BRIGHTSTARS EXAM STUDY SOLUTIONS 8/15/2024 2:05 PM
USC Buad 307 Marketing Final Exam
Questions With Correct Answers
Describe the components of a product. - answer✔✔• Product- is anything that is of value to a
consumer and can be offered through a voluntary marketing exchange.
• At the center is core customer value- the basic problem solving benefits that customers are
seeking.
• Convert the core value into actual product- features, design, and quality level.
• Associated service (augmented product)- include the nonphysical aspects of the product, such
as product warranties, financing, product support, and after-sale service.
Identify the types of consumer products. - answer✔✔• Consumer products- are products and
services used by people for their personal use.
• 1. Specialty products and services- are those for which consumers express such a strong
preference that they expend considerable effort to search for the best suppliers.
• 2. Shopping products and services- are products or services for which consumers will spend a
fair amount of time comparing alternatives, such as furniture, apparel, fragrances, appliances,
and travel alternatives.
• 3. Convenience products and services- are those products or services for which the consumer is
not willing to spend any effort to evaluate prior to purchase.
• 4. Unsought products and services- are products consumers either do normally think of buying
or do not know about at all.
Identify the reasons firms create new products. - answer✔✔• Changing customers needs- Firms
need to innovate to respond to changing customer needs.
• Market saturation- Prevent declines in sales from market saturation.
• Managing Risk through diversity- Delete an entire product line in order to address changing
market condition and meet internal strategic priorities.
,BRIGHTSTARS EXAM STUDY SOLUTIONS 8/15/2024 2:05 PM
• Fashion cycles- Diversify their risk, and respond to short product life cycles, especially in
industries like fashion, apparel, arts, books, and software markets, where most sales come from
new products.
• Improving business relationships- Innovations can help firms improve their business
relationships with suppliers.
Describe the different groups of adopters articulated by the diffusion of innovation theory. -
answer✔✔• Diffusion of innovation theory- the process by which a use of an innovation—
whether a product, service, or process—spreads throughout a market group, over time and across
various categories of adopters.
• Innovators- are those buyer who want to be the first on the block to have the new product or
service. These buyers enjoy taking risks and are highly knowledgeable.
• Early adopters- they do not like to take as much risk, but they instead wait and purchase the
product after careful review.
• Early majority- which represents approximately 34 percent of the population is crucial because
few new products and services can be profitable until this large group buys them.
• Late majority- is the last group of buyers to enter a new product market. The product has
achieved its full market potential.
• Laggards- make up roughly 16 percent of the market. These customers avoid change and rely
on traditional products until they are no longer available.
Describe the various stages involved in developing a new product or service. - answer✔✔• 1.
Idea generation- to generate ideas for new products or service using several alternative
techniques, such as internal research and development, R&D consortia, licensing, tracking
competitors.
o Internal research and development- many firms have their own R and D departments, in which
scientists work to solve complex problems and develop new ideas.
o R and D consortia- they explore new ideas or obtain solutions for developing new products.
o Licensing- firms buy the rights to use the technology or ideas from other research-intensive
firms through a licensing R and D.
o Brainstorming- groups work together to generate ideas.
o Outsourcing- people with special skills come together to foster creativity and innovation.
o Competitor's products- reverse engineering- involves taking apart a product, analyzing it, and
creating an improved product that does not infringe on the competitors patents, if they exist.
o Customer input- listening to customers is essential for successful marketing ideas.
, BRIGHTSTARS EXAM STUDY SOLUTIONS 8/15/2024 2:05 PM
• 2. Concept testing- firms test their concepts by either describing the idea of the new product or
service to potential customers or showing them images of what the product would look like.
• 3. Product development- entails a process of balancing various engineering, manufacturing,
marketing, and economic considerations to develop a product's form and features or a service's
features.
• 4. Market testing-
o Premarket tests- before they actually bring a product or service to the market to determine how
many customers will try and then continue to use the product or service according to a small
group of potential consumers.
o Test marketing- introduces the offering to a limited geographical area prior to a national test.
• 5. Product launch- promotion, place, price, and timing.
• 6. Evaluation of results- firms evaluate t
Explain the product life cycle. - answer✔✔• Product life cycle- defines the stages that products
move through as they enter, get established in, and ultimately leave the marketplace.
• 1. Introduction stage- companies attempt to gain a strong foot hold in the market quickly by
appealing to innovators.
• 2. Growth stage- marked by a growing number of product adopters, rapid growth in industry
sales, and increase in both the number of competitors and the number of available products
versions.
• 3. Maturity stage- is characterized by the adoption of the product by the late majority and
intense competition for market share among firms.
• 4. Decline stage- they either position themselves for a niche segment of diehard consumers or
those with special needs or they completely exit the market. . Knowing where a product or
service is in its life cycle helps managers determine its specific strategy at any given point in
time.
Explain how the marketing of services differs from the marketing of products.Explain the
product life cycle. - answer✔✔• Services are intangible, inseparable, variable, and perishable.
Cannot be seen or touched, which makes it difficult to describe their benefits or promote them.
Service providers enhance service delivery with tangible attributes, like a nice atmosphere or
price benefits. Services get produced and consumed at the same time, so marketers must work
quickly, and they are more variable than products, though service providers attempt to reduce
this variability as much as possible. Consumers can't stockpile perishable services, marketers
often provide incentives to stagger demand.
Discuss four gaps in the Service Gap Model. - answer✔✔• 1. Knowledge gap- reflects the
difference between customers' expectations and the firm's perception of those customer
exceptions. Firms need to match customer expectations with actual service through research.
