中国经济管理大学-中國經濟管理大學

Business and Staffing Strategies

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 19:45:50 +0800

Business and Staffing Strategies

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

· Explain how different staffing strategies support different business strategies.

· Describe the resource-based view of the firm and how staffing can contribute to a company’s sustainable competitive advantage.

Explain when an organization would use talent-oriented rather than job-oriented staffing.
Describe human capital advantage and human process advantage and the differences between them.
Describe the strategic staffing decisions any organization must make.

TAKEAWAY POINTS

1. If a firm seeks to achieve a competitive advantage, its staffing strategy should support its business strategy. Different strategies require different types of employees. A cost-leadership strategy requires trainable and flexible employees able to focus on shorter-term production objectives, avoid waste, and who are concerned about production costs. The goal in this case is to develop a competitive advantage based on operational excellence. A differentiation strategy based on innovation requires employees who fit the firm’s innovative culture. A company pursuing a specialization strategy based on customer intimacy would need to hire adaptable, active learners with good people and customer relations skills, and emotional resilience under pressure.

2. The resource-based view of the firm proposes that a company’s resources and competencies can produce a sustained competitive advantage by creating value for customers by lowering costs, providing something of unique value, or some combination of the two. Because the talent resources created by staffing can be valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable, staffing has the potential to create a competitive advantage for a firm. Acquiring the right talent is not enough, however. The company must be appropriately organized to take full advantage of its talent resources.

3. An organization would use job-oriented staffing when it needs to fill a specific job opening. It would pursue talent-oriented staffing when labor markets are tight and good recruits are hard to find, or to address anticipated skill gaps in advance of actual needs.

4. A firm can achieve a human capital advantage by hiring a stock of quality talent and retaining outstanding people. A human process advantage occurs when the firm’s work gets done in a superior way as a result of effective processes that evolve over time, such as learning, cooperation, and innovation on the part of its employees. Human process advantages are very difficult to imitate.

5. Strategic staffing decisions include whether to: have an internal or external talent focus, establish a core or flexible workforce, hire people with the skills the firm needs or train them to develop those skills, replace or retain talent, and pursue proactive or reactive staffing. It is also important to address what levels of which skills should be sought and which jobs should be focused on, as well as whether staffing should be viewed as an investment or a cost and should be centralized or decentralized.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. How can a resource-based approach ensure that staffing decisions in a company will produce a sustained competitive advantage?

In a resource-based view, the impact of good hiring practices will result in reduced cost of production or service, something of unique value, or some combination of both, thereby creating a positive image about these products and services in the eyes of the customer. Staffing decisions determine what should be the mix of capabilities in the required talent pool, what should be the level of skills, who should have the opportunity to build an employment relationship with the organization. They also determine what type of motivational strategies can be created by the company. Through all this, the staffing decisions in a company with a resource-based view can produce a sustained competitive advantage.

2. What is the difference between treating employees as assets and as investors? When is it appropriate for an organization to treat employees as investors? When is it appropriate for an organization to treat job applicants and employees as assets?

Treating employees as assets puts the talent management focus on managing costs and controlling people (the asset) as a resource. Like other assets, the focus is on managing the cost of employees, and the goal tends to focus on the acquisition of labor as cheaply and quickly as possible. Treating employees as assets is most appropriate when there is little performance variation among people holding a job. If just about any new hire can do the job at an acceptable performance level, if alternative jobs are hard for employees to find, or if the job is very automated and requires little unique skill or knowledge, then controlling labor costs can be an appropriate perspective. Even in these cases, however, staffing outcomes such as commitment, theft, and motivation probably can be improved if employees are thought of as investors.

Alternatively, if employees are thought of as investors, the focus is on establishing a mutually beneficial relationship in which employees are recognized as investing their resources (time, talents, energy, etc.) in the organization in exchange for a return on that investment (supportive culture, pay, benefits, challenge, professional development, etc.). When workers are able to get other jobs easily, when the organization’s success is dependent on their contributions (e.g., research and development, customer service, or knowledge worker positions) it is appropriate for the organization to treat employees as investors and maximize employees’ return on the investments they make in the company. The Starbucks vignette is a good example of when it is appropriate to treat employees as investors.

3. An HR consulting firm requires highly creative people from diverse industry backgrounds to design and implement HR subsystems for the organization and to develop their workforce. In this context, would you recommend a core or a flexible workforce?

The consulting firm requires people with specific skills related to the nature of HR intervention and having experience in the industry segment that the prospective client belongs to. Since it might not be practical to recruit employees from many different industry segments and keep them occupied continuously, it might be more cost-effective to have a network of specialists who can come in on an assignment-basis or be on regular retainer mode of work rather than have them on core rolls of the company. This way, the creativity and aspiration of the workforce will also not be restricted to the acquisition of new clients in their area of expertise.

4. Discuss the type of staffing approach used for each of the four possible business strategies mentioned in the Chapter.

In the case of a cost-leadership strategy, cost of design, manufacturing, and distribution is kept low so that the benefit is passed on to the customer. Staffing approach is to look for hiring adaptable, efficient, highly-process and team oriented employees who are open for training and redeployment.

In the case of an organization following differentiation strategy, it aims to create a unique position for itself by its product range, durability, quality, ease of use, safety etc. In this case, the organization needs innovative people who work well with others, have a high thirst for learning and discovery and are comfortable in a culture of continuous change. The staffing approach would be to hire highly skilled workers for key research positions, make higher investments in acquiring and retaining people.

A specialization strategy focuses on a niche area, so its aim is to develop good customer relationships. The staffing approach is to recruit people with good relationship management skills, ability to work under pressure, high emotional stability to handle customer requirements and good learning approach.

A growth strategy focuses on expanding sales or achieving economies of scale. One of the ways for growth is also a merger or an acquisition, which brings in a completely different talent pool from another company. The talent strategy for the company should focus on acquisition, merging of talent between the two companies, managing cultural differences and matching staffing practices. The staffing approach should also acquire strong leadership capability to manage the growth process.

5. List the costs and benefits of having an internal staffing focus. Then list the cost and benefits of having an external staffing focus. What are the trade-offs between the two approaches?

An internal staffing focus helps keep employees committed to the company because they can see themselves having a career there. Internal staffing also results in the new hire getting up to speed faster because he or she is already familiar with company policies, culture, customers, etc. An internal staffing focus also prompts a company to develop a pool of talent that is likely to be both able and willing to assume leadership roles when they become available. It can also be faster and cheaper to hire internally and the company has a more accurate assessment of the talents and potential of its employees than it does of outsiders.

Internal staffing focuses on the talents and capabilities of employees who are currently employed in the organization. As a result, possible costs of an internal staffing focus include failure to introduce new ideas and inability to identify new ways of doing things. Additionally, training and development costs may be higher. Finally, the company might also miss out on hiring great talent that does not currently work for it, and these highly talented people often end up working for competitors.

An external staffing focus can help reduce costs in the long term by reducing a firm’s training costs. Employees’ skills may be more current because the company can hire people trained in the newest technologies and theories. External hires may also be able to see the company from a fresh perspective and have insights that improve the company’s performance.

An external staffing focus can generate resentment on the part of employees who are passed over for a job within the company in favor of an outsider. It is also more difficult to fully evaluate external hires because less information is known about them compared to people who already work for the company. External hires may not have as much of an understanding and appreciation of the company’s history and culture as an internal hire.

EXERCISES

1. Strategy exercise: Form a small group of four to five students. Identify a business that you could start. What type of business would you propose? What business strategy would you follow? What staffing strategies would you use and why? How does the resource-based view inform your thinking?

Answers depend on the business identified, but should parallel the contents of Table 2-3.

2. Opening vignette exercise: Working individually, or in a small group, reread the chapter vignette on Starbucks and address the following questions. Be prepared to share your answers with the class after 20 minutes.

What staffing issues would create the biggest obstacles to Starbucks’ ability to execute its growth and specialization strategies?

A shortage of talent produced by a tight labor market could be a problem, as could high turnover rates. If the sourcing, recruiting, and selection systems Starbucks uses stop producing appropriate hires, it will no longer be able to acquire the talent it needs to execute its high level of customer service.

What would you recommend Starbucks do to overcome the obstacles you identified?

Focusing on retention will help alleviate the effects of a tight labor market. Further enhancing its training, development, and promotion opportunities might further boost retention. It could also continue to invest in new sourcing and recruiting ideas and technologies to continually generate new applicants and build up its database of online candidates, and publicize its strengths and benefits as an employer to maintain its positive employer image.

3. Develop Your Skills Exercise: Think of an organization that you currently work for or have worked for in the past as you complete the “Measuring Your Firm’s Climate for Diversity” assessment in the Develop Your Skills feature. How well do you think the organization’s climate for diversity score reflects its talent philosophy?

The main takeaway intended for this exercise is the idea that having any particular philosophy, not just one about diversity, is not enough. Organizations often have good intentions but fail to fully live up to them, in part because they do not assess whether or not they are doing so. Many organizations will have a very impressive statement about valuing diversity and their talent in general, but when employees are asked how valued they feel their responses reflect room for improvement. This links to the importance of having a well-developed and clearly-stated talent philosophy that drives human resource and staffing strategies, and to measure how well the organization is living up to these principles and goals.

CASE STUDY

Integrating McDonald’s Business, Human Resource, and Staffing Strategies

People are McDonald’s most important asset. The company’s success depends on the satisfaction of its customers, which begins with workers who have the attitudes and abilities required to work efficiently and provide good customer service. To execute its growth strategy, McDonald’s has identified people as one of its three global corporate strategies. McDonald’s claims that as an employer, it wants “to be the best employer in each community around the world”[1] It also makes a “people promise” to its employees that “we value you, your growth, and your Contributions.”[2] Its five “people principles” reflected by its human resource strategy are: respect and recognition; values and leadership behaviors; competitive pay and benefits; learning, development, and personal growth; and ensuing that employees have the resources needed to get the job done.[3]

McDonald’s has executed its operational excellence strategy well by tracking key indicators of product and service quality, speed, and accuracy. The company has also identified its people practices and approaches that substantially impact the firm’s turnover, productivity, customer satisfaction, sales, and profitability. This has allowed it to develop a business model that emphasizes not only financial and operational factors but also people factors that improve the company’s results by improving employee commitment, retention, productivity, and customer loyalty. [4]

Because its business strategy relies on providing customers quality, cleanliness, quick service, and value, McDonald’s works hard at hiring people who want to excel in delivering outstanding service. Many of its restaurant employees are teenagers, and McDonald’s is their first employer. The company tries to recruit and hire the best people, retain them by offering them ongoing training, [5] and then promote from within to fill its managerial positions. To ensure that it is recruiting the right people, the company has identified important skills and behaviors that it looks for in applicants. McDonald’s has found that the best way of hiring quality crew members is to advertise inside the restaurant and attract local people and/or friends of existing employees. McDonald’s also recruits at local job centers and career fairs, using hiring material with a clear message targeted at its intended audience. As McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook says, “If you get the people part right, the rest will follow.” [6]

Questions:

1. How would you describe McDonald’s business strategy? What are the foundations of its competitive advantage (what are the sources of its success)?

McDonald’s business strategy is centered on both growth and operational excellence. The foundations of its competitive advantage are both its people and its processes. By carefully recruiting and selecting its people, McDonald’s ensures that customer service-oriented people are hired. McDonald’s then trains them in additional skills that are needed for good performance. By identifying and tracking the people factors that affect business results, the company is able to evaluate and continually improve the alignment between its staffing and business strategies.

2. How has McDonald’s aligned its business, human resource, and staffing strategies?

Pursuing both growth and operational excellence strategies requires a continual influx of employees with good customer service skills, providing ongoing training and development, and retaining talent. McDonald’s has a clear understanding of the skills and behaviors it needs in its new hires, and has developed a staffing strategy that produces these characteristics.

3. What are some possible talent-related threats that could eat away at McDonald’s competitive advantage? Would higher turnover or a tight labor market in which it is difficult to find talented people be a problem? What would you recommend the company should do to maintain its competitive advantage over the next five years?

A tight labor market would make hiring more difficult especially in the younger age bracket, it hires from the most. Higher turnover would also be a problem, and be particularly expensive in light of its training investments. To maintain its competitive advantage, McDonald’s could further build its image and brand and find ways to appeal to its biggest labor pool of teenagers (it is in the process of redesigning its uniforms, for example). It could also find ways to retain current workers, and target its recruiting message and benefits as an employer to additional segments of the labor force such as senior citizens and people who need part-time or flexible work arrangements due to school or family responsibilities.

SEMESTER-LONG ACTIVE LEARNING PROJECT

You should have a list of jobs and companies that your team will have access to for the project. You now need to decide which job and organization to use for the semester project and begin collecting information on the company, its business strategy and competitive advantage, and how it currently sources, recruits, and selects for the position you identified. You also need to identify how the position is strategic for the company in some way. Before the next class, you should confirm that you will have access to one or two job experts and solidify the job and organization your team will use for the project.

Specifically, you need to include the following in your report:

1. A brief summary of the organization, its business strategy, and its culture.

2. An explanation of why the position you chose is strategic for the company (why should attention be given to improving how it is staffed? What are the implications of having low versus high performers in the job?). Describe the strategic context of your future proposal for recruiting and selecting for this job—what must future hires be able to do to help the company execute its business strategy?

3. Responses to each of the nine strategic staffing decisions presented in Table 2-6 and a justification for each of your recommendations.

Note: It is a good idea to read the applied case assignments for the rest of the chapters to guide your research and identify how your job experts might provide useful information for future sections of the project.

中国经济管理大学

中国经济管理大学官网：www.eauc.hk 中国经济管理大学 MBA公益课堂

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Strategic Staffing

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 19:44:39 +0800

中国经济管理大学MBA 课堂笔记

中国经济管理大学

Strategic Staffing

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

Understand why staffing is critical to an organization’s performance.
Define strategic staffing and contrast it with less strategic views of staffing.
Describe the seven components of strategic staffing.
Understand staffing goals.
Describe how staffing influences and is affected by the other functional areas of human resource management.

TAKEAWAY POINTS

1. Staffing is critical to an organization’s performance because it is the means through which the firm acquires, deploys, and retains the talent needed to execute its business strategies and perform well. Staffing is the cornerstone of effective human resource management because it generates the talent that is supported and fostered by a company’s other HR functions.

2. Strategic staffing is the process of staffing an organization in future-oriented, goal- directed ways that support the organization’s business strategy and enhance its effectiveness. Strategic staffing moves people into, through, and out of the organization in ways that maximize the organization’s performance and its ability to compete. It requires long-term planning, as well as aligning the staffing function with the firm’s business strategy and the other areas of HR. Strategic staffing involves assessing the labor market, targeting recruits, assessing candidates based on job-related success factors and the candidates’ longer-term potential, and evaluating staffing outcomes against pre-identified goals.

3. The seven components of strategic staffing are planning, sourcing, recruiting, selecting, acquiring, deploying, and retaining talent.

4. The ultimate goal of a staffing system is to hire people who can perform well and contribute to the execution of the company’s business strategy. Doing so as quickly as possible and experiencing a good return on the time and resources invested in the staffing effort are also important. Other staffing goals might involve the quality of new hires, their retention rates, how quickly openings are filled, the company’s return on the training new hires receive, and the promotion rates of new hires. Staffing goals should be identified in the early stages of staffing planning, and the staffing system should be evaluated to ensure that it is meeting these goals.

5. Staffing both influences and is affected by performance management, training, and compensation. Staffing practices can influence the options available to, and the effectiveness of, the rest of the human resource function. It is critical that the goals and practices of all of the human resource functional areas be in alignment with each other in support of the firm’s human resource and business strategies.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Relate a hiring experience you have had as a job seeker to the process illustrated in Figure 1-1. What could the organization you applied to have done to improve your experience?

Students typically identify jobs for which they received a job offer as examples of good hiring experiences. They also discuss being treated with respect, interacting with knowledgeable recruiters, using appropriate selection methods, and having a reasonable timeline. They may also mention being kept informed throughout the process and feeling that the methods used in making hiring decisions were fair.

As examples of bad hiring experiences, students typically describe unprepared or unprofessional recruiters or interviewers, inappropriate or illegal interview questions, delays in the hiring process, and submitting a resume or application for a position and never hearing back. Lengthy hiring processes that require a lot of time or resubmitting information that was already provided are sometimes mentioned. Screening methods seeming not to be job related and bad negotiating experiences may also be brought up.

The stories shared by students can be entertaining and can highlight important ways that organizations need to manage the staffing process. Suggestions for creating good hiring experiences typically build on the positive points noted above and address the aspects described in the poor hiring experiences. Respect, promptness, clear and frequent communication, and job relatedness are common themes.

2. Assume a retail chain is looking to refine its selection of workforce. Discuss how you would position or sell the idea of using a strategic staffing approach to the management of the organization.

Students’ answers may vary as their ideas on how to position strategic staffing to the management will differ.

The answers should highlight the following advantages of strategic staffing - identifying the people who want to grow in the retail industry, hiring the right person for the right job and hence minimizing cost of training as well as cost of redundancy on the job, aligning people growth to the business strategy, so that employees see a long-term career and growth, thus ensuring lower turnover and greater productivity, which directly leads to higher customer satisfaction.

3. Why is staffing so important to store performance, as is discussed in the chapter vignette?

Staffing outcomes determine what an organization’s employees will be willing and able to do. Thus, staffing influences the success of future training, performance management, and compensation programs. Because it generates the talent that will ultimately be used by an organization to produce its product or service, staffing has a direct impact on employees’ capabilities, behaviors, and performance. Training, motivation, and performance management initiatives will not be successful if the wrong people are hired.

4. Recruiting and selection are interdependent, two-way processes in which both employers and recruits try to look appealing to the other while learning as much as they can about their potential fit. Impression management is the process through which people and employers each try to control the impressions others form of them. How do applicants and employers try to look appealing to each other during the staffing process?

Applicants try to look appealing to employers by writing a clear, thorough resume or an application that contains no typographical, spelling, grammatical, or other errors. They dress professionally, and arrive on time for all appointments with the company. If asked for additional information or materials, applicants provide them quickly. Applicants also behave professionally and try to build rapport with interviewers and other company representatives they meet.

Employers try to look appealing to applicants by providing a Web site with comprehensive information about the company and the position the person is applying for. They also treat applicants with respect and try to present the company in an appealing way. Current employees greet applicants by name when they arrive for interviews or other assessments, and try to make applicants feel comfortable and welcome. Explaining the job relevance of assessment methods and answering applicants’ questions about the job and organization also increase a firm’s appeal.

5. What would be the impact of filling vacancies through internal promotions and job transfers even if the personnel are less qualified?

If vacancies are filled internally by less qualified individuals—through promotions and job transfers—it isn’t likely that employees will quit due to over-qualification or less challenging jobs. However, the organization may end up carrying low performers who are unable to find another job. They may also lack the potential to move further up the ladder within their organization; hence, the overall performance and capability of the organization is reduced.

In the long run, this creates an image of the organization as lacking the ability to provide a competitive work environment and career advancement, which might result in low job acceptance rate.

EXERCISES

1. Strategy exercise: Working alone for 5 minutes, take notes about how you might design a staffing flowchart for your own job. If you have no work experience, choose a job with which you are familiar. Next, form a group of three to four students, choose one of the jobs just identified by your group members, and design a staffing flowchart for it. Be prepared to share your ideas with the class.

Answers will vary with the job and organization chosen, but should basically adapt to Figure 1-1.

2. Opening vignette exercise: This chapter’s opening vignette described how Caribou Coffee discovered the importance of carefully staffing its store manager positions. Working in a group of three to five students, address the following questions. Feel free to use the Internet or other resources if you need additional information. Be prepared to share your ideas with the class.

a. Describe three staffing goals that would reinforce Caribou’s desire to hire the best store managers.

Some possible goals include:

Ø Store manager retention rates

Ø Store manager promotion rates

Ø Store manager transfer rates

Ø Store manager productivity

Ø Store manager satisfaction and motivation levels

Ø The number of store managers identified for promotion

b. How else can Caribou Coffee ensure that its staffing strategy for store managers is integrated with the firm’s other HR functional areas?

Some possible ideas include:

Ø Performance management training for district managers

Ø Training district managers in employee development and employee assessment

Ø Evaluating and rewarding district managers for succession management, store manager development, store manager performance, and the number of their store managers receiving successful promotions

Ø Including succession management and employee development in managers’ performance evaluations

Ø Integrating store managers’ performance in succession management and employee development into the compensation system

3. Develop Your Skills exercise: Go to www.onetonline.org/skills/ and navigate to O*NET OnLine’s “Skills Search” feature. Identify the skills that you have, and the skills that you plan to acquire in the next two years, and click on the “Go” button. Next, choose one of the occupations that match the skills you identified. Scroll to the bottom of the summary report and identify a state in the “State and National” section. Click on the “Go” button and read the occupation profile. View the career video if one is provided. Write a one-page report describing how you think this resource could be used by staffing professionals.

Staffing professionals are likely to find O*Net useful for labor market projections, job analysis information, and for identifying job factors they might not have thought about that could be appealing to job applicants. O*Net can also be useful in determining salary offers to chosen job candidates. O*Net can be useful for internal staffing by giving employees the ability to learn more about different career options in the firm without additional investment on the part of the company.

CASE STUDY

<title id="ch01cs01.title">Strategic Staffing at Atlas Corporation

Graphic t-shirt company Atlas Corporation knows that executing its growth strategy depends on promoting from within. Atlas believes that its staffing activities must obtain talent able to do the job being filled and with the potential to advance into management. Because it tends to receive a large number of applications for its job openings, Atlas must also process a large number of applicants for every opening and wants to do so as efficiently as possible.

Atlas decides that it wants to capitalize on the trend of using social media to source and recruit. The company opens a Twitter account and starts Tweeting its job openings to people following the company (generally customers hoping for discount offers). It also posts its jobs on Monster.com, a large and popular job board, to try to maximize the number of applications. When job seekers apply for graphic design positions they first complete an online application, and the information is sent to a data base. A recruiter is immediately sent any applications that pass an initial competency screen. Within a few days, the recruiter emails the candidate to request a sample portfolio of the applicant’s work. Because of the size of the files, the portfolios are often rejected by recruiters’ email accounts and the candidate must fax the documents as Atlas has no cloud storage mechanism. Due to the large number of applications, those not passing the initial screen remain in the database unviewed and are not contacted in any way by the company.

Applications passing the initial screen are invited to a telepone interview with a recruiter to assess basic job-related competencies.<para> The top 10 candidates are then invited to interview face-to-face with another recruiter to assess their fit with Atlas’ culture and to better assess job-related skills and competencies. The top scoring 5 candidates are then invited to interview with the hiring manager, who makes the final decision on who should receive a job offer. A background check is then performed and if it is passed then a job offer is made. If a candidate declines the offer, the next highest scoring candidate receives a background check and a job offer until no acceptable finalists are left. Atlas evaluates the effectiveness of every staffing effort by evaluating the number of applications it received, the time it took to fill the position, and whether or not one of its first two job offers were accepted.

Questions:

1. What is Atlas doing well with regard to staffing strategically?

Atlas has aligned its talent strategy to support its growth strategy by evaluating candidates on both job performance as well as advancement potential. It also tracks some important metrics and utilizes a variety of assessment methods. Atlas has also increased how proactively it sources recruits.

2. How could Atlas staff its graphic designer positions more strategically?

To staff its graphic designer positions more strategically, Atlas could improve the quality of its technology to include cloud storage to handle the large portfolio sizes and better communicate with rejected candidates to improve their interest in future openings for which some might be a good fit. The time delay between applicants passing an initial online competency screen and the applicant being emailed by a recruiter should also be shortened. In addition, Atlas could include metrics on promotion rates and better identify and target the best sources of high quality recruits. To st

3. What would you suggest Atlas do to further enhance the alignment between its staffing function and its need to promote from within?

Atlas could incorporate specific screens for applicant characteristics it has found to be related to advancement in the company. It could also include a metric on internal promotion rates from each recruiting source and use this information to better target high potential job seekers. Recruiters could be given goals, feedback, and rewards based on their meeting the company’s advancement objectives as well as employee performance outcomes.

Semester-Long Active Learning Project

This project will enhance your analytical skills and allow you to apply the concepts in this textbook to a real-world situation. Your project team will select an organization about which your team has some interest or knowledge, and about which you can acquire additional information. The goal of your report is to align the staffing system for a key position in this organization with the organization’s business strategy. Your team will analyze how effectively the target organization is staffing a key position, and make recommendations for improvement. At the end of each chapter is an assignment requiring you to apply that chapter’s material to your chosen job.

Your report should target the company’s executive management team. Your job is to persuade them that your recommendations will lead to a positive return on investment (ROI) for the firm and better enable it to execute its business strategy. Assume that the team does not have a working knowledge of staffing terminology. As a result, you need to write your report so that a layperson can easily understand what you are communicating.

Your task the first week is to form teams of four to five students, exchange contact information, and brainstorm jobs that at least one team member has access to. It can be a job one of you currently holds or has held in the past, or a job a family member or friend has. Ideally, you will need about 30 minutes of time from a person who currently works or who has worked in the job, and 30 minutes of his or her supervisor’s time. If you cannot get the supervisor to participate, using one or two current or previous jobholders is acceptable. Before leaving class, you should identify at least two positions that your group would like to use for the project and choose one to pursue. Before the next class, you should confirm that you will have access to the job experts, and solidify the job and organization your team will use for the project.

You will also need to identify realistic long-term and short-term process and outcome goals for your chosen position. Table 1-2 gives examples of both types of staffing goals, and Table 1-3 gives you some questions to consider in setting appropriate staffing goals.

The first week is used to establish student teams, explain the project, and get the teams started in thinking about which job in which company they want to use for the project. Students should be cautioned that they will be working with the job and company for the rest of the semester, so it is a good idea to generate a few alternatives before making a choice. Choosing a job that one or more of the team members is considering for him or herself can make the project even more motivating and interesting. The job can be any position in any organization. The team can only study the job in one organization – for example, if they want to study the job of pharmacist, they need to do it in only one organization such as Walgreens and not across multiple chains. Job titles may be similar or identical in different companies but have very different responsibilities, and the differing cultures of the organizations can influence the type of person sought by each company.

中国经济管理大学

中国经济管理大学官网：www.eauc.hk 中国经济管理大学 MBA公益课堂

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The Global Marketplace

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 19:41:25 +0800

中国经济管理大学MBA 课堂笔记

中国经济管理大学

The Global Marketplace

Previewing the Concepts: Chapter Objectives

1. Discuss how the international trade system, economic, political-legal, and cultural environments affect a company’s international marketing decisions.

2. Describe three key approaches to entering international markets.

3. Explain how companies adapt their marketing mixes for international markets.

4. Identify the three major forms of international marketing organization.

Just the Basics

Chapter Overview

This chapter looks at the special considerations that companies face when they market their brands globally. Advances in communication, transportation, and other technologies have made the world a much smaller place. Almost every firm, large or small, faces international marketing issues.

International trade is booming. Since 1969, the number of multinational corporations in the world’s 14 richest countries has more than tripled, from 7,000 to 24,000. Global competition is intensifying. Foreign firms are expanding aggressively into new international markets, and home markets are no longer as rich in opportunity. If companies delay taking steps toward internationalizing, they risk being shut out of growing markets.

Before deciding to operate internationally, a company must thoroughly understand the international marketing environment. There are many issues to understand regarding the international trade system, such as tariffs, quotas, embargoes, and other barriers to entry. The World Trade Organization was established in the latest round of GATT negotiations. The WTO acts as an umbrella organization, overseeing GATT, the General Agreement on Trade in Services, and a similar agreement government intellectual property. In addition, the WTO mediates global disputes and imposes trade sanctions.

Two factors reflect a country’s attractiveness as a market—the country’s industrial structure and its income distribution. There are also several factors to contend with in the political-legal environment, as well as the cultural environment.

There are several factors that draw a company into the international arena. Global competitors might attack the company’s domestic market by offering better products or lower prices. The company might want to counterattack these competitors in their home markets to tie up their resources. Or the company might discover foreign markets that present higher profit opportunities than the domestic market does. Before going abroad, the company must weigh several risks and answer many questions about its ability to operate globally.

Before going abroad, the company should try to define its international marketing objectives and policies. The company needs to choose how many countries it wants to market in, and it needs to decide on the types of countries to enter. Once the decision has been made to sell in a foreign country, the company must determine the best mode of entry.

Most companies start with exporting, using either indirect or direct exporting. Or it could go into a joint venture, through such means as licensing, contract manufacturing, management contracting, or joint ownership. Finally, the company could make a direct investment by developing assembly or manufacturing facilities. Each form of entry carries its own risks and rewards; the company must weigh these carefully before making final decisions.

Companies that operate in one or more foreign markets must decide how much, if at all, to adapt their marketing mixes to local conditions. At one extreme are global companies that use a standardized marketing mix, selling largely the same products and using the same marketing approaches worldwide. At the other extreme is an adapted marketing mix. In this case, the producer adjusts the marketing mix elements to each target market, bearing more costs but hoping for a larger market share and return. However, global standardization is not an all-or-nothing proposition. Rather, it is a matter of degree.

Finally, companies can manage their international marketing activities in at least three different ways: Most companies first organize an export department, then create an international division, and finally become a global organization.

Chapter Outline

1. Introduction

a. Coca-Cola is a brand that is as American as baseball and apple pie. But from the beginning, Coke was destined to be more than just America’s soft drink.

b. First introduced in 1893, by 1900 Coca-Cola had already ventured beyond America’s borders into numerous countries.

c. Coca-Cola’s worldwide success results from a skillful balancing of global standardization and brand building with local adaptation. For years, the company adhered to the mantra “Think globally, act locally.” The company carefully adapts its mix of brands and flavors, promotions, price, and distribution to local customs and preferences in each market.

d. As a result of its international marketing prowess, Coca-Cola dominates the global soft drink market.

2. Global Marketing in the Twenty-first Century

a. The world is shrinking rapidly with the advent of faster communication, transportation, and financial flows. Products developed in one country are finding enthusiastic acceptance in other countries.

b. International trade is booming.

1. Since 1969, the number of multinational corporations in the world’s 14 richest countries has more than tripled, from 7,000 to 24,000.

2. Imports of goods and services now account for 24% of gross domestic product (GDP) worldwide, twice the levels of 40 years ago.

c. If companies delay taking steps toward internationalizing, they risk being shut out of growing markets.

d. Although the need for companies to go abroad is greater today than in the past, so are the risks.

