Q&A Hero

Q: Creators Plus, a modest-size manufacturer of quality crafts, expends considerable resources to ensure that its products are created in the most efficient manner. According to the owner, distribution and promotion are secondary considerations to managing an expedient production process. Creators Plus subscribes to the ____ marketing philosophy. a. process-oriented b. market-oriented c. sales-oriented d. production-oriented

Q: Describe three popular measures of forecast accuracy.

Q: The areas of marketing strategy that should be addressed within the marketing plan are a. promotional, pricing, distribution, and product and/or service plans. b. promotional and pricing plans. c. promotional and distribution plans. d. promotional, pricing, and distribution plans.

Q: Distinguish between a weighted moving average model and an exponential smoothing model.

Q: Because he lacks strong forecasting skills, Stan should: a. become a member of his trade association. b. subscribe to trade journals. c. read magazines focused on small businesses. d. all of the above.

Q: Compare seasonal effects and cyclical effects.

Q: The market analysis section of the marketing plan should include a. sales options. b. a customer profile. c. a statement of marketing tendencies. d. a summary of market philosophies.

Q: Identify the four components of a time series. Which one of these is rarely forecast? Why is this so?

Q: The price of an item should be: a. based solely on the break-even analysis. b. less than what the competition is charging. c. what purchasers are willing to pay. d. total costs plus a margin of profit.

Q: If a barbershop operator noted that Tuesday's business was typically twice as heavy as Wednesday's, and that Friday's business was typically the busiest of the week, business at the barbershop is subject to ________.

Q: Every day, associates of Sewell Motors, a Dallas-based auto retailer, strive to exceed the company's expectations of treating the customer as its number one priority. Every action, policy, and ultimate sale is conducted professionally, with consumers' needs in mind. Sewell Motors subscribes to the ____ marketing philosophy. a. consumer-oriented b. market-oriented c. sales-oriented d. product-oriented

Q: Simple ________ forecasts only work well if we can assume that market demands will stay fairly steady over time.

Q: The name of a new business should be: a. simple, memorable, and descriptive of the benefits. b. simple, memorable, and descriptive of the product. c. the family name of the founder and descriptive of the product. d. simple, memorable, and include the name of the founder.

Q: ________ is a time-series forecasting method that fits a trend line to a series of historical data points and then projects the line into the future for forecasts.

Q: When one constant is used to smooth the forecast average and a second constant is used to smooth the trend, the forecasting method is ________.

Q: Allison is gathering information about other producers in her industry for inclusion in the ______________ section of her marketing plan. a. market analysis b. marketing research c. SWOT analysis d. competition

Q: Traditionally, marketing philosophies have been categorized as: a. consumer-oriented and market-oriented. b. consumer-oriented, product-oriented, market-oriented, and volume-oriented. c. consumer-oriented, market-oriented, sales-oriented, and process-oriented. d. consumer-oriented, production-oriented, and sales-oriented.

Q: A measure of forecast error that does not depend upon the magnitude of the item being forecast is the ________.

Q: The smoothing constant is a weighting factor used in ________.

Q: In her marketing plan, Candace is describing the laws of a foreign country and comments about the exchange rate. It is likely Candace is considering ______________ as a method of distribution. a. importation b. exportation c. Internet marketing d. air transport

Q: The consumer-oriented approach to marketing: a. is just one more business philosophy. b. focuses on pushing the product. c. recognizes first and foremost the need for attaining production efficiency goals. d. is the recommended philosophy for all types of businesses.

Q: A(n) ________ forecast uses an average of the most recent periods of data to forecast the next period.

Q: If Brandon Edward were working to develop a forecast using a moving averages approach, but he noticed a detectable trend in the historical data, he should: A) use weights to place more emphasis on recent data. B) use weights to minimize the importance of the trend. C) change to an associative multiple regression approach. D) use a simple moving average. E) change to a qualitative approach.

