Marketing management

Block 1 Amul Case Study  

Question 1

The effective strategic planning of Amul is reflected by:
   
Amul has effective distribution strategy

None of above

Amul butter is processed at 8 plants

Amul's brute dominance created a big entry barrier for others
 
Question 2

Amul butter success stories rests on
   
Effective advertising ans sales promotion

All of the above

massive distribution network

value for money
 
 
Question 3
"The path breaking success of ""utterly butterly delicious"" campaign rests on"
   
Advertsing and sales promotion department

Effective pricing strtaegies

Effective distribution system

None of the above
 
Question 4

"Amul "" ensure that their distributor's strive to improve the network, availability, market presence"", states ________core concept of marketing"
   
Marketing

Selling

Product concept

Production

Question 5

Pick the odd one out:
   
Gained lot of popularity through Bus Hoardings

Amul hoardings campaigns are also in Guinness Records

Amul enjoys tremendous distribution network edge

Amul hoardings continue to dot the skies
 
Question 6
___________is the country's largest dairy marketing organisation as mentioned in the case
   
The Bombay Milk plant

None of the above

The Gujrat Co-operative Milk

The Nagpur Milk Refinery
 
 
Question 7

Amul Butter - A marketing success story depends upon
   
All of the above

Amul offers the availability several alternatives of butter to consumers.

Making Amul as not an expensive drink

Its deep-rooted distribution and as well as value for money products

Question 8

""" They need to ensure that the same quality product is available to a consumer at his nearest outlet and in the pack, sizes required by him"" highlights _________core concept of marketing"
   
Both a & b

Production concept

None of the above

Product concept

Question 9
"Amul Butter - A marketing success story, strongly emphaises most on the following concept"
   
Production concept

Marketinh concept

Selling concept

Social concept
 
Question 10
""" During the chinese aggression in 1962 Amul diverted all milk and milk powder collected to the army to meet their requirement"", highlights _________concept of marketing."
   
Poduction concept

None of the above

Marketing concept

Societal concept

Case study block 2

Question 1

Complan's competitors include
   
Viva

Horlicks

All of above

Bournvita

Question 2

Complan decided to ___________against horlick's.
   
Offer different sales promotion

Reposition

Enter new markets

Market

Question 3

"""Your body needs 23 vital foods every day. Check how many do other food drinks give"". The complan used ___________positioning strategy."
   
positioning by competitor

positioning by usage occasion

None of the above

positioning by target user
 
Question 4

Which of the following statement is true
   
All of the above

Complan was never related to a medicine

Complan was liked by children 

Complan's price was almost doubled that of horlicks
 
Question 5

Complan tried the following positioning strategy
   
positioning by target user

All of the above

positioning by usage occasion

positioning by competitor
 
 
Question 6
Which of the following most recent re-positioning led to increase in complan's sale
   
None of the above

Competitor's positioning strategy

Ethical positioning strategy

narrower positioing strtaegy on growing childern
 
 
Question 7

As per the case the following factors influenced the behaviour of consumer's buying complex
   
personal

All of the above

Social

Cultural
 
Question 8

Consumers of Complain must have passed through the following sequential stages in the buying decision process
  
"need recognition, Information search, evaluation of alternatives, Purchase decision, and post purchase decision"

"Purchase decision, Information search, evaluation of alternatives, need recognition, and post purchase decision"

None of the above

"Information search, evaluation of alternatives, need recognition, purchase decision and post purchase decision."
 
Question 9
Marketing research helped the complain to
   
Highlight the relationship of price and product

Highlight the importance of Complain by making it a complete nourishment drink

All of the above

Highlight the like and dislike of taste
 
Question 10
"The strength of the marketing leader Horlicks, is highlighted by"
   
Increase in sales

All of the above

Effective positioning strategy
 

Case study block 3  

What strategies should be adopted by HLL at marurity stage to counter ITC entry
   
Product modification

Market modification

Marketing mix Modification

All of above
 
Question 2

"""The company HLL is planning to make Annapurna atta a national brand"" is an marketing strategy in Product life cycle of"
   