1. High debt, inflation, and unemployment in many countries have resulted in highly unstable governments and currencies, which limit trade and expose U.S. firms to many risks.

2. Governments are placing more regulations on foreign firms, such as requiring joint ownership with domestic partners, mandating the hiring of nationals, and putting limits on the profits that can be taken from the country.

3. Foreign governments often impose high tariffs or trade barriers in order to protect their own industries.

4. Corruption is an increasing problem—officials in several countries often award business not to the best bidder but to the highest briber.

e. A global industry is one in which the competitive positions of firms in given local or national markets are affected by their global positions.

f. A global firm is one that, by operating in more than one country, gains marketing, production, R&D, and financial advantages that are not available to purely domestic competitors.

1. The global company sees the world as one market. It minimizes the importance of national boundaries and develops “supranational” brands.

Use Key Term Global Firm here.

Use Figure 15-1 here.

Use Application Questions 1 here.

3. Looking at the Global Marketing Environment

a. Before deciding whether to operate internationally, a company must thoroughly understand the international marketing environment.

Use Chapter Objectives 1 here.

The International Trade System

b. When selling to another country, the U.S. firm faces various trade restrictions.

1. A tariff is a tax levied by a foreign government against certain imported products. It may be designed either to raise revenue or to protect domestic firms.

2. A quota sets limits on the amount of goods the importing country will accept in certain product categories. The purpose of the quota is to conserve on foreign exchange and to protect local industry and employment.

3. An embargo, or boycott, totally bans some kinds of imports. It is the strongest form of quota.

4. Exchange controls limit the amount of foreign exchange and the exchange rate against other currencies.

5. Nontariff trade barriers are such things as biases against U.S. company bids or restrictive product standards or other rules that go against American product features.

Use Key Terms Tariff, Quota, Embargo, Exchange Controls, and Nontariff Trade Barriers here.

Use Discussing the Issues 1 here.

c. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a 56-year-old treaty designed to promote world trade by reducing tariffs and other international trade barriers.

1. Since its inception in 1948, there have been eight rounds of GATT negotiations to reassess trade barriers and set new rules for international trade.

i. The first seven rounds reduced the average worldwide tariffs on manufactured goods from 45% to just 5%.

ii. The Uruguay round, the most recent, lasted seven years.

a. It reduced the world’s remaining merchandise tariffs by 30%, boosting global merchandise trade by as much as 10%.

b. It extended GATT to cover trade in agriculture and a wide range of services.

c. It toughened international protection of copyrights, patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property.

d. It established the World Trade Organization (WTO) to enforce GATT rules. The WTO mediates global disputes and imposes trade sanctions.

d. Certain countries have formed free trade zones or economic communities, which are groups of nations organized to work toward common goals in the regulation of international trade.

Use Key Term Economic Community here.

1. The European Community was formed in 1957.

i. European unification offers tremendous trade opportunities for U.S. and other non-European firms.

ii. It also poses threats.

a. European companies will grow bigger and more competitive.

b. Lower trade barriers inside Europe will create only thicker outside walls.

2. In North America, the United States and Canada phased out trade barriers in 1989.

3. In January 1994 the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) established a free trade zone among the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

4. Given the apparent success of NAFTA, talks are underway to investigate establishing a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). This free trade zone would include 34 countries stretching form the Bering Strait to Cape Horn, with a population of 800 million.

5. Other free trade areas have formed in Latin America and South America.

Let’s Discuss This

Why would the United States want to enter into free trade agreements? What benefit does it offer? What might be the disadvantages?

e. The trend toward free trade zones has raised some concerns.

1. In the United States, unions fear that NAFTA will lead to the further exodus of manufacturing jobs to Mexico, where wage rates are much lower.

2. Environmentalists worry that companies that are unwilling to play by the strict rules of the U.S. Environmental Agency will relocate to Mexico, where pollution regulation has been lax.

Economic Environment

f. The international marketer must study each country’s economy.

g. Two economic factors reflect the country’s attractiveness as a market: the country’s industrial structure and its income distribution.

1. The country’s industrial structure shapes its product and service needs, income levels, and employment levels.

i. Subsistence economies are those where the vast majority of people engage in simple agriculture.

ii. Raw material exporting economies are countries that are rich in one or more natural resources, but poor in other ways.

iii. Industrializing economies are those where manufacturing accounts10% to 20% of the country’s economy.

iv. Industrialized economies are major exporters of manu-factured goods and investment funds.

Applying the Concept

What kind of goods or services might the United States provide to countries that have a subsistence economy? How about an industrializing economy?

2. The second economic factor is the country’s income distribution.

i. Countries with subsistence economies may consist mostly of households with very low family incomes.

ii. Industrialized nations may have low-, medium-, and high-income households.

iii. In many cases, poorer countries may have small but wealthy segments of upper-income consumers.

iv. Even in low-income and developing countries, people may find ways to buy products that are important to them.

Political-Legal Environment

h. Nations differ greatly in their political-legal environments.

i. At least four political-legal factors should be considered in deciding whether to do business in a given country.

1. In their attitudes toward international buying, some nations are quite receptive to foreign firms, and others are quite hostile.

2. The government bureaucracy reflects the extent to which the host government runs an efficient system for helping foreign com-panies—efficient customs handling, good market information, and other factors that aid in doing business.

3. Political stability is another issue.

i. Governments change hands, sometimes violently.

ii. Even without a change, a government may decide to respond to new popular feelings.

4. Monetary regulations need to be studied.

j. Nations with too little hard currency may want to pay with other items instead of cash, which has led to the growing practice called countertrade. It takes several forms.

1. Barter involves the direct exchange of goods or services.

2. Compensation, or buyback, is where the seller sells a plant, equipment, or technology to another country and agrees to take payment in the resulting products.

3. Counterpurchase is where the seller receives full payment in cash but agrees to spend some portion of the money in the other country within a stated time period.

Use Key Term Countertrade here.

Cultural Environment

k. Each country has its own folk-ways, norms, and taboos. When designing global strategies, companies must understand how culture affects con-sumer reactions in each of its world markets. In turn, they must also understand how their strategies affect local cultures.

1. The seller must examine the ways consumers in different countries think about and use certain products before planning a marketing campaign.

2. Business norms and behaviors vary from country to country.

l. Some critics argue that “globalization” really means “Americanization.”

1. These critics contend that exposure to American values and prod-ucts erode other cultures and westernize the world.

Use Marketing at Work 15-1 here.

Use Focus on Ethics here.

4. Deciding Whether to Go International

a. Any of several factors might draw a company into the international arena.

1. Global competitors might attack the company’s domestic market by offering better products or lower prices.

2. The company might want to counterattack those competitors in their home markets to tie up their resources.

3. The company might discover foreign markets that present higher profit opportunities than the domestic market does.

4. The company might want to reduce its dependence on any one market so as to reduce its risk.

5. The company’s customers might be expanding abroad and require international servicing.

b. Before going abroad, the company must weigh several risks and answer many questions about its ability to operate globally.

c. Because of the risks and difficulties of entering international markets, most companies do not act until some situation or event thrust them into the global arena.

5. Deciding Which Markets to Enter

a. Before going abroad, the company should try to define its international marketing objectives and policies.

b. The company also needs to choose how many countries it wants to enter.

1. Companies must be careful not to spread themselves too thin or to expand beyond their capabilities in too many countries too soon.

c. The company needs to decide on the type of countries to enter.

1. A country’s attractiveness depends on the product, geographic factors, income and population, political climate, and other factors.

d. After listing possible international markets, the company must screen and rank each one.

1. Possible global markets should be ranked on several factors, including market size, market growth, cost of doing business, competitive advantage, and risk level.

2. The goal is to determine the potential of each market, using indicators such as those shown in Table 15-1.

Use Table 15-1 here.

Use Application Questions 3 here.

Use Under the Hood/Focus on Technology here.

6. Deciding How to Enter the Market

a. Once a company has decided to sell in a foreign country, it must determine the best mode of entry.

b. Figure 15-2 shows three market entry strategies, along with the options each one offers.

c. Each succeeding strategy involves more commitment and risk, but also more control and potential profits.

Use Figure 15-2 here.

Use Chapter Objectives 2 here.

Exporting

d. The simplest way to enter a foreign market is through exporting.

e. The company may passively export its surpluses from time to time, or it may make an active commitment to expand exports to a particular market.

1. In either case, the company produces all its goods in its home country.

2. It may or may not modify them for the export market.

f. Companies typically start with indirect exporting, working through independent international marketing intermediaries.

1. Indirect exporting involves less investment because the firm does not require an overseas sales force or set of contacts.

2. It also involves less risk.

g. Sellers may eventually move into direct exporting.

1. The investment and risk are somewhat greater in this strategy, but so is the potential return.

2. A company can set up a domestic export department that carries out export activities.

3. The company can set up an overseas sales branch that handles sales, distribution, and perhaps promotion.

4. The company can also send home-based salespeople abroad at certain times in order to find business.

5. The company can do its exporting either through foreign-based distributors who buy and own the goods or through foreign-based agents who sell the goods on behalf of the company.

Use Key Term Exporting here.

Joint Venturing

h. Joint venturing is where the company joins with foreign companies to produce or market products or services.

1. It differs from exporting in that the company joins with a host country partner to sell or market abroad.

2. It differs from direct investment in that an association is formed with someone in the foreign country.

i. There are four types of joint ventures.

1. Licensing is a simple way for a manufacturer to enter international marketing.

i. For a fee or royalty, the licensee buys the right to use the company’s manufacturing process, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other item of value.

ii. The company thus gains entry into the market at little risk; the licensee gains production expertise or a well-known product or name without having to start from scratch.

iii. Disadvantages include the firm having less control over the licensee than it would over its own production facilities; if the licensee is very successful, the firm has given up these profits, and if and when the contract ends, it may find it has created a competitor.

2. In contract manufacturing, the company contracts with manu-facturers in the foreign market to produce its product or provide its service.

i. The drawbacks of contract manufacturing are decreased control over the manufacturing process and loss of potential profits on manufacturing.

ii. The benefits are the chance to start faster, with less risk, and the later opportunity either to form a partnership with or to buy out the local manufacturer.

3. Under management contracting, the domestic firm supplies man-agement know-how to a foreign company that supplies the capital.

i. Management contracting is a low-risk method of getting into a foreign market, and it yields income from the beginning.

ii. The arrangement is not sensible if the company can put its scarce management talent to better uses or if it can make greater profits by undertaking the whole venture.

iii. Management contracting also prevents the company from setting up its own operations for a period of time.

4. Joint ownership ventures consist of one company joining forces with foreign investors to create a local business in which they share joint ownership and control.

i. A company may buy an interest in a local firm, or the two parties may form a new business venture.

ii. Joint ownership may be needed for economic or political reasons.

iii. The firm may lack the financial, physical, or managerial resources to undertake the venture alone.

iv. Or a foreign government may require joint ownership as a condition for entry.

v. The drawbacks include the fact that the partners may disagree over investment, marketing, or other policies.

Use Key Terms Joint Venturing, Licensing, Contract Manufacturing, Management Contracting, and Joint Ownership here.

Use Discussing the Issues 2 here.

Direct Investment

j. The biggest involvement in a foreign market comes through direct investment—the development of foreign-based assembly or manufacturing facilities.

k. Foreign product facilities offer many advantages.

1. The firm may have lower costs in the form of cheaper labor or raw materials, foreign government investment incentives, and freight savings.

2. The firm may improve its image in the host country because it creates jobs.

3. Generally, a firm develops a deeper relationship with government, customers, local suppliers, and distributors.

4. The firm keeps control over the investment and therefore can develop manufacturing and marketing policies that serve its long-term international objectives.

l. The main disadvantage of direct investment is that the firm faces many risks, such as restricted or devalued currencies, falling markets, or government changes.

Use Key Term Direct Investment here.

Use Application Questions 2 here.

7. Deciding on the Global Marketing Program

a. Companies that operate in one or more foreign markets must decide how much, if at all, to adapt their marketing mixes to local conditions.

1. At one extreme is a standardized marketing mix, selling largely the same products and using the same marketing approaches world-wide.

2. At the other extreme is an adapted marketing mix. In this case, the producer adjusts the marketing mix elements to each target market, bearing more costs but hoping for a larger market share and return.

Use Key Terms Standardized Marketing Mix, Adapted Marketing Mix here.

Use Chapter Objectives 3 here.

Use Discussing the Issues 3 here.

b. Global standardization is not an all-or-nothing proposition but rather a matter of degree.

1. Companies should look for ways to standardize to help keep down costs and prices and to build greater global brand power.

2. But they must not replace long-run marketing thinking with short-run financial thinking. Although standardization saves money, marketers must make certain that they offer what consumers in each country want.

3. Many possibilities exist between the extremes of standardization and complete adaptation.

4. Most international marketers suggest that companies should “think globally but act locally”—that they should seek a balance between standardization and adaptation. These marketers advocate a “glocal” strategy in which the firm standardizes certain core marketing elements and localizes others.

Product

c. Five strategies allow for adapting product and promotion to a global market. See Figure 15-3. Three are product-related strategies and two are promotion-related strategies.

Use Figure 15-3 here.

Use Marketing at Work 15-2 here.

Use Discussing the Issues 4 here.

1. Straight product extension means marketing a product in a foreign market without any change.

i. The first step should be to find out whether foreign consumers use that product and what form they prefer.

2. Product adaptation involves changing the product to meet local conditions or wants.

i. In some instances, products must be adapted to local customs or spiritual beliefs.

3. Product invention consists of creating something new for a specific country market. This strategy can take two forms.

i. It might mean reintroducing earlier product forms that happen to be well adapted to the needs of a given country.

ii. Or a company might create a new product to meet a need in a given country.

Use Key Terms Straight Product Extension, Product Adaptation, and Product Invention here.

Promotion

d. Companies can either adopt the same promotion strategy they used in the home market or change it for each local market.

e. Some global companies use a standardized advertising theme around the world.

f. Colors may need to be changed to avoid taboos in other countries.

g. Some companies use communication adaptation, which is fully adapting their advertising messages to local markets.

h. Media also need to be adapted internationally because media availability varies from country to country.

Use Key Term Communication Adaptation here.

Use Marketing at Work 15-3 here.

Price

i. Companies also face many problems in setting their international prices.

j. Foreign prices will be higher than domestic prices.

1. Price escalation occurs because of added costs of transportation, tariffs, importer margin, wholesaler margin, and retailer margin. Depending on these costs, the product may have to sell for two to five times as much in another country to make the same profit.

Let’s Discuss This

Godiva chocolates began life as a Belgian business, but was acquired by Campbell’s Soup in the 1970s. What factors would affect the difference in price for Godiva between the United States and Europe?

k. Setting prices for goods that a company ships to its foreign subsidiaries can be problematic.

1. If a company charges a foreign subsidiary too much, it may end up paying higher tariff duties even while paying lower income taxes in that country.

2. If the company charges its subsidiary too little, it can be charged with dumping.

i. Dumping occurs when a company either charges less than it costs or less than it charges in its home market.

Distribution Channels

l. The international company must take a whole-channel view of the problem of distributing products to final consumers. Figure 15-4 shows the three major links between the seller and the final buyer.

1. The seller’s headquarters organization supervises the channels and is part of the channel itself.

2. The channels between nations move the products to the borders of the foreign nations.

3. The channels within nations move the products from their foreign entry point to the final consumers.

m. Channels of distribution vary greatly from nation to nation.

1. There are large differences in the numbers and types of inter-mediaries serving each foreign market.

2. The size and character of the retail units abroad also differ.

Use Key Term Whole-Channel View here.

Use Figure 15-4 here.

Use Speed Bump: Linking the Concepts here.

8. Deciding on the Global Marketing Organization

a. Companies manage their international marketing activities in at least three different ways.

Use Chapter Objectives 4 here.

1. A firm normally gets into international marketing by simply shipping out its goods.

i. If its international sales expand, the company organizes an export department with a sales manager and a few assistants.

ii. As sales increase, the export department can expand to include various marketing services so that it can actively go after business.

2. An international division or subsidiary will be formed when companies get involved in several international markets and ventures. They can be organized in several ways.

i. A geographic organization has country managers who are responsible for salespeople, sales branches, distributors, and licensees in their respective countries.

ii. World product groups are each responsible for worldwide sales of different product groups.

iii. International subsidiaries are each responsible for their own sales and profits.

3. In a truly global organization, the company stops thinking of itself as a national marketer who sells abroad and starts thinking of itself as a global marketer.

i. The top corporate management and staff plan worldwide manufacturing facilities, marketing policies, financial flows, and logistical systems.

ii. The global operating units report directly to the chief executive or executive committee of the organization, not to the head of an international division.

Use Discussing the Issues 5 here.

Travel Log

Discussing the Issues

1. Discuss how tariffs, quotas, and nontariff trade barriers can restrict international trade. Why would a government choose to restrict the import of foreign products? How do regional free trade arrangements help to encourage trade between nations?

Tariffs are a tax levied by a foreign government against certain imported products. The tariff may be designed either to raise revenue or to protect domestic firms. Quotas set limits on the amount of goods the importing country will accept in certain product categories. The purpose of the quota is to conserve on foreign exchange and to protect local industry and employment. Nontariff trade barriers include biases against company bids from particular countries or restrictive product standards or other rules that go against foreign products. Certain countries have formed free trade zones, groups of nations organized to work toward common goals in the regulation of international trade. Their purpose is to reduce barriers to the free flow of products, services, finances, and labor among member countries and develop common policies on trade with nonmember nations.

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the following types of joint ventures: licensing, contract manufacturing, management contracting, and joint ownership?

With licensing the company enters into an agreement with a licensee in the foreign market. For a fee or royalty, the licensee buys the right to use the company’s manufacturing process, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other item of value. The company thus gains entry into the market at little risk; the licensee gains production expertise or a well‑known product or name without having to start from scratch. In contract manufacturing, the company contracts with manufacturers in the foreign market to produce its product or provide its service. The drawbacks of contract manufacturing are decreased control over the manufacturing process and loss of potential profits on manufacturing. The benefits are the chance to start faster, with less risk, and the later opportunity either to form a partnership with or to buy out the local manufacturer.

Under management contracting, the domestic firm supplies management know-how to a foreign company that supplies the capital. The domestic firm exports management services rather than products. Joint ownership ventures consist of one company joining forces with foreign investors to create a local business in which they share joint ownership and control. A company may buy an interest in a local firm, or the two parties may form a new business venture. Joint ownership may be needed for economic or political reasons. The firm may lack the financial, physical, or managerial resources to undertake the venture alone. Or a foreign government may require joint ownership as a condition for entry.

3. Identify a product that uses a standardized marketing mix and one that uses an adapted marketing mix. Evaluate the appropriateness of that strategy for those products.

Student responses to this question will vary by the products they select. Instructors may wish to use this question to have students evaluate standard-ization strategies for various product types provided by the instructor.

4. Assume you are responsible for introducing the Ford Explorer into Pakistan. Explain what might be changed to the product and/or promotional strategy to make it fit into each of the five cells in Figure 15-3.

Student responses will vary depending upon the specific promotion or product element they are adapting. Instructors can use this question to explore the idea of the adapted marketing mix.

5. Explain the difference between organizing the international marketing function as an export department, international division, and a global organization. What drives the evolution from one organizational form to another?

The volume of international sales activity and the type of market entry mode selected will largely drive the evolution between these different organizational forms.

Application Questions

1. Study the indicators of market potential listed in Table 15-1. Visit your school library and find either a print or online source of data for at least two indicators in each of the six major categories. Which of the information sources you identified seem most and least reliable? What concerns would you have as a marketing manager making market potential evaluations using the least reliable data?

Instructors may desire to combine this assignment with a field trip to the school library, where a reference librarian can spend time helping the class understand the types of information available.

2. You have been asked by your boss to advise her on the best way to enter the Italian market with your company’s new brand of sugar-free ice cream. What mode of entry would you recommend and why? What information would a company need to have before making this decision? For one of the entry modes you did not select, what would have to change for it to become the recommended choice?

Students should base their recommendations on their perceptions of the risks and difficulties involved in going into this market. Instructors may want to encourage students to think about the competencies the firm would likely not have and would need to acquire (i.e., language skills, knowledge of regulations in the foreign country, etc.).

3. Form teams of three students each. Assume that your team has been given responsibility for assessing the attractiveness of entering Mexico with your firm’s line of laptop computers. Evaluate the opportunity of entering Mexico in terms of its economic, political-legal, and cultural environment for the laptop computer. Present your findings to the class.

This question may be best assigned as an outside of class exercise so that students can utilize library resources in researching their response. A twist on this assignment is to give different groups different countries to explore and have the presentation to the class positioned as a contest to see which team can convince the firm to go into their market.

Under the Hood/Focus on Technology

Everybody can use a little help now and then. But where can you go if you are a business owner who needs assistance expanding your operations internationally? Recognizing the need for American businesses to become more competitive in global markets, the U.S. Congress passed legislation to create the Centers for International Business Education and Research (CIBERs) in 1988. Currently, thirty universities from across the country are provided funding to develop programs, conduct research, provide language training, and make available other resources that will aid the international capabilities of businesses, teachers, and students. Visit the CIBER website (http://ciber.centers.purdue.edu/) and examine the type of information that is available to companies wishing to do business internationally. Then respond to these questions.

1. What resources are available to businesses and students to help understand international marketing concerns?

“CIBERs organize events and discussions about international business, provide evening and summer courses in modern languages, and offer consulting and market research services to local companies. Available resources include research reports on international topics in economics, finance, operations management, strategy, organizational behavior, and human resources; programs and events to help faculty members and K-12 educators internationalize their teaching activities; business language course offerings and research in teaching languages for business purposes; and examples of programs which integrate foreign language training and international studies into the business school curriculum.”

2. How might a small business owner interested in expanding the company’s operations to Latin America utilize the CIBER resources?

Information on doing business in the country market research resources, and language resources are available from the CIBER network.

3. What sorts of resources are available for business school faculty interested in advancing the international component of their curriculum?

“CIBER faculty development programs are designed to bring the realities of the global marketplace into the classroom. Programs are offered to faculty members from colleges and universities, community colleges, and secondary schools throughout the United States to enhance their ability to teach issues and concepts of international business. Through faculty development programs focused on Asia, Europ,e and Latin America, teachers at all levels have the opportunity to observe business abroad and visit government agencies, councils, and embassies of other nations. These programs provide preparation in political, economic, environmental and social issues, enabling teachers to pass on an understanding of international business to their students.”

Focus on Ethics

The global marketplace exposes marketing managers to a variety of customs and traditions as companies expand internationally. At times, business practices that may be disapproved of in one country (e.g., hiring from within one’s family or offering gifts to secure business deals) may be common and accepted ways of doing business in other parts of the world. This can cause some concern among managers, who are unsure how to react to cultural differences. A “cultural relativism” approach would suggest that the customs of the local culture be adopted. At the other extreme, an “ethical imperialism” approach means that an individual’s home country rules are correct and should be applied universally.

1. Which approach should be taken? Cultural relativism, ethical imperialism, or some middle position? Explain your choice.

Student responses will vary depending upon students’ attitudes. Instructors should point out that there are both positive and negative ramifications of following either of these philosophical approaches.

2. Are there any guidelines that all companies should follow regardless of where the company operates (e.g., respect human dignity)?

Some basic human rights issues would appear to transcend cultural boundaries and should be universally applied. However, this must be approached with an understanding of what motivates the offending culture from behaving in the non-desired manner (e.g., child labor).

3. How would you express your discomfort with business practices that are considered unethical in your culture, but are acceptable in the local culture you are operating in?

Depending upon the severity of the practice and the importance of the business to the firm, some individuals may choose to overlook some unethical transactions as being a part of the cost of doing business. Organizations must make decisions as to which practices they will go along with and which they will not. Further, individual employees in a company must make decisions regarding whether they will work for firms allowing practices they deem unacceptable or how they might work to change company policy on the issue.

Great Ideas

Barriers to Effective Learning

1. Many students today have traveled internationally, perhaps even studied abroad. However, this chapter will introduce concepts that most likely will not have crossed their minds before. Free trade agreements may be known in name, but not in what they actually do. The analytics of deciding whether to go global and if so, which countries to enter, will certainly not have been encountered before. This chapter will serve as an excellent introduction to these notions.

2. The terms involved in the international trade system (tariff, quota, embargo, etc.) are generally unfamiliar to most students. Go through these carefully and use examples from recent press; the U.S. steel tariffs of 2003 could help illustrate the effect of tariffs, especially since they were removed under pressure from the WTO and several countries.

3. The economic and political-legal environments will also most likely be a mystery to most students. Some students might have done some mission or humanitarian work in foreign countries with economies and political systems vastly different from our own. If you are lucky enough to have them in your class, have them relate their experiences. Economics majors, or those who enjoyed an economics class, may also be able to relate what they have learned about these issues from a different point of view.

4. On deciding whether to go international, many students will believe that it is simply a matter of the company deciding to expand. The concept of being forced to go into other countries because of customers pulling you along, or having to fight a global competitor on your home turf, will surprise some of them. Challenge them to think about how small companies grow, and why they might start selling their goods overseas. Use a local company that sells unique items. How might foreign customers find them? How would they decide that there is a market in another country? You can break the class into teams to work on these types of issues.

5. Countertrade is almost always an issue with undergraduate students. The various types can be very confusing, and so these concepts and terms need to be described very carefully. The examples in the book are quite useful, and you can generally find additional examples in the business press. Joint venturing is slightly easier to understand, but again, using lots of examples will really help the students appreciate the complexities and how these decisions are made.

6. Adaptation versus standardization is generally easy to grasp. Any students who have traveled internationally will probably have eaten in American chain restaurants, such as McDonald’s or the Hard Rock Café. Ask them to relate their experiences, both what was the same and what was different. Also use the example of Coca-Cola in the text as an example of a product that is largely standard around the world, but the marketing mix changes to fit the needs of each region and country.

7. Finally, the complex nature of managing internationally will also be new to students. Discussing the difference between a very small company that is global only because of a website that accepts orders from overseas and a Fortune 500 company that operates in 100 countries, will clearly point out how companies evolve as their globalization progresses.

Student Projects

1. Pick a company that does global marketing and research its efforts. How are they organized? Do they offer different products or services in other countries than they do in their home country?

2. Interview a foreign student about the differences that he or she perceives between his or her country and the United States. Ask him or her about international marketing efforts in his or her country. Based on this interview, suggest some marketing opportunities that might be available in that foreign market.

3. Research the following companies: AstraZeneca (www.astrazeneca.com), American Water (www.amwater.com), and Nestle (www.nestle.com). Where are their corporate headquarters located? Did you know that they were not based in the United States? Would you say they have a standardized or adapted marketing mix?

4. Do research on the WTO (World Trade Organization). Discuss its history. Examine pro and con arguments for its existence. Take a position on the subject yourself and defend your position.

Classroom Exercise/Homework Assignment

Jaguar is the quintessential English touring sedan. As it turns out, however, it is owned by the quintessentially American auto manufacturer Ford Motor Company. Jaguar remains a separate legal entity, but it still reports to Detroit. Go to www.jaguar.com and review the various country websites available.

1. Comment on the marketing mix elements you can see on the different websites.

The students will notice immediately that the product appears to be the same on most country pages. As a matter of fact, the astute will notice that the driver in the S-type sedan on the U.K. page is even on the American side of the car. The U.S. page is somewhat different than the others; rather than showing all models, it focuses on a single new 2004 model that is apparently being showcased in this country. Interestingly, the starting prices for the various models are listed on the U.K., Japan, and Italy sites, but not the others, suggesting that the consumers in these three countries focus on price in their decision making. Or perhaps it might be a regulation in those countries that prices are easily obtainable. Promotion is also basically the same, although a few photos are different site to site. The vast majority of them, however, are the same, as is the look and feel of each country’s site. It is difficult to comment on the distribution aspects in the different countries, because each country’s website is in the native language of the country.

2. How easy is it to find out that Jaguar is owned by Ford? Do you think this is on purpose, or just an oversight?

Student responses will vary. The answer is unknowable, but a very good educated guess is that Jaguar and Ford both want to focus on the branding and positioning of the vehicle. Jaguar has been noted as a prestige brand for generations, while Ford has more of a family-type positioning, along with being known for their durable light trucks. Ford’s positioning would not help sell more Jaguars, while maintaining the Jaguar mystique and improving their quality, will.

Classroom Management Strategies

This chapter contains a lot of information that will be brand new to all students. Each section should be reviewed carefully.

1. The introduction and first section can be covered in 10 minutes. They provide a basis for the remaining content, and the Coca-Cola example in the opening vignette is excellent for setting the stage for the decision to standardize or adapt the marketing mix to each region or country.

2. The next section, Looking at the Global Marketing Environment, has key information in it that the students must understand. Take 10 minutes with this section, paying particular attention to the international trade system and the economic environment. These two subsections cover very important material and new terminology that the students should understand before moving on.

3. Deciding whether to go global and into which markets to move together can be covered in 10 minutes. Table 15-1 should figure prominently in this discussion.

4. How to enter the market is also very important and, again, there are important Key Terms in this section. Spend 10 minutes here and use as many examples as you can for each of the ways to go international.

5. The global marketing program introduces for the first time the marketing mix element decisions that must be made. This should also be discussed for at least 10 minutes, and again, examples are very important here. If you choose to use the Classroom Exercise in this manual, this is a good place to introduce it to the class. The Speed Bump at the conclusion of this section is also very helpful.

6. The various ways to organize the company for global marketing can be covered in 5 to 10 minutes. Again, examples of various firms and how they are organized will be very helpful here. If any students have parents who work in global firms they can be called on to discuss how those companies are organized; visit their websites to gain a clearer understanding. The Classroom Exercise might also be utilized here, as it addresses both marketing mix and organizational issues.

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Retailing and Wholesaling

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 19:36:55 +0800

中国经济管理大学MBA课堂笔记

中国经济管理大学

Retailing and Wholesaling

Previewing the Concepts: Chapter Objectives

1. Explain the role of retailers and wholesalers in the distribution channel.

2. Describe the major types of retailers and give examples of each.

3. Identify the major types of wholesalers and give examples of each.

4. Explain the marketing decisions facing retailers and wholesalers.

Just the Basics

Chapter Overview

This chapter is a continuation of the prior chapter on marketing channels; it provides more detail on retailing and wholesaling, two very important concepts in the value delivery network.