Q: Rhoda describes her typical customer as female between the ages of 22 and 35 with at least two years of college and a household income above $50,000 annually. Rhoda is using _________ to describe her customers. a. numeric variables b. benefit variables c. demographic variables d. psychographic variables

Q: Sheena is using her last three years sales to forecast next years sales. Sheena is using the _________ method. a. direct b. indirect c. variable d. primary

Q: ________ expresses the error as a percent of the actual values. A) MAD B) MSE C) MAPE D) FIT E) The smoothing constant

Q: What determines whether the sales forecasting process is direct or indirect? a. the industry orientation of the firm b. the nature of the predicting variable c. the ultimate goal of the entrepreneur d. the marketing philosophy of the company

Q: Suppose that the demand in period 1 was 7 units and the demand in period 2 was 9 units. Assume that the forecast for period 1 was for 5 units. If the firm uses exponential smoothing with an alpha value of .20, what should be the forecast for period 3? (Round answers to two decimal places.) A) 9.00 B) 3.72 C) 9.48 D) 5.00 E) 6.12

Q: Ned was just about ready to begin his market research when an unknown rival launched a similar product in the market. Neds best course of action would be: a. to go ahead with the research to support future decisions. b. to wait and see how well the rivals product sells. c. to dispense with the research and launch his own product. d. to scrap his original product idea and come up with something else.

Q: A seasonal index for a monthly series is about to be calculated on the basis of three years' accumulation of data. The three previous July values were 110, 150, and 130. The average demand over all months during the three-year time period was 190 . What is the approximate seasonal index for July? A) 0.487 B) 0.684 C) 1.462 D) 2.053 E) cannot be calculated with the information given

Q: XYZ Corporation faces little competition for its product and can barely keep up with demand. The marketing philosophy most likely in place at XYZ is the ____________ philosophy. a. production-oriented b. sales-oriented c. consumer-oriented d. efficiency-oriented

Q: Demand for a certain product is forecast to be 800 units per month, averaged over all 12 months of the year. The product follows a seasonal pattern, for which the January monthly index is 1.25. What is the seasonally-adjusted sales forecast for January? A) 640 units B) 798.75 units C) 801.25 units D) 1000 units E) 83.33 units

Q: Shiloh has begun the sales forecasting procedure with a variable that has a very large scope and then systematically is working down to the sales forecast. Shiloh is using the: a. breakdown process. b. buildup process. c. chain-linkage method. d. bottom-up method.

Q: Which of the following is TRUE regarding the two smoothing constants of the Forecast Including Trend (FIT) model? A) One constant is positive, while the other is negative. B) They are called MAD and cumulative error. C) Alpha is always smaller than beta. D) One constant smoothes the regression intercept, whereas the other smoothes the regression slope. E) Their values are determined independently.

Q: Yamaha manufactures which set of products with complementary demands to address seasonal variations? A) golf clubs and skis B) swimming suits and winter jackets C) jet skis and snowmobiles D) pianos and guitars E) ice skates and water skis

Q: Andrew is considering two models of cars. The size, price, and options are identical. However, one model gets better gas mileage. This fact would be considered a(n): a. core product. b. actual product. c. augmented product. d. ancillary product.

Q: Martas job involves asking shoppers in the mall about their experience with specific products. She works from a list given to her by the products producers. Marta is using the _________ method to gather ____________ data. a. observational, secondary b. questioning, primary c. observational, primary d. questioning, secondary

Q: For a given product demand, the time-series trend equation is 53 - 4x. The negative sign on the slope of the equation: A) is a mathematical impossibility. B) is an indication that the forecast is biased, with forecast values lower than actual values. C) is an indication that product demand is declining. D) implies that the coefficient of determination will also be negative. E) implies that the cumulative error will be negative.

Q: The section of the marketing plan which describes the entrepreneurs approach to creating customer awareness of the product or service is the: a. product and/or service section. b. promotion section. c. distribution section. d. pricing section.

Q: A time-series trend equation is 25.3 + 2.1x. What is your forecast for period 7?A) 23.2B) 25.3C) 27.4D) 40.0E) 179.2

Q: Irene, owner of a small retail shop, is evaluating her customer profile. Which item is the most critical for her customer profile? a. the financial ratios to see how much her product costs the customer b. whether the marketing research was completed with primary or secondary information c. the customer benefits to verify they are consistent with the customer needs d. the customer demographics to determine new customers

Q: Given forecast errors of -1, 4, 8, and -3, what is the mean absolute deviation? A) 2 B) 3 C) 4 D) 8 E) 16

Q: Which source of data would be the least helpful for secondary data use? a. libraries of higher education b. the Small Business Administration c. blogs d. the Internet

Q: The primary purpose of the mean absolute deviation (MAD) in forecasting is to: A) estimate the trend line. B) eliminate forecast errors. C) measure forecast accuracy. D) seasonally adjust the forecast. E) remove random variations.

