case study of marketing class 12

CBSE Class 12 Case Studies In Business Studies – Marketing Management

MARKETING Marketing: Definition Marketing is a social process by which individual groups obtain what they need and want through creating offerings and freely exchanging products and services of value with others. – Philip Kotler Marketing management is “the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value”. – Philip Kotler

Elements of marketing mix

Market: Definition A market consists of all the potential customers who have both the ability and willingness to buy a product or service to satisfy their needs or wants

Features of marketing

• It seeks to provide what individuals or groups need or want
• A market offering is created by the marketer.
• It adds value toa product by increasing its utility
• It is facilitated through the exchange mechanism

What can be Marketed?

• Physical product
• Organisations

Functions of Marketing

• Gathering and analysing market information is done to know the taste and preference of the target market.
• Marketing planning is needed to meet the marketing objectives of the firm effectively and efficiently.
• Product designing and development is carried out to make the product innovative and attractive.
• Packaging and labelling are needed for product protection, product identification and product differentiation.
• Branding helps to createa unique identity of the products.
• Customer support services help to create a good image of the marketer in the eyes of consumers.
• Pricing of product is a crucial decision as it may greatly influence the demand for a product.
• Promotion helps to boost the sales of a product.
• Physical distribution ensures the availability of the product at the right place, at the right time and in right condition so as to facilitate its purchase.
• Transportation creates place utility through movement of goods from the production of goods to the place of distribution.
• Warehousing creates time utility by providing for the storage during the time gap between the production and distribution of goods.
• Standardisation helps to produce goods as per predetermined specifications and grading facilitates their classification into groups on the basis of some criterion like quality, size etc.

MARKETING MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHIES/CONCEPTS

  PRODUCT Product: Definition A product is anything of value i.e. a product or service offered to a market to satisfy needs or wants.

Important product decisions include

• Determining its layout, features, quality, design etc.

A Product includes

• After sale services
• Handling grievances
• Replacement of parts etc.

Types of utilities offered by a product

• Functional utility
• Psychological utility
• Social utility

PACKAGING Packaging: Definition Packaging is the process of desiging a suitable wrapper or container for a product.

Importance of Packaging

• Rising standards of health and sanitation
• Useful in self service outlets
• Innovative packaging adds value to a product
• Facilitates product differentiation

Levels of Packaging

• Primary package refers to the immediate container of a product.
• Secondary packaging refers to the additional protection provided besides primary package.
• Transportation packaging refers further packaging that helps in storage, identification of transportation of the product.

Functions of Packaging

• Helps in product identification
• Provides protection to the product
• Facilitates the use of product
• Assists in promotion of the product

BRANDING Branding: Definition Branding is the process of assigning a name (brand name), sign or symbol (brand mark) or a combination of all to identify the products of a seller or a group of sellers and to distinguish them from those of the competitors.

Brand Mark: Definition A brand mark is that part of a brand can be recognised but is not utterable.

Brand Name: Definition A brand name is that part of a brand which can be spoken.

Trade Mark: Definition Trade mark is used in context of a registered brand.

Advantages of branding to the customers

• Supports in product identification
• Certifies quality
• Considered to bea status symbol

Advantages of branding to the manufacturers

• Assists in advertising and display programmes
• Facilitates differential pricing
• Ease in the launching of new products

Qualities of a good brand name

• Short and easy to pronounce, spell and remember
• Reflects the functions of the product
• Distinctive/easily identifiable
• Adaptable can be used in labelling or packaging
• Versatile can be used for brand extension
• Should not become outdated soon
• Capable of being registered

LABELLING Labelling: Definition Labelling refers to the process of designing a label for a product which may vary from a simple tag to a complex graphic.

Functions of labelling

• Describes the product and specifies its contents
• Helps in identification of the product or brand
• Enables grading of products
• Assists in promotion of products
• Provides information required by law

PRICE Price: Definition Price is the monetary value paid in consideration for purchase ofa product or service by a buyer to its seller.

Factors affecting price determination

• Cost of product
• The utility and demand
• Extent of competition in the market
• Government and legal regulations
• Pricing objectives
• Marketing methods used.

PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION Physical Distribution: Definition Physical distribution includes all those activities that ensure the availability of the product at the right place, at the right time and in right condition so as to facilitate its purchase.

Determining the components of physical distribution

• Order Processing
• Warehousing
• Transportation

Functions of distribution channels

• Accumulation
• Product Promotion
• Negotiation
• Risk Taking

Factors determining choice of channel

• Type of product
• Nature of product
• Degree of complexity of product
• Unit value of the product
• Financial strength of the firm
• Degree of control desired on channel members
• Policy of firm
• Geographical concenteration of buyers
• Quantity purchased
• Size of the market
• Economic conditions
• Legal constraints

Two main decisions involved in physical distribution

• Physical movement of goods from producers to consumers
• Choice of channels of distribution

Channels of Distribution: Definition Channels of distribution refers to the set of individuals and firms that act as intermediaries in the form of agents, wholesalers, retailers etc. that help to transfer the title of ownership to the buyer and also facilitate physical movement of the products.

Types of channels of distribution

• Manufacturer- consumer (zero level)
• Manufacturer- retailer consumer (one level channel)
• Manufacturer- wholesaler- retailer consumer(two level channel)
• Manufacturer-agent wholesaler retailer consumer(three level channel)

PROMOTION Promotion: Definition Promotion refers to the set of activities undertaken by a marketer to inform the prospective buyers about the product and persuading them to make a purchase.

Promotion mix

• Advertising
• Personal selling
• Sales promotion
• Public relations

ADVERTISING Advertisement: Definition Advertisement is a paid form of non¬personal communication undertaken by the marketers to boost the sale of a product or a service.

Objections to Advertising

• Adds to cost
• Undermines social values
• Encourages sale of inferior products
• Some advertisements are in bad taste
• Confuses the buyers

Features of Advertising

• Impersonality
• Identified sponsor

Role of Advertising

• Enhancing customers awareness about the product
• Helps in creating demand for both old and new products
• Repeated advertisements increases the confidence of the consumers
• Improves the public image of the company
• Helps to create employment opportunities

PERSONAL SELLING Personal Selling: Definition Personal selling refers to a personal form of communication between the seller and the prospective buyer.

Merits of personal selling

• It isa flexible tool of promotion
• It seeks to provides direct feedback from the prospective buyers

Features of Personal selling

• Involves personal form of communication
• May lead to the development of long term relationship between the company and a buyer

Qualities of a Good Salesman

• He should havea neat and tidy appearance.
• He should be decently dressed up and carry himself well.
• He should be cheerful and confident in his dealings.
• He should be able to communicate assertively.
• He should be alert and intelligent so that he is able to mould his sales talk as per the need of the situations.
• He should also passess good knowledge about the product that he is selling.

SALES PROMOTION Sales promotion: Definition Sales promotion refers to the short term incentives offered by the marketers to promote the sale Of their products

Commonly used Sales Promotion activities

• Product combinations
• Quality gift
• Instant draws and assigned gift
• Usable benefit
• Full finance @ 0%

PUBLIC RELATIONS Public Relations: Definition Public relations refers to the practice of managing communication between an organisation and its public in order to create and maintain a positive image about itself and its products

Roles of Public Relations

• Public relations helps to create a positive image about the company in the eyes of various interest holders like consumers, government, suppliers etc.
• It helps in launching new products as they may be accepted easily because of they may be accepted easily because of good reputation of business.
• It helps the business to reinstate itself in wake of controversies or prejudices etc.

Functions of the Public Relation Department

• It manage relations with the press to present true and correct information about the company.
• It undertakes product publicity for new products through sponsorships.
• It is proactive in promoting or defending regulations that affect business by maintaining healthy relationships with associations of commerce and industry etc. through newsletters, brochures, articles or arranging for talk shows or speeches of high officials of the company.
• It initiates or supports various kinds of corporate social activities.

LATEST CBSE QUESTIONS

Question 1. Sunita took her niece, Aishwarya for shopping to ‘Benetton’ to buy her a dress on the occasion of her birthday. She was delighted when on payment for the dress she got a discount voucher to get 20% off for a meal of Rs. 500 or above at a famous eating joint. Identify the technique of sales promotion used by the company in the above situation. (CBSE, Delhi 2017) Answer: Useable benefits is the technique of sales promotion used by the company in the above situation.

Question 2. Ginika, Tanish and Rohit were friends from college days and now they are doing different kinds of business. They regularly meet and discuss their business ideas and exchange notes on customer satisfaction, marketing efforts, product designing, selling techniques, social concerns etc. In one of such meetings, Ginika drew the attention of Tanish and Rohit towards the exploitation of consumers. She told that most of the sellers were exploiting the consumers in various ways’ and were not paying attention towards the social, ethical and ecological aspects of marketing, whereas she was not doing so. Tanish told that they were under pressure to satisfy the consumers, but stated that the consumers would not buy or not buy enough unless they were adequately convinced and motivated for the same. Rohit stressed that a company cannot achieve its objectives without understanding the needs of the customers. It was the duty of the businessmen to keep consumer satisfaction in mind because business is run by the resources made available to them by the society. He further stated that he himself was taking into consideration the needs of the customers. Identify the various types of thinking that guided Ginika, Tanish and Rohit in the marketing efforts of their business. Also, state one more feature of the various types of thinking identified that is not given in the above para. (CBSE, Delhi 2017) Answer: The various types of thinking that guided Ginika, Tanish and Rohit in the marketing efforts of their business are described below:

• (Ginika) Societal marketing concept: The main focus of this philosophy is on both the needs of the potential buyers as well as concern for the society at large. The ends include profit maximisation through customer satisfaction and social welfare.
• (Tanish) Selling concept: The main focus of this philosophy is on existing products. The ends include profit maximisation through sales volume.
• (Rohit) Marketing concept: The main focus of this philosophy is on customers needs. The ends include profit maximisation through customer’s satisfaction.