It begins with a discussion of retailers and the challenges they face. There are many types of retailers. These retailers can be classified according to several characteristics, includ-ing the amount of service they offer, the breadth and depth of their product lines, the relative prices they charge, and how they are organized.

Retailers are always searching for new strategies to attract and retain customers. The major decisions retailers need to make are centered around their target market and positioning, their product assortment and services, their price, their promotion strategies, and where they are located.

Retailing is facing many challenges, including new retail forms, such as warehouse stores. The wheel of retailing concept says that many new retailing forms begin as low-margin, low-price, low-status operations. They challenge established retailers, and then the new retailers’ success leads them to upgrade their facilities and offer more service. In turn, their costs increase, and eventually they become like the conventional retailers they replaced. The cycle begins again.

Wholesalers buy mostly from producers and sell mostly to retailers, industrial customers, and other wholesalers. As a result, many of this country’s largest and most important wholesalers are largely unknown to final consumers. Wholesalers provide important services, however, and they add value through performing one or more of several functions.

There are many types of wholesalers, including merchant wholesalers, agents and brokers, and manufacturers’ sales branches and offices. They face many of the same decisions as retailers, including the choice of target market, positioning, and the marketing mix.

The distinction between large retailers and large wholesalers continues to blur. Many retailers now operate formats such as wholesale clubs and hypermarkets that perform many wholesale functions. In return, many large wholesalers are setting up their own retailing operations.

Chapter Outline

1. Introduction

a. Wal-Mart is the ultimate retailer. Its phenomenal success has resulted from an unrelenting focus on bringing value to its customers. Wal-Mart is passionately dedicated to its value proposition of “Always Low Prices, Always.”

b. Wal-Mart knows its customers well and takes good care of them. It delivers what customers want: a broad selection of carefully selected goods at unbeatable prices.

c. This chapter looks at the nature and importance of retailing, major types of store and nonstore retailers, the decisions retailers make, and the future of retailing, as well as the same topics as they relate to wholesaling.

2. Retailing

a. Retailing includes all the activities involved in selling products or services directly to final consumers for their personal, nonbusiness use.

b. Retailers are businesses whose sales come primarily from retailing.

c. Nonstore retailing has been growing much faster than has store retailing. Nonstore retailing includes selling to final consumers through direct mail, catalogs, telephone, the Internet, TV home shopping shows, home and office parties, door-to-door contact, vending machines, and other direct selling approaches.

Use Key Terms Retailing, Retailer here.

Use Chapter Objectives 1 here.

Use Discussing the Issues 3 here.

Types of Retailers

d. Table 11-1 shows the most important types of retail stores.

Use Table 11-1 here.

1. Retailers can be differentiated on amount of service.

i. Self-service retailers serve customers who are willing to perform their own “locate-compare-select” process to save money. Self-service is the basis of all discount operations and is typically used by sellers of convenience goods and nationally branded, fast-moving shopping goods.

ii. Limited-service retailers provide more sales assistance because they carry more shopping goods about which customers need information.

iii. Full-service retailers, such as specialty stores and first-class department stores, offer salespeople who assist customers in every phase of the shopping process.

Let’s Discuss This

What type of service strategy is implemented at a 7 Eleven? At J.C. Penney? At Neiman Marcus?

2. Retailers can also be classified according to the length and breadth of their product assortments.

i. Specialty stores carry narrow product lines with deep assortments within those lines.

ii. Department stores carry a wide variety of product lines. Service remains the key differentiating factor.

iii. Supermarkets are the most frequently shopped type of retail store.

iv. Convenience stores are small stores that carry a limited line of high-turnover convenience goods.

v. Superstores are much larger than regular supermarkets and offer a large assortment of routinely purchased food prod-ucts, nonfood items, and services.

a. Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target, and others offer super-centers, combination food and discount stores that emphasize cross-merchandising.

vi. Category killers feature stores the size of airplane hangars that carry a very deep assortment of a particular line with a knowledgeable staff.

vii. Hypermarkets are huge superstores. Hypermarkets have been very successful in Europe and other world markets, but they have met with little success in the United States.

Use Key Terms Specialty Store, Department Store, Supermarket, Convenience Store, Superstore, and Category Killer here.

Use Discussing the Issues 1 here.

Use Focus on Ethics here.

3. Retailers can be classified according to the prices they charge.

i. A discount store sells standard merchandise at lower prices by accepting lower margins and selling higher volume.

ii. An off-price retailer buys at less-than-regular wholesale prices and charges consumers less than retail.

a. Independent off-price retailers either are owned and run by entrepreneurs or are divisions of larger retail operations.

b. Most large off-price retailer operations are owned by bigger retail chains.

iii. Factory outlets sometimes group together in factory outlet malls and value-retail centers, where dozens of outlet stores offer prices as low as 50% below retail on a wide range of items.

iv. Warehouse clubs (or wholesale clubs or membership warehouses) operate in huge, drafty, warehouselike facilities and offer few frills.

Use Key Terms Discount Store, Off-Price Retailer, Independent Off-Price Retailer, Factory Outlet, and Warehouse Club here.

Use Chapter Objectives 2 here.

4. The major types of retail organizations are described in Table 11-2.

i. Chain stores are two or more outlets that are commonly owned and controlled.

a. A voluntary chain is a wholesaler-sponsored group of independent retailers that engages in group buy-ing and common merchandising.

b. A retailer cooperative is a group of independent retailers that bands together to set up a jointly owned, central wholesale operation and conducts joint merchandising and promotion efforts.

ii. Franchise systems are normally based on some unique product or service; on a method of doing business; or on the trade name, goodwill, or patent that the franchiser has developed.

iii. Merchandising conglomerates are corporations that com-bine several different retailing forms under central owner-ship.

Use Key Terms Chain Store, Franchise here.

Use Table 11-2 here.

Use Application Questions 1 here.

Use Speed Bump: Linking the Concepts here.

Retailer Marketing Decisions

e. Retailers are always searching for new marketing strategies to attract and hold customers.

f. Figure 11-1 shows the major marketing decisions retailers face.

Use Figure 11-1 here.

1. Retailers must first define their target markets and then decide how they will position themselves in these markets.

i. Too many retailers fail to define their target markets and positions clearly. They try to have “something for every-one” and end up satisfying no market well.

Use Marketing at Work 11-1 here.

2. Retailers must decide on three major product variables.

i. The retailer’s product assortment should differentiate the retailer while matching target shoppers’ expectations.

ii. The services mix can also help set one retailer apart from another.

iii. The store’s atmosphere is another element in the reseller’s product arsenal.

Applying the Concept

You want to open a store that caters to the local college population. You will sell T-shirts, sweatshirts, and other casual clothing favored by college students. How will you differ-entiate your product assortment from the school’s bookstore? What type of service will you offer (keeping in mind the needs of the college students who are your target)? What kind of store atmosphere will you provide?

3. A retailer’s price policy must fit its target market and positioning, product and service assortment, and competition.

i. Most retailers seek either high markups on lower volume or low markups on higher volume.

4. Retailers use any or all of the promotion tools—advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing—to reach consumers.

5. Retailers often point to three critical factors in retailing success—location, location, and location.

i. It is very important that retailers select locations that are accessible to the target market in areas that are consistent with the retailer’s positioning.

ii. Central business districts were the main form of retail cluster until the 1950s.

iii. A shopping center is a group of retail businesses planned, developed, owned, and managed as a unit.

a. A regional shopping center, or regional shopping mall, the largest and most dramatic shopping center, contains from 40 to more than 200 stores.

b. A community shopping center contains between 15 and 40 retail stores.

c. Most shopping centers are neighborhood shopping centers or strip malls that generally contain between 5 and 15 stores.

d. A recent addition to the shopping center scene is the so-called power center. These huge unenclosed shopping centers consist of a long strip of retail stores, each with its own entrance with parking directly in front.

Use Key Term Shopping Center here.

Use Application Questions 2 here.

The Future of Retailing

g. Retailers operate in a harsh and fast-changing environment, which offers threats as well as opportunities.

1. New retail forms continue to emerge to meet new situations and consumer needs, but the life cycle of new retail forms is getting shorter.

2. The wheel of retailing concept says that many new types of retailing forms begin as low-margin, low-price, low-status oper-ations. They challenge established retailers that have become “fat” by letting their costs and margins increase. The new retailers’ success leads them to upgrade their facilities and offer more services. In turn, their costs increase, forcing them to increase their prices. Eventually, the new retailers become like the conventional retailers they replaced. The cycle begins again.

Use Key Term Wheel of Retailing Concept here.

Use Marketing at Work 11-2 here.

Use Discussing the Issues 2 here.
Use Application Questions 3 here.

Use Under the Hood/Focus on Technology here.

3. Americans are increasingly avoiding the hassles and crowds at malls by doing more of their shopping by phone or online.

4. Today’s retailers are increasingly selling the same products at the same price to the same consumers in competition with a wider variety of other retailers.

i. This merging of consumers, products, prices, and retailers is called retail convergence.

ii. This convergence means greater competition for retailers and greater difficulty in differentiating offerings.

Let’s Discuss This

Do you avoid the crowds at malls? Do your parents? Do you think that there could be a backlash against the ever-larger malls and stores? Use the wheel of retailing concept to think about consumers’ reactions to crowds, the same merchandise everywhere, and the difficulty retailers have in differentiating themselves.

5. The rise of huge mass merchandisers and specialty superstores, the formation of vertical marketing systems and buying alliances, and a rash of retail mergers and acquisitions have created a core of superpower megaretailers. They are shifting the balance of power between retailers and producers.

6. Retail technologies are becoming critically important as compet-itive tools.

i. Progressive retailers are using advanced information tech-nology and software systems to produce better forecasts, control inventory costs, order electronically from suppliers, send email between stores, and even sell to customers within stores.

7. Retailers with unique formats and strong brand positioning are increasingly moving into other countries.

i. U.S. retailers are still significantly behind Europe and Asia when it comes to global expansion.

8. There has been a resurgence of establishments that, regardless of the product or service they offer, also provide a place for people to get together.

Use Speed Bump: Linking the Concepts here.

Use Discussing the Issues 4 here.

3. Wholesaling

a. Wholesaling includes all activities involved in selling goods and services to those buying for resale or business use.

b. Wholesalers are firms engaged primarily in wholesaling activity.

Use Key Terms Wholesaling, Wholesaler here.

Use Chapter Objectives 3 here.

Use Marketing at Work 11-3 here.

c. Wholesalers buy mostly from producers and sell mostly to retailers, industrial consumers, and other wholesalers.

d. Wholesalers add value by performing one or more of the following channel functions:

1. Selling and promoting

2. Buying and assortment building

3. Bulk breaking

4. Warehousing

5. Transportation

6. Financing

7. Risk bearing

8. Market information

9. Management services and advice

Use Discussing the Issues 5 here.

Types of Wholesalers

e. Wholesalers fall into three major groups as shown in Table 11-3.

Use Table 11-3 here.

1. Merchant wholesalers are the largest single group of wholesalers, accounting for roughly 50% of all wholesaling.

i. Full-service wholesalers provide a full set of services.

ii. Limited-service wholesalers offer fewer services to their suppliers and customers.

2. Brokers and agents do not take title to goods, and they perform only a few functions. They generally specialize by product line or customer type.

i. A broker brings buyers and sellers together and assists in negotiations.

ii. Agents represent buyers or sellers on a more permanent basis.

a. Manufacturers’ agents are the most common type of agent wholesaler.

iii. Manufacturers’ sales branches and offices are the third major type of wholesaler.

Use Key Terms Merchant Wholesaler, broker, Agent, and Manufacturers’ Sales Branches and Office here.

Wholesaler Marketing Decisions

f. As with retailers, wholesaler marketing decisions include choices of target markets, positioning, and the marketing mix. See Figure 11-2.

1. Wholesalers must define their target markets and position themselves effectively. They can choose a target group by size of customer, type of customer, need for service, or other factors.

2. Wholesalers must decide on product assortment and services, prices, promotion, and place.

i. The wholesaler’s “product” is the assortment of products and services that it offers.

ii. Price is an important decision. Wholesalers usually mark up the cost of goods by a standard percentage, say 20%.

iii. Most wholesalers are not promotion minded.

iv. Place is important—wholesalers must choose their loca-tions, facilities, and Web locations carefully.

Use Chapter Objectives 4 here.

Use Figure 11-2 here.

Trends in Wholesaling

g. As the wholesaling industry moves into the 21st century, it faces considerable challenges.

h. The industry remains vulnerable to one of the most enduring trends of the last decade—fierce resistance to price increases and the winnowing out of suppliers who are not adding value based on cost and quality.

i. The distinction between large retailers and large wholesalers continues to blur.

1. Many retailers now operate formats such as wholesale clubs and hypermarkets that perform many wholesale functions.

2. In return, many large wholesalers are setting up their own retailing operations.

j. Wholesalers will continue to increase the services they provide to retailers.

k. Many large wholesalers are now going global.

Travel Log

Discussing the Issues

1. Distinguish between the following types of retail forms: specialty stores, department stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, superstores, and category killers.

Specialty stores carry narrow product lines with deep assortments within those lines. In contrast, department stores carry a wide variety of product lines. Supermarkets primarily carry grocery items and are the most frequently shopped type of retail store. Convenience stores are small stores that carry a limited line of high‑turnover convenience goods. Superstores are much larger than regular supermarkets and offer a large assortment of routinely purchased food products, nonfood items, and services.

2. Identify a retailer in your town that has gone out of business in the past few years. What factors do you think led to this store’s downfall?

Student response will vary. Instructors may wish to have students focus on the role that competition (Internet, big box retailers, etc.) may have played in the store’s downturn.

3. As the chapter indicates, the popularity of nonstore retailing continues to grow. From a consumer’s perspective, what are some of the advantages and disad-vantages of shopping through mail-order catalogs, television shopping networks, and online?

Students might discuss the convenience of shopping from home, the ability to easily compare products from different sources, and the perception of cost savings from nonstore retailers due to a lack of overhead.

4. Discuss the concept of retail convergence as it applies to wristwatches. How can smaller retailers compete in such an environment?

Today’s retailers are increasingly selling the same products at the same prices to the same consumers in competition with a wider variety of other retailers. This merging of consumers, products, prices, and retailers is called retail conver-gence. Such convergence means greater competition for retailers and greater difficulty in differentiating offerings. Despite this, many small, independent retailers are thriving. They are finding that sheer size and marketing muscle are often no match for the personal touch small stores can provide or the specialty niches that small stores fill for a devoted customer base.

5. Describe the functions that wholesalers have traditionally performed. Which ones appear to be the most likely candidates for either large producers or large retailers to take over? Explain your response.

Selling and promoting: Wholesalers’ sales forces help manufacturers reach many small customers at a low cost. The wholesaler has more contacts and is often more trusted by the buyer than the distant manufacturer.

Buying and assortment building: Wholesalers can select items and build assortments needed by their customers, thereby saving the consumers much work.

Bulk‑breaking: Wholesalers save their customers money by buying in carload lots and breaking bulk (breaking large lots into small quantities).

Warehousing: Wholesalers hold inventories, thereby reducing the inventory costs and risks of suppliers and customers.

Transportation: Wholesalers can provide quicker delivery to buyers because they are closer than the producers.

Financing: Wholesalers finance their customers by giving credit, and they finance their suppliers by ordering early and paying bills on time.

Risk-bearing: Wholesalers absorb risk by taking title and bearing the cost of theft, damage, spoilage, and obsolescence.

Market information: Wholesalers give information to suppliers and customers about competitors, new products, and price developments.

Management services and advice: Wholesalers often help retailers train their salesclerks, improve store layouts and displays, and set up accounting and inventory control systems.

Financing and Bulk-breaking would appear to be good candidates for large retailers to perform due to the number of outlets they have and their financial resources.

Application Questions

1. Develop a table with the retail characteristics of amount of service, product line length and breadth, relative prices, and organizational structure as the rows of the table. Place the following retailers at the top of each column in the table: Best Buy, Sears, Sam’s Club, The Gap, Wal-Mart, and a local convenience store. Complete the cells in the table by describing each of the retailers on each of the characteristics. What implications can you draw from this table?

Instructors can use this question to emphasize how different types of retailers are differentiated on service level, product assortment, price, and structure. Implications with regard to positioning of retailers can be drawn based upon the ratings given to the specific retail chains. Students might be asked to identify unfilled needs that appear to exist given their table, by assuming that these were the only outlets available for a particular product type.

2. Pick one of these national retail chains (The Gap, Barnes & Noble, Foot Locker, or Walgreens) and a local retail firm that sells the same type and quality of merchandise. Compare and contrast the two retailers on their target market, prod-uct and service assortment, store atmosphere, prices, promotion tools, and loca-tion. Why would a shopper pick one of these retailers over the other when shopping for products they both carry?

Student responses will vary for this question. Instructors may want to focus on the types of differences between the two retailers, how much customers are concerned about those differences, and how sustainable those differences are?

3. Visit a store in your community that also has an e-commerce website (e.g., Kroger, K-mart, Target, or Sears). After visiting both the store and the website, consider the following questions. Do the two retail shopping alternatives attract the same type of customer? Describe the customer who would shop at the bricks-and-mortar store location and the customer who would shop on the store’s website. How are the store and website positioned differently? If they are not positioned differently, should they be and how could this be accomplished? Are there any potential disadvantages for the store in having these two distribution channels?

Student responses will vary based on the store selected and the particular merchandise/services considered. Students might be asked if rather than competing against each other, these two store channels provide some synergies for each other.

Under the Hood/Focus on Technology

New technology may be coming to a grocery store near you. Shopping Buddy, currently in a test market in Massachusetts, is a small cart-mounted computer monitor and barcode reader. To begin using the cart, customers scan their customer card on the cart and their shopping history with the store is automatically downloaded to the cart. Customers can then scan items as they pull them off the shelf and place them directly in to bags in the cart. When it is time to check out, they simply scan their card again and pay. No more waiting in lines as the cashier scans all your items.

But Shopping Buddy does more than just speed the checkout process. Because it knows your shopping history, it can remind you when you have not purchased an item in a while, it can tell you where in the store to find particular items you are looking for and how far away from them you are, it will alert you to any sale items that day, and you can even place your order at the Deli counter from the cart and it will alert you when it is ready to be picked up.

1. What is your initial reaction to this type of technology? Would you want to shop this way?

Student responses will vary. Instructors may wish to probe deeper into what might keep some shoppers away from this technology.

2. What advantages and disadvantages are there for stores implementing this technology?

The following should be considered when assessing the advantages and disadvantages: cost of the technology, employee training, maintenance time, customer training time, informational benefits to the company, does the device increase sales, does it increase store loyalty?

3. What privacy concerns might shoppers have and how could a store minimize those concerns?

Customers may be concerned that their shopping habits will be revealed to third parties who will use the information in some harmful manner (e.g., solicit them with unwanted products; provide eating habit information to their health insurer, etc). Stores should have clearly stated privacy policies that explain that no individual-level data will be revealed.

Focus on Ethics

Some individuals complain that big retailers like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Best Buy are hurting communities by driving smaller “mom and pop” operations out of business. These critics complain that the loss of these smaller retailers means that profits leave the community, service levels get reduced, and retail locations sit empty. On the other hand, proponents of large retailers suggest that these “big box” retailers offer consumer convenience, lower prices, and many employment opportunities for citizens.

1. What, if anything, should city governments do to protect local retailers from the threat of large retailers?

Student opinion will be mixed on this subject. Zoning restrictions and economic incentives are two things that governments could implement to either help or harm big box retailers if they wanted to do so.

2. What are some alternative strategies smaller retailers can use to compete against large retailers, rather than going head to head with them on the basis of large selection and low prices?

Students will likely mention more personalized service as an effective strategy. Another strategy would be to specialize in a smaller niche that may be unprofitable for a large firm.

3. Divide into teams of three to five students and have each team take one side of this issue: Do large retailers like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Best Buy ultimately help or harm the communities they enter?

Students should be asked to switch sides of the argument about halfway through the debate and then debate against a different group. This should show that there are no black-and-white answers to this issue.

Great Ideas

Barriers to Effective Learning

1. Retailing is generally not a difficult concept for students, however the different types of retailers should be thoroughly explained to the students to ensure their understanding. Table 11-1 is an excellent resource in this regard. The differing types of retail organizations are also critical to understand; again, Table 11-2 helps here.

2. The decisions retailers need to make will be easily understood with a review of Figure 11-1. It is very clear in this figure that the marketing mix elements studied earlier in the text are being applied in a retail environment. Explain carefully how the type of retail organization chosen affects the marketing mix, and vice versa.

3. The wheel of retailing concept can be difficult to understand without a proper explanation. Drawing the parallel to the product life-cycle concept is an aid in this. Also, discuss with the students how retailing has changed from “Main Street,” to the mall, to megastores like Wal-Mart Supercenters, horizontal marketing systems, and such.

4. Nonstore retailing should be familiar to students, but perhaps not by this name. Many students may not realize that they are visiting a retailer when they buy books or CDs from Amazon.com, or select an item from a catalog and order it over the phone. Explain that this is an extension of the “place” variable of the marketing mix, but it is still selling to ultimate consumers, so it is indeed a retailing outlet.

5. Wholesaling, by contrast, could be a difficult subject for many students. Although the concept was introduced in an earlier chapter, there is more detail here, and there are many more terms for the students to learn. A careful review of the introduction to this section, with a description of the various channel functions wholesalers perform, will set the stage for the students’ ability to learn these concepts.

6. The description of the types of wholesalers is brief but important. Examples will help tremendously, even though most wholesalers, by their nature and as discussed in the text, are virtually unknown to consumers. Some students, however, might be familiar with distributors who service grocery stores and other retail outlets from summer jobs or those held by family members. You can also draw the parallel between stockbrokers and product brokers, because the function is virtually the same, although the item being brokered is very different. A stockbroker never takes ownership of the stock, however, just as a product broker does not. A celebrity or sports agent can be the parallel descriptor for manufac-turers’ agents. Table 11-3 will be very helpful in this discussion.

7. As with retailers, the decisions wholesalers make revolve around the marketing mix components. This concept should be easily grasped by students at this point.

Student Projects

1. How do retailers identify target markets? Explain the major strategies by which retailers reach their target markets.

2. Cite several examples (not from the textbook) in each of the following categories: department store, specialty store, convenience store, discount store, off-price retailer.

3. Show how the elements of the marketing mix apply to retailers. Apply these elements to the decision process for a major chain of convenience stores to open an outlet on your college campus.

4. Select two stores that you shop in frequently. What sort of atmosphere do these stores have? Does it aid in your shopping experience, detract from it, or not affect it at all?

Classroom Exercise/Homework Assignment

C&S Wholesale Grocers is New England’s largest food wholesaler and the second largest in the United States. It distributes more than 53,000 items, including groceries, produce, and nonfood items. They have more than 36 facilities in the United States and serve grocery stores on the East Coast, West Coast, and Hawaii. Visit their website at www.cswg.com.

1. C&S is largely a wholesaler, but in looking at its press releases, you see that it joined IGA, a retail outlet organized as a volunteer chain. Why would a wholesaler join a retailer chain?

Student responses to this will vary, but C&S saw an opportunity. Fleming Foods has been in bankruptcy and has dropped out of the IGA family. C&S took its place to solidify its place as the second largest wholesaler in the nation. It also wanted to further expand its market. Finally, it is one of many firms joining the conver-gence of retailing and wholesaling, as large retailers become wholesalers and large wholesalers become retailers.

2. C&S distributes to both independent grocery stores and chains. With its long list of customers, how might C&S develop its marketing strategy? Discuss all four elements of the marketing mix: product, price, place, and promotion.

Again, student responses will vary. However, C&S will need to ensure that it has a thorough product mix to serve the needs of its various customers. Because these customers are located in many regions of the country, there will need to be some variety in the products it carries; in Vermont, for instance, they probably don’t sell any Taro chips, which are a very big product in Hawaii.

As mentioned in the text, margins are very thin in the grocery business, at both the retail and wholesale level. So C&S probably does not hold a lot of pricing power and must constantly keep in mind the profit needs of its customers.

Place is critical for wholesalers: They need a lot of space to take large shipments in from producers, and then break bulk and ship the new assortment out to the local grocery retail outlets. Therefore, they need to be outside major city centers, but close enough to their retail customers to keep transportation costs down.

Finally, their promotional efforts may vary between the large chains and small independents, but they must ensure that they do not break any laws that govern pricing and its promotional aspects (this was covered in Chapter 10).

Classroom Management Strategies

This chapter can easily be covered in one standard class period. Although the terminology will be new to students, particularly the types of retailers and wholesalers, the material itself is easily understood as a general rule, and students will tend to be pretty familiar with retailing in particular.

1. The majority of the class, perhaps 40 minutes in a 60-minute class, should be spent on retailing. This can be broken down further, with 15 minutes on the Types of Retailers, 15 minutes on Retailer Marketing Decisions, and 10 minutes on the Future of Retailing. You can liberally use examples and the various questions from the chapter in going through this material.

2. The remaining 20 minutes of the class will be spent on the Wholesaling section. Here, it is very important that time be spent on discussing the various types of wholesalers and what kinds of functions they perform. Students will be less familiar with this type of business, so several examples should be gathered to discuss in class. The Classroom Exercise/Homework Assignment provided previously can be very useful.

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Consumer and Business Buyer Behavior

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 19:35:42 +0800

中国经济管理大学MBA课堂笔记

中国经济管理大学

Consumer and Business Buyer Behavior

Previewing the Concepts—Chapter Objectives

1. Understand the consumer market and the major factors that influence buyer behavior.

2. Identify and discuss the stages in the buyer decision process.

3. Describe the adoption and diffusion process for new products.

4. Define the business market and identify the major factors that influence business buyer behavior.

5. List and define the steps in the business buying decision process.

Just the Basics

Chapter Overview

Buying behavior is at the core of marketing: The knowledge and understanding of why we buy and how we buy should be the bedrock of every marketing program. This chapter covers both consumer and business buying behavior.

Consumer behavior incorporates concepts from both sociology and psychology. To understand consumers and their buying processes, therefore, is to understand the myriad influences encountered day in and day out. Cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors affecting buying behavior are explained. These factors clarify the why of buying.

The chapter also details the how of buying, by covering the consumer buying process. This process includes the stages of need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior. The chapter also details the buyer decision process for new products as well as providing information on consumer behavior internationally.

Business markets are also defined and analyzed. The differences between the consumer buying process and the business buying process are highlighted, as is the nature of the buying unit in business markets. Also discussed is business buying on the Internet.

Chapter Outline

1. Introduction

a. Buyers of Harley-Davidson motorcycles are intensely loyal and devoted to the brand. Because of this, Harley-Davidson is at the top of the heavyweight motorcycle market.

b. Harley-Davidson’s marketing managers spend a lot of time studying their buyers—they want to know who their customers are, what they think, how they feel, and why they buy a Harley rather than another brand.

c. The research revealed seven core types: adventure-loving traditionalists, sensitive pragmatists, stylish status seekers, laid-back campers, classy capitalists, cool-headed loners, and cocky misfits. Yet all Harley owners appreciated their bikes for the same basic reasons—independence, freedom, and power.

d. The example of Harley-Davidson shows that there are many factors that affect consumer buying behavior.

2. Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying Behavior

a. Consumer buying behavior refers to the buying behavior of final consumers—individual and households who buy goods and services for their own consumption. All of these consumers make up the consumer market.

b. The American consumer market consists of more than 290 million people who consume trillions of dollars’ worth of goods and services each year. The global market consists of almost 6.3 billion people.

Use Key Terms Consumer Market, Consumer Buyer Behavior here.

Use Chapter Objectives 1 here.

Model of Consumer Behavior

c. Most large companies research consumer buying decisions in great detail to answer questions about what consumers buy, where they buy, how and how much they buy, as well as when and why they buy.

d. Learning what, where, when, and how and how much they buy is easy, but understanding the why of buying is very difficult, because those reasons are usually locked deep inside the consumer’s mind.

e. Understanding how consumers respond to varying marketing messages starts with the stimulus-response model of buyer behavior found in Figure 5-1.

Use Figure 5-1 here.

f. Marketing stimuli consist of the four Ps of product, place, price, and promotion.

g. Other stimuli include major forces and events in the buyer’s environment: economic, technological, political, and cultural.

h. All these inputs enter the consumer’s black box and are then turned into responses such as product choice, brand choice, dealer choice, purchase timing and purchase amount.

i. The buyer’s characteristics influence how he or she perceives and reacts to the stimuli, and the buyer’s decision process itself affects the buyer’s behavior.

Characteristics Affecting Consumer Behavior

j. Figure 5-2 shows the factors influencing consumer purchases. For the most part, marketers cannot control these factors, but they must always keep them in mind.

k. Cultural factors exert a broad and deep influence. Roles are played by the buyer’s culture, subculture, and social class.

1. Culture is the most basic cause of a person’s wants and behaviors. This behavior is largely learned from families and other important institutions.

Use Key Term Culture here.

Use Figure 5-2 here.

2. A child born in the United States generally learns the values of achievement and success; activity and involvement; efficiency and practicality; progress; material comfort; individualism; freedom; humanitarianism; youthfulness; and fitness and health.

3. Marketers try to spot cultural shifts so that they can discover new wants and desires, and then develop new products to meet the new wants and desires. An example is the shift toward health and fitness, which created a huge industry.

4. Subcultures are groups of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences and situations. They include nationalities, religions, racial groups, and geographic regions. Four important subculture groups in the United States include Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, and mature consumers.

Use Key Term Subculture here.

a. The U.S. Hispanic market, which includes Americans of Cuban, Mexican, Central American, South American, and Puerto Rican descent, numbers 35 million consumers who bought more than $425 billion worth of goods and services. This group is expected to double in size in the next 20 years. They tend to buy more branded, higher-quality products, and are extremely brand loyal.

b. African Americans number 35 million with a buying power of $646 billion. This population is growing in affluence and sophistication. They can be more price-conscious than other groups, but they are motivated by quality and selection. Black consumers are also the most fashion-conscious of the ethnic groups.

c. Asian Americans are the fastest growing and most affluent segment in the Untied States. They number 12 million and have a disposable income of $296 billion annually. The largest group consists of the Chinese Americans, followed by Filipinos, Japanese Americans, Asian Indians, and Korean Americans. Asian Americans are the most tech-savvy segment, and they shop frequently and are the most brand-conscious of all the ethnic groups. But they are also the least brand loyal.

d. Mature consumers number 75 million, and this group will more than double in size in the next 25 years. Mature consumers are better off financially than are the younger consumer groups.

