories outlined in the chapter? What are the key services these companies provide – in other words, why would someone need to use such a service?

 

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Chapter 9 International Marketing

Visit http://www.intracen.org/index.htm. Why does this organisation exist at all? What does it contribute to world trade? Why would firms be interested in dealing with it?

 

Chapter 10 Creating Competitive Advantage

Visit the following websites:

http://www.cadbury.co.uk/EN/CTB2003/

http://www.godiva.com/welcome.aspx

http://www.divinechocolate.com/

http://www.chocolate.co.uk/index.php?SID=a4443f39cafcf8dbb20e578e51f4e251

http://www.hersheys.com/

http://www.thorntons.co.uk/default.asp?affiliate=UCF5

 

In each case, how would you classify the marketing strategy of the companies? What is their positioning? How might a chocolate processing firm reposition itself?

 

Chapter 11 Building Customer Relationships

Visit http://www.reviewcentre.com/products508.html

How do you account for all the negative reviews of loyalty cards? How do you account for the positives? What does this site tell us about loyalty cards in general?

 

Chapter 12 Product Portfolio

Visit the following websites:

http://www.smith-nephew.com/

http://www.jnj.com/

 

Read the corporate histories of these two companies. What part did product portfolio management play in their growth? In what ways do the companies converge, and in what ways do they diverge?

 

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Chapter 13 New Product Development

Visit http://inventors.about.com/ and follow the links to the various sponsored sites.

 

Why are there so many companies out there dedicated to helping inventors get their ideas to market? Why are so many inventions doomed to failure? How might a potential manufacturer decide which of the inventions on offer might succeed?

 

Chapter 14 Pricing

Visit the following websites, and compare prices for Levi’s jeans. You might need a calculator and some up-to-date exchange rates!

http://www.jeans-online.pl/

http://www.levisstore.com/

http://www.onlinesales4less.com/

www.cloggs.co.uk

Why are the prices different on each website? Why do people want to buy cut-price Levi’s, when other brands of jeans are available at much lower prices?

You might also try visiting Levi’s own global website, http://www.levi.com/, as this gives some background on the global marketplace.

 

Chapter 15 Advertising

Visit these websites, all of which are concerned with cinema advertising.

http://www.cinemaadcouncil.org/about.asp

http://www.carltonscreen.com/htm/globalcine/globalcinema.php

http://www.pearlanddean.com/planbuy/local.html

 

What is the main appeal of cinema advertising? How are these organisations promoting it? Why do firms still spend such large amounts on TV advertising?

 

Chapter 16 Public Relations and Sponsorship

Visit these websites:

http://www.ipr.org.uk/

http://www.prsa.org/

http://www.prwatch.org/

http://www.ipra.org/

 

What do they tell us about the practice of PR in each country? What do they tell us about the ethics of PR – and about ways of controlling the industry?

 

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Chapter 17 Selling and Key Account Management

Visit the following websites:

http://www.saleswork.co.uk/

http://www.simplysalesjobs.co.uk/?refid=google&catid=generic

http://www.salestarget.co.uk/Home/Home.aspx?DCMP=KAC-Paid_Google

http://www.salesvacancies.com/

http://sales.monster.co.uk/

 

Why are there so many sites dedicated to selling jobs? What salaries are on offer? If salaries are so good, why is there a permanent shortage of salespeople?

 

Chapter 18 Exhibitions and Sales Promotion

Enter “special offers” into your search engine. Why do so many millions of firms want to give something away? You might want to try going to the much later pages that are so rarely visited – go to page 80 or 100 and see which special offers have been unlucky enough not to be listed in the first 10 hits!

 

Chapter 19 Direct and On-line Marketing

Visit the following Amazon websites.

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/915398/702-3339033-1116824

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/283155/002-3169603-2552809

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/266239/202-5668427-5146217

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/301128/302-1711534-8208854?site-redirect=de

http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/405320/171-2351124-8081026

http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/489986/250-5622138-1957021

 

What are the similarities and differences between them? What happens if you search for the same book on different websites? Why does Amazon need so many different websites, rather than using one site and having distribution in each part of the world? Why the price differences between different websites for the same products?

 

Chapter 20 Managing Channels

Visit these shipping company websites:

http://www.hanjin.com/en/main.jsp

http://www.mscgva.ch/

http://www.panocean.com/

 

How does each company differentiate itself? Why does each company offer a container tracking service on-line? How do they fit into a logistics scenario?

 

Chapter 21 Intermediaries

Visit these party-plan sites:

http://www.oriflame.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

http://www.1234whoosh.com/index.html

http://www.eclipse-jewelryinmotion.com/

http://candle-parties.info/

http://www.joinusborne.com/

 

How do they recruit people? Which of them sound like good propositions, and which sound like “get rich quick” schemes? Is the proposition clear?

 

Chapter 22 People, Process and Physical Evidence

Visit the websites of five major companies of your choice. Find their mission statements. In how many of these do they talk about staff empowerment? In how many do they mention their intended service levels? To what extent do you think these promises are maintained in practice?

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