Question 3. Mediquip Ltd. is a company dealing in distribution of medical equipments. The company recently imported 15000 units of sugar testing machines to test the sugar levels without taking blood samples. For deciding the marketing strategy, the Chief Executive Officer of the company called a meeting of the marketing heads of different zones. In the meeting, Sandeep, the North Zone Marketing Head, suggested that since the machines were sophisticated they need to visit hospitals personally, to explain its working to the hospital staff who would be using the machines. He also suggested that additional trained people may be recruited for the same. Himanshu, another Zonal Head, added that since lot of money had been spent on the import of the machines, the company was short of funds to pay to the additional staff as suggested by Sandeep. Rahul, a newly appointed Zonal Head of South Zone suggested that since the size of the order is not large, a detailed study of the factors determining the choice of channels of distribution is required before making the right choice.

• Identify the factors influencing the choice of channels of distribution which were discussed in the meeting.
• Also, explain briefly the other consideration to be taken care of in each factor identified in part (1). (CBSE, Delhi 2017)
• Product related factors: It has been mentioned that the machines were sophisticated.
• Market related factors: It has been mentioned that the size of the order is not large. (in)
• Company related factors: It has been mentioned that the company was short of funds to pay the additional staff which had to be recruited to personally visit and train the hospital staff.
• Geographical concentration of potential buyers: If the potential buyers for the firm’s product are geographically concentrated at a few specific places, it is advisable for the marketer to adopt direct channels of distribution. If the market for the product is widely scattered, indirect channels of distribution will be more effective.
• Nature of product: Considering the technical nature of the industrial products they require short channels i.e., direct channel or involving few middlemen. Moreover, they are made to order and expensive products purchased by selective buyers. Whereas the consumer products, being standardised, less expensive, less bulky, non-technical can be better distributed by long network of channels, involving many middlemen. Moreover they are purchased frequently.
• Type of product: If the product under consideration is perishable like fruits, vegetables, and dairy products short channels should be adopted in order to preserve their quality. Whereas non-perishable products like toiletry products (e.g., shampoo , toothbrush, deodorants etc.), groceries (cooking oil, pulses etc.), fabrics can be best marketed through longer channels so as to reach wide spread consumers.

Question 4. Mansi took her niece Ridhima for shopping to ‘Mega Stores’ to buy her a bag for her birthday. She was delighted when on payment of the bag she got a pencil box along with the bag free of cost. Idenfity the technique of sales promotion used by the company. (CBSE, OD 2017) Answer: Product combination

Question 5. “Time Line” watch manufacturing company is a renowned company marketing watches. It performs various activities like, market analysis, product designing or merchandising, packaging, warehousing, branding, pricing, promotion and selling. The company maintains good customer relations through various follow up activities. This helps the company in procuring repeat sales orders.

• Name the concept related to the activities mentioned in the above paragraph.
• Explain any two features of the concept identified in part (1) (CBSE, Sample Paper, 2017)
• Marketing is the concept related to the activities mentioned in the above paragraph.
• Needs and wants: Marketing is a social process that seeks to satisfy the needs and wants of individuals and organisations. Needs are basic to human beings like food, clothing and shelter and do not relate to a particular product. Whereas wants are culturally defined human needs which are shaped by multiple factors like personality, religion, culture etc. Needs are limited whereas wants are unlimited. Therefore, the success of marketing lies in the competence of the marketer to identify needs of target customers and develop products to satisfy such needs effectively.
• Creating a market offering: The complete offer for a product or service possessing certain specific features like size, quality, colour etc. is known as a market offering. Thus, the success of the marketers lies in their proficiency to create a market offering in accordance with the needs and wants of the target market. For example a pack of 100 ml of mango juice is available for ? 20.

Question 6. “Coconut Joy Ltd.” are the manufacturer of vegetarian frozen dessert food products made with coconut milk, agave syrup and other certified ingredients. The founders of the company Lovely and Lalita originally developed this treat to meet their own needs but found that their friends and families around were also keen to use the products. It was not only the vegetarians, but also those who could not get enough environment friendly sustainable food, that appreciated the product. It did not take long for Lovely and Lalita to recognise the potential of their little venture. In the beginning they started from their home with the product being sold through local family parties that enable guests to personally meet the owner. This helped to establish strong connections with the prospective buyers and the company could put the product on shelves of natural food store. The company used* all marketing activities to grow and expand. The company began sponsoring booths at festivals, drawing attention to its newly created vegetarian products. It also disseminated relevant information to media about its products and the people who helped in building the company’s reputation. Lovely and Lalita were invited for an interview with one of the leading TV channels in which they talked about their environment friendly vegetarian products. To show its gratitude to customers, local business and government officials who supported the company from the beginning, “Coconut Joy Ltd.” hosted a gala event and involved all of them to raise funds for a few local NGO’s. The company also asked its fans and customers to send songs and poetry conveying their impression about “Coconut ‘Joy’s Ltd.” products.

• Identify and explain the communication tool used by “Coconut Joy Ltd”. .
• Briefly explain the role of the tool identified in (1) above. (CBSE, Sample Paper, 2017)
• Public relations is the communication tool used by “Coconut Joy Ltd”. Public relations refers to the practice of managing communication between an organisation and its publics in order to create and maintain a positive image about itself and its products.
• Press Relation: It manages relations with the press to present true and correct information about the company. Thus, public relations helps to create a positive image about the company in the eyes of various interest holders like consumers, government, suppliers etc.
• Product Publicity: It undertakes product publicity for new products through sponsorships. Thus, it helps in launching new products as they may be accepted easily because of good reputation of business.
• Corporate Communication: It promotes image of the company through different ways of corporate communication like publication of newsletters, brochures, articles or arranging for talk shows or speeches of high officials of the company.
• Lobbying: It is proactive in promoting or defending regulations that affect business by maintaining healthy relationships with associations of commerce and industry, government officials and different ministers in charge of corporate affairs etc.

Question 7. Good Living Ltd. manufactures mosquito repellent tablets tables. These tablets are packed in strips of 12 tablets each. Each of these strips is packed in a cardboard box, 48 such boxes are then placed in a big corrugated box and delivered to various retailers for sale. State the purpose of packaging the tablets in a corrugated box. (CBSE, Sample Paper 2016) Answer: The purpose of packaging the tablets in a corrugated box is to facilitate their transportation, warehousing and easy identification.

Question 8. Shreemaya Hotel in Indore was facing a problem of low demand for its rooms due to off¬season. The Managing Director (MD) of the hotel, Mrs. Sakina was very worried. She called upon the marketing Manager, Mr. Kapoor for his advice. He suggested that the hotel should announce an offer of ‘3 Days and 2 nights hotel stay package’ with free breakfast and one-day religious visit to Omkareshwar and Mahakaleshwar Temples. The MD liked the suggestion very much. Identify the promotional tool which can be used by the hotel through which large number of prospective pilgrimage tourists all over the country and abroad can be reached, informed and persuaded to use the incentive. (CBSE, Sample Paper 2016) Answer: Advertising is the promotion tool that can be used by the hotel.

Question 9. “Every time I travelled, people asked me to bring them chips, khakra and pickles from all over the country,” says Anoushka. Finally, she and her colleague, Sumeet, decided to make a business out of it. They launched a Facebook page, asked people what they wanted, and they came up with a list of about 100 places and tied-up with two dozen vendors to begin with. They were servicing people from Jaipur who wanted spices from Kerala, people from Panipat who wanted halwa from Jammu and people from Delhi who ordered fresh tea leaves from Darjeeling. Through their business, they wished to bridge the gap between sellers and buyers. The business is now worth millions. Explain any two important activities that Anouskha and Sumeet will have to be involved in for making the goods available to customers at the right place, in the right quantity and at the right time. (CBSE, Sample Paper 2016) Answer: Anoushka and Sumeet need to perform the activities involved in physical distribution of goods. Two such activities are explained below:

• Transportation: It creates place utility by facilitating the movement of goods from the place of production to the place of distribution. In the absence of efficient, reliable and cost effective transportation, facility marketing of goods is difficult.
• Warehousing: It creates time utility by providing for the storage of goods from the time they are produced till the time they are sold. Every marketer needs to take this decision wisely in order to create a balance between the level of customer service and cost of warehousing.