5. Social classes are society’s relatively permanent and ordered divisions whose members share similar values, interests, and behaviors. There are seven American social classes, and they are outlined in Figure 5-3.

Use Key Term Social Class here.

Use Figure 5-3 here.

Use Discussing the Issues 1 here.

6. Social class is not determined by a single factor; rather, it is measured by a combination of occupation, income, education, wealth, and other variables.

7. Marketers are interested in social class because people within a given class can exhibit similar buying behavior. Social classes have distinct product and brand preferences in areas such as clothing, home furnishings, leisure activity, and cars.

8. Social Factors

a. A consumer’s behavior is affected by social factors such as small groups, family, and social roles and status.

1. Behavior can be influenced by small groups. These groups include membership groups, to which a person belongs; reference groups, which are indirect points of comparison or reference; and aspirational groups, to which an individual would like to belong. These reference groups expose a person to new behaviors and lifestyles, influence the person’s attitudes and self-concept, and create pressures to conform that may affect a person’s product and brand choices.

Use Key Term Groups here.

Use Discussing the Issues 2 here.

2. Opinion leaders are those people within a reference group who exert influence on others. Buzz marketing is used by enlisting or even creating opinion leaders to spread the word about specific brands.

Use Key Term Opinion Leaders here.

3. Family members can influence buyer behavior. It is the most important consumer buying organization in society, and marketers study the roles of husbands, wives, and even children on the purchases of different products and services.

4. Women make almost 85% of all purchases, totaling $6 trillion each year. Children also can have strong influence on family buying decisions.

5. A person’s position in each group can be defined in terms of role and status. A role consists of the activities people are expected to perform according to the persons around them. Each role carries a status reflecting the general esteem given to it by society. People often choose products that show their status in society.

9. Personal Factors

a. Personal characteristics that affect what a consumer buys include age and life-cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle, and personality and self-concept.

1. People change the goods and services they buy over their lifetimes. The family life cycle consists of the stages through which families might pass as they mature over time. Traditional family life cycle stages include young singles and married couples with children. Other alternative stages include unmarried couples, singles marrying later in life, childless couples, same-sex couples, single parents, those recently divorced, and extended parents (those with young adult children returning home).

Use Marketing at Work 5-1 here.

2. A person’s occupation can also affect what he or she buys, as will his or her economic situation.

3. A person’s lifestyle is his or her pattern of living as expressed in his or her psychographics. It involves measuring consumers’ major AIO dimensions—activities, interests, and opinions. Lifestyle profiles a person’s whole pattern of acting and interacting with the world.

Use Key Term Lifestyle here.

4. There are lifestyle classifications, the most popular of which was developed by SRI Consulting. It is called the Values and Lifestyles (VALS) typology. It classifies people according to how they spend their time and their money. It divides people up into eight groups based on two major dimensions: primary motivation and resources. Primary moti-vations include ideals, achievement, and self-expression. Resources are classified as either high or low, and include income, education, health, self-confidence, energy, and other factors.

Use Application Questions 1 here.

5. Forrester research has also developed a “technographics” scheme, which segments con-sumers according to their motivation, desire, and ability to invest in technology.

6. Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting response to one’s own environment. Personality generally covers such traits as self-confidence, dominance, sociability, autonomy, defensiveness, adaptability, and aggressiveness. Personality influences buying behavior.

7. It is posited that brands also have personalities, and consumers will buy brands whose personality matches their own. A brand personality is the specific mix of human traits that may be attributed to a particular brand.

Use Key Term Personality here.

10. Psychological Factors

a. There are four psychological factors that could influence buyer behavior. They are motivation, perception, learning, and beliefs and attitudes.

1. A motive or drive is a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek satisfaction. A person has many needs; some are biological, such as hunger and thirst; some are psychological, such as the need for recognition and esteem.

Use Key Term Motive (or Drive) here.

Use Marketing at Work 5-2 here.

2. There are several theories of human motivation, but two of the most popular were developed by Sigmund Freud and Abraham Maslow.

i. Freud assumed that people are unconscious about the real psychological forces shaping their behavior, and that a person does not really understand his or her motivation.

ii. Maslow believed that people are driven by particular needs at particular times, and that needs are arranged in a hierarchy (see Figure 5-4). These needs include physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. A person focuses on his or her most important needs, and as each level of needs ceases to be a motivator, he or she moves up the hierarchy.

Use Figure 5-4 here.

3. Perception is the process by which people select, organize, and interpret information to form a meaningful picture of the world. How a person acts, or buys, is influenced by his or her perception of the situation. There are three perceptual processes through which people can form different perceptions of the same stimulus:

Use Key Term Perception here.

i. Selective attention is the tendency for people to screen out most of the information to which they are exposed.

ii. Selective distortion describes the tendency of people to interpret information in a way that will support what they already believe.

iii. Selective retention shows that people tend to retain only information that supports their attitudes and beliefs.

4. Learning describes changes in an individual’s behavior arising from experience. It occurs through the interplay of drives, stimuli, cues, responses, and reinforcement.

Use Key Term Learning here.

Use Discussing the Issues 3 here.

Applying the Concept

Video rentals generally include previews of movies that have not yet been released in theaters. How does this apply to the effect of the learning concept just reviewed on your own buyer decision process?

5. A belief is a descriptive thought that a person has about something. An attitude describes a person’s relatively consistent evaluations, feelings, and tendencies toward an object or an idea. Attitudes put people into a frame of mind of liking or disliking things, and of moving toward or away from them. Attitudes are difficult to change.

Use Key Terms Belief, Attitude here.

The Buyer Decision Process

l. There are five stages in the buyer decision process (see Figure 5-5): need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior. In more routine purchases, consumers can skip or even reverse some of these stages.

Use Chapter Objectives 2 here.

Use Figure 5-5 here.

1. Need recognition is the start of the decision process. The buyer recognizes that he or she has a problem or need.

a. The need can come from external stimuli, such as advertising, or internal stimuli, such as hunger or thirst.

2. Information search may or may not take place. If it does, consumers can get their information from many sources.

a. Personal sources include family, friends, neighbors, and so forth.

b. Commercial sources are advertising, salespeople, packaging, and so forth.

c. Public sources include the media and consumer-rating organizations.

d. Experiential sources include the consumer handling or examining the product itself.

e. The relative importance of each of these sources varies by consumer. The most effective sources tend to be personal; commercial sources tend to inform the consumer, but personal sources can legitimize the products.

Use Discussing the Issues 4 here.

3. Evaluation of alternatives depends on the individual consumer and the buying situation. In some case, consumers can evaluate product alternatives very carefully, using careful calculations and logical thinking. At other times, very little consideration of alternatives is done—impulse buying and relying on intuition rule.

4. The purchase decision entails forming the purchase intention. Typically, consumers will now buy what they have decided on. However, two factors can come between the purchase intention and purchase decision.

a. First, attitudes of others can intervene. If someone close to the consumer casts doubt on the decision made, the purchase might not take place.

b. Second, there could be unexpected situational factors. A consumer could see a drop in income, or a competitor could drop their prices.

5. Post-purchase behavior is also considered part of the buying process. The difference between the consumer’s expectations and the perceived performance of the good purchased determines how satisfied the consumer is. If the product falls short of expectations, the consumer is disappointed; if it meets expectations, the consumer is satisfied; if it exceeds expectations, the consumer is said to be delighted.

a. Cognitive dissonance generally results from every major purchase. This is the discomfort caused by post-purchase conflict. Every purchase involves compromise, through forgoing benefits of other products.

Use Key Term Cognitive Dissonance here.

m. It always costs more to gain new customers than to retain existing customers, and the best way to retain those you already have is to satisfy them. Bad word of mouth travels far more quickly than good.

Let’s Discuss This

Think of the last time you were unhappy with a purchase or with a company. How many people did you tell? Did you let the company know about it? Why or why not? Have you ever returned to that store or brand?

The Buyer Decision Process for New Products

n. A new product is a good, service, or idea that is perceived by some potential customers as new.

Use Key Term New Product here.

Use Chapter Objectives 3 here.

o. The adoption process is the mental process through which an individual passes from first learning about an innovation to final adoption, and adoption itself is defined as the decision by a consumer to become a regular user of the product.

Use Key Term Adoption Process here.

p. There are five stages in adopting a new product.

1. Awareness is when the consumer becomes aware of a new product, but still lacks information about it.

2. Interest occurs as the consumer seeks information.

3. Evaluation is the process through which the consumer considers whether trying the new product makes sense.

4. Trial of the new product on a small scale improves his or her estimate of its value.

5. Adoption occurs when the consumer decides to make full and regular use of the new product.

Use Figure 5-6 here.

Use Discussing the Issues 5 here.

q. There are adopter categories into which consumers fall. See Figure 5-6.

1. Innovators tend to be adventuresome. They will try new ideas at some risk.

2. Early adopters are typically guided by respect. They are opinion leaders and adopt new ideas carefully, although early.

3. The early majority are rarely leaders, but they do adopt new ideas before the average person.

4. The late majority are skeptical; they wait for a majority of people to adopt something new before they do.

5. Laggards are tradition-bound. They can be suspicious of changes and adopt “new” ideas only when they’ve become somewhat of a tradition themselves.

Use Application Questions 2 here.

r. The characteristics of a new product affect its rate of adoption. Five characteristics are especially important in an innovation’s rate of adoption.

1. Does it have a relative advantage over existing products?

2. Compatibility with the values and experiences of potential customers is important.

3. The degree of complexity is also considered. That is, how difficult is it to understand or use the product?

4. Divisibility speaks to how easily the innovation may be tried on a limited basis.

5. Communicability is the degree to which the results of using the innovation can be observed or described to others.

6. Other characteristics that influence adoption of new products are the initial and ongoing costs, the risk and uncertainty involved, and the level of social approval.

Consumer Behavior Across International Borders

s. Understanding the needs of consumers across borders is a daunting task. Consumers in other countries may have many of the same things, but their values, attitudes, and behaviors often vary greatly.

t. Marketers must decide the degree to which they will adapt their products and marketing programs to meet unique cultures and needs in various markets. Standardizing offerings simplifies operations and allows companies to take advantage of cost economies. But adapting marketing efforts within each country results in products and programs that better satisfy the needs of local consumers.

Use Speed Bump: Linking the Concepts here.

3. Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior

a. Most large companies sell to other organizations. Even large consumer-products companies must first sell their products to other businesses before consumers can buy them.

b. Business buyer behavior refers to the buying behavior of the organizations that buy goods and services for use in the production of other products and services that are sold, rented, or supplied to others. It includes the behavior of retailing and wholesaling firms that acquire goods for the purpose of reselling or renting them to others at a profit.

Use Key Term Business Buyer Behavior here.

Use Chapter Objectives 4 here.

Use Figure 5-7 here.

Use Discussing the Issues 6 here.

c. In the business buying process, business buyers determine which products and services their organizations need to purchase, and then find, evaluate, and choose among alternative suppliers and brands.

Business Markets

d. The business market is huge. Business markets involve more dollars and items than do consumer markets. There are many sets of business purchases for each set of consumer purchases.

e. Business markets differ in many ways from consumer markets. The main differences are in market structure and demand; the nature of the buying unit; and the types of decisions and the decision process involved.

1. Market structure and demand

a. The business marketer generally deals with far fewer but far larger buyers than the consumer marketer does. Even in large business markets, a few buyers often account for most of the purchasing.

b. Business markets are more geographically concentrated. Eight states account for more than half the nation’s business buyers: California, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

c. Business demand is derived demand—it ultimately derives from the demand for consumer goods. Because of this, business marketers may promote their products directly to final consumers to increase business demand.

Use Key Term Derived Demand here.

Use Focus on Ethics here.

2. Nature of the buying unit

a. A business purchase usually involves more decision participants and a more professional purchasing effort. Business buying is often done by professional purchasing agents.

b. The more complex the purchase, the more likely that several people will participate in the process. Buying committees made up of technical experts and top management are common in buying major goods.

3. Types of decisions and the decision process

a. Purchases often involve large sums of money, complex technical and economic considerations, and interactions among many people at many levels of the buyer’s organization. Because of the complexity, business buying decisions can take longer than consumer decisions.

b. The business buying process is generally more formalized than the consumer process. Detailed product specifications, written purchase orders, careful supplier searches, and formal approval are usually required.

c. In business buying situations, buyer and seller are often much more dependent on one another. They may work closely together, partnering to jointly create solutions to the customer’s problems.

Use Application Questions 3 here.

Business Buyer Behavior

f. The business buyer behavior model, shown in Figure 5-7, shows how marketing and other stimuli affect the buying organization and produce certain buyer responses. As in consumer buying, the marketing stimuli for business consists of the four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. Other stimuli include environmental forces such as economic, technological, political, cultural, and competitive forces. The stimuli are turned into buyer responses, such as product or service choice, supplier choice, order quantities, and delivery, service, and payment terms.

g. There are three major types of buying situations.

1. In a straight rebuy, the buyer reorders something without any modifications. It is generally handled on a routine basis by the purchasing department.

2. In a modified rebuy, the buyer wants to modify product specifications, prices, terms, or suppliers. The modified rebuy usually involves more decision participants than does the straight rebuy.

3. A new task situation is encountered when a company is buying a product or service for the first time.

4. The buyer makes the fewest decisions in the straight rebuy and the most in the new task situation.

Use Key Terms Straight Rebuy, Modified Rebuy, New Task here.

h. Systems selling is often a key business marketing strategy because many business buyers prefer to buy a packaged solution to a problem from a single seller. In this situation, a buyer may ask sellers to supply the components and assemble the package or system.

Use Key Term Systems Selling here.

i. The decision-making unit of a buying organization is called the buying center. It is comprised of all the individuals and units that participate in the process. It is not a fixed and formally identified unit within the buying organization. Different people assume different roles for different purchases. For some purchases, only one person will participate; for more complex purchases, the buying center could include 20 or 30 people.

Use Key Term Buying Center here.

j. Business buyers are subject to many influences when they make their buying decisions. They respond to both economic and personal factors.

k. The various influences on buyers are shown in Figure 5-8. They include environmental, organizational, interpersonal, and individual influences.

Use Figure 5-8 here.

Use Marketing at Work 5-3 here.

1. Environmental factors can include the current and expected economic environment, as well as shortages of key materials. Technological, political, and competitive developments can also affect business buyers. Culture and customs can also influence buyer reactions to the marketer’s behavior and strategies.

2. Organizational factors are important because each buying organization has its own objectives, policies, procedures, structure, and systems.

3. Interpersonal factors also influence the business buying process. These can be very difficult to ascertain.

4. Individual factors are involved as well. Each participant in the business buying process brings in personal motives, perceptions, and preferences. These are, in turn, influenced by personal characteristics such as age, income, education, professional identification, personality, and attitudes toward risk.

Let’s Discuss This

Business people are supposed to make decisions on a rational basis, using the facts of the situation to make a final determination. That’s where environmental and organizational factors come into play. What about interpersonal and individual factors? Why are these important in a business buying process? How does a marketer take these factors into account when developing marketing messages for business audiences?

l. There are eight stages to the business buying process, which are shown in Figure 5-9. Buyers who are facing a new-task situation will usually go through all stages of the buying process. Those going through modified or straight rebuys may skip some of the stages.

Use Chapter Objectives 5 here.

Use Figure 5-9 here.

1. Problem recognition: The buying process begins when someone in the company recognizes a problem or need that can be met by acquiring a specific product or service.

2. A general need description is generated to describe the characteristics and quantity needed of an item. For complex items, buyers may need to work with others, such as engineers, users, and consultants, to define the item.

3. The product specification includes the technical product specifications. Value analysis is an approach to cost reduction in which components are studied carefully to determine if they can be redesigned, standardized, or made by less costly methods of production.

Use Key Term Value Analysis here.

4. A supplier search is conducted to find the best vendors. The newer the buying task, and the more complex and costly the item, the greater the amount of time the buyer will spend searching for suppliers.

5. The proposal solicitation is the stage in which the buyer invites qualified suppliers to submit proposals. When the item is complex or expensive, the buyer will usually require detailed written proposals or formal presentations from each potential supplier.

6. Supplier selection occurs after the buying center reviews the proposals. During the selection process, the buying center may draw up a list of desired supplier attributes and their relative importance. Buyers may also attempt to negotiate with preferred suppliers for better prices and terms before making final selections.

7. An order-routine specification is now prepared that includes the final order with the chosen supplier or suppliers. It lists items such as technical specifications, quantity needed, expected time of delivery, return policies, and warranties. Buyers may use blanket contracts for routine items; this creates a long-term relationship in which the supplier promises to resupply the buyer as needed at agreed prices for a set period of time.

8. Finally, buyers conduct a performance review. In this stage, the buyer may contact users and ask them to rate their satisfaction. This review may lead the buyer to continue, modify, or drop the arrangement with the seller.

Use Under the Hood/Focus on Technology here.

Business Buying on the Internet

m. Online purchase, sometimes called e-procurement, is growing rapidly. In recent surveys, almost 75% of business buyers said they use the Internet to make at least some purchases, and e-procurement accounts for 14% of the average company’s spending.

Use Key Term e-Procurement here.

n. Most products bought online are MRO materials—maintenance, repair, and operating items. MRO materials account for up to 80% of all business orders, and the transaction costs for order processing are very high.

o. Online procurement in the business-to-business environment shaves transaction costs and results in more efficient purchasing for both buyers and suppliers. On average, companies can trim the costs of purchased goods alone by 15 to 20%.

p. There are some problems with e-procurement, however. For instance, it can erode decades-old customer-supplier relationships. There is also the potential for security disasters; the secure environment that businesses need to carry out confidential interactions is still lacking.

Travel Log

Discussing the Issues

1. Describe how the subculture individuals belong to and their social class can influence their choice of an automobile. Which of these two influences is likely to have the largest influence?

Subcultures, based on nationalities, religions, racial groups, and geographic regions, may have established norms for what constitutes an appropriate vehicle to own (and what is not appropriate). Also, to the degree that individuals wish to conform to a particular subculture, car purchases may reflect the types of autos typically owned by members of the subculture. Social class has implications for affordability (due to income) and for the required car attributes (due to occupation).

2. Reference groups that an individual desires to become associated with are called aspirational groups. What is one of your aspirational groups? What types of products could marketers effectively sell using the aspirational group you selected?

Student responses will vary to this question. Instructors may wish to have students think more deeply by discussing why a particular aspirational group consumes certain goods.

3. Learning is described as changes in an individual’s behavior arising from experience. In what ways do marketers attempt to get consumers to experience their products in order to influence their buying behavior?

Some examples would include test drives for automobiles, free samples in the mail, and the testing of fragrances at department store cosmetics counters. This question can be expanded by having students discuss how learning has impacted their own purchasing decisions.

4. Sometimes a consumer’s information searching is elaborate and other times very minimal. What factors might influence how much information searching a consumer does?

The amount of searching will depend on the strength of the drive to own, the amount of information started with, the ease of obtaining more information, the value placed on additional information, and the satisfaction derived from searching.

5. Think about a new type of product you have recently purchased. Discuss how you proceeded through the five stages of the product adoption process. Did you skip any stages? Were any of the stages in a different order from that presented in the text?

Student responses will vary depending upon the product purchased. Instructors may want to encourage students to think about why stages may have been skipped in the product adoption process. Product involvement level is often a factor in the steps experienced in the decision process.

6. Discuss how business buyer behavior is different from consumer buyer behavior. What does this mean for a company attempting to sell goods to other organizations?

The main differences between the two are in market structure and demand (with business markets having fewer but larger buyers that are geographically concentrated), the nature of the buying unit (with businesses involving more decision participants and a more professional purchasing effort), and the types of decisions and the decision process involved (with business market decisions being more complex, formal, and dependent).

Application Questions

1. Go to SRI Consulting’s website, (www.sric-bi.com/VALS/presurvey.shtml) and complete the VALS survey online. How accurately are you described by your primary and secondary VALS types? Do you think you will be in a different VALS category in 5 to 10 years? Discuss how Kraft food marketers might use this information to sell Velveeta cheese.

Instructors may desire to have students take the survey outside of clas,s and then in class group students together with similar VALS types. In these groups they can discuss the remaining questions. This assignment allows students to consider the nature of psychographic data and how it can be used to round out a company’s profile of their target market beyond just demographic information.

2. Examine the five adopter categories and how they differ from one another. Pick a recent technologically oriented product such as a PDA or DVD player and discuss how such a product should be positioned differently to appeal to each of the five adopter categories. Which group do you feel would be easiest to sell to? Which group might be the most profitable?

The product selected will guide the responses obtained to this question. The ease of selling to the different adopter categories is dependent upon when you assume the product is being sold (i.e., at product introduction versus later in the product life cycle). Students might be encouraged to consider multiple points in time in responding to the question. Profitability has to do with the size of the market, production costs, and the selling price. Have students consider each of these elements when considering which group will be most profitable to sell to.

3. Relationships between the seller and buyer are often mentioned as being more critical in business-to-business transactions than in business-to-consumer transactions. Do you agree or disagree with this? What type of activities might a firm use to develop closer relations with another organization?

Students should consider this statement in light of the growing trend in developing relationships in business-to-consumer transactions, which would suggest that relationships are important in both contexts. Organizations do not have relationships—people in the organizations do. This question can be expanded by having students consider what is important in keeping these organizational relationships strong.

Under the Hood / Focus on Technology

This chapter discusses how consumer and business markets differ from one another. How do you think the company website of a company selling directly to consumers will compare with one selling directly to other businesses? Visit and investigate the corporate websites for Dow Chemical (www.dow.com) and for Kellogg’s (www.kelloggs.com ).

1. How are the websites different?

Both will contain similar types of information (e.g., product specifications, company information, contact information), but each will be geared toward their own constituencies.

2. Who is each website designed for?

Have students consider all of the different groups of people that might want to find information about the firms on the websites (e.g., consumers, business partners, students, shareholders, government regulators, competitors, etc.).

3. What types of information are present on both websites?

Information will include product specifications, company information, contact information, financial information, and press releases.

4. How well does each website communicate with its intended audience?

Responses to this question will vary by student. Encourage students to consider ways to improve communication on the website.

Focus on Ethics

As pointed out in the chapter, mature consumers are an attractive market due to their growing ranks, financial stability, and increasing free time. Health-related products are often pitched toward these markets in an effort to help them look as young as they feel and combat the effects of aging.

Traditionally, prescription drug advertising has been aimed directly at physicians. Recently, there has been a rise in prescription drug advertising aimed directly at the consumer, particularly the mature consumer. The goal is clear: If a patient is aware of new drugs that supposedly help combat aging, the patient will ask the physician to prescribe them. The expected result?—an increase in sales for the advertised drug.

Drug manufacturers have increased the amount of direct-to-consumer advertising, from $800 million in 1996 to $2.7 billion in 2001. While a better-educated consumer is a laudable goal, critics suggest that direct-to-consumer advertising partly fuels the escalating cost of prescription drugs, which are rising at an average of 17% per year. The advertising appears to be working. From 1990 to 2000, the volume prescribed of the 50 most advertised drugs increased by 24.6%, compared to only 4.3% for all other prescription drugs. Perhaps most disturbingly, a study in the Journal of Family Practice reported that 71% of family physicians felt direct-to-consumer advertising pressured them to prescribe medication they wouldn’t otherwise prescribe.

1. How do you feel about the rise in direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs? What do you feel are some of the pros and cons of such advertising?

Responses will vary based on students’ attitudes toward this practice. Many students may discuss the advantages of a more-informed consumer versus the disadvantage of inappropriate prescriptions being issued.

2. What actions, if any, should drug manufacturers take to be socially responsible in the creation of consumer advertising?

Possible action would include adequate warnings regarding side effects and who the drug is appropriate for in the advertisements (beyond what is required by law). Instructors may wish to have students discuss the effectiveness of these warnings of side effects in their current form. In this case, it may be useful to show some of the direct-to-consumer advertisements in the class before discussion.

3. Does direct-to-consumer advertising in the drug industry have any negative consequences for pharmaceutical companies?

Potential negative consequences include unfavorable publicity from consumer advocate organizations, increased costs, and the potential for unfavorable governmental regulation on their advertising practices.

Great Ideas

Barriers to Effective Learning

1. By and large, students have not been exposed to the consumer behavior concepts in this chapter before. If they have taken a sociology or human behavior course, chances are very high that the concepts were not presented in a way that allowed the students to understand them as they apply to business in general and marketing in particular. After presenting the concepts of consumer behavior, have the students discuss the concepts in terms of their own buying habits, their backgrounds, and how they differ from others in the class.

2. There is a lot of material in this chapter; although it hits only the high points of consumer behavior, the authors have done a good job of summarizing the constructs in a way that allows students to comprehend, albeit in a basic way, why these concepts are important to marketing managers. Explaining that consumer behavior is usually offered as a course unto itself can actually relieve some of their anxiety. Also helpful is continually reminding them of how they can apply this material to more fully appreciating their own motivations for their purchases. This can then lead them to understand how a marketer could approach understanding consumers’ motives in general.

3. Understanding business buyer behavior and the business buying process can be especially difficult for students. Very few have ever had any experience with business purchasing decisions. This requires thorough explanation; the strategic use of personal experience in this regard is particularly helpful. If the instructor has no personal experience in business buying situations, it could be very helpful to bring in a guest speaker for this topic.

4. Business buying centers can be a very nebulous topic for students, and most particularly, their dynamic nature. Business students typically learn about “the real world” in courses that present topics in a more-siloed nature than even the most functionally organized business are run. Discussing the importance and uses of inter-departmental teamwork in this section can be highly enlightening. This can then lead to a discussion of the different types of influencers, users, and so forth that could be found in a business buying center, and what their functions could be in the buying decision–making process.

5. Students may actually be surprised that business buying on the Internet is a separate topic in the text. Explaining the history and use (and expense) of EDI could be helpful, as well as the security concerns when posting critical technical specifications on the Internet. A discussion of the complex nature of many business purchases also helps students to understand why the majority of online business buying still centers around MRO items.

Student Projects

1. Pick five products of your choice and show how culture, subculture, social class, and lifestyle might alter the way that you should market the product. Be sure to detail which groups or specific segments you are discussing. Write up your findings, ideas, and differences.

2. Assume you need an airline ticket to go to Boston on the 18th of next month. Go to a travel website, such as www.orbitz.com, and specify your travel requirements, initiate the search for your options, and print out the search results. Use those results to list your criteria for your evaluation of alternatives. Then identify the option you would choose if you did, in fact, need this airline ticket. Finally, summarize how you felt about using an explicit purchase process for this exercise.

3. Investigate the qualifications needed to be a purchasing manager for your university. Discuss these qualifications in class. What general statements can you make?

Classroom Exercise/Homework Assignment

Mattel, Inc. is best known for its Barbie® dolls. Developed in the 1950s, Barbie has been extremely successful and extremely long-lived. She has evolved over the decades to reflect the changing American culture, yet she is still an icon of the dominant American culture, that of Caucasians. Mattel has not, however, forgotten that there are other cultures and subcultures in the United States. Go to the Mattel website, www.mattel.com, and browse through the site before answering the following questions:

1. How has Barbie evolved over the last five decades?

While the vast majority of Barbie dolls still reflect white culture, the dolls have evolved to show other cultures. In looking at the Barbie Collectibles pages, for example, you will immediately see an Asian Barbie, and you will see a section entitled “World Culture” that highlights Barbies from around the world.

Barbie has also evolved over the years to hold many occupations, reflecting the fact that American women now work in all fields, including those once considered “for men only.”

Barbie does, then, show that cultures, subcultures, and lifestyles do change over the years, and marketers are wise to follow those changes.

2. What has Mattel done to try to expand its marketing to subcultures that might not appreciate the value of Barbie?

Mattel has developed “Flavas,” a hip-hop-themed fashion-doll brand that “celebrates today’s teen culture through authentic style, attitude, and value.” First, by targeting teens, Mattel is marketing to an age group that in the past was not noted for wanting dolls. And by adding in a hip-hop flavor (or flava, in teen lexicon), they are reaching out for girls who might have felt disenfranchised by their previous offerings. In their marketing of the new line, they use terms such as attitude, fearless self-expression, personality, and mood. This is clearly aimed at reaching teen girls’ deepest motivations as reflected in their purchasing.

Mattel also lists their toys in the categories of “Infants and Preschool,” “Girls,” “Boys,” and “Grown-ups and Parents.” This listing can be seen as just a simplified tool for searching for your desired product, but it can also be seen as appealing to age and lifestyle differences.

Classroom Management Strategies

This chapter has a tremendous amount of material. The consumer buying behavior, in particular, presents an incredible amount of information. And all of this information is key to understanding marketing. As in Chapter 3, it is helpful to tie in both sociological and psychological principles in discussing this chapter.

1. More than half the class should be spent on Consumer Markets and Consumer Buyer Behavior. A thorough understanding of this section will make the business part of this chapter that much easier to comprehend. It is divided up into first the “why” of buying and second the “how” of buying. The former is guaranteed to never have crossed the students’ mind prior to this, so lots of examples will help drive home the importance of understanding why people buy what they do. Using their own buying history helps, particularly when really drilling down into why they really choose the school they are attending, the clothes they are wearing, etc. The actual buying process can be illustrated through examples of buying something very complex, such as a computer or a car, and then something very simple, such as salt. The new product buying decision process is also covered, and several minutes should be spent on this topic.

2. The remaining third or so of this class will then be spent on Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior. Again, the section is divided into the “why” of buying, and then the “how”. There is also a discussion of the different market structure and demand characteristics of business markets. The terminology of the business buying is different, and you should be certain the students understand the differences between straight rebuy, modified rebuy and new tasks. Also, the buying process is more complex and more likely to be followed in practice, particularly for very expensive or very large purchases. Students will need to be aware of the eight steps in the business buying process as well as all of the participants in this process and the roles they play.

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Company and Marketing Strategy: Partnering to Build Customer Relationships

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 19:33:29 +0800

中国经济管理大学MBA 课堂笔记

中国经济管理大学

Company and Marketing Strategy:

Partnering to Build Customer Relationships

Previewing the Concepts—Chapter Objectives

1. Explain companywide strategic planning and its four steps.

2. Discuss how to design business portfolios and develop growth strategies.

3. Explain marketing’s role under the strategic planning and how marketing works with its partners to create and deliver customer value.