Market Modification

Product modification

market mix modification

None of the above
 
Question 3
"Most of Hindustan Lever Limited innovations in the ready to eat segment and instant foods , failed at ______stage of Product life cycle"
   
commercialisation

Product development

idea generation

Test marketing

Question 4
"""HLL had withdrawn atta from the north Indian markets"" reflects the ___________stage of Product life cycle"
   
Growth

Maturity

Introduction

Decline 
 
Question 5
"The ITC Company lets assume has 3 atta variants, 2 biscuits variants, 2 spices and 5 ready to eat food products. Mark the correct option"
   
Product Depth = 4

Product width =3

None of the above

Product Length =12
 
Question 6
Nokia's pricing strategies aims to fulfill the following objectives:
   
Ensure a specified target sales for different segments

maintain price leadership

All of the above

Profit maximization
 
 
Question 7

"Among the various brands mentioned in the ""Noika Pricing Strategy"", modern Nokia 9500 communicator follows the ________pricing strategy."
   
Rip-off strtaegy

Medium-value strategy

Economy strategy

Premium strategy

Question 8

"""Nokia leveraged its pricing strategies to appeal different segments uniquely"", mark the correct option based on this statement"
   
For middle segment it presents a costly product

None of the above

For low-end segment it presents a low-technology product

For top end segment presents a classy product
 
Question 9

Nokia follows the _________pricing strategy
   
Psychological pricing strategy

Demand/market based pricing strategy

Competition oriented pricing

both a&b

Question 10
Pricing strategy of Nokia is an outcome of
   
Technological Innovation

Kept a future market vision

All of the above

Continuous Innovation
 

Case Study (block - 4) 
 