Question 10. A company was marketing juicers which were very popular due to their quality and after sales services provided to the customers. The company was a leading company in the market and earning huge profits. Because of huge profits, the company ignored the after sales services. As a result, its relations with customers got spoiled and the image of the company in the public was damaged. The top management became concerned when the profits for the current quarter fell steeply. On analysis, it was revealed that ignoring the after sales services was its reason. Therefore, the company took all possible measures to protect and promote its favourable image. As a result, the goodwill of the company improved in the society.

• Name and state the communication tool used by the marketer in the above case to improve its image.
• Also explain the role of the tool as identified in part (1). (CBSE, OD 2016)

OR A company was marketing water purifiers which were very popular due to their quality and after sales services provided to the customers. The company was a leading company in the market and earning huge profits. Because of huge profits, the company ignored the after sales services. As a result, its relations with customers got spoiled and the image of the company was damaged in the public. The top management became concerned when the profits for the current quarter fell steeply. On analysis, it was revealed that ignoring the after sales services was its reason. Therefore, the company took all possible measures to protect and promote its favourable image in the eyes of the public. As a result, the goodwill of the company improved in the society.

• Also explain role of the tool as identified in part (1). (CBSE, Delhi 2016)
• Public Relations is being used as a promotional tool by the marketer. It refers to the practice of managing communication between an organisation and its publics in order to create and maintain a positive image about itself and its products.
• Public relations helps to create a positive image about the company in the eyes of various interest holders like consumers, government, suppliers etc .
• It helps in launching new products as they may be accepted easily because of good reputation of business.
• It helps the business to reinstate itself in the wake of controversies or prejudices etc.

Question 11. Maruti Vega Ltd. entered into the market with coloured televisions and have now introduced products like audio systems, air-conditioners, washing machines, etc. The company is not only offering the products but also handling complaints and offering after-sales services. Identify the element of marketing mix discussed here. (CBSE, OD 2015) Answer: Product is the element of marketing mix discussed here.

Question 12. Radhika was a student of Business Studies of Class XII. Her father was a farmer who grew different varieties of rice and was well-versed in the various aspects of rice cultivation. He was also selected by the government for a pilot-project on rice cultivation. As a project work in Business Studies, she decided to study the feasibility of marketing good quality rice at a reasonable price. Her father suggested her to use the Internt to gather customers’ views and opinions. She found that there was a huge demand for packaged organic rice. She knew that there were no predetermined specifications in case of rice because of which it was difficult to achieve uniformity in the output. To differentiate the product from its competitors, she gave it the name of ‘Malabari Organic Rice’ and classified it into three different varieties, namely — Popular, Classic and Supreme, based on the quality. She felt that these names would help her in product differentiation. Explain the three functions of marketing with reference to the above paragraph (CBSE, OD 2015) Answer: The three functions of marketing with reference to the above paragraph are described below:

• Gathering and analyzing market information: The prime focus of marketing is to ‘find wants and fill them’. Therefore, it is absolutely essential for a company to study the needs and preferences of its target market in order to satisfy their needs and wants optimally.
• Standardisation and grading: Standardisation refers to the process of manufacturing goods as per predetermined specifications. Grading refers to the process of classifying goods on the basis of certain criteria like quality, size etc. Usually, agricultural products are subject to grading.
• Branding: Branding is the process of assigning a name (brand name), sign or symbol (brand mark) or a combination of all to a product. It is considered to be a very important decision by the marketers because it facilitates product differentiation. This helps the company to obtain a desirable market share.

Question 13. Beauty Products Ltd. is a natural and ethical beauty brand famous for offering organic beauty products for men and women. The company uses plant-based materials for its products and is the No.1 beauty brand in the country. It not only satisfies its customers but also believes in the overall protection of the planet. Identify the marketing management philosophy being followed by ‘Beauty Product Ltd’. (CBSE, Delhi 2015) Answer: Societal Marketing Concept

Question 14. ‘Haryaram’ is a famous chain selling a large variety of products in the Indian market. Their products include chips, biscuits, sweets and squashes. It charges a comparatively higher price than its competitors as it sells quality products. Besides, it offers regular discounts to its customers and easy credit terms to its retailers. It has five of its own retail shops. It also sells its products through various grocery stores so that the products are made available to customers at the right place, in the right quantity and at the right time. It regularly uses different communication tools to increase its sales. The above paragraph describes the combination of variables used by Haryaram to prepare its market offering. Identify and explain the variables. (CBSE, Delhi 2015) Answer: The combination of variables used by Haryaramto prepare its market offerings are described below:

• Product: “Their products include chips, biscuits , sweets and squashes.” A product is anything of value i.e. a product or service offered to a market to satisfy its needs or wants. A product includes physical product, after ..sale service, handling grievances etc. Every marketer needs to constantly review and revise its products in order to enhance customer’s satisfaction and have a competitive edge.
• Price: “It charges a comparatively higher price than its competitors.” Price is the monetary value paid in consideration for purchase of a product or service by a buyer to its seller. It is a very crucial decision for the marketers as consumers are very sensitive to the pricing. The factors affecting price determination are cost of product, the utility and demand, extent of competition in the market, government and legal regulations, pricing objectives and marketing methods used.
• Place: “It has five of its own retail shops.”Or “It also sells its products through various grocery shops.” It is considered an important element of marketing mix because it includes all those activities that help in making the goods and services available to the prospective buyers in the right quantity, at the right time and in right condition. The two main decisions involved in physical distribution are physical movement of goods from producers to consumers and choice of channels of distribution.
• Promotion: “It regularly uses different communication tools to increase its sales.” Promotion refers to the set of activities undertaken by a marketer to inform the prospective buyers about the product and persuading them to make a purchase. The various components of promotion mix are advertising, sales promotion, personal selling and public relation.”

Question 15. Radha found a worm crawling out of newly opened tetra pack of juice manufactured by a reputed company, Zest Ltd. She went back to the shopkeeper from whom the pack was purchased who directed her to call up the customer care centre. When all her efforts fell free, she went to a consumer activist, group to seek advice. The group decided to help Radha and take measures to impose restrictions on the sales of the firm’s products of the particular batch and urge customers to refrain from buying the products of the company. Zest Ltd. lost its image in the market. The CEO gave the responsibility of bringing back the lost image of the company to the Manager.

• Identify the concept of marketing management which will help the Manager to get the firm out of the above crisis.
• Also explain the role of above identified concept by stating any two points. (CBSE, Sample Question Paper 2015)
• Public relations will help the manager to get the firm out of the above crisis.

Question 16. Zoom Udyog, a car manufacturing company, has started its business with Zoom-800 and slowly launched Zoom-1000, Wagon-Z, Swy-fy etc. and offered various services like after sales services, availability of spare parts, etc. Identify the element of marketing mix referred here. (CBSE, Sample Question Paper 2015) Answer: Product is the element of marketing mix referred here.

Question 17. Crackers Ltd., a fire-cracker manufacturing company launched some new products on eve of Diwali which attracted many buyers. To meet the increased demand, the company employed children from nearby villages. Although the product was in great demand, appropriate safety warnings for use were not mentioned on the packets that led to many accidents.

• Identify and explain the important product-related decision that was not taken into consideration by the company.
• Also, identify any two values which were violated by the company. (CBSE, Annual 2014)
• The company has ignored ‘Labelling’. It is an important product-related decision. Labelling refers to the process of designing a label for a product containing product description and other relevant information which is likely to affect a prospective buyers decision in making a purchase. It may vary from a simple tag to a complex graphic.
• Abiding by law as child labour has been employed
• Concern for human life as appropriate warnings were not placed on the label.

Question 18. ABC Crackers Ltd., a fire-cracker manufacturing company, launched some new products on the eve of Diwali in the market which attracted many buyers. To meet the increasing demand, the company employed people from nearby villages where there was a lot of unemployment. Because of the good behaviour of the management with the employees, more and more people wanted to join the company. As the products were in great demand in the market, a competitor imitated the products. The products of the competitor were not accepted by the consumers as it was a status symbol to buy the products of ABC Crackers Ltd. because of their quality.

• Identify and explain the product-related decision because of which consumers preferred the products of ABC Crackers Ltd.
• Also, identify any two values which ABC Crackers Ltd. wanted to communicate to the society. (CBSE, OD 2014)
• Branding is the product-related decision because of which consumers preferred the products of ABC Crackers Ltd. Branding is the process of assigning a name (brand name), sign or symbol (brand mark) or a combination of all to a product. Branding facilitates product differentiation, assists in advertising and display programmes, facilitates differential pricing , promotes consumers loyalty etc.
• Generating employment opportunities
• Providing good working environment.

Question 19. As a project work in Business Studies, the Commerce students of Himachal Public School, Himachal Pradesh thought of preparing apple jam from the apples grown in their school premises and sell it in the school annual fete. They approached the Principal who not only appreciated the students but also gave her consent for the same. The school decided to donate 50% of the revenue generated from the sale to a nearby orphanage. After the school fete, the school also decided to extend this project by providing employment to visually challenged and disadvantaged sections of society on regular basis.

