战略营销Test-BankChapter-3-Question-Bank-7-28-2017.docx

Marketing Strategy: Based on First Principles and Data Analytics

Marketing Strategy:
Based on First Principles and Data Analytics

Question Bank

Chapter 3 Question Bank

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. Only ________ in markets with huge entry and exit barriers can ignore changes among their existing customers?
a. oligopolies
b. multi-national subsidiaries
c. monopolies
d. price leaders
Answer: C

2. Which of the following are true? (check all that apply)
a. all customer change is event driven
b. even after customers are assigned to a segment, their needs continue to evolve monopolies
c. all customers change—this can represent an opportunity for firms
d. all customers change—this can represent a threat for firms
Answer: B, C & D

3. Due to rapid technological and communication developments, the _____ and their ______ have increased.
a. rapidity of industry change, competition’s
b. speed at which customers change, expectation of firms’ response times
c. inertia to customer change, and rapidity of firms’ response times
d. speed at which firms change, and social media’s
Answer: B

4. Discrete life events, typical lifecycles, _______, product lifecycle, and _______ are the five sources of customer dynamics.
a. learning effects, customer preference changes
b. transient effects, customer preference changes
c. learning effects, environmental changes
d. transient effects, environmental changes
Answer: C

5. Various investments in facilities and brand building mean that barriers and switching costs will make following some customers more difficult.
a. brand-building
b. price cuts
c. competitive attacks
d. switching costs
Answer: D

6. A marketing strategy can be devised to cater to an average individual at any stage of life, this is a process of _______ lifestyle for marketers?
a. product
b. industry
c. customer
d. All of the above
Answer: C

7. How many stages are present in a product lifecycle?
a. 5
b. 3
c. 6
d. 4
Answer: D

8. Which of the following is an advantage of the lifecycle approach? (check all that apply)
a. Provides insight for AER decisions
b. Simplicity in use
c. Averages all customers
d. Identifies temporally homogeneous groups
Answer: B

9. Which of the following is a disadvantage of the dynamic customer segmentation approach? (check all that apply)
a. Provides insight for AER decisions
b. Segments are not perfectly homogenous
c. Averages all customers
d. Identifies temporally homogeneous groups
Answer: B

10. Industry lifecycle and product lifecycle have _____ and _____ stages respectively.
a. 5, 3
b. 4, 5
c. 5, 4
d. 3, 4
Answer: C

11. Dynamic-based segmentation is sometimes called the _______model, because it captures customers entering the firm’s portfolio and expanding over time, even as other customers slowly leave.
a. Acquisition–Expansion–Retention (AER)
b. Hidden Markov Model (HMM)
c. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
d. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Answer: A

12. Which of the following is not an output of the HMM?
a. number of feasible states in the data
b. initial probability that a customer is in a state
c. effect of marketing of moving customers across states
d. firm marketing actions
Answer: D

13. In the communal state, the levels of trust, commitment, dependence, and relational norms are higher than in any other state, and the relationship produces good cooperation and profit.
a. transactional
b. communal
c. transitional
d. damages
Answer: B

14. Using ______ provides several advantages including inputs to make trade-offs and resource allocation decisions among different ______ stages at the customer level.
a. CLV, AER
b. AER, HMM
c. HMM, CLV
d. AER, CLV
Answer: A

15. ______________, defined as the planned process of introducing new customers to a firm to improve their long term satisfaction and loyalty.
a. customer relationship management
b. customer initiation
c. customer onboarding
d. None of the above
Answer: C

16. Which of the following does not occur at the decline stage of the typical product lifecycle?
a. Destructive competition and changing consumer needs and desires lead to product decline.
b. Firms’ sales and profits decline.
c. Firms with higher cost and those without a unique advantage enter the market.
d. The market often consolidates with fewer suppliers.
Answer: C

17. Increasing _____ while decreasing _____ and annual marketing costs all improve CLV.
a. acquisition, margins
b. referrals, acquisition
c. referral, margins
d. margins, acquisition
Answer: D