Q: Adopting a consumer-oriented marketing philosophy is most consistent with: a. quickly gaining highly profitable market returns. b. eventually achieving long-term market success. c. the revenue stabilizing effect of large market shares. d. focusing on the single most profitable consumer segment.

Q: The most detailed and scrutinized section of a formal marketing plan is the: a. competitor analysis. b. marketing strategy. c. market analysis. d. consumer analysis.

Q: A forecasting method has produced the following over the past five months. What is the mean absolute deviation? Actual Forecast Error |Error| 10 11 -1 1 8 10 -2 2 10 8 2 2 6 6 0 0 9 8 1 1 A) -0.2 B) -1.0 C) 0.0 D) 1.2 E) 8.6

Q: Which of the following values of alpha would cause exponential smoothing to respond the SLOWEST to forecast errors? A) 0.10 B) 0.2246 C) 0.50 D) 0.90 E) cannot be determined

Q: The description of potential customers in a target market is commonly called a: a. customer profile. b. demographic detailing. c. Simpkins matrix. d. target picture.

Q: Special consideration should be given to the selection of the ____________ and the logic of this selection should be explained in the marketing plan. a. company logo b. company name c. company slogan d. company philosophy

Q: Given an actual demand this period of 61, a forecast for this period of 58, and an alpha of 0.3, what would the forecast for the next period be using exponential smoothing? A) 45.5 B) 57.1 C) 58.9 D) 61.0 E) 65.5

Q: Ideas Unlimited is a consulting firm that provided retailers with information about regional sales trends. To estimate demand in the market for its services, the firm's marketing department identifies all buyers in each category of retailers and determines how much business is possible. The market demand estimate is based on the: a. aggregate forecasting process. b. breakdown forecasting process. c. buildup forecasting process. d. indirect forecasting process.

Q: A forecast based on the previous forecast plus a percentage of the forecast error is a(n): A) qualitative forecast. B) naive forecast. C) moving average forecast. D) weighted moving average forecast. E) exponential smoothing forecast.

Q: A firm's marketing mix consists of ____ activities. a. pricing, promotion, and distribution b. product, pricing, and promotion c. product, promotion, and distribution d. product, pricing, promotion, and distribution

Q: Given an actual demand this period of 103, a forecast value for this period of 99, and an alpha of .4, what is the exponential smoothing forecast for next period? A) 94.6 B) 97.4 C) 100.6 D) 101.6 E) 103.0

Q: Why would a small business conduct less marketing research than a larger, established firm? a. The entrepreneur can rely on intuition and observations. b. Marketing research is expensive. c. Marketing research is not necessary for the start-up business. d. Data is not generally available for new business ideas.

Q: Which of the following smoothing constants would make an exponential smoothing forecast equivalent to a naive forecast? A) 0 B) 1 divided by the number of periods C) 0.5 D) 1.0 E) cannot be determined

Q: In considering its marketing strategy a new venture will typically concentrate on: a. mass marketing. b. a multi-segmented market. c. a single-segment approach. d. the Internet.

Q: Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of exponential smoothing? A) smoothes random variations in the data B) uses an easily altered weighting scheme C) weights each historical value equally D) has minimal data storage requirements E) uses the previous period's forecast

Q: Which time-series model uses BOTH past forecasts and past demand data to generate a new forecast? A) nave B) moving average C) weighted moving average D) exponential smoothing E) trend projection

Q: In order to be appropriately considered a market, a group of customers or potential customers must have a. purchasing power. b. market power. c. satisfied needs. d. correlated needs.