• Explain any two product-related decisions which the students had to take.
• Suggest any two functions that the ‘label’ of the jam-bottle must perform.
• Identify two values communicated to society by this project of Himachal Public School, Himachal Pradesh. (CBSE, OD 2013)
• The two product-related decisions which the students had to take are branding and packaging.
• Describe the product and specify its contents: The label on the jam bottle must provide information about the core function of the product i.e. how and why is the product is likely to be beneficial to the prospective buyer. It should educate them about the usage and precautions related to the product. It also gives detailed information about the ingredients of the product.
• Helps in identification of the product or brand: The label should contain the logo, brand name, tagline, name and address of the manufacturer etc. of the product for easy identification of the product.

Question 20. Ajay was appointed as the marketing head of Alfa Enterprise, a manufacturer of toothpastes and toothbrushes. His target sale was 2000 units a month. Apart from thinking about various channels of distribution to achieve the target, he himself started visiting schools in backward areas. He found that even after taking various steps and counselling, some school children had not started brushing their teeth. He investigated and found that they could not start brushing their teeth. He investigated and found that they could not afford to buy toothbrush and toothpaste. So with due permission, he started donating 200 toothbrushes and toothpastes every month to the school.

• Identify the channel of distribution Ajay would adopt for the distribution of toothpaste and toothbrushes and justify it by giving one reason.
• State any two values which Ajay ants to communicate to society. (CBSE, Delhi 2013)
• Ajay would adopt indirect channels of distribution for marketing of toothpaste and tooth brushes because it is a consumer product. It can be easily marketed through longer channels, for example (Manufacturer – Wholesaler – Retailer – Consumer).
• Good health
• Social welfare.

Question 21. Amar is engaged in the manufacturing of refrigerators. He surveyed the market and found that customers need a refrigerator with a separate provision of water cooler in it. He decided and launched the same refrigerator in the market. Identify and explain the marketing philosophy involved. (CBSE, Delhi 2012) Answer: Amar is following the philosophy of marketing concept. The prime focus of marketing concept is to ‘find wants and fill them’. Therefore, the marketer first assesses the needs and preferences of its target market and manufactures products accordingly in order to satisfy their needs and wants optimally. It aims at profit maximization through customer satisfaction.

Question 23. Mansi, a shoe manufacturer for school students, decided to maximise profits by producing and distributing shoes on a large-scale and thus reducing the average cost of production.

• Identify the marketing management philosophy adopted by Mansi.
• Means and Ends (CBSE, OD 2012)
• Mansi has adopted the production philosophy.
• The main focus of this philosophy is on the quantity of products produced. Means: The production philosophy can be brought into effect by making products affordable and widely available. Ends: The production philosophy aims at maximizing profits through high volume of production.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS

Question 1. Unilever has found a new way to make ice creams by using an ingredient called ‘ice structuring protein’ which is widely found in nature especially, in fishes which allows them to survive in freezing arctic waters. Combining ISP with stabiliser technology allows to make ice creams that don’t melt so easily thereby making it more convenient for small children and consumers in hot countries. In the context of above case:

• Identify the component of marketing mix being taken into consideration by the company.
• Explain briefly the function of marketing highlighted here.
• List any two values that the company wants to communicate to the society.
• The component of marketing mix being taken into consideration by the company is ‘Product’.
• Product designing and development: Every marketer strives to achieve his marketing objectives by creating offerings to satisfy a need or a want. Therefore, one of the core functions of marketing is to develop the product in the most effective and efficient way. Every marketer endeavours to add value to his product by introducing constant innovations in the product to enhance both its utility and attractiveness in the eyes of the potential buyers and gain a competitive edge.
• Responsibility towards consumers
• Technological advancement.

Question 2. Ranger India Limited, is an automobile manufacturer in India. It makes 1.5 million family cars every year. That’s one car every 12 seconds. It has a sales network of company approved retailers that spreads across 600 cities. In the context of above case:

• Identify the type of the channel of distribution adopted by the company.
• State the market related factors that are likely to affect the decision of a marketer about the choice of channel of distribution.
• Size of market: If the size of the target market is small, it is advisable that the marketer adopts methods of direct channels of distribution like online selling, mail order house, personal selling etc. wherein there are no intermediaries between the manufacturer and the consumers. However, if the marketer intends to target larger markets he should adopt indirect channels of distribution (one level, two level or three level) by using intermediaries like wholesalers, retailers etc.

Question 3. As a global leader in the consumer electronics and entertainment industries, Sony has set forth ‘Road to Zero environmental plan’, to achieve a zero environmental’ effect by the year 2050 by producing world-class products in a manner that both protects and promotes a healthy and sustainable planet. In the context of above case:

• Identify the marketing philosophy being implemented by the company.
• Outline the main focus and ends of the relevant marketing philosophy.
• State any two values that the company wants to communicate to the society.
• Societal marketing concept is being pursued by the company.
• The main focus of this philosophy is on both the needs of the potential buyers as well as concern for the society at large. The ends include profit maximisation through customer satisfaction and social welfare.
• Concern for the environment
• Welfare of the society

Question 4. As the number of people making online purchases has increased manifolds, there is a growing concern about the disposal and management of packaging waste. Every item bought is delivered with excess packaging and sometimes even non-biodegradable materials are used. In the context of above case:

• Name the other two levels of packaging that the marketers may be using besides the immediate package.
• Describe briefly any two points highlighting the functions of packaging.
• State any two factors that should be kept in mind by the marketers while designing the packaging of its products.
• Secondary packaging and Transportation packaging.
• Product Identification: Packaging facilitates the identification of the product with the use of different colours like wrapper of maggi noodles is red whereas yippe noodles are sold in orange colour packaging. Also, the shape of different brands of cold drinks bottles is different.
• Product Protection: One of the basic purposes of packaging is to safeguard the contents of a product from any kind of damage due to mishandling, adverse weather conditions etc. during the activities related to physical distribution like storing, transportation etc.
• The marketers should use biodegradable packaging material and packaging should enhance the usability of the products.

Question 5. Rastro Inc., is a multinational corporation that creates consumer electronics, personal computers, servers and computer software. The company also has a chain of retail stores known as Restro Stores. Despite high competition, Restro has succeeded in creating demand for its products, giving the company power over prices through product differentiation, innovative advertising and ensured brand loyalty. In the context of above case:

• What is product differentiation?
• Name any one function of marketing that facilitates product differentiation.
• Identify the component of promotion mix being used by the company by quoting lines from the paragraph. .
• Describe briefly the pricing objective pursued by the company.
• Product differentiation is a strategy used by the marketers to gain an edge over its competitors by creating a distinguished perception of the product in the minds of the potential buyers in terms of its utilities.
• Branding is a function of marketing that facilitates product differentiation.
• Advertising is the component of promotion mix being used by the company “giving the company power over prices through product differentiation, innovative advertising and ensured brand loyalty.”
• Attaining product quality leadership: Besides aiming at profit maximisation as its pricing objective Rastro Inc. seeks to establish a unique place for its products in the market by offering superior quality products which can be easily distinguished from its competitors. As a result, it is able to use differential pricing i.e. fixing up relatively higher prices for its products.

Question 6. Rupali intends to start an enterprise that produces chocolates. Initially, in order to assess the taste and preferences of the people about the chocolates. She used social media and online surveys. Thereafter, she prepared a detailed SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threatsjanalysis of her enterprise to devise a strategy that will give her an edge over the competitors. Based on her analysis of the market, she decided to launch sesame and jaggery based chocolates under the brand name ‘Desi Delight’. She has decided to fix up the price of chocolates relatively at lower level in the beginning and later on as the demand picks up she may revise the prices. In the context of above case:

• Identify the elements of marketing mix being taken into consideration by Rupali.
• Explain briefly the functions of marketing highlighted here.
• Do you think she has selected an appropriate brand name for her product? Why or why not? Give a reason for your answer.
• The elements of marketing mix being taken into consideration by Rupali are Product and Price.
• Gathering and analysing market information: The prime focus of marketing is to ‘find wants and fill them’. Therefore, it is absolutely essential1’for a company to study the needs and preferences of its target market in order to satisfy their needs and wants optimally.
• Product designing and development: Every marketer strives to achieve his marketing objectives by creating offerings to satisfy a need or a want. Therefore, one of the core function of marketing is to develop the product in the most effective and efficient way. Every marketer endeavours to add value to his product by introducing constant innovations in the product to enhance both its utility and attractiveness in the eyes of the potential buyers and gain a competitive edge.
• Pricing: Price is the monetary value paid in consideration for purchase of a product or service by a buyer to its seller. The process of determining the price of a product or service is called pricing. It is a crucial decision for the marketers as consumers are very sensitive to the pricing. The factors affecting price determination are cost of product, the utility and demand, extent of competition in the market, government and legal regulations, pricing objectives and marketing methods used.
• Yes, she has selected an appropriate brand name ‘Desi Delight’ for her product as the name reflects on the product’s benefits and qualities. The word ‘Desi’ indicates that the product contains indigenous ingredients like sesame and jiggery and Delight denotes the pleasure that the person is going to get on consuming the delicious chocolates.