4. Describe the elements of a customer-driven marketing strategy and mix, and the forces that influence it.

5. List the marketing management functions, including the elements of a marketing plan.

Just the Basics

Chapter Overview

This chapter looks at steps two and three of the marketing process—designing customer- driven marketing strategies and constructing marketing programs. It begins with a discussion of companywide strategic planning, something many students probably don’t know even exists. But, as the chapter points out, marketing plans and programs are not developed in a vacuum. They must be a part of and consistent with the broader, overall strategic plans.

The text delves into strategic planning, and then goes on to discuss how marketing partners with other internal departments to ensure success in the marketplace. It also discusses how the marketing mix is developed out of the marketing strategy, and how marketing departments today are organized to manage the marketing effort.

Chapter Outline

1. Introduction

a. Walt Disney has long been defined by their theme parks and animated films.

b. Their theme parks are world-renowned, but the Disney story is much larger than that.

c. Disney owns or has a major stake in major television and radio networks; cable networks; television and movie production studios; magazine publishing groups; music labels; Internet groups; stores; and cruise lines.

d. Managing this portfolio of businesses has proven challenging during the recent economic downturn and fears of terrorism.

e. Keeping this portfolio of businesses growing profitably will take masterful strategic planning.

2. Companywide Strategic Planning: Defining Marketing’s Role

a. Strategic planning is the process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organization’s goals and capabilities and its changing marketing conditions.

b. Strategic planning is the basis for all of the rest of planning for the firm.

c. Companies typically develop several types of plans: annual, long-range, and strategic.

d. Annual and long-range plans focus on keeping their current businesses running.

e. Strategic plans focus on taking advantage of opportunities in the external environment, an environment that is constantly changing.

Applying the Concept

Have students break into groups of four to six to discuss what a likely strategy would be for attracting new students to their University. Have them develop a brief statement that describes the University’s fit between their goal of attracting the best students and their capabilities for then educating those students.

f. The company begins by defining its overall purpose and mission, which is outlined in Figure 2-1.

g. The mission is turned into objectives that should guide the entire company.

h. The best portfolio of businesses and products is defined based on the above.

i. Then each business develops its own plans in support of the corporate strategic plan.

Use Key Term Strategic Planning here.

Use Chapter Objectives 1 here.

Use Figure 2-1 here.

Defining a Market-Oriented Mission

j. Businesses may begin to drift as they grow larger. Management should ask the questions: What is our business? Who is the customer? Who do customers value? What should our business be?

k. These questions should be asked—and answered—frequently.

l. A mission statement is a statement of the organization’s purpose—what it wants to accomplish in the larger environment.

m. Mission statements should be market oriented, not focused on the product(s) the company produces.

n. This means that the mission should be defined in terms of satisfying basic human needs.

o. The mission should neither be too broad or too narrow; they should be realistic. They should fit the market environment. They should be based on distinctive competencies. They should be motivating.

Use Key Term Mission Statement here.

Use Table 2-1 here.

Use Under the Hood/Focus on Technology here.

Setting Company Objectives and Goals

p. The mission must then be developed into detailed objectives. Each manager should have objectives they are responsible for reaching.

q. Marketing strategies and programs are then developed to assist in meeting those objectives. The marketing strategies developed must be defined in greater detail, resulting in specific marketing programs.

Designing the Business Portfolio

r. A business portfolio is the collection of businesses and products that make up the company. The best business portfolio is one that matches the company’s strengths and weaknesses.

s. Business portfolios are planned in two steps:

1. The company analyzes their current businesses to decide which ones should receive more, less, or no investment.

2. Then the future portfolio is developed through strategies for growth and/or downsizing.

Use Key Term Business Portfolio here.

Use Chapter Objectives 2 here.

t. In portfolio analysis, each of the products and businesses making up the company is evaluated. Strong businesses and products should be supported, while weak ones should be phased down or dropped.

u. A strategic business unit (SBU) is a part of the company that can be planned independently from other company businesses.

v. The purpose of strategic planning is to find ways the company can match its strengths to opportunities in the environment.

w. The two most important portfolio analysis methods measure two dimensions—the attractiveness of the SBUs market or industry, and the strength of the SBUs position in that market or industry.

1. The Boston Consulting Group approach is the most well-known method of analysis.

a. In this method, the company’s businesses are defined according to a growth-share matrix (see Figure 2.2)

Use Key Terms Portfolio Analysis and Growth-Share Matrix here.

Use Figure 2-2 here.

Use Discussing the Issues 1 here.

b. The four types of SBUs are defined as follows:

1. Stars: high-growth, high-share businesses or products. These are expected to become Cash Cows.

2. Cash Cows: low growth, high-share businesses or products. They produce a lot of cash that the company uses to support SBUs that need investment.

3. Question Marks: low-share businesses in high-growth markets. They generally require a lot of cash, so management has to decide which ones to support and which should be shut down.

4. Dogs: low-growth, low-share businesses and products.

c. Once the SBUs are defined and classified in the matrix, the company has to decide what role each will play. There are four strategies that can be pursued:

1. The company can invest to build share.

2. The company can invest enough just to hold share.

3. The company can harvest, taking the cash for other uses.

4. The company can divest, or shut down the SBU.

d. SBUs and products can, and do, change their positions over time. The company must add new products and units all the time.

2. Matrix approaches have some limitations.

a. They are difficult and time-consuming. Defining and measuring market share and growth is especially difficult.

b. They also focus on what is happening today, rather than what should happen in the future.

c. They also can cause companies to go into areas unrelated to their strengths, simply because the market environment looks enticing.

3. Many companies today are decentralizing strategic planning, allowing cross-functional teams to do it.

x. In addition to analyzing current businesses, companies must focus on profitable growth through finding businesses and products the company should move into in the future.

y. Marketing is the function that identifies, evaluates and selects market opportunities, and develops strategies for going after them

z. A way of doing this is through the product/market expansion grid, shown in Figure 2-3.

1. Market penetration means making more sales to current customers, without changing your product(s).

2. Market development is identifying and developing new markets for current products.

3. Product development is when the company offers modified or new products to current markets.

4. Diversification means moving into both new markets and new products, perhaps by starting up or buying businesses.

Use Key Terms Product/Market Expansion Grid, Market Penetration, Market Development, Product Development and Diversification here.

Use Discussing the Issues 2 here.

Use Application Questions 1 here.

aa. Companies also need to be concerned with strategies for downsizing businesses.

1. Products can become unprofitable, or the firm could have moved into markets with which it is unfamiliar.

Use Key Term Downsizing here.

Use Figure 2-3 here.

Use Market at Work 2-1 here.

Strategic Planning and Small Business

bb. Not only large businesses benefit from strategic planning. Small businesses, especially start-ups, often ignore strategic planning once the business gets going.

cc. Strategic planning helps managers of small businesses anticipate changes in the internal or external environment, and then help prevent or handle them.

3. Planning Marketing: Partnering to Build Customer Relationships

a. Once strategic plans are in place, more detailed plans need to be developed.

b. Marketing is key to this additional planning activity:

1. It provides the guiding philosophy, which is the marketing concept.

2. It provides inputs to strategic planners in the areas of attractive market opportunities and analyzing the company’s capability for taking advantage of those opportunities.

3. Within the business units, marketing designs strategies for reaching each unit’s objectives.

c. Marketing must work with all internal departments and external partners to attract, keep, and grow customers.

d. Both customer relationship management and partner relationship management are important.

Use Key Term Partner Relationship Management here.

Use Chapter Objectives 3 here.

Partnering with Other Company Departments

e. Each company department is a link in the company’s value chain. That means that each department adds value in designing, producing, marketing, delivering, and supporting the company’s products.

Use Key Term Value Chain here.

Use Discussing the Issues 3 here.

f. Success depends on how well each department goes about adding value, and how well all the individual departments coordinate their work.

g. In reality, the myriad departments in a company can be in conflict.

1. Marketing takes the customer’s point of view, and works to increase customer satisfaction.

2. But that could cause other departments to do a poorer job, as they see their jobs to be defined.

3. Yet marketing is charged with getting everyone to “think customer.”

4. Therefore, each department needs to understand the others, so that everyone can work together to achieve the company’s objectives.

Partnering with Others in the Marketing System

h. The company should not solely focus on its own value chain; it needs to also partner with its suppliers, distributors, and customers.

i. Value-delivery networks are companies working together to improve their total performance.

j. Today, competition can largely take place between entire value-delivery networks, rather than individual competitors.

Use Key Term Value-Delivery Network here.

Use Speed Bump here.

Let’s Discuss This

Have the students describe the possible Value-Delivery Network for their favorite coffee shop or bar.

4. Marketing Strategy and the Marketing Mix

a. Figure 2-4 shows the major activities in managing marketing strategy and the marketing mix.

1. Consumers are in the center. Profitable customer relationships are the goal.

2. Marketing strategy is next—this is the broad logic under which the company attempts to develop profitable relationships.

3. Guided by the strategy, the company develops its marketing mix—product, price, place, and promotion.

Use Key Term Marketing Strategy here.

Use Figure 2-4 here.

Customer Centered Marketing Strategy

b. Marketing requires a deep understanding of customers.

c. There are many different kinds of consumers, and they exhibit many different kinds of needs. Companies cannot profitably serve them all.

d. To better define who they can serve, companies must divide up the total market. The three steps to do that are market segmentation, target marketing, and market positioning.

e. Market segmentation is the process of dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers with different needs, characteristics, or behavior who might require separate products or marketing programs.

1. A market segment is a group of consumers who respond in a similar way to a given set of marketing efforts.

Use Key Terms Market Segment, Market Segmentation, Target Marketing, and Market Positioning here.

Use Chapter Objectives 4 here.

f. Target marketing involves evaluating each market segment’s attractiveness, and then selecting one or more segments to enter.

1. A company should target those segments that will return the greatest profitability while generating the greatest customer value.

2. If there are limited resources, companies might want to pursue only one or a few special market niches.

a. Major competitors will oftentimes ignore or overlook small niches.

3. Other companies could serve related segments—these segments could have different kinds of customers but the customers have the same basic wants.

4. Large companies may go after all market segments with a broad range of products.

Let’s Discuss This

Briefly discuss how a new local Hip Hop radio station would develop a target market.

g. Market positioning is the development of a clear, distinctive and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of consumers.

1. To develop a market position, the company must identify competitive advantages it has; that is, where they offer greater value than do their competitors.

2. Effective positioning requires the company to actually deliver what it says it is delivering, and it must communicate the fact that it is delivering it.

Developing the Marketing Mix

h. The marketing mix is the set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market.

Use Key Term Marketing Mix here.

Use Figure 2-5 here.

i. The marketing mix is typically described as the “four Ps”: product, price, place, and promotion.

1. A product is the mixture of goods and services the company offers.

2. Price is what the consumer must pay for the product.

3. Place is the way the company makes the product available to customers.

4. Promotion is the set of activities that the company uses to communicate the value of their product to the marketplace and to persuade consumers to buy it.

j. Effective marketing programs combine all these elements in a way that allows the company to achieve its objectives by delivering value to consumers.

Use Discussing the Issues 4 here.

Use Application Questions 2 here.

k. However, the four Ps take an internal view, rather than looking externally, or viewing the company and its products from the buyer’s perspective.

l. From this perspective, the four Ps become the four Cs:

1. Product becomes Customer solution.

2. Price becomes Customer cost.

3. Place becomes Convenience.

4. Promotion becomes Communication.

Use Discussing the Issues 5 here.

5. Managing the Marketing Effort

a. Management of the marketing process is highly important.

b. Figure 2-6 shows the four important functions: analysis, planning, implementation, and control.

Marketing Analysis

c. Analysis should be performed to understand the markets and marketing environment the company faces; company strengths and weaknesses; and current and future marketing actions to understand which opportunities the company can pursue.

Marketing Planning

d. A detailed marketing plan has to be developed for each business, product or brand.

e. Table 2-2 shows the major sections of a marketing plan for a product or a brand.

Use Table 2-1 here.

Use Chapter Objectives 5 here.

Marketing Implementation

f. Marketing implementation turns plans into actions. It involves the activities that make the plans work.

g. Implementation requires the company to blend its people, organizational structure, decision and reward systems, and company culture in a way that supports its strategies.

Use Key Term Marketing Implementation here.

Use Figure 2-6 here.

Use Discussing the Issues 6 here.

Marketing Department Organization

h. The marketing organization must be designed such that it can carry out the strategies and plans that are developed.

i. In small companies, one person may perform all the marketing functions. In large companies, many specialists are found.

j. The functional organization is the most common form. This organizational form has the different activities headed by a functional specialist, such as sales, advertising, marketing research, etc.

k. A geographic organization might be utilized in a company that sells nationally or internationally.

l. A product management organization can be found in companies with many different products or brands.

m. A market or customer management organization is used in companies that sell one product to many different kinds of markets and customers.

n. Very large companies might utilize a combination of all these forms.

Marketing Control

o. Results of marketing strategies and plans need to be evaluated, and where necessary, corrective action should take place.

Use Key Term Marketing Control here.

Use Figure 2-7 here.

Use Application Questions 3 here.

p. Figure 2-7 outlines the control process, which includes the following:

1. Operating control checks the ongoing performance of the marketing programs against the annual plan.

a. If necessary, corrective action is taken.

b. The purpose is to ensure that the company sales, profits, and other goals are being met.

2. Strategic control looks at whether the company’s basic strategies are matched to its opportunities.

a. A major tool to use here is a marketing audit, which is a comprehensive examination of a company’s environment, objectives, strategies, and activities.

1. It covers all major marketing areas of a company, not just the problem areas.

Use Key Term Marketing Audit here.

Use Focus on Ethics here.

The Marketing Environment

q. Companies face a complex environment and uncontrollable forces in its marketing environment.

r. The environment contains both threats and opportunities.

s. The marketing environment includes internal company departments, as well as channel members, suppliers, competitors and publics.

t. It also includes macro forces such as demographic and economic, political and legal, technological and ecological, and social and cultural.

Travel Log

Discussing the Issues

1. Four steps are identified in the strategic planning process. Why are they arranged in this order? What consequences might a company experience if one of the steps was performed out of order? What should be the role of marketing in the strategic planning process?

The steps in the strategic planning process are (1) defining the company’s mission, (2) setting objectives and goals, (3) designing a business portfolio, and (4) developing functional plans. They are arranged in this order because one step leads to the next. For example, the mission provides guidance for the objectives. If done out of order, the potential exists for a lack of consistency to exist in the planning process. One of marketing’s roles in the planning process is to represent the voice of the customer in terms of their needs.

2. How can the BCG growth-share matrix be used to assess both the current product portfolio and plan for the future? What limitations does portfolio analysis have? Discuss how a product/market expansion grid can aid companies in identifying profitable growth opportunities.

Portfolios allow for managers to examine their current situation and then project the probability for the various SBUs to move to different quadrants of the portfolio. In this way the future of the organization can be examined. However, these portfolios are typically used more for understanding the current situation. In terms of limitations, portfolios can be difficult, time-consuming, and costly to implement. Also, management may find it difficult to define SBUs and measure market share and growth. Future growth opportunities are understood as managers look to assign a role to each SBU in the classification matrix.

3. Discuss the concept of the value chain. Is it true that the value chain is only as strong as its weakest link? Explain why or why not. How can partnering with other organizations to form a value-delivery network further strengthen a firm’s performance?

Each department in an organization carries out value-creating activities to design, produce, market, deliver, and support the firm’s products. The sum of these departments is the value chain. The firm's success depends not only on how well each department performs its work but also on how well the activities of various departments are coordinated. Thus, it is only as strong as its weakest link. At times, outside organizations may be able to form a stronger link in the chain than an internal department. Activities outsourced to these organizations can strengthen the chain.

4. Discuss the differences between the following terms: market segmentation, target marketing, and market positioning.

The process of dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers with different needs, characteristics, or behavior who might require separate products or marketing programs is called market segmentation. Target marketing involves evaluating each market segment’s attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter. After a company has decided which market segments to enter, it must decide what positions it wants to occupy in those segments. A product’s position is the place the product occupies relative to competitors in consumers’ minds.

5. Discuss the various activities encompassed by each of the four Ps. What insight might a firm develop by considering the four Cs, instead of the four Ps?

Figure 2-5 provides guidance for the first part of this question. Customer solution, Customer cost, Convenience, Communication are the four Cs. They provide a customer oriented view of marketing activities. The four Ps can then be used to satisfy the four Cs.

6. What role does analysis, planning, implementation, and control have in managing the marketing process? How are these four marketing management functions related to one another?

The company first develops companywide strategic plans, then translates them into marketing and other plans for each division, product, and brand. Through implementation, the company turns the plans into actions. Control consists of measuring and evaluating the results of marketing activities and taking corrective action where needed. Finally, marketing analysis provides information and evaluations needed for all of the other marketing activities.

Application Questions

1. The product/market expansion grid can be useful in identifying growth opportunities for companies through market penetration, product development, market development, and diversification. Consider a food retailer like Subway, which makes sandwiches and offers chips and drinks. Think creatively to describe four growth opportunities for Subway that fit into each of the four product/market expansion grid cells.

Responses to this question will vary for students. Instructors can use this question to illustrate the use of the product/market expansion grid for identifying company growth opportunities.

2. Propel is a new lightly flavored, vitamin enhanced “fitness” water from the maker of Gatorade. It comes in flavors such as berry, black cherry, and kiwi-strawberry. Describe the likely target market for this beverage. How should this beverage be positioned relative to competitive products such as sports drinks, bottled water, orange juice, and milk?

Student responses will vary. This question is useful for understanding target market selection and how the positioning of the brand must fit with the selected target market.

3. Nike has recently entered the golf market with a line of clubs, balls, bags, footwear, and clothing. Most visibly, Nike has enlisted the services of Tiger Woods to promote its golf products. Discuss the four step marketing control process as it would apply to Nike’s evaluation of Tiger Woods as its celebrity endorser.

The control process consists of setting goals, measuring performance against those goals, evaluating performance, and taking corrective action if needed. It is interesting to get students to think about what types of goals Nike may have for this celebrity endorser. Further, once students come up with some goals, it is instrumental for students to consider how they will know if the goal is achieved (i.e., what kind of data will they review and where will that data come from).

Under the Hood/Focus on Technology

In order to improve 911 emergency services, the FCC has put forth guidelines that require cell phone carriers to be able to establish subscribers’ locations within 100 meters by the end of 2005. Two different approaches are being considered by wireless carriers. One uses phones with built-in GPS chips, while the other uses triangulation between three or more cell towers to pinpoint a caller’s location. This technology, already in use in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Helsinki, has drawn the interest of marketers who envision other uses such as sending promotional offers to customers as they walk past their store. In the beginning, the technology will likely be used to give subscribers directions to particular stores.

1. In a small group, brainstorm potential marketing uses for this technology other than those discussed above.

Responses will vary to this question. Instructors should encourage the students to be creative and think beyond current technological limitations.

2. Assume you are a member of a cell phone carrier’s marketing team selling this technology to retailers. Develop both a product-oriented and a market-oriented mission statement for the company.

Responses will vary.

3. What limitations does the product-oriented mission statement have that the market-oriented statement overcomes?

Use this question to highlight the benefits of a market-oriented mission statement.

Focus on Ethics

High profile scandals involving companies such as Enron and WorldCom have renewed interest in understanding how such debacles might be avoided. Corporate accountability is the new theme for concerned investors and politicians. Many agree that the culture of an organization influences the ethical and socially responsible behavior of its employees.

1. Discuss the role that a company’s mission statement can have in encouraging ethical corporate behavior.

Instructors might discuss how a mission statement can be used to set the tone for the entire organization, in terms of acceptable employee behavior.

2. As more firms partner with suppliers, distributors, and even customers to improve their value delivery network, what challenges exist for monitoring and encouraging responsible decision making among the entire value delivery network? What can be done to address these challenges?

Use the four step control process as a way to illustrate how goals associated with partnering firms can be evaluated just like internal goals.

3. What function does a marketing audit play in avoiding scandals?

A thorough and timely audit can discourage unethical behavior by making it more likely that those performing unethical activities will be discovered. In this way it acts as a deterrent. Also, the audit can uncover misdeeds early and then steps can be taken to mitigate the damage before it gets to big.

Great Ideas

Barriers to Effective Learning

1. Students will largely be unfamiliar with strategic planning and its concepts and objectives. Making this come alive with the examples in the textbook, or your own examples from your own experience, will help them deal with the complex issues in this section.

2. Working through a mission statement for the marketing department of your University, or for the business college within which it exists, may give the students a greater appreciation for the difficulty and importance of defining a mission that lives and breathes life into the objectives that follow.

3. The Boston Consulting Group’s portfolio analysis tool can also be difficult to understand. Again, working through examples with companies the students should be familiar with will aid understanding.

4. University business courses rarely talk about cross-functional team work, so this may come as a surprise to students. If they have worked in internships with large companies, they may well have seen functional silos at work, and their coursework only serves to reinforce that mentality. Examples of companies failing because of a lack of team work—which can happen frequently at small companies in particular—will open many students’ eyes to the importance of ensuring that all functions work in concert to make the company a success.

5. Value chains and supply chains are important concepts that also are typically not discussed in other courses. Getting students to understand these concepts is important for their understanding of the remainder of the course. Showing how sloppy quality in a component purchased from a vendor ultimately affects customer satisfaction will help.

6. Market segmentation and targeting is universally a new concept to students, unless they happen to have a parent who works in marketing. Although this is discussed in detail in a future chapter, showing how a large, amorphous market can be broken down in more and more detailed groups of buyers will help. Drawing Venn diagrams, or a large box turned into a matrix of buying groups is a good visual way of doing this.

7. Market positioning can be difficult to understand as well. Students will normally think of a product in terms of its features, and although positioning includes the features, it also spans the concepts of benefits and perceptions. Using examples of brands at opposite ends of a price continuum, such as Rolex versus Timex watches, helps drive home what positioning means.

8. The section “Managing the Marketing Effort” will appeal to students who are more analytical; they will find this easy to understand. The more creative types in class will yawn their way through this section, but it is critical that they understand that marketing is not all about creative ideas. Implementation, control and measurement are just as important as the “big idea.” And without it, there is no way to know if the “big idea” is big at all.

Student Projects

1. Many companies are spending time reviewing their mission statements. Discuss the major reasons for this increased concern with the mission for the corporation.

2. What is the relationship between the corporate strategy and the strategies for the businesses that comprise the corporate portfolio?

3. Develop an outline of how you would explain marketing strategy to an entrepreneur who is starting a new business.

Classroom Exercise/Homework Assignment

Amazon.com is a highly successful Internet-based company that is described at the beginning of Chapter 1. According to the FAQs on its website, Amazon’s mission is as follows: “Our vision is to be earth’s most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.” In class or as a homework assignment, have the students discuss what this mission/vision statement means in terms of its business portfolio, marketing strategy, and marketing mix.

1. How has the Amazon.com mission and vision statement been implemented as a marketing strategy?

Anyone who has ever purchased anything from Amazon.com will know about its “recommendations” section, in which Amazon utilizes technology to determine what further products each individual customer might like, based on past purchases. This serves to increase “share of customer,” and can make the customer feel as if s/he is special to Amazon; these qualities pretty much define “customer centric.”

In addition, Amazon continues to add products to its mix. Although not always successful, it shows that the company is clearly focused on helping their customers “find and discover anything they want.”

2. How might Amazon describe their marketing mix?

Clearly, Amazon wants its “product” to be just about everything anyone could ever want to buy. The “price” tends to be lower than many stores. The “place” is the most convenient there is—the customer’s living room, or wherever their computer resides. As far as “promotion” is concerned, Amazon used to advertise, but now they seem to be relying on “word of mouth.” Their “recommendations” for existing customers can also be considered part of their promotion, because it is communication directly with each individual customer, and keeps them coming back for more.

3. How might Amazon control their marketing programs and analyze results?

Some of the primary measures Amazon might look at would be average customer purchase; the mix of products customers purchase; the amount of time between purchases; as well as the normal measures of total sales and profit growth. The measures utilized should be based on the company’s mission statement of being customer centered and allowing customers to “find anything they want.”

Classroom Management Strategies

This chapter starts outlining some fairly difficult subjects for students. Strategic planning, growth-share matrices, and even the development of the marketing mix are relatively tough concepts for a second chapter in a beginning marketing text. Therefore, when planning how to present the material, be sure to leave plenty of time to go through at least some of the Applying the Concepts, as well as defining what the Key Terms really mean in the workaday world. Several of the concepts presented in this chapter become important later in the text, and if the students come away understanding this chapter, they will have an easier time later in the semester.

1. Companywide Strategic Planning can be covered in about 15 minutes. Focus on the “thread” that ties together the corporate strategic plan, corporate and business unit objectives, and the business or product portfolio. This last topic should be prominent in the discussion, as it sets the stage for later discussions of new product development.

2. The second major section of the chapter, Planning Marketing, can be covered in 5 minutes. Although important, and it will also inform later topics in the text, it does not need to have the same level of focus as the other topics in this chapter.

3. The next section, Marketing Strategy, is extremely important; 20 minutes should be devoted to this topic. In particular, ensuring the students understand the true meaning of developing an intelligent marketing mix will set the stage for such later topics as integrated marketing communications, because they will already have thought about how different components of a plan should work together.

4. Finally, 20 minutes should also be devoted to Managing the Marketing Effort. This section should really drive home the notion that marketing isn’t just a creative endeavor. For instance, under marketing analysis as well as understanding the marketing environment, you can point out how these topics are a big part of what market research is all about.

中国经济管理大学

中国经济管理大学官网：www.eauc.hk 中国经济管理大学 MBA公益课堂

中国经济管理大学 MOOC（慕课站）美华管理传播网：www.mhjy.net

学习:香港特区政府《香港第一个五年规划》+2026年《施政报告》

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 09:58:16 +0800

学习:香港特区政府《香港第一个五年规划》+2026年《施政报告》

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

在国家“十五五”规划开局之年，香港首次制定五年规划，是特区政府坚持和完善行政主导、提升治理效能的重大举措，也是主动对接国家发展战略、更好融入和服务国家发展大局的谋划需要。

香港特区行政长官李家超表示，香港的第一份五年规划意义重大，不单是香港更好把握国家机遇和国际机遇双重叠加优势的行动部署，更是提升市民福祉的持续路径。通过五年规划，香港的发展方向将更加清晰，资源配置更加有效，社会预期更加稳定，市民福祉和各地投资者利益得到更充分的保障，香港将成为世界上更具吸引力、更具活力和更充满机遇的国际都会。

《香港第一个五年规划》下，香港会聚焦强化四大中心、人才集聚高地建设，巩固提升国际竞争优势；加快北部都会区（北都）建设以引领空间格局优化；深化粤港澳大湾区建设和搭建全球合作网络；切实提升民生福祉并完善民生保障体系；以及统筹发展和安全及提升公共治理效能。

《香港第一个五年规划》共制定105个指标，涵盖不同范围，包括22个载于第一篇的主要指标，以及57和26个分别列于各专栏和章节内文的工作指标。

未来五年，香港将会持续巩固提升“四中心、一高地”，即巩固提升国际金融中心、国际航运中心和国际航空枢纽、国际贸易中心地位，并加快建设国际创新科技中心，打造国际高端人才集聚高地，吸引全球资金、人才、企业汇聚香港。

巩固提升国际金融中心方面，香港会强化作为全球离岸人民币业务枢纽、国际资产及财富管理中心、国际风险管理中心的功能，优化股票和债券市场，构建大宗商品交易生态圈，并推进以金融服务实体经济。

在国际航运中心方面，香港会“稳箱量、增价值、强协同”，推进香港港口从“吨位大港”转型升级为“价值港”，构建高增值海运服务生态圈。为提升国际航空枢纽地位，香港会深度参与国家航空网络发展，持续开拓新航线，并打造具国际竞争力的航空产业生态圈及低空创新应用亚太区枢纽。

香港作为国际贸易中心，会继续坚持奉行自由贸易、维持零关税，支持以规则为本的多边贸易制度。香港会持续拓展国际经贸网络，构建高增值供应链服务中心，并持续推进《内地与香港关于建立更紧密经贸关系的安排》全面升级，以及发展数字贸易和跨境电子商贸。

建设国际创新科技中心方面，香港将全速构建“三大创科园区、五大研发机构”新格局。河套深港科技创新合作区香港园区和新田科技城、科学园、数码港将形成香港“北中南”三大创科园区发展格局。五大研发机构——香港生产力促进局、香港应用科技研究院、香港微电子研发院、香港人工智能研发院及生命健康研发院将瞄准国家和香港战略前沿科技核心领域，完善香港公营研究体系布局，提升香港创科体系效能。香港会推进新型工业化，促进传统产业升级转型、壮大新兴产业、布局未来产业。香港亦会建设成为国际医疗创新枢纽，深化药械监管改革，建设完善的临床试验基础设施及数码化平台，培育本地医疗创新人才。

为打造国际高端人才集聚高地，香港会推进教育、科技、人才一体化发展，围绕科技创新和产业发展，培育和引进配合国家战略需求的人才，并打造“留学香港”品牌，吸引非本地人才扎根香港。

香港会持续发挥国际化优势。香港会深化国际法律及解决争议服务中心建设，善用在“一国两制”下实行普通法的独特优势，打造高端法治人才集聚高地和全球调解之都；发展区域知识产权贸易中心，构建知识产权贸易生态圈；建设中外文化艺术交流中心，深化文体旅协同发展，发展多元文艺创意产业，发展体育普及化、精英化、盛事化、专业化、产业化，并打造“一程多站”示范核心区。

北都是香港发展新质生产力的新引擎，更是香港深度参与粤港澳大湾区建设、主动融入和服务国家发展大局的主平台。北都发展会以北都大学城、创科、产业和宜居宜业宜游为目标，通过“规划主导、基建先行、产业带动、以人为本”，构建幸福、活力、创新的大都会。特区政府会以“一城五元素”，即教育、科技、产业、人才和城市建设为发展理念，建设新田、洪水桥、打鼓岭三个大学城，每个大学城内包含校园区、科技区、产业区和生活社区，汇聚人才发展。新田大学城区会以医学、生命健康科技、人工智能、机械人、微电子和新兴产业发展作定位，成为未来香港创科产业发展的心脏地带。洪水桥大学城会以智能制造应用型专上教育及国际化人才培育中心作定位，发展多元产业。打鼓岭大学城将融入艺术和蓝绿发展元素，并预留战略发展空间支持未来不同产业的发展需要。