Q: Which of the following statements comparing exponential smoothing to the weighted moving average technique is TRUE? A) Exponential smoothing is more easily used in combination with the Delphi method. B) More emphasis can be placed on recent values using the weighted moving average. C) Exponential smoothing is considerably more difficult to implement on a computer. D) Exponential smoothing typically requires less record keeping of past data. E) Exponential smoothing allows one to develop forecasts for multiple periods, whereas the weighted moving average technique does not.

Q: The initial step in the marketing research process is to: a. select a data collection method. b. identify consumer/business segments of interest. c. identify informational needs. d. conduct a preliminary information search.

Q: Richard is trying to figure out how many units of his product his new business could reasonably expect to sell in its first year. Richard is working on the: a. production schedule. b. marketing research c. inventory policy. d. sales forecast.

Q: Increasing the number of periods in a moving average will accomplish greater smoothing, but at the expense of: A) manager understanding. B) accuracy. C) stability. D) sensitivity to real changes in the data. E) All of the above are diminished when the number of periods increases.

Q: Morton sells salt; Domino sells sugar. The best strategy for either of these products would be: a. the unsegmented strategy. b. the multi-segmented strategy. c. a differentiated strategy. d. a single-segment strategy

Q: A six-month moving average forecast is generally better than a three-month moving average forecast if demand: A) is rather stable. B) has been changing due to recent promotional efforts. C) follows a downward trend. D) exceeds one million units per year. E) follows an upward trend.

Q: In the analysis of a market, the customer profile should include a: a. description of consumer weaknesses. b. summary of production plans. c. detailed discussion of major customer benefits provided by the product and/or service. d. profile of major markets not targeted.

Q: John's House of Pancakes uses a weighted moving average method to forecast pancake sales. It assigns a weight of 5 to the previous month's demand, 3 to demand two months ago, and 1 to demand three months ago. If sales amounted to 1000 pancakes in May, 2200 pancakes in June, and 3000 pancakes in July, what should be the forecast for August? A) 2400 B) 2511 C) 2067 D) 3767 E) 1622

Q: Which time-series model below assumes that demand in the next period will be equal to the most recent period's demand? A) nave approach B) moving average approach C) weighted moving average approach D) exponential smoothing approach E) trend projection

Q: Techniques used to collect primary data are often classified as ____ and ____ methods. a. internal/external b. observational/questioning c. exploratory/descriptive d. focus/comprehensive

Q: Spira Footwear, Inc. produces running and walking shoes with a patented technology. Therefore the companys profile should concentrate the most on a. the features the shoes offer the customer. b. the uniqueness of the product. c. the benefits to the customers. d. All of the above are equally important.

Q: A firm has modeled its experience with industrial accidents and found that the number of accidents per year (y-hat) is related to the number of employees (x) by the regression equation:y-hat = 3.3 + 0.049x. The r-squared value is 0.68. The regression is based on 20 annual observations. The firm intends to employ 480 workers next year. How many accidents do you project? How much confidence do you have in that forecast?

Q: The ____ marketing philosophy is the preferred approach for all businesses. a. product-oriented b. market-oriented c. sales-oriented d. consumer-oriented

Q: What is the forecast for May using a four-month moving average? Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. April 39 36 40 42 48 46 A) 38 B) 42 C) 43 D) 44 E) 47

Q: Suppose that the last four months of sales were 8, 10, 15, and 9 units, respectively. Suppose further that the last four forecasts were 5, 6, 11, and 12 units, respectively. What is the Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) of these forecasts?A) 2B) -10C) 3.5D) 9E) 10.5

Q: Forecasting sales for a new venture will be the most difficult when a. the owner is unfamiliar with quantitative analysis. b. the owner is unfamiliar with qualitative analysis. c. the owner is starting another business in a new industry. d. All of the above are equally difficult.

Q: In time series, which of the following cannot be predicted? A) large increases in demand B) cycles C) seasonal fluctuations D) random variations E) large decreases in demand

Q: People of all backgrounds, occupations, and income levels wear watches but Rolex focuses only on the high-income portion of the market. Rolex uses a(n) ____________ strategy. a. mass marketing b. multi-segment c. unsegmented d. single-segment

Q: The fundamental difference between cycles and seasonality is the: A) duration of the repeating patterns. B) magnitude of the variation. C) ability to attribute the pattern to a cause. D) all of the above E) none of the above