Question 7. Reema, Vibha and Ratna are three women entrepreneurs who are engaged in dealing with handicraft goods under the brand name ‘Gujkriti’ through a chain of retail outlets at five different places in Delhi. They outsource all their products from tribal and rural women in the state of Rajasthan. Reema is of the opinion that in order to increase the sale of their products, they should advertise about it on television. But, Ratna is arguing that advertisement expenses will add to cost of operation. Whereas Vibha is insisting that they should set up an online portal to market their products across the globe. In the context of above case:

• Identify the tool of promotion being taken into consideration by Reema by quoting lines from the paragraph.
• How is the channel of distribution being suggested by Vibha different from the channel of distribution being used by them presently?
• Do you think that Ratna is justified in her argument that advertisement expenses will add to cost of operations?
• The tool of promotion being taken into consideration by Reema is advertising. (Reema is of the opinion that in order to increase the sale of their products, they should advertise about it on television.)
• Vibha is insisting that they should set up an online portal to market their products across the globe i.e. adopting direct marketing or zero-level channel (manufacturer – consumer). Whereas at present they are using indirect channels of distribution i.e. one level channel (manufacturer – retailer – consumer)by operating through a chain of retail outlets at five different places in Delhi.
• No, Ratna is not fully justified in her argument although advertising as a tool of promotion is often criticised on the ground that it adds to the cost of distribution which is passed on to the consumers in the form of higher prices. Therefore, it increases the burden on the consumers. But, this argument is not entirely true because advertisements help to increase demand for the product. In order to meet the increased demand the production levels have to be raised. As a result, the business is able to reap advantage of economies of scale and eventually the cost of production per unit comes down and benefits the buyers as the product’s prices are reduced consequently.

Question 8. Ravi has decided to set up a small factory to manufacture hand wash and toilet soaps in a rural area in Haryana. In order to promote the product initially, he plans to distribute small sachets of the hand wash as free samples, besides deploying a team of salesmen to sell the product door to door in the different parts of the city. Moreover, he has decided to conduct a hygiene camp in rural areas wherein he will distribute a kit comprising of hand wash and soap and also plans to organize street plays to highlight the importance of hygiene and sanitation in our daily lives. In the context of above case:

• Identify the tools of promotion being taken into consideration by Ravi.
• What are the qualities that he should consider while selecting salesmen? (any three)
• List any two values that the he wants to communicate to the society.
• The tools of promotion being taken into consideration by Ravi are Sales Promotion and Personal Selling.
• Physical appearance: A salesman should have a neat and tidy appearance. He should be decently dressed up and carry himself well.
• Social qualities: A salesman should be cheerful and confident so that he is able to communicate assertively without loosing his temper easily.
• Tactfulness and knowledgeable: A good salesman should be alert and intelligent so that he is able to mould his sales talk as per the need of the situation. He should also possess good knowledge about the product he will be selling.
• Improvement in the standard of living of the people
• Educating them about hygiene/cleanliness

Question 9. The Fancy Store’ is a popular retail shop dealing in all kinds of fashionable items. Harish, the owner of the store believes in pushing the sale of his products through aggressive sales promotion techniques. Therefore, throughout the year he keeps offering various kinds short¬term incentives to the buyers like discounts, quantity gifts, product combinations etc. On the contrary, his brother Ramesh who also runs a retail shop dealing in all kinds of fashionable items in the nearby market tries to first assess the needs and wants of the buyers while deciding upon the product range. He also believes in building long term relations with the buyers and therefore offers only good quality products and handles the complaints of the buyers if any with politeness and patience. In the context of above case:

• Identify the two different marketing concepts discussed in the above para.
• Distinguish between them on the basis of meaning, scope and strategies used.
• The Selling concept
• The Marketing concept

Question 10. Arvind is planning to start a company manufacturing room fresheners. He intends to use natural fruit extracts for adding fragrance to them. He estimates an investment of Rs. 20 crores to set up the factory. As it is difficult for him to raise the entire capital amount alone, he gives a partnership offer to his school friend, Sanjay who is an angel investor. Sanjay, after being convinced about the feasibility of the project, accepts his offer. Sanjay tells Arvind that they should also focus on other important decisions related to the product ‘room fresheners’ besides deciding about its features, variety and quality. Branding is one of the important such decision. In the context of above case:

• Name any other two important decisions related to a product.
• Why is branding considered as an important function by the marketers? Give any one reason in support of your answer.
• State any four features of a good brand name.
• Labelling and Packaging are the two important decisions related to a product.
• Branding is considered to be a very important decision by the marketers because it facilitates product differentiation. Through branding the prospective buyers are able to bring about a distinction between a company product and its substitutes available in the market. This helps the company to obtain a desirable market share.
• The brand name should be short, easy to pronounce, spell, recognise and remember e.g., Ponds.
• A brand should suggest the product’s benefits and qualities e.g Sunsilk.
• A brand name should be distinctive e.g., Lotus.
• It should be capable of being registered and protected legally.

Question 11. Somya Patel, 35, a fitness trainer, woes about a popular consumer durable brand saying that “They show a lot of advertisements for their products on television , but when you go to the store, you find these things out of stock all the time. Then why should the company put advertisements when they can’t meet the demand,” she questions. In the context of above case:

• Identify the tool of promotion mix being referred to in the above lines.
• List any two product related factors that are likely to affect the choice of channel of distribution.
• Which element of marketing mix is being overlooked by the company? Why is it considered as an important element?
• The tool of promotion mix being referred to in the above lines is Advertisement.
• Type of product (consumer or industrial)
• Unit value of product (low or high)
• Place is the element of marketing mix being ignored by the company. It is considered important because it relates to making the goods and services available to the prospective buyers in the right quantity at the right time and in right condition.

Question 12. Suraj is a small entrepreneur involved in the manufacturing of hair wax. He finds that cost of production of 100 gm of hair wax is Rs. 250. He has decided to keep a margin of 15% as profit. Moreover, he has assessed that there is a free competition in this product segment. In the context of above case:

• Identify the function of marketing being performed by Suraj.
• State briefly the two factors that he is taking into consideration while performing the function as identified in part (1).
• Pricing is the function of marketing being performed by Suraj.
• Cost of product: The price of the product is determined by adding the desired profit margin to the cost of production, selling and distribution. The cost is of three types namely the fixed cost, variable cost and semi-variable cost.
• Degree of competition: The nature and extent of competition in the market is another key factor relating to the pricing decision. If the firm faces free competition in the market it is likely to fix the price of the product at lower levels. But if it enjoys monopoly, then the prices are likely to be fixed at higher levels.

Question 13. After doing a diploma in entrepreneurship, Farihad started his own confectionary business. He started doing a lot of hard work and used the recipes taught by his grandmother in various preparations. He also learnt many recipes from online sites and television programmes. He decided to keep the price of the products low initially and also informed his customers about the goodness of the items sold by them. However, he didn’t mention on the package of each item weather it contained eggs or not. As a result, vegetarian people became hesitant in buying things from his shop as they had to verbally inquire from him about the inclusion of eggs in the preparation of various items. In the context of above case:

• Name the important aspect related to the marketing of products which has been ignored by Farihad.
• Explain briefly any three functions performed by the aspect as identified in part (1).
• Mention the right of consumer being violated by Farihad.
• The important aspect related to the marketing of products which has been ignored by Farihad is Labelling.
• Describes the product and specifies its contents: Labelling provides information about the core function of the product i.e. how and why the product is likely to be beneficial to the prospective buyer. It educates them about the usage and precautions related to the product. It also gives detailed information about the ingredients of the product.
• Helps in identification of the product or brand: The label contains the logo, brand name, tagline, name and address of the manufacturer etc. of the product which helps in easy identification of the product.
• Enables grading of products: Different coloured labels are also used by the marketers for grading of the products on the basis of flavours, quality etc. so that the buyers can easily choose a product as per their requirements.
• The Right to information is being overlooked by the company in the above mentioned case. According to the Right to information, a consumer has the right to get complete information about the product he /she intends to buy including its contents, date of manufacture, date of expiry, price, quantity, directions for use etc. Also, as per law, it is mandatory for the marketers to provide complete information about the product/ service to the buyers.