18. The Hidden Markov Model (HMM) uses changes in the __________ customer behavior to identify customer states and model the probability of transitioning, among those states.
a. present, defecting
b. past, defecting
c. present, transitioning
d. past, transitioning
Answer: D

19. Direct marketers have used _____, a simplified version of ______, for decades.
a. CLV, RFM
b. AER, CLV
c. RFM, CLV
d. CLV, AER
Answer: C

20. To predict the effect of promotion on customer cross-buying probability, a firm would use a.
a. regression model
b. HMM model
c. lost customer model
d. choice model
Answer: D

21. _______________ is a powerful, diagnostic tool to identify customers who have migrated away and identify the cause for the migration
a. customer cohort analysis
b. dynamic factor analysis
c. lost customer analysis
d. hidden Markov analysis
Answer: C

22. Using CRV approach, firms have special programs to
a. special finder’s fees
b. discounts for first-time customers
c. promotions for returning customers
d. all of the above
Answer: A

23. __________ margins and retention rates while __________ decreasing acquisition and annual marketing costs and discount rates all improve the customer’s lifetime value.
a. decreasing, increasing
b. increasing, decreasing
c. steady, increasing
d. increasing, steady
Answer: B

24. __________ data can help identify a triggering event or mechanism underpinning each migration and thereby answer questions about the causes of change.
a. Quantitative
b. Qualitative
c. Both A and B
d. None of the above
Answer: B

25. AER positioning statements are internally focused on _________ customers, rather than outwardly focused on ______ customers in the market category.
a. All, existing
b. All, few
c. Existing, All
d. Few, All
Answer: C

26. The firm’s existing customer portfolio, ______, and qualitative and quantitative information from lost customer analysis are the three main inputs to the MP #2 framework.
a. Past marketing and customer response data
b. Past pricing and customer response data
c. Past segment and pricing data
d. Past customer response and segment data
Answer: A

27. Which of the following is not an output of the MP #2 framework?
a. The products and services customers buy at different points in their lifecycle migration
b. Customer static needs and preferences
c. How they feel at different stages in their lifecycle
d. The CLV of customers in each persona
Answer: B

28. Which of the following is not a process of the MP #2 framework?
a. Industry Segmentation
b. Migration Paths and Triggers
c. Customer Lifetime Value of Segments
d. AER positioning statements
Answer: A

TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS
29. There are three approaches to managing customer dynamics: lifecycle, customer dynamic segmentation, and customer lifetime value approaches.
Answer: FALSE (Generic)

30. In a product lifecycle method, managers might average across a large number of different people, product and industry categories, which may give a general sense of change.
Answer: TRUE

31. In the industry lifecycle, the 3rd stage i.e. maturity stage, marked by economies of scale, is the phase where smaller players get forced out.
Answer: FALSE (Shakeout)

32. Over the last 30 years, the entry barriers to start a new business that targets an emerging customer segment or need also have increased.
Answer: FALSE (decreased)

33. An advantage of customer lifetime-value approach is that it inherently stems from and creates a customer-centric culture.
Answer: TRUE

34. Because each state describes the common behaviors exhibited by some group of customers at some point in their relationship with a firm, HMM is a form of dynamic segmentation.
Answer: TRUE

35. CLV makes us think beyond the 80/20 rule, firms can sometimes earn 150% of their profits from 30% of their customers.
Answer: TRUE

36. Some retention strategies from firms aim to stabilize the switching costs required to move to a competitor for the customer?
Answer: FALSE (increase)

37. A suboptimal allocation of retention expenditures will have a larger detrimental impact on long-term customer profitability than suboptimal acquisition expenditures.
Answer: TRUE

38. A choice model is a qualitative model that predicts how the likelihood of an observed customer choice or response, is influenced by a firm’s marketing interventions, and/or customer characteristics.
Answer: FALSE (mathematical)

39. Customer lifetime value attempts to capture the true contribution of each product, by determining the discounted value of the sales and costs associated with this customer across the expected migrated paths followed throughout the relationship.
Answer: FALSE (contribution of each customer)