"Our biggest challenge is not how to expand the market in India, but how to convince the indifferent Indian consumers about the world-class quality of Amway Products. The quality of the product is Amway's strength."
- Sudershan Banerjee, CEO & MD, Amway India in 1999.
A Dream Gone Awry
In the late 1990s, the global direct selling giant Amway had to contend with increasing doubts regarding its survival in India. The company that had become synonymous with network marketing or multi-level marketing (MLM)1 the worldover was beset with problems.
Media reports were quick to point out Amway's failure to sell the basic concept of direct selling to the Indians. Though the company managed to rope in a substantial number of distributors, the attrition rate was at an alarming high of 60-65%. Most of the products that the distributors bought, they consumed themselves. Estimates put the percentage of self-consumption at almost 50-60% of the total volume. (There were rumors that some distributors enrolled just to take advantage of the distributor's margin of 18-30%). In the initial stages, when trials were the only criterion, this worked well. However, this self-consumption did not translate into repeat purchases. This was because the percentage of 'active' distributors at any given point of time remained at a low level of 35-40%.
A Dream Gone Awry Contd...
Many people who joined in the initial frenzy returned the product kits within the first month. Company sources claimed that the returns constituted just 1% of the total strength, but rivals and ex-employees put the figure at over 5%. Of the total distributors, only about 10% showed reasonably high levels of activity. To top it all, Amway was burdened with an image that had little basis in fact. Its products began to be perceived as being very expensive and meant only for the premium segment. This was identified as the single biggest reason for the high attrition rate. What was overlooked was the fact that almost all Amway products were concentrates.
When used in the proper diluted form, the cost per use of each product worked out to be at par with (and in some cases, even lower than) the nearest competitor's products. For instance, the product named LOC (priced above Rs 320 for a 1-liter pack), when diluted gave around 165 bottles. The cost per usage was thus very low. Either the distributors were themselves not aware of this fact, or they were unable to communicate this to the customers.
Since the distributors themselves were unsure about the price-value equation of the products they were selling, they could not effectively convince the consumers either. Amway also had to contend with customers complaining of poor customer service on the part of the company.
Analysts commented that as long as the volume of products that moved through the network was high, network market such as Amway were satisfied. Even though customers complained of the lack of services, the company deemed it more beneficial to go for higher salesforce motivation programs rather than undertake customer service initiatives. This was largely due to the fact that the company was almost never involved directly with the end-consumers and the sales volumes were the end of all discussions.
Making of the Dream
Privately held by the DeVos and Van Andel families of US, Amway, short for American Way, was set up in 1959. Amway and its publicly traded sister companies supported 53 affiliate operations worldwide. About 70% of Amway's sales were outside North America. With over 12,000 employees around the world, Amway was renowned for its strong R&D centre in Michigan, which had 24 laboratories.
Amway was present in over 80 countries and its manufacturing plants were located in US, Hungary, Korea, China and India. The company had over 3 million distributors across the world. Besides its direct selling portfolio of 450 products, Amway promoted around 3,000 products through catalogue sales2 as well. Amway had received permission from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in 1994, to invest $15 million in the Indian operations and to source products from India. The company began with identifying small and medium-scale companies to source its products from. Commercial operations began in May 1998 with a partnership arrangement with Network 21, a company, which acted as a support system and assisted in organizing training, seminars and meetings.
Besides its extensive internal research efforts before entering India, Amway also conducted market research through agencies such as Pathfinders and ORG-MARG. Though prior to its entry into India, Amway did recognize the need for a special India-specific pricing strategy and eventually there were just a few marginal cuts in the prices, which were still almost 20% higher than those of the competing FMCG products.
The company began with appointing distributors in the country by adopting the 'NRI sponsored' by getting NRIs to rope in their friends/relatives in India into Amway distributorship. These distributors were duly provided with starter business kits containing products, training material, and sales literature.
The company's introductory product range comprised four home care and two personal care products, made available to distributors at the Amway Distribution Centers (ADCs) or through tele-service. A significant portion of Amway's investment was on transferring state-of-the-art technology and processes to third-party manufacturers from the small and medium-scale sectors for the indigenous production of its product range.
Amway assisted its three manufacturing partners, the ISO 9001-certified Jejuplast at Pune, Naisa Industries at Daman, and the Hyderabad-based Sarvotham Care, to achieve benchmarking levels of product development, engineering and quality. These facilities were equipped with advanced machinery and world class technologies for production, packaging, and water filtration. Amway scientists and engineers at the India Technical Centre provided assistance in the processes of technology transfer and quality control. The company supported its independent distributors with five full service ADCs at New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Calcutta and Mumbai. ADCs operated as product selection centers for Amway's entire product range and as training centers for distributors. Amway appointed Sembawang Shriram Integrated Logistics, and Mumbai-based First Flight Couriers as its total logistics partners for home delivery of Amway products across 151 cities in the country.
Amway's domestic operations fell into five areas - personal care, homecare, nutrition, cosmetics and home tech. The company introduced India-specific products, in pursuance of its go 'glocal' philosophy. Also, for the first time in its history, Amway utilized media advertising to promote its products. In the beginning, Amway had to deal with the negative attitude of many Indians to direct selling. Direct selling was typically seen as unwelcome, an intrusion into one's privacy. This was true to a certain extent. Sales people often used a 'hardsell', the product quality was sometimes poor and most importantly, the salespeople were poorly trained and lacking in motivation. However, Amway changed all this radically and a significant change was brought in the field.
Amway was able to break the time tested and traditional distribution set-up of manufacturer-distributor-retailer-consumer. Within 11 months, Amway became the country's largest direct selling company and after two years of the commercial launch, Amway's distributor base crossed the 200,000 mark. Its strengths were clearly manifested in the aggressive product launch plans, its products which claimed to exceed consumer expectations, the 'money back' policy, and a distribution network spread across 26 cities servicing more than 306 locations. In 1999, Amway reported a sales figure of Rs 100 crore. Reacting to reports stating this as a 'below-expectations' figure, company sources commented that the concept of network marketing had not been a constraint for Amway.