Question 14. ‘Shudh Hava Ltd/ is engaged in manufacturing of air conditioners and desert coolers. The company offers a wide range of products to meet the requirements of people from varied income groups. Recently the company has developed a new product, an air purifier that improves the quality of air by filtering out all allergens and microbes. The company introduced the product on two variants namely ‘Nano Tech’ and ‘Nano Tech Premium’. In order to persuade people to buy the product it is offering easy payment options in equal monthly instalments for different time periods. Moreover, every buyer will be offered ‘scratch a card’ option to win instant gifts like decorative items, T-shirts etc. The company is also planning to organise competitive events based on skill and luck in various malls in different cities. In the context of above case:

• Name and explain the ‘type of promotion strategy’ adopted by the company to boost the sales of air purifiers.
• Also, identify the various techniques of this promotional strategy being used by the company by quoting lines from the paragraph.
• “The company offers a wide range of products to meet the requirements of people from varied income groups.” Name the relevant consumer right being promoted by the company.
• The type of promotion strategy adopted by the company to boost the sales of air purifiers is Sales Promotion. Sales Promotion includes the various types of short term incentives offered by a marketer to increase the sale of a product or service.
• Full finance @ 0%  – “it is offering easy payment options in equal monthly instalments for different time periods.”
• Instant draws and assured gifts – “every buyer will be offered ‘scratch a card’ option to win instant gifts like decorative items, T-shirts etc.”
• Contests – “The company is also planning to organise competitive events based on skill and luck in the various malls in the different cities.”
• Right to Choose is the consumer right being promoted by the company

Question 15. Nischay, after completing his masters in computer engineering decided to start his own business. Fie visited his uncle Mr.Jaiprakash who has been running a successful business in web designing. Fie shared with Nischay that the main reason for his success in the business lies in his approach of building a life time relation with his clients. Therefore, his business is not only restricted to designing web sites according to the specifications of the clients but also providing continuous online assistance to them and handling their grievances effectively and doing all this at a profit. lie provides these services at competitive prices. Anybody interested in getting the web solutions can contact him through his website. Moreover, whenever the market is sluggish he tries to create demand by offering short-term incentives to the buyers. In the context of above case:

• Define the term ‘Marketing Management’.
• Briefly explain the various elements of marketing mix being pursued by Mr. Jaiprakash by quoting lines from the para.
• Marketing management is “the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value”- Philip Kotler
• Product: “his business is not only restricted to designing “Web sites according to the specifications of the clients but also providing continuous online assistance to them and handling their grievances’ effectively.” A product is anything of value i.e. a product or service offered to a market to satisfy needs or wants. A product includes physical product,after sale service, handling grievances etc. Every marketer needs to constantly review and revise his products in order to enhance customer’s satisfaction and have an competitive edge.
• Price: “doing all this at a profit. He provides these services at competitive prices.” Price is the monetary value paid in consideration for purchase of a product or service by a buyer to its seller. It is a very crucial decision for the marketers as consumers are very sensitive to the pricing. The factors affecting price determination are cost of product, the utility and demand, extent of competition in the market, government and legal regulations, pricing objectives and marketing methods used.
• Place: “Anybody interested in getting the web solutions can contact him through his website.” It is considered important element of marketing mix because it includes all those activities that help in making the goods and services available to the prospective buyers in the right quantity, at the right time and in right condition. Two main decisions involved in physical distribution are physical movement of goods from producers to consumers and choice of channels of distribution.
• Promotion: “Moreover, whenever the market is sluggish he tries to create demand by offering short-term incentives to the buyers.” Promotion refers to the set of activities undertaken by a marketer to inform the prospective buyers about the product and persuading them to make a purchase. The various components of promotion mix are advertising, sales promotion, personal selling and public relation.

Question 16. In today’s world, through social media, news spread in a flash. Moreover, if it is bad news, it acquires a speed that is virtually impossible to stop. Hence, all corporates are more susceptible to a tarnished image today than in any other day and age. The loss of goodwill may lead to decreased revenue, loss of clients or suppliers and fall in market share. Over the years, therefore, most of the companies have set up a separate department to manage the public opinions about them. The department works in close coordination with the various interest groups like consumers, government, suppliers etc. and strives to handle effectively if any controversies arise. In the context of above case:

• Identify the element of promotion mix being referred to in the above lines.
• Briefly explain any three points highlighting the role of this element of promotion mix as identified in part (1)
• The element of promotion mix being referred to in the above lines is Public Relations.

Question 17. Traditional trade or kirana stores constitute 90% of the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) business in India. HUL is the market leader in FMCG with over 60 lakh outlets. According to industry estimates, Patanjali products are currently available in two lakh traditional retail outlets. ‘Availability of the product’ is the single largest driver of FMCG sales. A shopper research suggests that 30%-40% consumers shift preference if their favourite brand is not available at the store. In the context of above case:

• Identify the component of marketing mix being discussed in the above lines.
• State the two main decisions related to the concept identified in part (1).
• Name the type of channel of distribution adopted by HUL.
• The component of marketing mix being discussed in the above lines is place/physical distribution.
• physical movement of goods from producers to consumers
• choice of channels of distribution
• Indirect channel of distribution has been adopted by HUL. It is a two level channel i.e. (Manufacturer – wholesaler- retailer- consumer)

Question 18. Arun and Rukun are good friends. After doing a fashion designing course from a reputed institute, they have set up a garment factory in the rural area of Faridabad to manufacture trendy casual wear like jeans, T-shirts, shirts etc. under the brand name ‘Swatantra’. They have employed people from the nearby villages itself in the factory. Moreover, they wish to sell the products through local retailers in the villages and also through ‘Flipkart’. In the context of above case:

• Identify the elements of marketing mix being taken into consideration by Arun.
• Name the two methods of marketing adopted by them.
• State any two values that are being fulfilled by them.
• The elements of marketing mix being taken into consideration by Arun are product and place.
• The two methods of marketing adopted by them are both direct and indirect marketing.
• Generating employment
• Raising the standard of living of the people in the village

Question 19. Yogesh buys a new laptop for his son Mukesh on his birthday from a company owned retail outlet. After a few months, some parts of the laptop get damaged in 3, road accident. Yogesh approaches the dealer to get the damaged parts replaced with the new ones. But, he is told that the company does not provide any after sale service to the customers. Yogesh feels very dissatisfied as a consumer and woes that he will never buy this companies product ever again. In the context of above case:

• Identify the function of marketing being ignored by the company.
• As a business advisor, suggest any two services that will be very effective in enhancing brand loyalty for any such product.
• Name the appropriate redressal agency that he can approach in case he decides to file a case against the dealer.
• The function of marketing being ignored by the company is customer support services.
• Setting up a separate department for handling consumer complaints.
• Providing 365 days x 24 x 7 online assistance to the buyers for any maintenance or technical issues.
• Yogesh can file a complaint in the District forum

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Marketing Management Class 12 Business Studies Notes and Questions

Please refer to Marketing Management Class 12 Business Studies notes and questions with solutions below. These revision notes and important examination questions have been prepared based on the latest Business Studies books for  Class 12 . You can go through the questions and solutions below which will help you to get better marks in your examinations.

