smu fall assinment Master of Business Administration - MBA Semester 2 MB0046 – Marketing Management

1. 1
Q.1 what do you mean by marketing functions? Briefly explain the
important marketing functions.
A. 1 As an entrepreneur, when we went to start a new business, we don't
have a product. In fact we will have to decide what product we should
manufacture and sell.
We have first to decide what product we should select. This, we can do
only if we can do only if we identify the needs which require satisfaction
among human beings. Once, we have identified the needs of a group of
human beings (or called market segment), we can determine the product
which can help to satisfy that needs. This is a part of the marketing
concept or we can say the part of modern philosophy of marketing.
Philip Kotler, an author in area of marketing defined marketing "a
human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange
processes."
Human Needs
The human need is a state in which a person feels deprived of
something. There are many human needs described in many
ways.
Briefly, these needs can be divided into two types.
1. Physiological needs
2. Psychological and Sociological needs.
The physiological needs consist of the need for food, clothing, shelter
and even sex. Similarly, there are social needs for belonging, affection
and love from others. Of course, there are.higher order psychological
needs of self-actualisation.
Important to understand that there are different needs for human being
on the earth. At any time some needs in a human being are dormant and
unsatisfied, whereas others are active and are being satisfied. A
marketing man may thus devise a product or service aimed at satisfying
a certain dormant need and thus provide satisfaction to the user. This is
why a man is often described as a bundle of dormant wants. The need
exists buy these have to the converted into 'wants' by a marketing
strategy.
In a socially competitive society, people may have unlimited wants but
the ability to buy may be restricted on account of their economic

2. 2
background. They will, therefore, select from among those products,
which give satisfaction or are needed more. Thus, when they are backed
by ability to buy, the wants are converted into demand for your product.
Therefore, when people decide to satisfy their needs and wants, in terms
of marketing activities, exchange takes place.
On the current activities of human being, we can develop a process-
oriented definition of marketing as "the process of ascertaining
consumer needs, converting them into products or services, and then
moving the product t or service to the final consumer or user to satisfy
certain needs and wants of specific consumer segment or segments with
emphasis on profitability, ensuing the optimum use of the resources
available to the organisation".
In practice, often, separate departments with their own way of perform
the business functions, such' as production, finance and marketing, are
performed by separate departments with their own way of thinking,
production is often considered the more important function as compare
to marketing. This practice is, gradually losing ground and it is being
recognized that unless you can sell a product, you should not
manufacture it.
Production-orientation evolved because often products were designed
and developed by inventors who hoped that they would sell. However, if
these products fail to satisfy some needs they would never sell in the
market place. Therefore, consumer oriented thinking becomes necessary
for any business to survive and grow.
Normally, a salesman would like to think of his activity as a 'selling'
process. Wh"en he does this, he is more cohcerned with handling over
this product and receiving money in exchange. However, if he adopts the
modern philosophy of treating it as a 'buying' process, his job becomes
easier. This would definitely help him to start feeling and thinking of a
customer. For instance, as he puts himself in the shoes of the customer
and asks the question-why should I buy this article? His job will become
smoother, as he will then know about the benefits and the disadvantages
of the product or the service he is offering. This is an illustration of
customer-oriented focus.

3. 3
Theimportant marketing functions are:
Buying - people have the opportunity to buy products that they want.
Selling - producers function within a free market to sell products to
consumers.
Financing - banks and other financial institutions provide money for the
production and marketing of products.
Storage - products must be stored and protect ed until they are needed.
This function is especially important for perishable products such as
fruits and vegetables.
Transportation -products must be physically relocated to the locations
where consumers can buy them. This is a very important function.
Transportation includes rail road, ship, airplane, truck, and
telecommunications for non-tangible products such as market
information.
Processing - processing involves turning a raw product, like wheat, into
something the consumer can use - for example, bread.
Risk-Taking - insurance companies provide coverage to protect
producers and marketers from loss due to fire, theft, or natural disasters.
Market Information - information from around the world about market
conditions, weather, price movements, and political changes, can affect
the marketing process. Market information is provided by all forms of
telecommunication, such as television, the internet, and phone.
Grading and Standardizing - Many products are graded in order to
conform to previously determined standards of quality. For example,
when you purchase india No. 1 Potatoes, you know you are buying the
best potatoes on the market.
Q.2 Define the term “Brand Equity “? Discuss the components of
Brand Equity.