The then CEO & MD Bill Pinckney commented, "The direct selling model is not new to India. What's new is the structure. And while it's true that consumers do not rush in to buy an Amway product, network marketing works as a low-key approach and evolves over time." However, the problems like distributor attrition, a false 'premium' image and customer dissatisfaction soon began surfacing. Amway could not sit back and let competitors like Oriflame, Avon and Modicare take advantage of its weaknesses.
Picking up the Pieces
Amway soon woke up to the reality that it had to take steps to put its MLM machinery back to the track. For this, it had to first identify where it had gone wrong. Amway realized that like most direct marketing networks, it had hoped to leverage the global promise of the lucrative business opportunity for its distributors.
Though this made sense in the developed consumer markets of the West, in India, distributors also needed to know the value of the products they were selling, this aspect was overlooked by the company. One of the first 'corrective' measures it took was putting stickers on its products, which clearly indicated the number of usages very clearly.
For instance, it introduced stickers on the packs of its car-wash solution to emphasize the number of washes that a consumer could get per bottle. The idea was to firmly establish the fact of Amway's products being highly concentrated and with very low per usage cost.
This practice was later expanded to other products as well. Amway realized that a complicated market such as India needed a focused approach for each of the product categories. To strengthen its product focus, Amway set up strategic business units. Thus, though Amway had centralized marketing of all products worldwide, its Indian arm appointed category managers for individual product categories.
Amway also decided to focus on the market in the smaller towns. Quick expansion of the distribution network to smaller towns was identified as a major tool to offset the impact of attrition. The gameplan was to reach consumer homes all over directly by making the current distribution system more effective and decentralized.
In early 1999, Amway realized that servicing distributors in 160 cities through its 13 locations was curbing growth due to unavailability of critical infrastructure like networked banks, toll-free phones and multi-service courier companies. The cost of making long-distance calls, the courier companies' refusal to accept cash and the time taken to deliver products were the three major hurdles that Amway faced. The typical direct selling system comprised a central warehouse located close to the manufacturing locations, which sent the products to regional hubs like the metros and then on to the branch offices. As opposed to the traditional FMCG delivery setup, where the distributors or retailers carried inventory, here it was taken care of by the company warehouses and their region-specific distribution centers.
Long distance calls and courier companies took care of distribution in cities where the company had no presence. However, with these facilities not being upto the mark, Amway decided that it had to effectively handle these issues and rapidly expand its offices in order to capture the growing direct selling clientele in the country.
The company also decided to give incentives to cost and freight agents (C&FAs) who could deliver parcels in the same city within 48 hours outside, in about 72 hours. Amway then planned to tap unemployed youth in smaller towns by subsidizing the entry fee for the starters' sales kit. Amway also offered to finance the sales kits through interest-free loans. It even gave free kits to visually impaired youth in Rajasthan.
But media reports were skeptical about Amway's strategy to use localized strategies for its global products. This 'gamble' as Amway's biggest test case the world over, they remarked. In a bid to make its products more affordable, Amway introduced value-for-money 'chhota (small) packs' in December 1999. The sachets significantly boosted sales.
Sachets had two advantages – they helped Amway shake-off the 'super-premium-products-only' tag, and with their lower prices invited consumers from lower income levels to try the products. This was expected to brand penetration. The most significant of Amway's Indian initiatives were its 'Indianisation' efforts.
The company started printing Hindi slogan 'Hamara apna business' (our own business) on its stationery. The company's first product line, Persona, was created specially for the Indian consumers. Amway even named its expansion drives as 'Operation Gaadi' and 'Operation Ghar.' Operation Gaadi was launched in east-Uttar Pradesh where a store was mounted on a truck and made trips to different regions on different days. The project was later extended to West Bengal as well. Operation Ghar was primarily designed to provide better service to the customers as well as to its large family of distributors. Involving an outlay of Rs 15 crore in its Phase I, Operation Ghar eventually covered 19 state capitals. Operation Ghar was designed to provide five Es - ease of ordering, ease of paying, ease of receiving, ease of returning and ease of information/operations. Amway also utilized the Internet and electronic kiosks to hook up with its distributors and give them information.
'Network'ing its Way into the Future
By 2004, Amway planned to become a Rs 1000 crore company with a physical presence in 198 centers across India. The company also revealed that by 2002, it would be selling all the 450 Amway products that were available abroad, in India. As part of its plans to tap unexplored markets, Amway announced an ambitious expansion of its distribution infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh, which included setting up a warehouse. Once the marketing business in urban areas was strengthened, Amway planned to turn tis attention to untapped rural areas as well. Even as Amway was establishing its roots in India, it was already facing troubles abroad. The very concept of network marketing was being threatened by the growing popularity of e-commerce and the Internet.
Through the World Wide Web, manufacturers had the opportunity of engaging in one-on-one direct selling in an even simpler way. This posed a major threat to multilevel marketers. However, the real threat seemed to be the merging of telecom networks with the cable television operators. This brought the customer directly in touch with the company through telemarketing tools. This would naturally make the salesperson obsolete. Ofcourse, given the pace of developments on the Indian telecommunications front, network marketers could take it easy for least some more years. However, Amway prepared to meet these challenges by taking initiatives to further strengthen its online presence.
With Internet usage levels increasing and little spare time for shopping, Amway believed that the Indians would gradually move to online shopping. But it thought the process would take time, as het pleasure of window-shopping and the actual shopping experience could not be replaced very easily. Amway provided graphics and three-dimensional views in the product display sections on its website. The company also planned to have portals in various Indian languages to ensure wide coverage.