Class 12 Business Studies Marketing Management Notes and Questions

Q. 1. Zoom Udyog, a car manufacturing Co., has started its business with Zoom 800 and slowly launched Zoom-1000, Wagon-Z, Swy-fy etc. and offered various services like after sale services, availability of spare parts etc. Identify the element of marketing mix referred here.  Ans.  Product Q. 2. Radha found a worm crawling out of newly opened tetra pack of a juice manufactured by a reputed company, Zest, Ltd. She went back to the shopkeeper from whom the pack was purchased who directed her to call up the customer care centre. When all her efforts failed, she went to a consumer activist group to seek help. The group decided to help Radha and taken measures to impose restrictions on the sale of the firm’s products of the particular batch and urge customers to refrain from buying the products of the company. Zest Ltd. lost its image in the market. The CEO gives the responsibility of bringing back the lost image of the company to a Manager. 1. Identify the concept of Marketing Management which will help the Manager getting the firm out of the above crisis. 2. Also explain the role of above identified concept by stating any two points.  Ans. 1. Public Relations 2. Role of Public Relations: 1. Product Publicity: 2. Counseling: Q. 3. The manager of Impact Enterprise, dealing in cosmetics, is facing the problem of poor sales. Suggest the four promotional measures that he can undertake to improve the sales. Also, name the factors affecting their choice.  Ans.  The manager of Impact Enterprise, dealing in cosmetics, should take the following four promotional measures to improve the sales: 1. Advertising 2. Sales promotion 3. Personal selling 4. Publicity Factors affecting choice of promotional tool: 1. Nature of market 2. Nature of product 3. Promotions budget 4. Objectives of promotion Q. 4. A mobile company is launching a new high tech mobile phone in the market. Which department is going to look into the techniques iof promoting it?  Ans.  Public Relations (PR) Department Q. 5. Identify the Marketing Management philosophy adopted in the following cases: 1. Mansi, a shoe manufacturer for school students, decided to maximize her profit by producing and distributing at large scale and thereby reducing the average cost of production. 2. Nisha, a school bag manufacturer decided to improve the product for profit maximization and thus added a water bottle holder to the existing design. 3. Jasdeep, a dealer in school uniforms, decided to maximize his profit by using different aggressive promotional efforts. 4. Amar is engaged in manufacturing of refrigerators. He surveyed the market and found that customers need a refrigerator with a separate provision of water cooler in it. He decided to launch the same refrigerator in the market.  Ans. 1. Production concept 2. Product concept 3. Selling concept 4. Marketing concept Q. 6. Identify the method of sales-promotion in the following cases: 1. A mobile company offers a discount of Rs. 1000 to clear off excess inventory. 2. A customer gets Rs. 5 off on return of an empty wrapper while making a new purchase of the same product. 3. A Company offers a pack of 1/2kg of sugar with the purchase of a 5 kg bag of wheat flour. 4. A Company offers 40% of extra shaving cream in a pack of 500 gms. 5. Scratch a card and get a gold coin with the purchase of a cold drink. 6. Purchase goods worth Rs. 50,000 and get a holiday package worth Rs. 10,000 free. Ans. 1. Rebate 2. Refund 3. Product-combination 4. Quantity-gift 5. Instant draws and assigned gift 6. Usable Benefit / Lucky Draw Q. 7. ‘Various tools of communication are used by the marketers to promote their products.’ 1. Why do companies use all tools at the same time? 2. Name and explain the most commonly used non-personal tool of promotion which is paid for by the marketer. 3. Which tool of promotion will primarily be used for the following? 1. To promote or protect a company’s image or its individual products. 2. An existing product meant for mass usage by literate people. 3. To introduce a new product to a particular class of people through door-to-door visits. 4. To attract attention of the people by using incentives. (6 marks) Ans. 1. The companies use all tools at the same time because of the nature of market, nature of product, promotion budget and objectives of promotion being different at different times. 2. The most commonly used non-personal tool of promotion which is paid for by the marketer is advertising. It is a paid and non-personal form having an identified sponsor to promote an idea. 3. The tools of promotion used are: 1. Public Relations 2. Advertisements 3. Personal selling 4. Sales Promotion Q. 8. Good Living Ltd. manufactures mosquito repellent tables. These tablets are packed in strips of 12 tablets each. Each of these strips are packed in a cardboard box, 48 such boxes are then placed in a big corrugated box and delivered to various retailers for sale. State the purpose of packaging the tablets in a corrugated box.  Ans.  The packaging of tablets in a corrugated box is necessary for the purpose of storage, identification and transportation. Q. 9. Shreemaya Hotel in Indore was facing problem of low demand for its rooms due to off season. The Managing Director (MD) of the hotel, Mrs. Sakina was very worried. She called upon the Marketing Manager, Mr. Kapoor for his advice. He suggested, that the hotel should announce an offer of ‘3 days and 2 Nights hotel stay package with free breakfast and one day religious visit to Omkarehswar and Mahakaleshwar Temples’. The MD liked the suggestion very much. Identify the promotional tool, which can be used by the hotel through which large number of prospective pilgrimage tourists, all over the country and also abroad, can be reached, informed and persuaded to use the incentive.  Ans.  Sales Promotion Q. 10. “Every time I travelled, people asked me to bring them chips, khakra and pickles from all over the country,” says Anoushka. Finally, she and her colleague, Sumemet, decided to make out of it. They launched a face book bags, asked people what they wanted, and they came up with a list of about 100 places and tried up with two dozen vendors to begin with. They were servicing people from Jaipur who wanted spices from Kerala, people form Panipat who wanted halwa from Jammu and people from Delhi who ordered for fresh tea leaves form Darjeeling. Through their business they wished to bridge the gap between sellers nd buyers. The business is now worth millions. Explain any two important activities that Anoushka and Sumeet will have to be involved in for making the goods available to the customers at the right place, in the right quantity and at the right time.  Ans.  Activities / Components of Physical Distribution: (any two) 1. Order processing: 2. Transportation; 3. Warehousing: 4. Inventory Control: Q. 11. ‘Beauty Products Ltd’s is a natural and ethical beauty brand famous for offering organic beauty products for men and women. The company uses plant based materials for its products and is the No. 1 beauty brand in the country. It not Identify the marketing management philosophy being following by ‘Beauty Products Ltd.’  Ans.  Social marketing concept. Q. 12. ‘Haryaram’ is a famous chain selling a large variety of products in the Indian market. Their products include chips, biscuits, sweets and squashes. It charges a comparatively higher price than its competitors as it sells quality products. Besides, it offers regular discounts to its customers and easy credit terms to its retailers. It has five of its own retail shops. It also sells its products through various grocery stores to that the products are made available to customers at the right place, in the right quantity and at the right time. It regularly uses different communication tools to increase its sales. The above para describes the combination of variables used by Hayaram to prepare its market offering. Identify and explain the variables.  Ans.  The combination of variables used by Hayaram to prepare its market offering are: 1. Product ‘their products include chips, biscuits, sweets squashes.’ 2. Price ‘It offers regular discounts to its customers and easy credit terms to its retailers’. 3. Place / Physical Distribution ‘It has five of its own retail shops.’ or ‘It also sells its products through various grocery stores …right time.’ 4. Promotion ‘It regularly uses different communication tools to increase its sales.’ Q. 13. ‘Maruti Vega Ltd.’ entered into the market with coloured television and have now introduced products like audio systems, air-conditioners, washing machines, etc. the company is not only offering the products but also handling complaints and offering after-sales services. Identify the element of marketing-mix discussed here.  Ans.  Product/ Product mix. Q. 14. Radhika was a student of Business Studies of Call XII. Her father was a farmer who grew different varieties of rice and was well-versed about various aspects of rice cultivation. He was also selected by the government for a pilot-project on rice cultivation. As a project-work in Business Studies she decided to study the feasibility of marketing good quality rice at a reasonable price. Her father suggested her to use internet to gather customers’ views and opinions. She found that there was a huge demand for packaged organic rice. She knew that there were no pre-determined specification in case of rice because of which it would be difficult to achieve uniformity in the output. To differentiate the product form its competitors, she gave it the name of Malabari Organic Rice’ and classified it into three different varieties namely – Popular,, Classic and Supreme, based on the quality. She felt that these names would help her in product differentiation. Explain the three function of marketing, with reference to the above paragraph. ( Ans.  Functions of marketing, with reference to the above paragraph are: 1. Gathering and analyzing market information: 2. Standardization and Grading: 3. Branding: Q. 15. A Company was marketing water purifiers which were very popular due to their quality and after sales services provided to the customers. The company was a leading company in the market and earning huge profits. Because of huge profits, the company ignored the after sales services. As a result, its relations with customers got spoiled and the image of the company was damaged in the public. The top management became concerned when the profits for the current quarter fell steeply. On analysis, it was revealed that ignoring the after sales services was its reasons. Therefore, the company took all possible measures to protect and promote its favourable image in the eyes of the public. As a result, the goodwill of the company improved in the society. 1. Name and state the communication tool used by the marketer in the above case to improve its image. 2. Also explain role of the tool as identified in part (a) Ans. 1. Public Relations is being used as a promotional tool by the marketer. It refers to the practice of managing communication between an organization and its publics in order to create the maintain a positive image about itself and its products. 2. The role of public relations as a promotional tool is described below: 1. Public relations helps to create a positive image about the company in the eyes of various interest holders like consumers, government, suppliers etc. 2. It helps in launching new products as they may be accepted easily because of good reputation of business. 3. It helps the business to reinstate itself in the wake of controversies or prejudices etc. Q.16. Crackers Ltd., a fire-cracker manufacturing company launched some new products on eve of Diwali which attracted many buyers. To meet the increased demand, the company employed children from nearby villages. Although the product was in great demand, appropriate safety warning for use were not mentioned on the packets that led to many accidents. 1. Identify and explain the important product-related decision that was not taken into consideration by the company. 2. Also, identify any two values which were violated by the company. Ans. 1. The company has ignored ‘Labeling’. It is an important product-related decision. Labeling refers to the process of designing a label for a product containing product description and the relevant information which is likely to affect a prospective buyers decision in making a purchase.It may vary from a simple tag to a complex graphic. The two values being violated by the company are: 1. Abiding by law as child labour has been employed 2. Concern for human life as appropriate warnings were not placed on the label. Q. 17. ABC Crackers Ltd., a fire-cracker manufacturing company, launched some new products on the eve of Diwali in the market which attracted many buyers. To meet the increasing demand, the company employed people from nearby villages where there was a lot of unemployment. Because of the good behavior of the management with the employees, more and more people wanted to join the company. As the products were in great demand in the market, a competitor imitated the products. The products of the competitor were not accepted by the consumers as it was a status symbol to buy the products of ABC Crackers Ltd. because of their quality. 