香港会继续深度参与粤港澳大湾区建设。香港会持续推进基础建设“硬联通”，包括推展跨境铁路项目；深化规则机制“软联通”，促进粤港澳大湾区专业资格互认，便利要素跨境流动；并实现粤港澳三地居民“心联通”，包括推动医疗、养老、环保、文体旅等方面的协作，将粤港澳大湾区建设为具有全球影响力的国际一流湾区。同时，香港会继续深化国际交往合作，发挥国际城市优势，积极参与国际组织事务，并深度参与高质量共建“一带一路”，搭建全球合作网络。

提升民生福祉是特区政府施政的最终目标。《香港第一个五年规划》的民生专篇为教育、青年、妇女、和谐共融社会、医疗、房屋、加强支援弱势社群、劳工保障、安老、绿色转型等民生范畴提出清晰的策略性发展方向，不断增进市民的获得感、幸福感、安全感，让市民在国家和香港高质量发展中共享成果。

《香港第一个五年规划》明确建立“五年规划统领、年度施政落实、财政预算支持、年度述职汇报”机制，厘定分工，务实推进各项相关工作，并定期对五年规划实施情况进行监测和评估，按实际情况调整。

李家超总结说，特区政府会坚持以民为本，不懈努力，持续深耕民生建设，不断发展经济，建设一个更开放、更包容、更自由、更繁荣、更安全的香港。

中国经济管理大学

中国经济管理大学官网：www.eauc.hk 中国经济管理大学 MBA公益课堂

中国经济管理大学 MOOC（慕课站）美华管理传播网：www.mhjy.net

香港有何魅力？听听金融人才怎么说

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 08:12:45 +0800

香港有何魅力？听听金融人才怎么说

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

来自荷兰的金融机构策略副总裁Lodewijk Vriens（罗德伟）认为，香港能将一切加速。

他从管理培训生起步，在职场生涯和越野跑赛事中贯彻追求个人最佳表现，完美契合这亚洲顶尖人才枢纽的蓬勃活力。

身为超级马拉松冠军及“时间管理达人”，Lodewijk 觉得香港独特的城绿相邻环境是平衡工作与生活的关键。宁静的大自然与闹市中的办公室近在咫尺，可省却通勤时间，让他在清晨到郊野跑步及带爱犬散步后，从容地到中环投入繁忙的工作。

香港，一个充满机遇的城市，让你在追求事业高峰同时，也能拥抱理想生活。

中国经济管理大学

中国经济管理大学官网：www.eauc.hk 中国经济管理大学 MBA公益课堂

中国经济管理大学 MOOC（慕课站）美华管理传播网：www.mhjy.net

中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记：菲利普科特勒《市场营销原理与实践》：定价：理解和获得顾客价值

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 14:35:28 +0800

菲利普科特勒《市场营销原理与实践》全新版

定价：理解和获得顾客价值

直复、网络、社交媒体和移动营销

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

定价：理解和获得顾客价值

引例

亚马逊对阵沃尔玛：为争夺网上霸权的价格战

概要

不到十年前，没有人认为亚马逊有一天会给沃尔玛带来麻烦。但如今，亚马逊是一家年营收达1070亿美元的公司。然而，沃尔玛的销售额是亚马逊的4.5倍，达到4820亿美元。然而，亚马逊在过去四年里的收益每年以20%甚至更快的速度迅猛，而沃尔玛在同一时期的增长基本持平。亚马逊已经在削减沃尔玛的销售额。而且，如果这种速度持续下去，亚马逊可能最终会取代零售业之王的宝座。战争的中心是价格。虽然在这场猫捉老鼠的游戏中，低价可能最终宣布赢家，但双方也需要特别小心，以免做得过火。不计后果的降价对两家公司来说弊大于利。在这个过程中，两家公司都在努力寻找其他方法来超越对方，比如个性化服务和送货选项。亚马逊似乎在这一领域占了上风，但沃尔玛通过大力投资其配送网络，并将其线上和线下运营的优势结合起来，取得了长足进展。胜利者将不得不做的不仅仅是提供最低的价格。选择、方便和购买体验将是赢得网上销售的关键。

讨论目标

用10分钟的时间对开篇的亚马逊对阵沃尔玛的故事进行重点讨论，会让学生们明白，一个合适的价格/价值等式会让顾客感到真实，并产生强劲的销售和利润。沃尔玛和亚马逊都非常注重价格来吸引顾客。然而，这两家公司在如何利用定价为顾客提供价值方面并不相同。沃尔玛推出的“天天低价”的口号是“省钱，生活更美好”。亚马逊网站不仅提供产品的价格信息，还提供产品信息、购买后的产品评论和替代产品解决方案。由于人们定义价值的方式不同，这两家公司设计了针对目标顾客的方法，并利用了这些差异。

开始讨论

首先问学生们对亚马逊和沃尔玛了解多少，以及他们与这两家巨头的经历与开场故事的描述如何契合。接下来，通过访问他们的网站www.amazon.com和www.walmart.com，让学生对每个公司有一个感受。你也可以在www.YouTube.com上输入公司名称，然后查看他们的一些视频。一旦你掌握了每家公司线上体验的精髓，你就可以探索两家公司之间的竞争。

讨论问题

对亚马逊和沃尔玛来说，更重要的是拥有更低的价格，还是感知更低的价格?(正如杰克·特劳特著名的名言所说:“没有最好的产品。”在市场营销的世界中存在的一切都是顾客或潜在顾客头脑中的感知。感知就是现实。其他一切都是幻觉。在很大程度上，这是正确的。虽然在某种程度上现实和感知之间存在关联，但消费者不会根据与他们的感知不相符的现实做出决定。
亚马逊和沃尔玛都采用了什么定价策略?他们使用相同的吗?他们的策略在哪些方面匹配，在哪些方面不同?在讨论亚马逊和沃尔玛的定价策略时，请查看图10.1和10.2。(在为这些公司定价时，产品成本是否比消费者对价值的认知更重要?或者不是呢?请解释以下。)

3. 在争夺网络主导地位的战斗中，低价到底有多重要?亚马逊和沃尔玛各自带来的其他好处有多重要?(在今天这个购物应用程序支持价格购物的世界里，拥有最低的价格似乎是必不可少的。然而，零售业目前的趋势是提供全方位的选择，并提供从任何一种到另一种的无缝过渡。正如该案例所指出的，沃尔玛在开发和提供更多购买(和退货)产品的方式方面具有优势，因为它的门店遍布各地。如果沃尔玛能在每个门店都开发出可靠的送货服务，它就能承诺当天送货，这是亚马逊一直无法做到的。然而，亚马逊拥有无穷无尽的库存和可以在创纪录的时间内挑选、包装和运输产品的物流系统。此外，它与UPS等物流公司的关系要牢固得多，并建立了一个无缝流程，包裹从其配送中心直接转运到UPS的飞机上。)

概览

成功地通过其他营销组合活动创造顾客价值的公司必须在他们得到的价格中抓住这种价值。

本章阐述了定价的重要性，探讨了三种主要的定价策略，以及影响定价决策的内部和外部因素。

如今，企业面临着激烈而快速变化的定价环境。寻求价值的顾客给许多公司带来了更大的定价压力。然而，降价往往不是最好的解决办法。无论经济状况如何，公司应该出售价值，而不是价格。

目标

1. 回答“什么是价格”，价格在如今快速变化的环境中有何重要性。

2. 识别三种主要的定价策略，并讨论在定价时理解顾客价值感知、公司成本和竞争对手战略的重要性。

3. 识别和定义影响公司定价决策的其他内外部因素。

讲义

导入

不到15年前，没有人认为亚马逊有一天会给沃尔玛带来麻烦。如今，亚马逊是一家年营收达1070亿美元的公司。沃尔玛仍以4820亿美元的价格领先约4.5倍。

但考虑到亚马逊一直在以两位数的速度增长——过去四年里每年增长20%。另一方面，沃尔玛的同期增长则持平。亚马逊已经在削减沃尔玛的销售额。如果这种速度持续下去，亚马逊可能最终会取代沃尔玛“零售业之王”的宝座。

战争的中心是价格。虽然在这场猫捉老鼠的游戏中，低价可能最终宣布获胜，但双方也需要特别小心，以免做得过火。不计后果的降价对两家公司来说弊大于利。

在这个过程中，两家公司都在努力寻找其他方法来超越对方，比如个性化服务和送货选项。亚马逊似乎在这一领域占了上风，但沃尔玛通过大力投资其运输网络，并将其线上和线下运营的优势结合起来，取得了长足进展。胜利者将不得不做的不仅仅是提供最低的价格。选择、方便和购买体验将是赢得线上销售的关键。

Ø 开场问题

1. 对亚马逊和沃尔玛来说，更低的价格和更低的价格感知哪个更重要?

2. 这两家公司使用什么定价策略?他们使用的策略是相同的吗?为什么或为什么不?

3.在争夺线上主导地位的战斗中，低价到底有多重要?亚马逊和沃尔玛各自带来的其他好处有多重要?

“什么是价格”，价格在如今快速变化的环境中有何重要性。

什么是价格？

狭义上说，价格（price）是为产品或服务收取的货币总额。

广义上说，价格是顾客为获得、拥有或使用某种产品或服务的利益而支付的价值。

定价是营销组合中唯一创造收益的要素。

定价是最灵活的市场营销要素之一。

回顾学习目标1：回答“什么是价格”，价格在如今快速变化的环境中有何重要性。

识别三种主要的定价策略，并讨论在定价时理解顾客价值感知、公司成本和竞争对手战略的重要性。

主要的定价战略

图10.1 总结了制定价格需要考虑的主要因素。

基于顾客价值的定价

产品价格是否合适，最终由顾客决定。

基于顾客价值的定价（customer value-based pricing）运用顾客的价值感知，而不是卖方的成本，作为定价的关键，

在制定市场营销方案之前，市场营销者就应该全面考虑营销组合变量，包括定价。

以成本为基础的定价通常是产品导向的。

基于价值的定价方法与以上过程截然相反。公司首先评价顾客的需要和价值感知，然后根据顾客的感知价值制定目标价格。

两种基于价值的定价方法是高价值定价和价值增值定价。

高价值定价（good-value pricing）战略是以公平的价格提供优质产品和服务的恰当组合。

天天低价指日常的价格很低，但很少或没有临时的价格折扣。

高低定价（high-low pricing）指平常收取较高的价格，但是经常选择性地对某些产品暂时低价促销。

价值增值定价

价值增值定价（value-added pricing）战略是通过增添提高价值的属性和服务，使产品或服务差异化，进而维持高于平均水平的价格。

基于成本的定价

基于成本的定价（cost-based pricing）指在生产、分销和销售产品的成本基础上，加上目标回报率来制定价格。成本是公司定价战略中的重要因素。

成本类型

固定成本（fixed cost）是不随产量或销售量的变化而变化的成本。

变动成本（variable cost）指随着生产水平而直接变化的成本。之所以称作变动成本，是因为它们的总量随着产量而变化。

总成本（total cost）是一定生产水平下固定成本与变动成本的总和。

不同生产水平下的成本

为了明智地定价，管理者必须清楚公司在不同生产水平下的成本情况。

图10-3（a）表示典型的短期平均成本曲线（SRAC）。

图10-3（a）表示长期平均成本曲线（LRAC）。

生产经验与成本函数

随着不断积累的生产经验，平均成本下降，示意图如图10-4 所示。随着生产经验积累，平均成本不断下降，这种现象称作经验曲线（experience curve，或者学习曲线（learning curve））。

一心一意地致力于降低成本和利用经验曲线并不总能生效。不断降价可能在市场上造成产品廉价的形象。

最后，当公司在一种技术下增加产量，即按传统经验曲线经营时，竞争者可能找到成本更低的技术，并借此以更低的价格进入市场。

成本加成定价

成本加成定价（cost-plus pricing）或者加成定价（markup pricing）是最简单的定价方法，指在产品成本上加一个标准的加成。

成本加成定价有效吗？一般来说无效。

成本加成定价由于一些原因仍然受到欢迎：

1. 与需求相比，卖者对成本信息更有把握。

2. 如果行业中所有的企业都运用这一定价方法的话，市场价格会倾向于一致，价格竞争的可能性最小。

3. 许多人感到成本加成定价对买者和卖者都更加公平。

盈亏平衡分析和目标利润定价

另一种成本导向的定价方法是盈亏平衡定价法（break-even pricing），或者一种称为目标利润定价法（target return pricing）的变化形式。企业试图找到使其盈亏平衡或者在制造和营销产品的成本基础上实现期望回报目标的价格。

目标利润定价法运用了盈亏平衡图的概念，反映不同销售量水平下总成本与总收益的关系。图10-5 是前面讨论的那家烤面包机制造商的盈亏平衡图。

制造商应该考虑不同的价格，估计不同价格下的盈亏平衡产量、可能的需求量和利润水平，如表10-1 所示。

Ø 作业，资源

基于竞争的定价（competition-based pricing）涉及根据竞争者的战略、成本、价格，以及产品和服务制定价格。

消费者往往根据竞争性产品的价格来判断一种产品的价值。

无论你制定什么价格——高、低或者适中——务必在这个价格水平上为顾客提供更多的价值。

回顾学习目标2：识别三种主要的定价策略，并讨论在定价时理解顾客价值感知、公司成本和竞争对手战略的重要性。

识别和定义影响公司定价决策的其他内外部因素。

影响定价决策的其他内外部因素

整体市场营销战略、营销目标和营销组合

公司在制定价格之前，必须为产品或服务确定其整体市场营销战略。定价策略很大程度上是由市场定位决定的。

价格只是公司用来实现其营销目标的营销组合工具中的一种。

定价决策应该与产品设计、分销和促销决策相互协调，形成一致而有效的整体营销方案。

公司常常根据价格为产品定位，然后设计其他市场营销组合策略。

目标成本法先确定一个以顾客感知价值为基础的理想售价，然后以与价格相匹配为目标确定成本。

一些公司不那么强调价格，而是运用其他市场营销组合工具来建立非价格定位。

组织因素

在小公司里，价格常常由最高管理层而非营销或销售部门决定。

在大公司里，定价工作通常由分部经理或产品经理负责。

在组织市场中，销售人员有权在一定的价格范围内与顾客协商价格。

在那些定价是关键要素的行业（如航空、钢铁、铁路、石油），公司往往设立专门的定价部门来制定最佳价格，或者帮助其他部门制定价格。

市场和需求

不同市场类型中的定价

完全竞争：市场中有众多的买者和卖者，他们交换同质的商品。单个买者或卖者都不能对流行的市场价格产生影响。

在完全竞争的市场中，市场营销研究、产品开发、定价广告和促销几乎不起作用。所以，在这样的市场中，卖者不会在市场营销战略上花费多少时间。

垄断竞争：市场由许多按不同价格而非单一价格交易的买者和卖者构成。之所以存在多种价格，是因为卖者可以使其为买者提供的产品或服务差异化。由于存在众多竞争者，每一家企业受竞争者价格策略影响的程度低于寡头市场。

寡头竞争：市场上只有少数大型卖者，每一个卖者都对竞争对手的定价策略高度警觉和迅速反应。

因为新卖者很难进入市场，市场上的卖家很少。

完全垄断：市场上只有一个卖者。它可能是政府垄断、私有限制性垄断或私有非限制性垄断。

分析价格 - 需求关系

企业设定的价格与其导致的需求水平之间的关系可以用需求曲线来表示（见图10-6）。

在正常的情况下，需求和价格呈反向关系；也就是说，价格越高，需求量越低。

在垄断市场中，需求曲线表示不同价格造成不同的市场总需求量。

如果公司存在竞争对手，不同价格水平上的需求量，将受到竞争者价格变动的影响。

需求的价格弹性

需求价格弹性（price elasticity）即需求对价格变化的反应。

如果价格小幅的变化几乎没有引起需求变动，我们说需求是缺乏弹性的；如果需求变动很大，就说需求是富有弹性的。

当他们购买的产品是独一无二的，或者是高质量、高声望或高排他性的时候；当替代品很难找到或无法轻易比较替代品的质量时;当一种产品的总支出相对于他们的收入较低，或者成本由另一方分担时，购买者对价格就不那么敏感。

如果需求富有弹性，卖者会考虑降低售价。较低的价格能够产生更高的总收益。

经济条件

经济条件对企业的定价策略有强烈的影响。

诸如繁荣或衰退、通货膨胀和利率等经济因素之所以会影响定价决策，是因为它们既影响消费者对产品价格和价值的感知，也影响产品的制造成本。

在经济衰退之后，许多消费者重新思考价格-价值等式。

其他外部因素

企业还必须考虑了解其价格可能对其他环境力量产生的影响，例如中间商和政府。

公司还需要考虑社会舆论。

回顾学习目标3：识别和定义影响公司定价决策的其他内外部因素。

讨论问题

10-1 为什么制定和执行恰当的定价决策对企业的成功至关重要？(AACSB:沟通)

答案：

定价是营销组合中唯一与收益直接相关的要素；其他营销组合要素都意味着成本。定价还是最灵活的市场营销要素之一。与产品特征和渠道投入不同，公司可以迅速地改变价格。但制定合适的价格却是许多营销经理遇到的最重要而且最棘手的问题，不少公司无法妥善地处理定价问题。

但是，明智的管理者将定价视为创造和获得顾客价值的重要工具。价格直接影响着公司的底线。价格很小比例的提升都可能大幅增加盈利。更重要的是，作为公司整体价值主张的一部分，价格在创造顾客价值和建立顾客关系中发挥着关键作用。因此，精明的营销人员不再回避定价，而是将其视为一项重要的竞争资产。

µ 10-2 说出并解释两种类型的基于价值的定价方法。(AACSB:沟通)

答案：学生的回答会根据个人的反应而有所不同。请参考MyLab，从而更好地分配此问题，请将所有带星号标记的MyLab问题分配给学生讨论。

10-3 什么是基于成本的定价？企业在基于成本的定价模式中如何运用固定成本和变动成本？(AACSB:沟通)

答案：

基于成本的定价（cost-based pricing）指在生产、分销和销售产品的成本基础上，加上目标回报率来制定价格。成本是公司定价战略中的重要因素。

公司的成本有两种形式。固定成本（f ixed cost）是不随产量或销售量的变化而变化的成本。例如，不论产出水平如何，公司都必须每月支付租金、能源费用、利息和工资。变动成本（variable cost）指随着生产水平而直接变化的成本。三星生产的每台个人电脑都包括芯片、电线、塑料、包装和其他投入。对于企业所生产的每件产品而言，这些成本是相同的，之所以称作变动成本，是因为它们的总量随着产量而变化。总成本（total cost）是一定生产水平下固定成本与变动成本的总和。

µ 10-4 解释价格-需求关系。卖者在不同类型的市场中设定价格时需要考虑哪些因素？(AACSB:沟通)

答案：学生的回答会根据个人的反应而有所不同。请参考MyLab，从而更好地分配此问题，请将所有带星号标记的MyLab问题分配给学生讨论。

10-5 定义需求价格弹性，并解释为什么对市场营销者而言理解这一概念很重要。(AACSB:沟通；反思性思考)

答案：

市场营销者还需要了解需求价格弹性（price elasticity），即需求对价格变化的反应。如果价格小幅的变化几乎没有引起需求变动，我们说需求是缺乏弹性的；如果需求变动很大，就说需求是富有弹性的。如果需求富有弹性，卖者会考虑降低售价，因为此时较低的价格能够产生更大的销售量，从而获得更高的总收益。只要生产和销售更多产品的额外成本不会超过增加的收益，这一做法就是可取的。同时，大多数公司希望避免将自己的产品变成同质商品的定价。

批判性思考练习

µ 10-6 恭喜你!你刚中了州彩票，将得到一张一百万美元的支票。你一直想拥有自己的生意，并且注意到当地食品运输车数量的增加。一辆带有厨房和相关设备的新型餐车耗资约10万美元。其他固定成本包括工资、卡车汽油和执照费用，估计每年约为5万美元。你决定提供传统的地中海美食。可变成本包括食物和饮料，估计每盘6美元(肉、大米、蔬菜和皮塔饼)。每餐价格为10美元。计算一下你的餐车生意的盈亏平衡点。在回顾你的盈亏平衡点后，你会考虑做出哪些改变?你想这样花掉你的彩票奖金吗?(AACSB:沟通;反思性思考)

答案：学生的回答会根据个人的反应而有所不同。请参考MyLab，从而更好地分配此问题，请将所有带星号标记的MyLab问题分配给学生讨论。

10-7 在小组中讨论你对价值的看法，以及你愿意为以下产品支付多少钱：汽车、冷冻食品、牛仔裤和运动鞋。你的团队成员之间有什么不同吗? 解释这些差异存在的原因。讨论一些定位于为消费者提供不同的价值的产品品牌例子。(AACSB:沟通; 反思性思考)

答案：

学生的反应会有所不同。不同的背景，对产品的不同熟悉程度会影响学生对价值的感受。由于消费者对价值的认知不同，学生的反应也会不同。例如，一些消费者认为运动鞋是不穿正装配鞋或凉鞋时穿的鞋子，不会花50美元以上买一双运动鞋。斯凯奇(Skechers)可能就是为消费者提供这种价值水平的品牌的一个例子。然而，一些人看到了为特定运动而设计的鞋子的价值，愿意花100多美元买一双。耐克(Nike)、新百伦(New Balance)和亚瑟士(Asics)可以成为向消费者传递这种价值的品牌。其他人可能看到一些运动鞋的时尚价值，愿意支付更高的价格。彪马和K-Swiss就是可能向消费者传递这种价值的品牌。

10-8 你们公司开发了一种新的减肥早餐奶昔，在市场测试阶段被证明是成功的。使用者的体重平均每周减轻两磅。你拥有这个产品的专利。这种奶昔的生产成本相对较低，总制造成本约为每盎司0.05美元。每份奶昔是8盎司。这个产品你有什么价格策略推荐吗?(AACSB:沟通;运用信息技术;反思性思考)

答案：

学生可以选择三种主要的定价策略:基于顾客价值的定价、基于成本的定价和基于竞争的定价。基于顾客价值的定价是利用购买者对价值的感知作为定价的基础。如果购买者相信体重会下降，那么更高的价格是合理的。基于成本的定价指的是根据生产、分销和销售产品的成本基础上，加上目标回报率来定价。每盎司0.05美元的成本，3美元的价格可能有利可图。基于竞争的定价是指根据竞争对手的战略、成本、价格以及产品和服务来定价。每份减肥奶昔的价格从2美元到5美元不等。学生们需要考虑的是，减肥奶昔可能会与食物替代品和早餐奶昔相竞争。

一个重要的考虑是，该产品有专利，可能涉及大量的研究和开发。这将导致更高的价格，以弥补一些研发成本。

应用和案例

网络，移动和社交媒体营销：在线价格追踪

你看上了三星新款32英寸电视了?好吧，你最好不要在12月购买它——那是亚马逊网站上价格最高的时候(在11月是500美元，而在2月是400美元)。大多数消费者都知道价格全年都在波动，但你知道甚至每小时价格都在波动吗?你可能无法追踪，但有一个应用可以。Camelcamelcamel是一个跟踪亚马逊为消费者提供的价格的工具，当价格达到最佳价位时，它会发出提醒。这个应用程序允许用户导入整个亚马逊的愿望清单，并设置想要的价格水平，然后通过电子邮件或推特通知他们价格。所有这些都是免费的。Camel从一个不太可能的合作伙伴亚马逊那里赚钱——亚马逊直接向骆驼提供价格数据。Camel是亚马逊下属项目的成员，它每介绍一位顾客，就能获得8.5%的销售额。看起来，亚马逊希望顾客在价格更高而不是更低的时候购买。但这家网络巨头认为，这是一种方式，既能让喜欢买便宜货的人高兴，又能从对价格不太敏感的顾客那里获得更多利润。这是对亚马逊早期定价策略的改进，之前的定价策略是根据不同顾客的购买行为收取不同的价格。

<CORE>10-9</CORE><ALT1>10.</ALT1> 登陆www.camelcamelcamel.com，注册一个免费账户。追踪10个你感兴趣的产品。这些产品有达到你想要的价格吗?写一份关于这类应用对消费者有用性的报告。(AACSB:沟通;运用信息技术)

答案：

学生们会发现，他们可以追踪的产品范围很广。他们将看到他们可以创建价格观察表，并找出哪些产品最近的价格下降过。对于任何产品，都会提供显示价格趋势的信息。学生的反应会因他们所跟踪的产品和所发送的期望价格而有所不同。将期望的价格设置得太低将不会产生警报。教师可能希望将产品分配给学生，并让他们在一段时间内追踪价格，最好比一般任务的时间更长。

<CORE>10-10 </CORE><ALT1>11.</ALT1>Camel并不是唯一的亚马逊追踪或在线价格跟踪应用。为消费者找到并描述另一个在线价格追踪工具的例子。(AACSB:沟通;运用信息技术)

回答：

学生的答案会有所不同。简单地搜索“在线价格追踪”就会看到其他价格追踪网站的链接，以及评价一些追踪应用的文章。亚马逊还有其他价格跟踪应用(参见www.dealdump.com/article/amazon_price_tracking_tools)，比如The Tracktor、SlickDeals、PriceZombie、Keepa和Camel。除了亚马逊，追踪其他网站的服务是NIFTI (www.nifti.com/)，它还提供“NIFTI精选”的近期降价商品。

营销伦理：生命的成本

当所爱的人病入膏肓时，家人愿意支付多少钱来让他们重获健康?2015年，图灵制药公司从另一家制药公司购买了一种现有的药物——达拉匹林(daraprim)，由此陷入了争议之中。达拉匹林已经存在了62年，被用来治疗致命的艾滋病和癌症患者的寄生虫感染。收购达拉匹林后，图灵制药公司首席执行官马丁·史克雷利迅速将其价格从之前的每片13.50美元提高到750美元。据CNN财经报道，首席执行官Shkreli表示，“我们需要让这种药物盈利。”他补充说，公司将利用这些利润研究更好的治疗疾病的方法。

<CORE>10-11</CORE><ALT1>12.</ALT1> 研究达拉匹林的定价问题。图灵制药对这种药物收取如此高的价格是错误的吗?支持你的立场。(AACSB:沟通;道德推理)

答案：

大多数学生会认为，一种救命药物如此大幅度的涨价是不可原谅的，也很难证明其合理性。然而，其他人可能采取的立场，图灵制药是最大化利润和履行公司对股东的责任。首席执行官还表示，公司正在利用这些利润进行研究和开发，以发现治疗这种危及生命的疾病和其他疾病的新的更好的治疗方法。相关更多信息，请参见

www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/business/drug-companies-pushed-from-far-and-wide-to-explain-high-prices.html?_r = 0和www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2015/06/pharmaceutical-pricing。

<CORE>10-12</CORE><ALT1>13.</ALT1> 根据一篇哈佛商业评论文章(见www.hbr.org/2015/09/its-time-to-rein-in-exorbitant -pharmaceutical-prices),在过去的五年中，标普药物精选行业指数的回报几乎已经是标普500指数(每年约24%和12%)的两倍。是什么因素影响制药行业的盈利能力?高利润水平是好事还是坏事?解释一下。

答案：

美国制药业历来是美国最赚钱的行业之一。在许多其他行业，这样的成功会受到尊敬。然而，制药公司长期以来一直被批评以牺牲有健康问题的人为代价来创造利润。

有几个因素导致了竞争的复杂性，影响了制药行业的定价和盈利能力。

据《华盛顿邮报》报道，2015年，几乎所有种类的处方药价格都上涨了10.9%。
大多数国家控制着药品价格，但美国没有。美国人的平均支出是其他发达国家消费者的两到五倍。

3. 制药行业的竞争与许多其他行业不同。在大多数行业中，消费者选择他们购买的产品。然而，在制药行业，通常由医生选择消费者购买的产品。此外，许多患者与保险公司分担处方药的费用，保险公司可以影响消费者购买的产品。

通过数字看营销：昂贵的床单

许多奢侈品床单的制作成本不到200美元，但在零售店的售价超过500美元。有些衣服的价格甚至更高——消费者花近3000美元购买Frett’e的“Tangeri Pizzo”特大号豪华床单。一家名为Boll & Branch的新奢侈亚麻制品品牌的创始人已经进入了这个市场，他们正在决定在网上直接向消费者出售床单的价格。他们希望床单的价格低于大多数品牌，但仍希望获得足够的销售利润。床单被装在一个豪华的盒子里，可以用来存放内衣、珠宝或其他纪念品。Boll & Branch品牌在从印度采购高档长绒棉时，宣扬公平贸易的做法。鉴于以下成本信息，请参考附录2:按数字营销，回答以下问题。

		成本/特大号豪华床单
原棉		$28.00
纺丝/编织/染色		$12.00
切缝/完成		$10.00
材料运输		$ 3.00
工厂费用		$16.00
检验和进口费用		$14.00
海运费/保险		$ 5.00
仓库		$ 8.00
包装		$15.00
促销活动		$30.00
顾客运输		$15.00

<CORE>10-13</CORE><ALT1>14.</ALT1>考虑到上面所述的每张特大号床单的成本，并假设制造商的总固定成本为50万美元，预计第一年的销量将为5万套，如果公司希望销售利润率达到40%，请确定向消费者出售的价格。(AACSB:沟通;分析式推理)

答案：

基于成本的定价最简单的方法是成本加成定价(或加价定价)，即在产品成本上加一个标准加价。Boll & Branch必须明确预期的单位销售额，以便确定总单位成本。

每件产品的成本是：

单件成本 = 可变成本+ 固定成本/销量=$156 + $500,000/50,000 = $166

为了获得40%的销售利润，Boll & Branch的加价为:

加价 = 单件成本/(1-期望销售回报率) = $166/(1-0.4) = $166/0.6 = $276.67

<CORE>10-14</CORE><ALT1>15.</ALT1> 如果公司决定通过零售商而不是直接在线销售给消费者，为了保持你在上一个问题中计算的消费者价格，它必须以什么价格卖给批发商，然后批发商再卖给零售商?假设批发商想要10%的利润，而零售商想要20%的利润，两者都基于各自的销售价格。(AACSB:沟通;分析式推理)

答案：

通过减去加价链条中每一层的加价，产品零售价为276.67美元，制造商给批发商的价格为201.01美元。

建议零售价：	$276.67
减去零售商利润 (20%):	– $53.33
零售商的成本/批发商的价格：	$233.34
减去批发商的利润:	– $23.33
批发商的成本/制造商的价格:	$ 201.01

