Marketing mid term

Short Essay Questions (Name) (University) (Course) (Tutor) (Date) Table of Contents  TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc363117959"
Question 1: Orientation of the company to the marketplace  PAGEREF _Toc363117959 \h
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Question 2: Significance of planning in marketing and the components of the planning process  PAGEREF _Toc363117960 \h
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Question 3: Factors and trends of the marketing environment that affect business  PAGEREF _Toc363117961 \h
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Question 4: The market research process  PAGEREF _Toc363117962 \h
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Question 5: Customer relationships  PAGEREF _Toc363117963 \h
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Question 6: Consumer behavior  PAGEREF _Toc363117964 \h
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Question 7: Business and consumer markets  PAGEREF _Toc363117965 \h
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References  PAGEREF _Toc363117966 \h
12  Question 1: Orientation of the company to the marketplace According to Kotler and Keller (2012), orientation of a firm to the existing market takes place in several stages. To begin with, the company has to embrace the production concept to ensure that goods and services offered to the consumers are inexpensive and widely available. To achieve this, an organization first adopts a production oriented business structure by implementing production processes that have high efficiency levels, lower production costs and which create conditions necessary for mass distribution of its products. Secondly, a company has to be product oriented. This ensures manufacture of products with innovative features and quality performance, thereby making them more attractive to the consumers. Thirdly, the company has to shift its attention to the selling concept. Consequently, aggressive product promotion and selling efforts are undertaken to advertise a good or service within the target market. Lastly, a company has to focus on achieving a marketing orientation by adopting strategies that enhance its competitive edge. As a result, the firm shifts from being product-centered to customer-centered. This guarantees greater customer value, product competitiveness and subsequent achievement of the overall goals of the company (Kotler & Keller, 2012). Admittedly, a holistic marketing orientation is integral to the realization of the organizational goals of a firm. The concept underlines the importance of acknowledging all factors that are likely to impact on the marketing efforts of a firm. By adopting a holistic marketing orientation, an organization is able to identify and reconcile the intricacies and scope of its marketing efforts, thereby enabling the firm to design, develop and execute effective marketing programs. Thus, development of a holistic marketing orientation ensures that a firm examines the implications of the competition, other firms, employees, consumers and society, on its marketing processes (Kotler & Keller, 2012). Question 2: Significance of planning in marketing and the components of the planning process Planning constitutes one of the most important aspects of the marketing process. Firstly, marketing planning enables an organization to determine how it can vary different aspects of the marketing mix in response to changes in the market. This facilitates proper management of changes in product demand and other emerging opportunities. Secondly, planning enables an organization to properly schedule market researches, packaging reviews and price amendments. This ensures that product packaging and pricing adopted by the company are in sync with the prevailing market conditions, thereby giving the firm and its products competitive advantage over its rivals. Additionally, marketing planning helps direct and coordinate the marketing efforts of an organization. This ensures that marketing opportunities are properly identified, appropriate marketing strategies adopted, and well thought-out marketing programs implemented, thereby averting instances where marketing is undertaken haphazardly. Similarly, long-term marketing planning also enables the management of an organization to determine ways through which the firm can achieve its business objectives in the future, thereby nurturing certainty and confidence among its retail and distribution networks (Kotler & Keller, 2012). The process of marketing planning comprises of several components. First is analysis. This component entails identification of the market opportunity available for the company products using market analysis tools. The second component is planning. This involves designing of an effective marketing plan and integrating it with the overall business plan of the organization. To achieve this, planning efforts take place at all levels; corporate, division, business and product levels. The third component is implementation. This step entails organization of the resources and execution of all the scheduled marketing activities. The last component of the planning process is controlling. This involves measurement and analysis of the results as well as adoption of corrective actions where necessary. Therefore, components of the marketing planning process include analysis, planning, execution and evaluation (Kotler & Keller, 2012). Question 3: Factors and trends of the marketing environment that affect business In the face of the rapidly evolving global outlook, there are several key environmental factors that business firms need to watch and respond to for effective marketing. To begin with, companies should screen the demographic environment of their market. This should entail monitoring of population growth trends to ensure that the company keeps track of the growth rate and size of the population within its target market. Additionally, the firm should also monitor literacy levels, age distribution, gender and ethnic composition of the population. Consequently, the company will be able to align its marketing efforts with the prevailing demographic factors, thereby facilitating customer segmentation. Secondly, firms should monitor economic factors within their marketing environment. Such economic factors as income distribution, credit availability, debt, savings and prices, are known to significantly affect the purchasing power of a population. Changes in income distribution are also likely to negatively impact on sales of a company, and hence the need for the firm to be aware of the economic condition of its marketing environment. Thus, companies should properly monitor and respond to shifts in these economic factors to ensure successful marketing of their products (Kotler & Keller, 2012). Thirdly, companies should also monitor social-cultural factors within their environment. This should entail examination of societal norms, values, and beliefs as well as their implications on the tastes and preferences of the target population. Understanding of social-cultural factors enables firms to align their products to the cultural and social values of the target market. Fourthly, companies ought to watch and plan for changes in their natural environment. Shifts in the natural environment may have a significant impact on the availability of raw materials, energy costs and anti-pollution regulations. Thus, companies should properly understand and respond to opportunities and threats resulting from shifts in the natural environment to ensure sustained profitability. Additionally, companies should monitor technological factors within their marketing environment. Companies should be aware of the rate at which technology is evolving and the resulting innovation opportunities so as to make appropriate adjustments in research and development budgets for improved business performance. Lastly, companies should properly monitor political and legal factors in their marketing environment. Political-legal aspects such as government regulations, laws and pressure groups affect marketing decisions. Therefore, businesses should understand threats and exploit opportunities availed by the existing political and legal environment (Kotler & Keller, 2012). Trends have profound impacts on businesses. In the recent years, physical fitness has gained popularity among upscale population. This trend has significantly changed the consumption patterns of the affected population by raising the demand for physical fitness and exercise equipments. Consequently, the trend will lead to increased business for firms that produce and market exercise equipments. Similarly, leisure travel, especially to foreign destinations, also creates opportunities for companies that offer travel and hospitality services. As such, marketers of travel packages can re...