4. 4
A. 2 Brand equity is a phrase used in the marketing industry to try to
describe the value of having a well-known brand name, based on the
idea that the owner of a well-known brand name can generate more
money from products with that brand name than from products with a
less well known name, as consumers believe that a product with a well-
known name is better than products with less well known names.
Another word for "brand equity" is "brand value".
The components of Brand Equity are
1) Awareness,
2) Association,
3) Attitude,
4) Attachment and
5) Activity.
Q.3 Why are marketing channels indispensable? List the functions
of marketing channels.
A.3 Channel management programs have grown to be an indispensable
part of channel marketing nowadays. Channel managers look at these
programs as a efficient choice for the management of channel marketing.
Today, programs have grown so advanced these help save lot of time
and as well as initiatives for the channel managers. You can even install
automated channel partner marketing software which usually will get
upgraded automatically as channel partners submit information.
Automated software is of great advantage as it assists channel partners
get more precise data every time they sign in to the portal.
Additionally, there are numerous channel management application that
aim at facilitating better relationship with channel partner. All these help
by building sales as well as technical readiness and also by offering
prospects to channel partners to even more enhance sales. The important
goal of channel marketing management is to give partners information
as and when they require it.

5. 5
Q.4.Explain the different methods which allows a media planner to
decide budget allocation
A.4
Media vehicle selection, number of insertions and message structure
depend on the budget allotted for the communication program. A
popular channel may charge more for advertisement but organization
gets better viewership. A newspaper having high circulation charges
premium for the advertisement but all the organization may not have
enough budgets to support such campaign. Hence marketer would like to
decide what is the budget for the communication program? And how
shall it be allotted optimally? There are four different methods on which
a media planner decides the allocation of advertisement budget.
1. Affordable method: The method is used by small companies who
don’t have enough
communication budgets. In this method company allots the fixed amount
for the communication program. The advantage of this method is
company can have better control over the spending on the
communication. The disadvantage is if sales require higher
communication effort, company is not in a position to allocate the
budget.
2. Percentage of sales method. In this method company allots the
budget on the basis of total sales forecasted. This is the simplest method.
Marketer can have better control over the budget and also have
flexibility to allocate the budget.
3. Competition method: The Company sets its promotion budget on the
basis of competitors advertising effort. Here company closely monitors
the developments of the competitors’ communication program and study

6. 6
the industry trends in communication budget prior to setting up
communication budget.
4. Objective and task method: The procedure involved in estimating
the advertisement budget by this method are First, Objectives are set for
the communication programs. Second, identifying the task to be
performed to achieve the objective and third, estimating the cost of
achieving these objectives.
Q.5 Define the term” direct marketing” Explain the different
methods adopted for direct marketing
A.5 Direct Marketing : Direct marketing is concerned with establishing
an individual relationship between the business offering a product or
service and the final customer. Direct marketing has been defined by the
Institute of Direct Marketing as: The planned recording, analysis and
tracking of customer behaviour to develop relational marketing
strategies. The process of direct marketing covers a wide range of
promotional activities you may be familiar with.
These include:
a) Direct-response adverts on television and radio
b)Mail order catalogues
c) E-commerce (you bought this marketing companion following
tutor2u’s direct marketing
campaign!)
d)Magazine inserts
e)Direct mail (sometimes also referred to as “junk mail”)

7. 7
f) Telemarketing
Q.6 List the important differences between International marketing
and Domestic marketing.
A.6
Scope – The scope of domestic marketing is limited and will eventually
dry up. On the other end, international marketing has endless
opportunities and scope.
Benefits – As is obvious, the benefits in domestic marketing are less
than in international marketing. Furthermore, there is an added incentive
of foreign currency that is important from the point of view of the home
country as well.
Sharing of technology – Domestic marketing is limited in the use of
technology whereas international marketing allows use and sharing of
latest technologies.
Political relations – Domestic marketing has nothing to do with political
relations whereas international marketing leads to improvement in
political relations between countries and also increased level of
cooperation as a result.
Barriers – In domestic marketing there are no barriers but in
international marketing there are many barriers such as cross cultural
differences, language, currency, traditions and customs.