企业案例记录

乔氏超市：实惠的美食——对价格-价值等式进行的特殊修正

概要

乔氏超市独特的定价和价值战略使其成为美国增长最快、最受欢迎的食品店之一。乔氏超市明白，成功不仅来自你向顾客提供的产品或你收取的价格。它来源于提供产品和价格的结合，从而产生最大的顾客价值——即顾客从他们支付的价格中获得的价值。乔氏超市并不是一家真正的美食商店。而且，它也不是一家折扣店。两者都有一点。称之为“廉价的美食”。它提供美味的、便宜的美食，并在节日、假期般的氛围中提供，让购物变得有趣。乔氏超市只储备大约2000种特殊的产品。然而，这些产品都是独一无二的，包括精心包装的食品和酱汁、即食汤、新鲜和冷冻主菜、零食和甜点——所有这些都不含人工色素、香料和防腐剂。尽管如此，乔氏超市通过精益经营、近乎狂热地注重节约资金和非常低的广告支出来保持低价。不管你叫它什么，乔氏超市创造性的价格价值定位已经为它赢得了一群近乎狂热的忠实客户，他们喜欢他们支付的价格所得到的东西。

教学目标

本案例的教学目标是：

1. 让学生了解定价作为差异化工具的影响。

2. 帮助学生理解“价值”与价格之间的关系。

3. 使学生了解市场的性质和市场需求是如何影响定价决策的。

4. 让学生在实际公司的背景下研究不同的定价策略。

5. 让学生考虑定价策略的可持续性。

讨论问题

10-18 以基于顾客价值的定价理念解释乔氏超市成功的原因。
正如“高收益”和“低价格”部分所述，这个案例是建立在顾客感知价值的基础上的。基于顾客价值的定价被定义为“根据买者对价值的感知而不是卖者的成本来定价。”在这种定价策略下，卖者从一个给定商品的价格点开始，然后设计产品在这个价格点上盈利。这不同于从一个产品开始，计算出产品的销售成本，然后根据预期的利润率将成本提高。

本案例没有详细说明采用哪种方法(基于价值或基于成本)。然而，根据提供的信息，乔氏超市最有可能有一个基于价值的定价策略。他们已经确定了一个顾客喜爱的概念。他们出售美食、有机食品和整体独特的食品杂货——这类食品的价格较高。但他们的售价与普通杂货店的普通商品相当——有时甚至更低。通过这样做，他们确定了不仅是富人愿意支付的价格点，也是中上阶层家庭愿意支付的价格点。然后，他们施展魔力，以上述价格点生产商品。

10-19 乔氏超市采用高价值定价还是增值定价方法？请解释。
毫无疑问，这两种策略都会有学生争论。为了支持高价值定价的理由，乔氏超市以公平的价格提供了合适的质量和优质服务。它们的价格远低于全食或natural Foods co-ops等高档食品商销售的类似商品。乔氏超市在普通杂货店提供普通商品的美味版和有机版，而且价格相当，支持增值定价。因此，他们对商品进行了改进，以证明其价格是合理的。

有人可能会说，在这里采用何种策略是一个角度的问题。然而，乔氏超市并不是相对于常规杂货店的常规商品定位的，而是作为一个折扣替代美食和有机食品杂货店。此外，增值定价提高了产品的特性和属性，使其值得更高的价格。与普通的杂货店相比，乔氏超市并没有收取更高的价格。他们的产品质量更好。他们的组合更加独特。但他们保持低价。比起“增值”定价，人们更支持“优质”定价。

10-20 乔氏超市的定价战略是否真正使之与竞争对手差异化？

近年来，常规杂货商已经加大了他们的竞争力度。沃尔玛比过去有更多的美食、特产和有机食品。塔吉特的商店品牌似乎呼应了乔氏超市的商品。但没有其他商店提供乔氏超市所做的结合独特的形象和环境的完整产品线。它能够做到这一点，但仍远低于高端竞争对手，并与塔吉特、克罗格(Kroger)、西夫韦(Safeway)等公司势均力敌。

10-21 乔氏超市的定价战略可持续吗？为什么？
这个案例并没有详细说明乔氏超市是如何做它所做的事情的。该公司努力建立一个供应商供应链，让他们能够以自己想要的价格生产自己需要的产品。乔氏超市经营着一个非常注重成本的分销系统，它增长缓慢。乔氏超市永远不会进入一个新的州或地区，除非它能在足够近的地方建立起一个分销系统，使多家商店都有存货。最重要的是，乔氏超市在价格上是有利可图的。换句话说，它成功的秘诀是非常具有战略性的，而且从一开始就如此。毫无疑问，乔氏超市有一个可持续的定价策略和商业模式。

10-22 你有什么帮助乔氏超市进一步改善的建议？
鉴于这家公司的成功，这是一个很难回答的问题。它没有做的事情，它从战略上选择了不做。一些学生的建议可能会损害乔氏超市战略的可持续性，比如提高新店开业率，或将价格提高到足以提高利润率但不会失去顾客的程度。温和地对待建议，尽量选择那些乔氏超市真正能从中受益而又不会损害其商业模式的建议。

教学建议

首先让学生了解乔氏超市独特的价格/价值等式，以及顾客对这家店的感觉。展示一个由乔氏超市的粉丝制作的视频(lwww.youtube.com/watch?v=OdB7GDZY3Pk&feature=related)，这将使任何忠诚的乔氏超市顾客在房间里点头和微笑。然后，访问www.traderjoes.com。从页面右上方的下拉菜单中选择任何位置，然后点击页面中间的“Check out the Fearless Flyer”标签。这将拉起一个多页传单，显示许多独特的乔氏超市的产品和价格。对一个粉丝网站(如www.traderjoesfan.com/)的简单访问也可能有助于展示乔氏超市的风格。一旦你掌握了乔氏超市的经验，你就可以探索价值主张背后的模型了。

这个案例是为第10章开发的。同样也适用于第1章和第11章。

请登录mymktlab.com查看以下辅助评分的写作问题:

10-23 为什么消费者如此关心汽油的价格?为什么他们愿意寻找价格更低的加油站? (AACSB:沟通;反思性思考)

10-24 描述成本加成的定价方法，并讨论为什么营销人员使用它，即使它不是最好的定价方法。(AACSB:沟通;反思性思考)

额外的项目，作业和例子

项目

采访一家当地的企业，了解他们的定价理念和/或策略。使用他们的术语，然后应用你从他们那里学到的东西来评估文中描述的方法。有什么相似和不同之处?(目标2)
利用当地的报纸比较杂货店的特价广告。关于竞争对手的定价策略，你能确定什么?本章中组织使用了多少技术?哪种策略最成功?你是怎么做出这个判断的?(目标2)
沃尔玛如何利用高价值定价?(目标2)
解释一下戴尔(Dell)等公司是如何使用成本加成定价的。这种定价策略的竞争劣势是什么?(目标3)
开车在城里转转，看看不同加油站的汽油价格。用寡头竞争来解释你所看到的现象。(目标3)

小组作业

把学生分成三到五人一组。每个小组都应该读一下《营销实例10.1:精神航空公司的良好价值:获得更少但付出更少》。然后每组回答下列问题并与全班分享他们的答案。(目标1)

a. 用你自己的话解释精神航空的定价策略。该公司采用高价值定价还是增值定价?解释一下。

b. 精神航空公司是如何区别于其他航空公司的?它如何向消费者传递价值?

c. 精神航空的定价策略是可持续的吗?在什么样的经济形势下?解释一下。

d. 如果要改变的话，你会建议精神航空做什么?

2. 把学生分成三到五人一组。每组都应该阅读《营销实例10.2：全食：找到恰当的价格-价值等式》。然后每组回答下列问题并与全班分享他们的答案。(目标2)

1. 全食超市在食品市场上采取了什么独特的定价策略?

2. 相对于竞争对手，全食超市的市场地位如何?

3. 全食给顾客带来的独特的“顾客价值”是什么?

4. 全食超市能够保持它在价格-价值等式中所取得的平衡吗?

个人作业

1. 重读本章“什么是价格?”假设你正在考虑为求职面试买一套新西装。你正在考虑在萨克斯第五大道精品百货店(一家高端百货公司)和迪拉德百货公司(一家中等规模的百货公司)比较西装。讨论两家机构在“价格”方面的总体差异。(目标1)

2. 什么是“每日低价”?“除了沃尔玛，你认为哪些公司能够利用这种定价策略取得巨大成功?”(目标2)

思考-同伴-分享

考虑下面的问题，构思一个答案，与你右边的学生配对，互相分享你们的想法，并回答老师提出的问题。

什么是价格?(目标1)
讨论顾客价值在决定价格中的作用。(目标2)
解释基于价值、高价值和价值增值定价策略之间的区别。(目标2)
什么是目标利润定价?(目标3)
解释一下需求曲线。(目标3)

外部例子

让我们来看看The Poison Pen (www.poisonedpen.com/)，这是一家位于亚利桑那州斯科茨代尔的独立小书店。他们的座右铭是:“这不仅仅是一家书店，而是一种体验。”看看他们的网站。请阅读该博客的所有者芭芭拉。看看哪些作者被安排出现和签售他们的书。看看他们的定价。参考它的座右铭体验一下这家店。讨论The Poison Pen的定价方法。他们如何才能在与亚马逊(Amazon.com)或巴诺(Barnes & Noble)这样书商的竞争中保持优势?(目标2)

可能的解决方案：

在花了一些时间在The Poisoned Pen的网站上寻找之后，很明显，他们肯定不是一个折扣定价的运作。在这个行业里，发现新发行的精装书以厂家建议价格的25%到50%的价格出售已经是很正常的事了，但The Poisoned Pen却不打折。但是，对他们的顾客来说，这种定价策略是划算的。The Poisoned Pen使用基于价值的定价方法。他们的产品价格不是由产品成本决定的，而是由买方对价值的感知决定的。他们的方法绝对是增值的。他们为顾客提供高水平的个性化服务，跟踪他们之前购买的东西，并就他们可能感兴趣的其他东西提出建议。你的个人信息会被保存在他们的档案中，顾客只需打电话给他们说:“嗨，我是Mike。你能把卡斯勒的新书寄给我吗?”此外，他们专门制作签名的第一版。这种结合了作者签名版本的高级个性化服务确保了他们能够向顾客提供高价值。这是最好的增值定价。

你的教材讨论了全食超市，一个高档的杂货零售商。你可以在www.wholefoodsmarket.com/上了解公司和产品。花些时间了解所提供的产品类型和所提供的产品信息。这个网站充满了关于产品线、质量标准、安全标准、优惠券等信息。使用商店定位工具找到离你最近的零售商。访问一个，并为你感兴趣的产品定价。他们怎么能这样定价呢?网站上和商店里提供的信息是如何为消费者增加价值的?(目标3)

可能的解决方案：

全食超市不讲价。事实上，除了可以在线订购的商品，在网站上很难找到任何关于价格的参考。正如文中所指出的，该公司致力于为全食的产品建立“非价格”地位。他们提供以新鲜、健康或有机来源而闻名的产品。然而，他们也提供商店品牌(365日价值)和更传统的水果和蔬菜。该公司甚至提供食谱和省钱秘诀，以及单日和“闪购”促销。网站上广泛的信息是为了教育消费者全食公司所提供的价值。这些信息在商店里也有很多，所以消费者不必依赖网站来了解和购买他们觉得舒服的东西。正如教科书中提到的，“价值意味着你的钱得到了一个好的交换。”“全食超市已经做出了调整，以确保顾客感到他们正在接受这种价值，这种有益的交换。

中国经济管理大学

中国经济管理大学官网：www.eauc.hk 中国经济管理大学 MBA公益课堂

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中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记：菲利普科特勒《市场营销原理与实践》：吸引消费者和沟通顾客价值：整合营销沟通战略

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 14:30:02 +0800

菲利普科特勒《市场营销原理与实践》全新版

中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记

吸引消费者和沟通顾客价值：整合营销沟通战略

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

吸引消费者和沟通顾客价值：整合营销沟通战略

引例

士力架：饥饿的时候，你就不是你自己了

引例
士力架是玛氏的一种产品，几十年来一直被定位在一个最重要的品牌属性上:士力架令人满意。到了21世纪初，士力架已经过时了。它的位置已经过时了;它的销售和市场份额已经停滞。在2010年超级碗期间，士力架推出了一个新的广告活动。“当你饥饿的时候，你就不是你自己了。”这一新的创意理念比公司预想的更加成功。它以一种强大而普遍的呼吁开始…饥饿。这一概念使其具有想象力和娱乐性的广告以及跨媒体平台的执行。玛氏已经开发了一个完全整合了印刷、电视、数字、移动、定位和其他媒体，甚至包装的活动。这一活动甚至扩展到国际上，这在很大程度上是基于幽默的广告中不可能做到的。当活动开始时，士力架正在失去市场份额。士力架很快就超越了M&Ms，成为世界上最畅销的糖果，这一地位至今仍在。士力架对玛氏公司年收入的贡献超过10%。整合营销传播活动是这一成功的很大一部分。

开始讨论

通过访问http://snickers.tumblr.com/来开始讨论。探索士力架的世界，在你饿的时候创造一个你自己的表情包。帮助学生发现在这次获奖活动中所使用的大量媒体和公关元素，并了解这些元素之间以及与整个活动主题之间的良好结合。这个多媒体网站提供了一个跳板，探索“饥饿的时候，你就不是你自己了”活动的所有不同方面。接下来，您可以通过页面上的链接访问Facebook、Twitter和YouTube上的活动，了解士力架是如何利用社交媒体的。它举办了竞赛，以吸引顾客积极参与这项活动。总的来说，这个活动在视觉和艺术上都很有趣，所以在讨论过程中请享受乐趣。但最重要的是，要确保学生们能够理解“饥饿的时候，你就不是你自己了”活动是如何将它的各个部分围绕着一个简单的主题整合在一起，并辅以适量的幽默。

讨论问题

1. 除此之外，士力架“饥饿的时候，你就不是你自己了”这一广告背后的关键品牌信息是什么?(快速浏览http://snickers.tumbler.com/网站。与学生们讨论这个运动是愚蠢的、不敬的，并且是士力架顽固派喜爱的事实。事实上，人们总是好奇谁会是下一个参加活动的人。成为其中的一员就成了一种“荣誉徽章”。)

2. 士力架能有效地传递此消息吗?如何?(到目前为止，学生们应该意识到，虽然这场运动有很多部分，但整体大于部分之和。从网站到Facebook页面，再到YouTube视频，“饥饿的时候，你就不是你自己了”的所有内容都被仔细地整合在共同的主题和意象下。活动的每一个方面都能让消费者清楚地了解到信息，或者吸引消费者在店里购买士力架，无论是冰淇淋还是各种各样的糖果棒。)

3. 士力架的故事和第14章的概念有什么关系?(本章开始讨论迅速变化的营销传播环境和整合当今丰富的新媒体和传统媒体的迫切需要。“饥饿的时候，你就不是你自己了”活动就是一个很好的例子。)

概览

公司必须做的不仅仅是创造顾客价值。他们还必须利用晋升来清晰而有说服力地传达这种价值。提升不是单一的工具，而是多种工具的混合。在整合营销传播(IMC)的概念下，公司必须仔细协调这些推广元素，以传递关于组织及其品牌的清晰、一致和引人注目的信息。

s. 本章以介绍各种促销组合工具开始。接下来，我们研究了快速变化的通信环境和IMC的需要。最后，本章讨论了发展营销传播和促销预算过程的步骤。

目标

定义沟通顾客价值的促销组合工具。
讨论变化中的市场营销沟通环境及整合营销沟通的必要性。
简要说明沟通过程，以及开展有效营销沟通的步骤。
解释制定促销预算的方法，以及影响促销组合设计的因素。

讲义

导入

在一个促销主题不断变化的行业中,士力架意外持久的“当你饥饿时，你就不是你了”的名人广告当中的主角是一个不太可能的使用(足球运动员贝蒂·白和威廉·达福变为玛丽莲·梦露)——已经成功地使顾客参与进来,传达品牌的个性和定位,并将士力架带到全球糖果市场的顶部位置。

士力架运动成功的关键在于它惊人的一致性。六年多来，士力架一直坚持它简单而有力的“饿了就不是你了”的理念，该品牌利用名人来证明这一点也很有效。

以士力架满足的几十年的基本信息为基础，士力架通过巧妙的信息执行和创新的媒体投放不断变化的组合来保持广告的新鲜感。

今天，士力架的经典但仍属当代的整合营销传播活动比企业员工想象得更成功。

Ø 开场问题

1. 士力架想通过这个活动传递给顾客的主要品牌信息是什么?

2. 这个滑稽的整合活动是如何将士力架与糖果行业的竞争对手区分开来的呢?

3. 公司用来实现其目标的主要促销组合工具是什么?

4. 你认为士力架的销售成功能持续多久?这种“品牌印象”在消费者心中有多持久?

定义沟通顾客价值的促销组合工具。

促销组合

公司的促销组合（promotion mix），又称为营销沟通组合（marketing communications mix），由广告、销售促进、人员销售、公共关系和直复与数字营销等工具的特定组合构成，用于有说服力地沟通顾客价值和建立顾客关系。

以下是五种主要的促销工具定义：

广告（advertising）：由特定广告主出资发布的非人格化的对观念、商品或服务的各种形式的展示和促销。
销售促进（sales promotion）：为鼓励产品和服务的购买或销售而进行的短期激励。
人员销售（personal selling）：公司的销售人员为实现达成销售和建立顾客关系的目的而进行的商品介绍和展示。
公共关系（public relations）：通过获得有利的宣传，建立良好的企业形象，处理或应对不利的流言、事故和事件，与公司的各种公众建立良好的关系。
直复与数字营销（direct and digital marketing）：与仔细确定的个体消费者和消费者社群直接联系以获得即刻反馈和培养持久顾客关系。——使用电话、邮件、电子邮件、互联网和其他工具直接与特定客户沟通。

讨论变化中的市场营销沟通环境及整合营销沟通的必要性。

整合营销沟通

新的市场营销沟通模式

一些重要的因素正在改变营销沟通的面貌。

消费者在变化。他们在信息更加灵通的同时，具有更强的沟通能力。
市场营销战略在变化。随着大众市场的细碎化，市场营销者逐渐放弃了大众营销。他们越来越倾向于设计更加聚焦的市场营销计划，在更加精确定义的微观市场中，与顾客建立更加紧密的联系。
通信技术的巨大进步极大地改变了公司和顾客间的沟通方式。

尽管电视网、杂志及其他大众媒体仍然非常重要，但它们日渐失去主导地位。广告商现在越来越多地使用更加专业和聚焦的媒体，以更加个人化和互动性的信息影响更小的细分市场。

新媒体范围从专业杂志、有线电视频道、为网络制作的视频到互联网目录、电子邮件、博客、移动电话内容和在线社交网络。信息工具包括智能手机、平板电脑、卫星和有线电视系统。

如今，营销者正将大部分营销预算从旧媒体转移到网络、社交、移动和其他新型媒体上。

看起来，新的营销传播模式将包括传统大众媒体和一系列令人兴奋的、更有针对性、更个性化、更吸引人的新媒体的转变组合。市场营销人员现在更多地被定义为内容营销经理。

内容营销涉及利用付费的、拥有的、赢得的和分享的沟通渠道与顾客一起或在顾客之间创造、激发和分享品牌信息和对话。

整合营销沟通的必要性

消费者不会像市场营销者那样区分信息来源之间的差别。

消费者的心目中，来自不同媒体的信息和促销方式——无论是超级碗赛季中的广告、店内陈列、手机应用程序，还是朋友在社交媒体上发布的消息——汇总起来构成了公司的整体形象。如果不同渠道所传达的信息彼此冲突，就可能导致混乱的企业形象和品牌定位。

公司常常不能有效地整合各种沟通渠道。大众媒体广告说的是一回事，而价格促销传达的是一个不同的信号，产品标签则创造了另一种信息。公司的销售宣传册上写着完全不同的东西，公司的网站似乎与其他一切都不同步。

问题是这些沟通通常来自公司不同的部门。

大多数公司正践行整合营销沟通（integrated marketing communications，IMC）的理念。

如图 14-1 所示，在这一理念指导下，公司仔细地整合各种沟通渠道，传播关于组织及其品牌的一致、清晰和有说服力的信息。

IMC要求识别顾客与公司、产品和品牌所有可能的接触点。每个品牌接触都会传递一个信息，不管是好的、坏的还是无关紧要的。公司必须努力向每一个联系人传递一致和积极的信息。

IMC通过将公司的所有信息和形象联系在一起，建立品牌识别和牢固的顾客关系。品牌信息和定位是协调所有的传播活动和媒体。

回顾学习目标2：讨论变化中的市场营销沟通环境及整合营销沟通的必要性。

简要说明沟通过程，以及开展有效营销沟通的步骤。

沟通过程概述

整合营销沟通涉及确定目标受众，制定精心策划的促销方案，以获得理想的受众反应。

如今，越来越多的市场营销者开始将沟通视为管理公司及其品牌与顾客的长期关系。

由于顾客之间差别很大，公司需要为特定的细分市场、缝隙市场甚至个人制定相应的沟通计划。

沟通过程应该从审计目标顾客与公司及其品牌所有可能的接触点开始。

为了进行有效沟通，市场营销者还需要理解沟通是如何起作用的。沟通涉及图 14-2 中的9 个要素。

发送者：向另一方发布信息的主体。
编码：将意图转化为符号形式的过程。
信息：发送者传递的一组符号。
媒体：信息从发送者传递到接收者的沟通渠道。
解码：接收者对发送者编码的符号赋予含义。
接收者：接收由另一方传递的信息的人。
反应：接收者在接触信息之后的反应。
反馈：接收者的某些反应反向传递给信息的发送者。
噪声：沟通过程中意外的干扰或曲解，导致接收者获得的信息与发送者发送的信息有偏差。

开展有效营销沟通的步骤

开展一项有效整合沟通和促销计划有几个步骤。

确定目标受众

营销沟通始于确定目标受众。他们应该是当前或潜在的购买者、制定购买决策的人或影响购买决策的人。受众也许是个人、群体、特定公众或一般公众。

目标受众将极大地影响营销沟通人员的多项重要决策，包括说什么、怎样说、何时说、在哪里说以及谁来说等等。

明确沟通目标

一旦确定目标受众，市场营销者就必须决定希望得到的反应。当然，在许多情况下，消费者的购买行为是沟通人员最终的目标。但购买只是消费者决策制定过程的最终结果。营销沟通者需要知道目标受众现在处于何种阶段，以及需要发展到什么阶段。目标受众可能处于六个购买者准备阶段（buyer-readiness stages）中的某一个，这些阶段是消费者在购买决策过程中通常要经历的（见图 14-3）。

营销沟通人员必须首先建立知晓度和了解。

假设目标受众已经知道产品，他们对它有何感觉呢？步骤包括喜爱（对该产品产生好感）、偏好（相对其他竞争性产品，对该产品情有独钟），以及信服（相信该产品才是自己的最佳选择）。

部分目标顾客被说服了，但还未急于作出购买决策。沟通者必须引导这些潜在消费者采取最后的购买行动。其他行动可能包括向购买者提供特殊促销价格、回扣或赠品。

设计信息

确定理想的受众反应之后，市场营销沟通者开始制定有效的信息。

理想的信息应该能够引起注意（attention）、产生兴趣（interesting）、激发欲望（desire）和促进行动（action），这就是所谓的AIDA 模型。

市场营销沟通者组织信息时，必须决定说什么（信息内容）和怎样说（信息结构和形式）的问题。

信息内容

市场营销者必须提出恰当的诉求或主题，以产生预期的反应。诉求有三类。

理性诉求（rational appeal）与受众的自身利益相关联，展示产品将带来的预期利益。
情感诉求（emotional appeal）旨在激起消极或积极的情绪，从而刺激购买。营销沟通人员可以运用诸如爱、欢乐、幽默、恐惧和愧疚等情感诉求，从而使人们做他们应该做的事情或不再做他们不应该做的事情。
道德诉求（moral appeal）帮助受众了解什么是“对的”和“恰当的”。它们通常用于鼓励人们支持社会事业，诸如清洁环境、更好的种族关系，妇女的平等权利和帮助弱势群体。

信息结构

市场营销者还必须决定如何处理三个信息结构问题。

第一，应该直接给出结论，还是让受众自己判断？研究表明，在许多情况下，广告主最好提出问题，让购买者得出自己的结论。
第二，应该在开始还是最后提出强有力的论点？一开始就抛出强有力的论点虽然可以引起强烈的注意，但可能导致虎头蛇尾。
第三，应该提供单方面的论点（只提产品的优势），还是两方面的论点（宣扬产品优势的同时，也承认其不足之处）？

信息形式

市场营销沟通者还需要为其信息确定对目标市场有吸引力的形式。

在平面广告中，沟通者必须决定标题、文案、插图和色彩。为了吸引注意，广告主可以运用虚构和对比；吸引眼球的图片和标题；独特的构图；文字的大小和定位，以及色彩、造型和变化。

如果要通过广播传送消息，沟通者必须选择文字、音效和声音。

如果信息是通过电视或个人传播的，那么所有这些因素加上肢体语言都必须经过计划。主持人要计划好他们的面部表情、手势、着装、姿势和发型。

如果信息通过产品或其包装来传达，市场营销沟通者还必须关注其质地、结构、气味、色彩、大小和形状。

选择沟通渠道和媒体

接下来，市场营销沟通者必须选择沟通渠道。沟通渠道可以分为两大类——人际沟通和非人际沟通。

人际沟通渠道

在人际沟通渠道（personal communication channels）中，两个或更多的人彼此直接沟通。

有的人际沟通渠道由公司直接控制。例如，公司的销售人员与目标顾客接触。但是，有关产品的其他人际沟通是通过不由公司直接控制的渠道到达购买者的。“口碑影响”（word-of-mouth influence）的影响在许多产品领域都不可小视。

公司可以采取措施推动对自己有利的人际沟通行为。

公司可以采取措施推动对其品牌有利的人际沟通行为。

公司可以培养意见领袖（opinion leaders）——其观点受到其他人的追随——将产品以优惠的条件提供给他们使用，或者通过培训使他们更加了解公司及产品，以便能够告知和影响其他人。

蜂鸣营销（buzz marketing）指培养意见领袖，并激励他们将关于产品和服务的信息传播给所在社群的其他人。

非人际沟通渠道

非人际沟通渠道（nonpersonal communication channels）是没有人际接触或反馈的信息传播途径。

主要媒体有印刷媒体、广电媒体、陈列媒体以及网络媒体。

气氛是一种经过设计的环境，用于创造和强化购买者的产品购买倾向。

事件是通过策划活动与目标受众沟通信息。

非人际沟通直接影响购买者。而且，运用大众媒体常常引发更多的人际沟通，进而间接地影响购买者。沟通信息首先从电视、杂志和其他大众媒体传达到意见领袖，然后从这些意见领袖传递给其他人。于是，意见领袖位于大众媒体与受众之间，将信息传播给那些较少接触媒体的人。

选择信息来源

信息对目标受众的影响也受到受众对沟通者看法的影响。来源可靠的信息往往更具说服力。

市场营销者通常雇用名人代言，向目标市场传递信息。不过，公司在选择名人代言品牌时，必须格外小心。

收集反馈

信息发送之后，市场营销沟通者还必须调查它对目标受众的影响。这包括询问目标受众是否记得该信息，看过多少次，还能回忆起哪些要点，有何感受，以及对产品或公司过去和现在的态度。

市场营销沟通人员更乐意测量信息对实际行为的影响——有多少人购买了产品，是否与其他人谈论过产品，或者惠顾过商店。

根据市场营销沟通过程中的反馈，营销者可能需要改变促销计划或产品本身。

回顾学习目标3：简要说明沟通过程，以及开展有效营销沟通的步骤。

解释制定促销预算的方法，以及影响促销组合设计的因素。

制定总促销预算和组合

公司应该如何决定促销总预算及其在主要促销工具之间的分配，以创造理想的促销组合？公司如何组合使用各种促销工具来建立整合营销沟通？

制定总促销预算

公司面临的最艰难的营销决策之一是，应该在促销上花多少钱。我们将考察四种制定促销总预算的常见方法

量入为出法

一些公司使用量入为出法（affordable method），以公司能够负担的水平为标准制定促销预算。

小企业常常运用这种方法，因为公司的广告花费不能超出现有的承受能力。

遗憾的是，以这种方法决定预算完全忽视了促销对销售业绩的影响。它倾向于在所有支出中最后考虑促销，即使在广告对企业成功非常关键的情况下也是如此。

这导致每年促销预算都不确定，营销人员很难制订长期的营销计划。量入为出法有时会导致在促销上花费过度，但更多的时候会导致促销费用不足。

销售比例法

另一些公司运用销售比例法（percentage-of-sales method），按当前或预期销售额的特定比例来制定促销预算。或者，按单位售价的一定比例来做预算。

销售比例法有一定的优点。

它易于操作。
它有助于管理者思考单位促销支出、销售价格和利润之间的关系。

然而，它错误地将销售额视为促销的原因而非结果。

按销售额的一定比例来确定预算的做法是以资金的可获得性，而非市场机会为基础的。它可能会阻止为扭转销售下降而增加促销投入。由于预算按照每年的销售额而变化，很难制订长期计划。

最后，除了过去做过的或竞争者正在做的，该方法不能为选择特定的比例提供任何基础。

竞争对等法

还有一些公司使用竞争对等法（competitive-parity method），按照与竞争对手相当的标准制定促销预算。

它们监视竞争者的广告，或者从公开的数据或行业协会获取行业促销费用的估计，然后根据行业平均水平制定预算。

有两种观点支持该方法:

竞争者的预算代表行业的集体智慧。
与竞争者的促销费用相当有助于避免发生促销战。

遗憾的是，这两种观点都不可靠，没有依据表明竞争者就能比公司自己在促销费用的制定上技高一筹。

不同公司之间差异很大，每个公司都有自己独特的促销需求。最后，没有证据表明，与竞争者对等的预算就可以真的避免促销战。

目标—任务法

最合乎逻辑的方法是目标—任务法（objective-and-task method），公司根据自己的促销目标和打算完成的任务来制定促销预算。

采用这种预算方法必须做到：

确定特定的促销目标
决定为实现这些目标，需要完成的促销任务
估计完成这些任务的成本。

这些成本的总和就是计划的促销预算。

目标—任务法的优点在于，它迫使管理层理清促销费用与促销结果之间的关系。但这种方法最难操作。通常，公司很难判断实现既定目标需要完成哪些特定的任务。

构建促销组合

整合营销沟通的概念表明，公司必须仔细地协调各种促销工具，构建高度整合的促销组合。公司应当如何决定运用哪些促销工具呢？即使同一行业内的公司在设计促销组合时，也会存在很大差别。