Question 1
Amway products failed to gain growth because of
   
distributor's unsure about price value equation of the products

Self-consumption by distributor's

its perceived to be very expensive

All of above
 
Question 2
A distribution system rests on
   
Network Marketing

Direct Selling

None of the above

Multi-Level Marketing

Question 3
Pick the correct statement
  
Amway planned to concentrate more on salesforce motivation programme rather than on customer services

Amway had a direct selling portfolio of 450 products

Both a&b

None of the above
 
Question 4
Amway relaized that servicing distributors in 160 cities through its 13 locations was curbing growth due to:
   
Lack of networked banks

All of the above

Unrelaible multi-service companies

lack of tool-free numbers

Question 5
Amway radically and significantly changed the attitude of ______________ among many indian mindsets
   
Advertising

All of the above

Direct Selling

Social Marketing
  
Question 6

Distributor attrition rate was tackled by
   
The distribution system to be made more centralized

Teaching distributors to know the value of product

All of the above

Expanding the distribution network in larger towns
 
Question 7

Amway realized that the distributor’s growth was hampered by _______________
   
Availability of multi service courier companies

Unavailability of critical infrastructure

All of the above

Availability of toll free phones

Question 8

Amway great efforts to capture Indian markets constitute the following
   
All of the above

Introduction of value for money chhota packs

Initiatives for its Indianisation efforts

Long distance calls and courier companies to replace cities where the company had no presence
 
Question 9

"As per the latest trends, the Amway utilized the ___________ to hook up with its distribution strategy"
   
Internet

Pubilicity

Social marketing

None of the above
 
 
Question 10
The salesperson is negatively effected or has become obsolete because of
   
Effective marketing publicity

E-Commerce

Sales Promotion

Effective public relationship
 

 (Case study block -5)  

Q1. IMC full form is:
   
None of above

Internal Marketing Communication

Integrated Marketing Communication 

Integrated Marketing Conflict
 
Question 2

As per the case
   
20% of revenue is coming from traditional sources

80% revenues is coming from traditional sources

None of the above 

80% revenue is coming from non-conventional sources
 
Question 3
As per the case the promotion mix includes:
   
All of the above

Advertising Agencies

Mobile communication

Direct Marketing
  
Question 4

The IMC's greatest challenge in today's time is to:
   
Both a&b

Consumer's ignoring to watch commericals

All of the above

Adapt to the changes of consumer's tastes and preferences
 
Question 5
Short term incentives to promote sales is called as _____________
   
Public Relations

Personal Selling

Sales Promotion

Publicity
 
Question 6
As per the case the key areas of business for IMC includes:
   
The Internet

Customer Relationship Management

All of the above

Event Management
 
Question 7
The Multimedia 360 degree approach emphaises on:
   
Constructing more ATM's

None of the above

Aggressive advertising

Understand Your customer by getting as close to the customer as possible
 
Question 8

According to the case the key to effective promotion today is:
   
Spent Maximum on entertaintment Industry

Design Effective Promotional Strategies

None of the above

Engage consumers at multiple touchpoints

Question 9
Today the companies are using effective IMC for growth by:
   
Rural Intitiatives

Continuous Contact and engage customer

Repositioning of the advertsing agencies as per the changing scenarios

All of the above
 
Question 10
The marketing/communication industry should forsee the opportunity in the following new segments:
   