40. The lifecycle approach can be problematic because it assumes an average rate of change of customers, products, and industries.
Answer: TRUE

ESSAY TYPE QUESTIONS

41. Write a short essay about the evolution of approaches to managing customer dynamics.
Answer: Looking back over the past 30 years provides insights into the evolution of approaches to managing customer dynamics. In particular, the pace of technology turbulence and advancement, increases in the speed and breadth of communication, and the erosion of many traditional cultural barriers to change have increased the speed with which customers change. For example, when telephones were new in the early 1900s, it took decades for them to enter 50 percent of homes; cellphones reached the same level of adoption in less than five years at the end of the same century. The entry barriers to start a new business that targets an emerging customer segment or need also have decreased. As customers change more quickly than before, expectations about firms’ response times also have shortened. Many startups compete to find the customer migration points or changes that will provide them with an entry point. When Uber was founded in 2009, its goal was to “crack the horrible taxi problem in San Francisco,” but in five short years, it already had expanded to more than 200 cities and was valued at approximately $41 billion. Overall, the approaches for managing customer dynamics fit into three categories. Lifecycle Approach uses generic stages of growth and their position in the lifecycle to determine customer preferences and associated strategies. Dynamic Customer Segmentation segments a firm’s existing customers on the basis of their similar, expected migration patterns. Customer Lifetime Value captures the contribution of each customer according to his or her expected migration path over the entire lifetime with the firm.
42. Write a short essay about lost customer analysis.
Answer: A firm contacts customers that have migrated away, to identify the cause for this change, then works backward to fix the problem and ensure other customers don’t leave for the same reason. It takes a significant number of lost customers before a firm recognizes that it isn’t just “normal” customer churn but rather an indication of an underlying problem. It is a three-step process, which provides insights into both strengths and weaknesses. First, firms set regular intervals for contacting lost customers to identify the cause of their transition, where they went, and potential recovery strategies. Second, if the lost customer is not in the firm’s main target segment, firms could change their acquisition criteria, or evaluate an expansion strategy to address a new sub-segment of customers. Third, if the lost customer is in the firm’s target market, firms should fix the problem, or implement retention strategies to build brand and relational loyalty.
43. What are the main outputs from the MP#2 framework?
Answer: The customer dynamics framework uses these three inputs, applies one or more of the different approaches and analyses for managing customer dynamics, and thereby generates three outputs. The first is a description of the firm’s customer personas and expected migrations to understand how they change, including: Critical life event triggers, the products and services they buy at different points in their lifecycle migration, when they stop buying and why, how they feel at different stages in their lifecycle, and The CLV of customers in each persona.
The second and third outputs are closely interrelated and represent the strategic decisions that occur as part of the management of customer dynamics. Deciding how to position the firm and its offerings for each persona across AER stages are key decisions, informed by insights gained from dynamic segmentation and CLV analyses. This output appears in the form of AER positioning statements. In many ways, they parallel the decisions firms make to determine how to position themselves in the overall market to targeted customers, but with greater refinement and more focus on existing customers, by capturing differences across personas and stages. However, AER positioning statements need to be congruent with the firm’s overall positioning in the marketplace to be effective.
Finally, the last outcome builds on these AER positioning statements by outlining what marketing strategies have been and may be most effective across personas and stage. Thus, AER strategies focus on the how; AER positioning statements focus on the what. As firms begin to manage customer dynamics proactively, these strategies may appear somewhat general and not based on “hard data,” but over time, as firms identify gaps and collect and analyze more data, the strategies grow more robust.
44. What are three ways to use a choice model?
Answer: In a choice model setting, every individual is assumed to derive an unobserved product-specific utility from several product options. The individual is assumed to pick the product option that provides the maximum utility. The dependent variable in a choice model is binary: every individual chooses (or does not choose) a product option. Every product option’s attractiveness is assumed to stem from a finite set of attributes (e.g., brand name, price, advertising). The independent variables in a choice model are the measure of the strength of attributes of each of the product option, e.g., product option 1 may have a low price, whi