各种促销工具的特点

每种促销工具都具有不同的特点和成本。市场营销者在构建促销组合时，必须理解这些特点。

广告能够将信息传递给地域分布很广的受众，而且每次暴露的平均成本较低，广告主能够多次重复发布信息。

除了到达率，大规模的广告传递了关于销售方的正面信息，诸如规模、受欢迎程度以及成功。因为广告的公众性，消费者往往认为广告中的产品更可信赖。

广告当然也有一些不足之处。尽管它可以迅速地到达许多人，但它是非人际沟通，不能像公司的销售人员那样直接地说服潜在顾客。对大多数产品而言，广告只能与受众进行单向的沟通，受众可能不注意或不反应。另外，广告费用可能很高。

在购买过程的特定阶段，尤其在建立买方的偏好，使其信服并采取购买行动上，人员销售是最有效的工具。

一位高效的销售人员为了建立长期关系，需要为顾客解决问题，时时将顾客的利益放在心上。最后，人员销售使购买者通常感到有必要倾听和作出回应，即使仅仅是一句礼节性的“不了，谢谢你”。

但是，这些独特的效果是有代价的。建设一支销售团队比制作一则广告需要更长期的投入——广告可以随时发布和停止，但是销售人员规模很难快速改变。人员销售也是公司最昂贵的促销工具。

美国公司花在人员销售上的费用是广告的 3 倍。

销售促进包括多种多样的工具——优惠券、折扣、加量不加价及其他——所有这些工具都有各自的独特性。

它们吸引顾客的注意力，激发强烈的购买动机，还可以增强产品的吸引力，因此经常用于扩大产品供给和刺激疲软的销售。

销售促进通常可以得到迅速的反应。但是，销售促进的效应是短期的。

公共关系常常得到人们更多的信任——新闻故事、特写报道、赞助和事件对读者而言似乎都比广告更加真实、可信。

公共关系还可以到达许多不愿意接触销售人员和广告的潜在顾客——信息是作为新闻，而不是以推销为目的的沟通传递给购买者的。

市场营销者往往没有充分发挥公共关系的作用，或者仅把它作为一种补充手段。

直复与数字营销有四种形式：

直复营销是非公众性的：信息通常直接针对特定的个人。
直复营销是即刻的和定制化的：信息可以非常迅速地准备好，并且针对特定顾客度身定制。
直复营销是互动性的：它允许市场营销人员和消费者之间建立对话，信息也可以根据消费者的反应进行及时的修改。

因此，直复与数字营销很适合高度目标化的市场营销努力，以及建立一对一的顾客关系。

促销组合战略

市场营销者可以选择两种基本的促销组合战略。图 14-4 比较了这两种战略。

推式战略（push strategy）将产品通过分销渠道向最终消费者推广。制造商针对渠道成员开展营销努力（主要是人员销售和交易促销），旨在吸引它们购买产品并向最终消费者促销。

运用拉式战略（pull strategy）时，制造商将营销努力（主要是广告和消费者促销）集中在最终消费者身上，引导他们购买产品。

如果拉式战略有效的话，消费者会向渠道成员求购产品，这些渠道成员就会像制造商订货。因此，在拉式战略下，消费者需求在整个渠道中“拉动”产品。

大多数企业会综合使用两种战略。

公司在设计其促销组合战略时，需要考虑许多因素，包括产品和市场类型，以及产品生命周期阶段。例如，在消费者市场和组织市场，不同促销工具的重要性存在差异。

B2C 公司通常更频繁地采用拉式战略，将资金更多地投向广告，其次是销售促进、人员销售和公共关系。

反之，B2B 市场营销者更倾向于推式战略，在人员销售上投入更多资金，其次才是销售促进、广告和公共关系。

整合促销组合

制定促销预算和构建促销组合之后，公司必须采取措施确保促销组合中所有的营销要素完美地整合。

整合促销组合应该从顾客出发。无论是广告、人员销售、销售促进、公共关系，还是直复与数字营销，在每个顾客接触点上的沟通必须传递一致的信息和定位。

整合促销组合能使公司所有促销努力的协同效应最大化。

营销沟通的社会责任

公司在构建促销组合时，必须清楚地了解营销沟通中涉及的大量法律和道德问题。

广告与销售促进

依据法律，公司必须避免虚假或欺骗性广告。广告主不可以做出虚假的承诺，比如暗示产品具有某种实际上并不具有的功效。企业还必须避免有欺诈可能的广告，即使实际上还没有人上当受骗。

销售者必须避免偷梁换柱式的广告，不会用虚假的承诺来吸引购买者。

公司的交易促销活动也受到严格的管制。例如，根据《鲁宾逊-帕特曼法案》，卖方不得通过交易促销为特定的顾客提供优惠。公司必须向所有的中间商提供平等的交易条件，包括促销津贴和服务。

公司可以运用广告和其他形式的销售促进来鼓励和推进社会责任计划和行动。

人员销售

公司的销售人员必须遵循“公平竞争”的原则。在美国，大多数州已经颁布了有关法案，列明哪些行为属于欺诈性销售，应该明令禁止。

例如，销售人员不可以夸大购买产品的好处，对消费者说谎或者误导他们。为避免偷梁换柱的行为，销售人员的陈述必须与广告中的宣传相吻合。

对那些在家中接受拜访的消费者和那些去商店搜寻商品的消费者适用不同的原则。

由于在家中接待销售人员拜访的人可能感到意外，特别容易受到高压销售技巧的影响，联邦贸易委员会制定了三天冷静期（three-day cooling-off）规则，对那些并未主动搜寻商品的人给予特别的保护。

许多人员销售涉及组织间的交易活动。向组织出售时，销售人员不可以向采购人员或其他能够影响销售结果的人员行贿。他们不可以通过贿赂或商业间谍活动来获得或使用竞争者的技术或商业秘密。最后，销售人员不可以暗示不真实的事情来贬低和诋毁竞争者或竞争性产品。

回顾学习目标4：解释制定促销预算的方法，以及影响促销组合设计的因素。

讨论问题

14-1 列举并简要描述企业营销沟通组合中五种主要的促销工具。(AASCB:沟通)

答案：

广告（advertising）：由特定广告主出资发布的非人格化的对观念、商品或服务的各种形式的展示和促销。

销售促进（sales promotion）：为鼓励产品和服务的购买或销售而进行的短期激励。

人员销售（personal selling）：公司的销售人员为实现达成销售和建立顾客关系的目的而进行的商品介绍和展示。

公共关系（public relations）：通过获得有利的宣传，建立良好的企业形象，处理或应对不利的流言、事故和事件，与公司的各种公众建立良好的关系。

直复与数字营销（direct and digital marketing）：与仔细确定的个体消费者和消费者社群直接联系以获得即刻反馈和培养持久顾客关系。

µ 14-2 讨论内容营销，以及市场营销者如何运用新框架来决定如何以及由谁创造、控制和扩散营销内容？(AASCB:沟通)

答案： 学生的回答会根据个人的反应而有所不同。请参考MyLab，从而更好地分配此问题，请将所有带星号标记的MyLab问题分配给学生讨论。

14-3 什么是整合营销沟通？企业如何运用整合营销沟通？(AASCB:沟通)

答案：

在整合营销沟通理念的指导下，公司要仔细地整合各种沟通渠道，传播关于组织及其品牌的一致、清晰和有说服力的信息。整合营销传播要求识别客户可能遇到公司及其品牌的所有接触点。每一次与品牌的接触都会传递一个信息——好、坏或无关紧要。公司的目标应该是在每一次联系中传递一致和积极的信息。整合营销传播将公司所有的信息和形象联系在一起。它的电视广告和平面广告具有与电子邮件和个人销售通信相同的信息、外观和感觉。它的公关材料所呈现出的形象与它的网站、在线社交媒体或移动营销活动呈现出的相同。

通常，不同的媒体在吸引、告知和说服消费者方面发挥独特的作用;这些角色必须在整个营销传播计划下仔细协调。为了帮助实施整合营销传播，一些公司任命了营销传播总监，全权负责公司的传播工作。这有助于产生更好的沟通一致性和更大的销售影响。它把以前不存在的责任放到了某人的手中，从而统一了公司的形象，因为公司的数千项活动塑造了公司的形象。

µ 14-4 讨论市场营销沟通者用以传播信息的两大类沟通渠道。(AASCB:沟通)

答案： 学生的回答会根据个人的反应而有所不同。请参考MyLab，从而更好地分配此问题，请将所有带星号标记的MyLab问题分配给学生讨论。

14-5 企业如何决定促销预算？(AASCB:沟通)

答案：

公司面临的最艰难的营销决策之一是，应该在促销上花多少钱。制定广告总预算有四种常用方法:

· 量入为出法（affordable method）——以公司能够负担的水平为标准制定促销预算。遗憾的是，以这种方法决定预算完全忽视了促销对销售业绩的影响。

· 销售比例法（percentage-of-sales method）——按当前或预期销售额的特定比例来制定促销预算。或者，按单位售价的一定比例来做预算。它易于操作，有助于管理者思考单位促销支出、销售价格和利润之间的关系。

· 竞争对等法（competitive-parity method）——按照与竞争对手相当的标准制定促销预算。它们监视竞争者的广告，或者从公开的数据或行业协会获取行业促销费用的估计，然后根据行业平均水平制定预算。

· 目标-任务法（objective-and-task method）——公司根据自己的促销目标和打算完成的任务来制定促销预算。采用这种预算方法必须做到：（1）确定特定的促销目标；（2）决定为实现这些目标，需要完成的促销任务；（3）估计完成这些任务的成本。

批判性思考练习

µ 14-6 确定一个新的消费食品或饮料产品。利用主要的促销工具，为该产品设计一个促销活动。确定你如何同时使用推式和拉式策略。(AACSB:沟通;运用信息技术;反思性思考)

答案： 学生的回答会根据个人的反应而有所不同。请参考MyLab，从而更好地分配此问题，请将所有带星号标记的MyLab问题分配给学生讨论。

14-7 在一个小组中，选择一个广告，该广告要适当地针对如图14.2所示的传播过程的各个方面。说明如何在公司广告中表现每个元素。讨论广告本身如何构成产品的有效营销传播。(AACSB:沟通;反思性思考)

答案：

使用图14.2，学生可以从他们选择的公司举例说明沟通过程的各个方面:发送者、编码、信息、媒体、解码、接收者、反应、反馈和噪声。学生的广告将不能满足有效的营销沟通，因为这个模型是基础的，并不能解释所有复杂的营销者在达到他们的目标市场。营销人员正逐渐将沟通视为管理持续的客户接触和与公司及其品牌的关系。营销人员需要评估在购买过程的不同阶段，每一种沟通体验会产生什么样的影响。这种理解有助于市场营销人员更有效地分配他们的沟通费用。

14-8 尼尔森(Nielsen)的一项全球调查显示，消费者更倾向于支持那些他们认为具有社会责任感的公司。找出三个包含社会责任营销信息的广告例子。这些广告会增加你从赞助他们的公司购买的可能性吗?解释一下。(AACSB:沟通;道德推理;反思性思考)

答案：

尼尔森公司对全球企业社会责任进行了调查，共有58个国家的2.9万名互联网受访者参与了调查。愿意花更多钱的消费者比例在男性和女性以及所有年龄段中都有所上升，30岁以下的受访者最有可能表示，他们愿意花更多钱购买回馈社会的公司提供的商品和服务。在40-44岁的消费者中，50%的人同意他们将支付更多，而两年前只有38%。见www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/behavior_change/50-global-consumers-willing-pay-more-socially-responsible-products。

学生可以被引导去搜索“有社会责任感的广告活动”或其他例子。例子包括:(1)美国电话电报公司(AT&T)的“等一等”(It Can Wait)运动教育人们不要发短信和开车(www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OmzhLfMLsI);(2)汰渍公司的“承载希望”项目在自然灾害后送去洗衣机和洗涤剂(www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K-yjsRFW9Y);(3) TOMS——每卖出一双鞋，TOMS就会捐赠一双给需要帮助的孩子(www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkF4X5MfW0w);(4)救世军利用广告牌来提高家庭暴力意识(https://philanthropy.com/article/Salvation-Army-s/228349)。

应用和案例

网络，移动和社交媒体营销： #withoutshoes

Blake Mycoskie创办了TOMS，承诺每卖出一双鞋就捐赠一双。2015年5月，TOMS在社交媒体上发起了一场活动，以延续其慈善使命。每在Instagram上发一条光脚的帖子，并以“没穿鞋”为标签，汤姆就会给有需要的孩子捐一双鞋。该活动展示了该公司对其事业的承诺，同时熟练地利用了Instagram上常见的潮流。“无鞋”活动共捐赠了296,243双鞋子，并获得了美国公共关系协会颁发的银砧奖。TOMS为鞋子和眼镜、水甚至“善良”(反欺凌培训)等必需品提供了许多一对一的项目，这些项目有助于建立强大的顾客关系和品牌社区。

<CORE>14-9 </CORE><ALT1>10.</ALT1> 请解释一下TOMS是如何在“无鞋”活动中运用公共关系作为公司促销组合的一部分。这个工具在哪些方面帮助了TOMS的推广?(AACSB:沟通，反思性思考)

答案：

TOMS融合了几个元素:达到了美国18-34岁的男性和女性目标市场(尽管是一个国际品牌)，掀起了光脚拍照的潮流，并充分利用了社交媒体网络。有效的公共关系努力往往被认为比广告更可信，被消费者视为真实的。TOMS有效地创造了一个事件——没有鞋子的一天。这一信息被消费者视为不仅仅是销售导向的沟通。在为公司创造关注和宣传方面，这也是成本效益高的，公司为了实现目标在付费媒体上几乎没有支出。

<CORE>14-10 </CORE><ALT1>11.</ALT1>在互联网上搜索TOMS如何使用促销工具吸引消费者的更多信息。选择两个具体的活动，并评估TOMS的促销策略。(AACSB:沟通，反思性思考，运用信息技术)

答案：

TOMS混合了多种促销手段，包括直邮、公共关系活动和促销活动，如竞赛。学生们将讨论这些促销策略与传统的印刷、广告牌和电视广告的混合效果。TOMS的消费者通常是大量数字内容的用户，因此传统媒体渠道不太可能获得有效的结果。TOMS促销的例子包括:

· TOMS旅行:该公司前往全国各地的大学校园，与目标消费者进行个人接触。TOMS以“不仅仅是一双鞋”为主题，激励大学生们更多地参与到他们的社区中来。TOMS的粉丝们通过Facebook或使用TOMS的移动应用程序跟踪该公司的旅行。

· TOMSHolidayCheer假唱大赛邀请顾客参与该品牌活动并录制假唱视频。获胜者将获得2500美元，汤姆将根据获胜者的选择向慈善机构捐款2500美元。见www.toms.com/holidaycheer/。

· 鞋设计大赛:TOMS通过在网站上让消费者设计自己的鞋来吸引和使消费者参与进来。共有10个设计被选择和可在网上购买。

· 扔鞋:TOMS的一个活动是在空旷的地方扔鞋;一架飞机会扔下500个帆布包，里面有50美元的TOMS礼包、TOMS贴纸和即将举办活动的传单。

营销伦理：一场有伦理的促销？

联合利华(Unilever)在泰国的一个品牌在“Citra 3D亮肤女孩搜索”(Citra 3D Brightening Girls Search)的推广活动中遇到了一些问题。Citra珍珠白紫外线沐浴露作为皮肤美白产品上市。皮肤美白在许多亚洲国家很流行，因为较浅的肤色意味着较高的经济地位。然而，这种信念不是由营销人员创造的。人类学家指出，亚洲文化，尤其是泰国，长期以来一直将深肤色与户外农民和田野工人联系在一起，将浅肤色与较高的社会经济地位联系在一起。Citra的广告受到了批评，因为它展示了两个女学生——一个比另一个肤色浅——并问她们什么能让她们“穿制服时出类拔萃”。肤色较深的女孩似乎很困惑，没有回答，而肤色较浅的女孩则用Citra的产品口号作答。在社交媒体的强烈抗议后，Citra撤下了这则广告，但它并没有阻止相关的奖学金竞赛。比赛为最能展示“产品功效”的大学生提供了10万泰铢(3200美元)的奖金，也就是皮肤最白的人。该公司声称，他们的产品能帮助人们自我感觉良好，增强他们的自尊心。

<CORE>14-11</CORE><ALT1>12.</ALT1>既然更白的皮肤和皮肤美白在泰国很受欢迎，那么市场营销人员提供和推广鼓励这种信念和行为的产品是错误的吗?解释为什么或为什么不。(AACSB:沟通;反思性思考;道德推理)

答案：

学生的答案会有所不同。搜索“亚洲皮肤美白”为学生提供了额外的信息来源。学生们应该记住，基于自己的文化和经验来评价产品可能是不合适的。当一个国家或地区的文化重视浅色皮肤时，这个产品适合市场吗?有些人可能会说，根据肤色而不是学术成绩或经济需要提供奖学金是种族主义或不公平的。

<CORE>14-12 </CORE><ALT1>13.</ALT1>找到其他市场营销人员通过推广可能被其他文化以外的人视为不合适的文化产品而引起争议的例子。(AACSB:沟通;反思性思考)

答案：

学生的答案会有所不同。有些可能是在世界上一些地方很受欢迎的食品，而在世界上其他地方却受到批评。鱼翅汤就是一个例子。在中药中使用动物部位是另一个学生可以探索的范畴。

泰国的更多例子包括曼谷的一家公司和唐恩都乐。这家总部位于曼谷的公司为一种可以提亮肤色的饮料做广告，并在火车座位上打出了“为白人保留”的横幅（参见Warangkana Chomchuen，“泰国的护肤搅拌锅”，《华尔街日报》，2013年10月26日，第A8页）。唐恩都乐公司(Dunkin ' Donuts)推出了一则“炭色甜甜圈”的广告，广告中一位女性化了黑色妆容。而美国的公司发表了道歉声明,泰国的被特许人却不明所以,并说改活动在促进销售方面非常成功(参见t.l.斯坦利的《Dunkin ' Donuts为黑脸广告道歉，但不是每个人都感到抱歉》，《广告周刊》，2013年9月3日，www.adweek.com/adfreak/dunkin-donuts-apologizes-blackface-ad-not-everyone-sorry-152172)。

另一个例子是福特在印度的性别歧视广告。在印度，女性受到的待遇与美国等国家不同，福特公司在网上发布了未经授权的福特菲戈(Ford Figo)广告。其中一则广告展示了女性被绑在一辆掀背车的后座上，并堵住了嘴。即使这些都不是“真正的”广告,他们仍然可以在互联网上(参见Timothy Stenovec的《福特印度广告:汽车公司，广告代理为菲戈广告中被堵上和捆绑的女性道歉》，《赫芬顿邮报》，2013年3月25日，www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/24/ford- India - Figo - bound-andgagged-women_n_2941297.html)。

通过数字看营销：广告销售比率

使用销售百分比法，广告商将其预算设定在当前或预测销售的一定百分比。然而，确定使用的百分比并不总是明确的。许多营销人员会根据行业平均水平和竞争对手的支出进行比较。网站和行业出版物发布行业平均数据，以指导市场营销人员设定使用百分比。

<CORE>14-13 </CORE><ALT1>14.</ALT1>寻找行业广告销售比率数据。为什么有些行业的广告销售比其他行业高?(AACSB:沟通;运用信息技术;反思性思考)

答案：

Schonfeld & Associates按行业提供广告销售比率。在www.rab.com/secure/AdtoSales/2013AdtoSalesRatios.pdf or

www.saibooks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60&Itemid=61 上看2013年的数据。

销售比率最高的行业——化妆品和麦芽饮料——是高度竞争的行业，它们用形象来定位品牌。在这种情况下，广告是一种有效的工具。杂货店和医生是更具功能性的服务，竞争较少，他们满足消费者的实用需求，而不是像其他两种产品那样的社会需求。因此，广告在这些类型的服务的促销组合中扮演一个次要的角色。

<CORE>14-14 </CORE><ALT1>15.</ALT1>确定两个竞争公司的广告销售比率，并将其与上面发现的行业广告销售比率进行比较。为什么你认为竞争对手和行业平均水平会有差异?(AACSB:沟通;运用信息技术;分析式推理;反思性思考)

答案：

学生们需要搜索公司的广告支出和销售数据。例如，2013年排名前25位的广告客户的广告支出可以在http://adage.com/article/news/meet-america-s-25-biggest-advertisers/242969/上找到。学生可以从中找到两家相互竞争的公司。例如，梅西百货2013年的广告支出为7.62亿美元，而JCPenney的广告支出为4.99亿美元。梅西的销售额为279.3亿美元(见www.macysinc.com/for-investors/financial-information/quarterly-results/2013/q4-si_52.aspx)，因此梅西的广告销售比为2.7%(7.62亿美元/ 279.3亿美元= 0.027或2.7%)。JCPenney的销售额为129.9亿美元(见www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/jcp/financials)，广告销售比为5%(6.59亿美元/ 129.9亿美元= 0.05或5%)。

2013年百货公司的平均广告销售比为4.5%。Macy 's 2.7%的比率低于行业平均水平，而JCPenney 5%的比率高于行业平均水平。梅西百货在广告上的花费比其他任何一家百货公司都多，但其销售额也远高于其他零售商。

企业案例记录

沃尔沃卡车：前所未有的整合营销沟通

概要

几年前，全球最大的商用卡车生产商之一沃尔沃卡车公司(Volvo Trucks)面临一项巨大挑战。它正在准备20年来首次重要的产品上市——一年之内推出5 种新型号的卡车。为了这一上市，沃尔沃卡车需要一个整合营销沟通战略，以实现雄心勃勃的目标——让全球的人谈论商用卡车。沃尔沃卡车感兴趣的不仅仅是在其通常的目标客户即公司卡车买家之间创造蜂鸣效应，而且希望吸引普通大众，提高他们对品牌的认知度、记住品牌的优势所在，并让国内外的人们谈论、分享和支持品牌。实现这一目标——沃尔沃卡车如何在当代公众视野中保持品牌活力——将是一次前所未有的广告成功。

教学目标

本案例的教学目标是：

掌握整合营销传播的一般性质。
了解促销组合的要素。
接触非传统的促销方式。
了解促销、品牌、分销、价格和目标顾客之间的关系。

讨论问题：

14-18 沃尔沃卡车运用的是哪一种促销组合元素？

社交媒体——“现场测试”活动的核心是在沃尔沃卡车YouTube频道单独推出的多特色系列短片，并在整个社交媒体上播放。对沃尔沃卡车(Volvo Trucks)工程师的采访也在广播中播出。采取措施促进视频分享，增加沃尔沃卡车在社交媒体渠道上的粉丝群。

广告——迷你电影的版本在电视上重播。印刷广告版本被放在卡车印刷机上。

直接营销——一些比较现代的、非传统的促销元素很难放在任何一类传统的促销组合中。然而，Twitter的策略是直接将信息传递给个人消费者。在某些方面，甚至连Facebook的努力也在做同样的事情。

公共关系——2万专题评论。

个人销售——所有市场的销售人员都使用“现场测试”电影作为一个话题和讨论新模型的独特特点的跳板。

14-19 “现场测试”运动怎样展示了整合营销的特点？你如何评价“现场测试”运动的整合效果？

学生的答案会有所不同。然而，毫无疑问，它应该是一个强大的等级。“现场测试”活动是否与通过不同的宣传元素播出的不同信息脱节?又或者，运动的各个部分是否协调一致地宣传相同的信息，互相加强?运动的部分是否不仅仅是提高人们的意识和娱乐，他们是否促使人们采取行动?它们是否加强了顾客与品牌之间的联系?所有这些问题的答案都是一个响亮的“是的”。

14-20 这场“现场测试”采用的消费者营销方法是否适用于所有的 B2B 营销者？请解释。

越来越多的消费型促销技术似乎对B2B市场人员有用。任何时候，终端用户都能看到B2B营销人员的产品，答案是肯定的。例如，在20世纪90年代早期，英特尔通过其“Intel Inside”活动，实际上为B2B广告发明了消费者导向的活动。对购买电脑的终端用户来说，被认为是无形的、无关紧要的组件，如今成了个人电脑领域最重要的消费品牌。在这种情况下，B2C的活动方式奏效了，因为卡车司机也是人。虽然个人司机不一定会做出购买决定，但他们对公司的购买有一定的影响力。

14-21 为保持这次运动所取得的成功，沃尔沃卡车可能会遇到哪些挑战？
首先，这次活动旨在推广五种新的卡车模型——这对沃尔沃来说是重要的一年。让这些模特的兴趣保持活跃是一项艰巨的任务。此外，网络观众会被新奇事物所吸引，但很快就会转向其他东西。因此，沃尔沃卡车不能一直使用同样的方法，并期望它有同样的吸引力。

教学建议

访问沃尔沃卡车的YouTube频道:https://www.youtube.com/user/VolvoTrucks。提前选择一些沃尔沃卡车的视频来展示。这些可能包括“现场测试”活动中的一些。但沃尔沃卡车公司发布了新材料，延长了宣传活动。使用这些来加强案例研究。你也可以考虑一种不同的方法——把学生分成小组或两人一组。给他们几分钟时间，在网上搜索所有东西，尽可能多地找到有关沃尔沃卡车促销活动的例子和参考资料。

这个案例同样适用于广告和公共关系章节(第15章)、直复和网络章节(第17章)以及全球市场章节(第19章)。

请登录mymktlab.com查看以下辅助评分的写作问题:

14-22 说出并描述营销人员在设计营销传播信息时所使用的诉求类型。创建信息时必须考虑哪些信息结构问题?

14-23 选择一个全国性品牌的广告。广告商使用的是什么类型的吸引力?描述使用的信息结构。为品牌制作一个广告，传达相同的信息，但使用不同类型的吸引力和信息结构。

额外的项目、作业和例子

项目

回顾一下促销组合的五个组成部分。找到一个使用这五种组成部分的商家，并描述他们是如何使用每一种部分的。(目标1)
为什么公司使用更少的大众媒体而增加更专业和更有针对性的媒体?哪家公司两者都使用?举例说明公司是如何做到这一点的。(目标2)
想想蜂鸣营销策略——向拥有大型社交网络的青少年发送40美元的智能手机优惠券。设计一个伴随优惠券发放的简短信息。考虑内容、结构和格式问题。(目标3)
给出三个你自己所收到的关于某个产品的口碑传播的例子。沟通的本质是什么?它对你有什么影响?(目标3)
描述五种促销工具，并讨论在形成整体促销组合时必须考虑的因素。(目标4)

小组作业

1. 把学生分成三到五人一组。每个小组都应该阅读《营销实例14.2: 在广告和营销方面做得很好》。然后每组回答下列问题，并与全班分享他们的答案。(目标2)

a. 一个有效的社会责任营销计划的关键要素是什么?

b. 公司利用广告和市场营销在相关的社会和环境问题上表明立场有什么好处?解释一下。

c. 在社会和环境问题上表明立场对一个公司有不利吗?

2. 把学生分成三到五人一组。每个小组都应该回顾沟通过程的基本要素(参见图14.2)。然后每组回答下列问题并与全班分享他们的答案。(目标3)

a. 最好的信息包括什么?

b. 模型指出了良好沟通的几个关键因素是什么?

c. 什么是“噪音”，它是如何潜在地影响沟通过程的?

d. 将沟通模型应用到苹果iMac电视广告中。(如果你需要观看他们的广告，请访问www.apple.com。)

个人作业

查看促销组合的信息。通用汽车公司近年来经常出现在新闻中。GM如何有效地(或非有效地)使用推广组合的每一种工具?(目标1)

营销人员可以从两种基本的促销组合策略中选择——推式促销或拉式促销。首先,描述每个策略。较大的公司通常会结合使用这两种策略。找到两个成功使用这两种促销组合策略的公司的例子。描述他们在做什么，为什么你认为他们会成功。(目标4)

思考-同伴-分享

考虑下面的问题，构思一个答案，与你右边的学生配对，互相分享你们的想法，并回答老师提出的问题。

营销组合和促销组合有什么区别?(目标1)
定义促销组合中的五种促销类型。(目标1)
今天的促销环境有什么不同?这意味着什么?(目标2)
确定个人沟通过程的组成部分。对于成功的沟通来说，哪些元素是最重要的?(目标3)
定义制定促销预算的各种方法。哪种方法最有效?(目标4)
什么是“诱转”广告?给出几个例子。(目标4)

外部例子

Sea Ray是当今最成功的运动船、巡洋舰和游艇制造商之一。他们的模型从17英尺的小型运动船到61英尺的机动游艇不等。看看这家公司(www.searay.com/index.asp)吧。了解他们提供的产品。最重要的是，学习和讨论他们如何运用促销组合的各种元素。(目标1)

可能的解决方案：

Sea Ray的成功部分是因为他们学会了如何有效地利用促销组合元素。从他们的网站，你可以了解到以下内容:

· 广告。网站上有一个链接，可以让你立即看到详细介绍整个产品的最新宣传册。这些小册子也可以下载。还提供了特定型号的视频。

· 促销。根据您访问网站的时间，你可能会在主页上找到与正在进行的特定销售活动有关的信息。这些活动为购买者节省了大量的支出。

· 人员销售。Sea Ray在销售的所有产品都是通过他们的经销商网络销售的。如果你找到你喜欢的船，会有离你最近的Sea Ray经销商联系你提供额外的信息。人员销售是Sea Ray成功运用的促销组合的核心组成部分。

· 公共关系。了解一下Aquapalooza，Sea Ray在全国范围内赞助的划船活动。Sea Ray在几年前开始这一项目，它已经成长为美国最大的划船大赛之一。

· 直接营销。通过向Sea Ray提供你的电子邮件地址和/或邮寄地址，你将被添加到他们的数据库中，并定期获得你可能感兴趣的新闻和信息。

中国经济管理大学

中国经济管理大学官网：www.eauc.hk 中国经济管理大学 MBA公益课堂

中国经济管理大学 MOOC（慕课站）美华管理传播网：www.mhjy.net