Entertaintment Marketing

Market Activation

Outdoors

Retail
 
Full assessment case study  

Question 1
Citi Banks different product mix includes
   
Diners Club Crad

Preferred Visa Card

Preferred MasterCard

All of above
 
Question 2
"""Citibank also provides personal accident insurance free of cost"", states ____________ concept of marketing"
   
Customer concept

the societal marketing concept

Production concept

Selling concept

Question 3
Citibank's market leader strategies in the credit card industry rests on __________________ concept
   
the marketing concept

Production concept

Selling concept

None of the above

Question 4
Citibank's success in the market is due to
   
Value addition to the product from time to time

All of the above

innovative customer service

sophisticated information system

Question 5
Citibank's promotional mix includes

Advertising

Personal selling

Sales Promotion

All of the above
  
Question 6
The wide product range of Citibank card is successful because of ________________ effective strategy
   
All of the above

Positioning

Segmentation

Targeting

Question 7

Citibank cards are in the ________________ stage of product life cycle
   
Maturity

Decline

Introduction

Growth

Question 8
Citibank's new card development begins with
   
product development

Idea generation

Business Analysis

concept development
 
 
Question 9
Citibank owes it success to _________
   
Tie-up with other companies

All of the above 

innovative strategies 

ability to fast
  
Question 10
Citibank's successful value addition strategy can be contributed to :
   
Citibank's innovative competitive strategies

Citibank's Successful co-branding strategies

All of the above

Understanding the customer's needs and designing the product accordingly

Course summary 

Live Interactive Session Test

Question 1
Marketing Mix consists of
  
Product, Place, Prospect, Promotion, Principles, People and Physical evidence
Product, Place, Price, Positioning, Process, People and Physical evidence
Product, Place, Price, Productivity, Process, People and Physical evidence
Product ,Place, Price, Promotion, Process, People and Physical evidence
 
Question 2

Companies want to generate------------- and ----------------from the customer
   
need, desire
 
desire, demand
   
want, demand
   
want, desire
 
Question 3
Marketing and sales are the same
   
Yes
 
No
 
Maybe
 
IN some cases

Question 4
Black Box Model of Consumer Behavior is associated with
   
Philip Kotler
   
Michael Porter
    
Al Ries and Jack Trout 
   
Howard-Sheth
  
Question 5
Post purchase, a dissatisfied customer is facing
   
spacial convenience
   
cognitive dissonance
 
subsequent monitoring
 
customer aggravation

Question 6
During consumer purchase process External factore include: Marketing Mix and Environmental factors
   
Yes
   
No
   
could be
   
both 1 and 2 options

Question 7
The product has many layers. The inner most one is
   
Basic
   
Expected
   
Core
   
Potential 
 
Question 8

Capital goods are_________products and Specialty goods are ___________
   
tangible, consumer
   
consumer, industrial
 
industrial, consumer
   
variable, consumer
 
Question 9
Stages of Product life cycle are
   
Innovatation
   
Introduction
   
Introduction
   
Introduction
 
Question 10
The true business of every company is to make and keep customers- Quote is attributed to which management guru?
   
Philip Kotler
 
   
Malcolm Gladwell
   
Peter Drucker
   
Sethin Godin
 
Question 11
The customer lifecycle in CRM has the following stages:
   
reach, attention, conversion, retention and loyalty
   
reach, acquisition, consumer-centric retention and loyalty
 
reach, acquisition, conversion, retention and loyalty
 
reach, attachment, conversion, retention and loyalty

Question 12
The three types of CRM are
   
Operative, Analytical and Collosal
   
Operational, Affective and Collaborative
   
Operations, Analytic and Cllobarative
   
Operational, Analytical and Collaborative
 
Question 13
_________________is the practice of collecting information about a user's online activity
   
Online Behaviour Advertising
 
Data Collecting Advertisng
   
Private Online Advertising
   
Online Personal Advertising
 
Question 14
When the organization, the technology service provider, and the digital agencies work together is called________________
   
Team Action Environment
 
Collaborative Environment
   
Group Benefit Environment
   
Collective Collaboration
 
Question 15
SEO stands for __________________________
   
Search Entity Optimization
 
Search Engine Optimize
   
Search Electric Optimization
   
Search Engine Optimization