1. Identify and explain the product-related decision because of which consumers preferred the products of ABC Crackers Ltd. 2. Also, identify any two values which ACB Crackers Ltd. wanted to communicate to the society. Ans. 1. Branding is the product-related decision because of which consumers preferred the products of ABC Crackers Ltd. Branding is the process of assigning a name (brand name), sign or symbol (brand mark) or a combination of all to a product.Branding facilitates product differentiation, assists in advertising and display programmes, facilitates differential pricing, promotes consumers loyalty etc. The two values that ABC Crackers Ltd. wants to communicate to the society are: 1. Generating employment opportunities 2. Providing good working environment. Q. 18. As a project work in Business Studies, the Commerce students of Himachal Public School, Himachal Pradesh though of preparing apple jam from the apples grown in their school premises and sell it in the school annual fete. They approached the Principal who not only appreciated the students but also gave her consent for the same. The schooldecided to donate 50% of the revenue generated from the sale to a nearby orphanage. After the school fete, the school also decided to extend this project by providing employment to visually challenged and disadvantaged sections of society or regular basis. 1. Explain any two product-related decisions which the students had to take. 2. Suggest any two functions that the ‘label’ of the jam-bottle must perform. 3. Identify two values communicated to society by this project of Himachal Public School, Himachal Pradesh. Ans. 1. The two product-related decisions which the students had to take are branding and packaging. 2. The two important functions that the label of the jam – bottle must perform are: ● Describe the product and specify its contents: ● Helps in identification of the product or brand: 3. The two values communicated to the society by the project of Himachal Public School are: ● Generating employment opportunities ● Humanity Q. 19. Ajay was appointed as the marketing head of Alfa Enterprise, a manufacturer of toothpastes and toothbrushes. His target sale was 2000 units a month. Apart from thinking about various channels of distribution to achieve the target, he himself started visiting schools in backward areas. He found that even after taking various steps and counseling, some school children had not started brushing their teeth. He investigated and found that they could not start brushing their teeth. He investigated and found that they could not afford to buy toothbrush and toothpaste. So with due permission, he started donating 200 toothbrushes and toothpastes every month to the school. 1. Identify the channel of distribution Ajay would adopt for the distribution of toothpaste and toothbrushes and justify it by giving one reason. 2. State any two values which Ajay ants to communicate to society. Ans. 1. Ajay would adopt indirect channels of distribution for marketing of toothpaste and tooth brushes because it is a consumer product. It can be easily marked through longer channels, for example (Manufacturer – Wholesaler – Retailer – Consumer). 2. The two values that Ajay wants to communicate to the society are: 1. Good health 2. Social welfare Q. 20. Amar is engaged in the manufacturing of refrigerators. He surveyed the market and found that customers need a refrigerator with a separate provision of water cooler in it. He decided and launched the same refrigerator in the market. Identify and explain the marketing philosophy involved. Ans.  Amar is following the philosophy of marketing concept. The prime focus of marketing concept is to ‘find wants and fill them’. Therefore, the marketer first assesses the needs and preferences of its target market and manufacturers products accordingly in order to satisfy their needs and wants optimally. It aims at profit maximization through customer satisfaction. Q. 21. Mansi, a shoe manufacturer for school students, decided to maximize profits by producing and distributing shoes on a large-scale and thus reducing the average cost of production. 1. Identify the marketing management philosophy adopted by Mansi. 2. Explain this philosophy on the basis of the following: ● Main Focus ● Means and Ends Ans. 1. Mansi has adopted the production philosophy. 2. Means: The production philosophy can be brought into effect by making products affordable and widely available. Ends: The production philosophy aims at maximizing profits through high volume of production. Q. 22. Unilever has found a new way to make ice creams by using an ingredient called ‘ice structuring protein’ which is widely found in nature especially, in fishes which allows them to survive in freezing arctic waters. Combining ISP with stabilizer technology allows to make ice creams that don’t melt so easily thereby making it more convenient for small children and consumer in hot countries. In the context of above case: 1. Identify the component of marketing mix being taken into consideration by the company. 2. Explain briefly the function of marketing highlighted here. 3. List any two values that the company wants to communicate to the society. Ans. 1. The component of marketing mix being taken into consideration by the company is ‘Product’. 2. Product designing and development: Every marketer strives to achieve his marketing objectives by creating offerings to satisfy a need or a want. Therefore one of the core functions of marketing is to develop the product in the most effective and efficient way. Every marketer endeavours to add value to his product by introducing constant innovations in the product to enhance both its utility and attractiveness in the eyes of the potential buyers and gain a competitive edge. 3. The two values that the company wants to communicate to the society are: ● Responsibility towards consumers ● Technological advancement. Q. 23. Ranger India Limited, is an automobile manufacturer in India. It makes 1.5 million family cars every year. That’s one car every 12 seconds. It has a sales network of company approved retailers that spreads across 600 cities. In the context of above case: 1. Identify the type of the channel of distribution adopted by the company. 2. State the market related factors that are likely to affect the decision of a marketer about the choice of channel of distribution. Ans. 1. Indirect channel: One level channel f distribution adopted by the company. 2. The market related factors that are likely to affect the decision of a marketer about the choice of channel of distribution are explained below: 1. Size of market: 2. Geographical concentration of potential buyers: 3. Quantity purchased: Q. 24. As a global leader in the consumer electronics and entertainment industries, Sony has set forth ‘Road to Zero environmental plan’, to achieve a zero environmental effect by the year 2-050 by producing world-class products in a manner that both protects and promotes a healthy and sustainable planet. In the context of above case: 1. Identify the marketing philosophy being implemented by the company. 2. Outline the main focus and end of the relevant marketing philosophy. 3. State any two values that the company wants to communicate to the society. Ans. 1. Social marketing concept is being pursued by the company. 2. The main focus of this philosophy is on both the needs of the potential buyers as well as concern for the society at large. The ends include profit maximization through customer satisfaction and social welfare. 3. The two values that the company wants to communicate to the society are: 1. Concern for the environment 2. Welfare of the society Q. 25. As the number of people making online purchases has increase manifolds, there is a growing concern about the disposal and management of packaging waste. Every item bought is delivered with excess packaging and sometimes even non-biodegradable materials are used. In the context of above case: 1. Name the other two levels of packaging that the marketers may be using besides the immediate package. 2. Describe briefly any two points highlighting the functions of packaging. 3. State any two factors that should be kept in mind by the marketers while designing the packaging of its products. Ans. 1. Secondary packaging and Transportation packaging. 2. The functions of packaging in the marketing of goods and services is explained below: 1. Product Identification: 2. Product Protection: 3. The marketers should use biodegradable packaging material and packaging should enhance the usability of the products. Q. 26. Rastro Inc., is a multinational corporation that creates consumer electronics, personal computers, servers and computer software. The company also has a chain of retail stores known as Restro Stores. Despite high competition, Restro has succeeded in creating demand for its products, giving the company power over prices through product differentiation, innovation advertising and ensured brand loyalty. In the context of above case: 1. What is product differentiation? 2. Name any one function of marketing that facilitates product differentiation. 3. Identify the component of promotion mix being used by the company by Quoting lines form the paragraph. 4. Describe briefly the pricing objective pursued by the company. Ans. 1. Product differentiation is a strategy used by the marketers to gain an edge over its competitors by creating a distinguished perception of the product in the minds of the potential buyers in terms of its utilities. 2. Branding is a function of marketing that facilitates product differentiation. 3. Advertising is the component of promotion mix being used by the company “Giving the company power over prices through product differentiation, innovative advertising and ensured brand loyalty.” 4. Attaining product quality leadership: Besides aiming at profit maximization as its pricing objective Rastro Inc. seeks to establish a unique place for its products in the market by offering superior quality products which can be easily distinguished from its competitors. As a result, it is able to use differential pricing i.e. fixing up relatively higher prices for tits products. Q. 27. Reema, Vibha and Ratna are three women entrepreneurs who are engaged in dealing with handicraft goods under the brand name ‘Gujkriti’ through a chain of retail outlets at five different places in delhi. Their outsource all their products from tribal and rural omen in the state of Rajasthan. Reema is of the opinion that in order to increase the sale of their products, they should advertise about it on television. But, Ratna is arguing that advertisement expenses will add to cost of operation. Whereas Vibha is insisting that they should set up an online portal to market their products across the globe. In the context of above case: 1. Identify the tool of promotion being taken into consideration by Reema by quoting lines from the paragraph. 2. How is the channel of distribution being suggested by Vibha different from the channel of distribution being used by them presently? 3. Do you think that Ratna is justified in here argument that advertisement expenses will add to cost of operations? Ans. 1. The tool of promotion being taken into consideration by Reema is advertising. (Reema is of the opinion that in order to increase the sale of their products, they should advertise about it on television.) 2. Vibha is insisting that they should set up an online portal to market their products across the globe i.e. adopting direct marketing or zero-level channel (manufacturer – consumer). Whereas at present they are using indirect channels of distribution i.e. one level channel (manufacturer – retailer – consumer) by operating through a chain of retail outlets at five different places in Delhi. 3. No, Ratna is not fully justified in her argument although advertising as a tool of promotion is often criticized on the ground that it adds to the cost of distribution which is passed on to the consumers in the form of higher prices. Therefore, it increases the burden on the consumers. But, this argument is not entirely true because advertisements help to increase demand for the product. In order to meet the increased demand the production levels have to be raised. As a result, the business is able to reap advantage of economies of scale and eventually the cost of production per unit comes down and benefits the buyers as the product’s prices are reduced consequently. Q. 28. Arvind is planning to start a company manufacturing room fresheners. He intends to use natural fruit extracts for adding fragrance to them. He estimates an investment of Rs. 20 crores to set up the factory. As it is difficult for him to raise the entire capital amount alone, he gives a partnership offer to his school friend, Sanjay who is an angel investor. Sanjay, after being convinced about the feasibility of the project, accepts his offer. Sanjay tells Arvind that they should also focus on other important decisions related  to the product ‘room fresheners’ besides deciding about its features, variety and quality. Branding is one of the important such decision. In the context of above case: 1. Name any other two important decisions related to a product. 2. Why is branding considered as an important function by the marketers? Give any one reason in support of your answer. 3. State any four features of a good brand name. Ans. 1. Labeling and Packaging are the two important decisions related to a product. 2. Branding is considered to be a very important decision by the marketers because it facilitates product differentiation. Through branding the prospective buyers are able to bring about a distinction between a company product and its substitutes available in the market. This helps the company to obtain a desirable market share. 3. The four features of a good brand name are stated below: 1. The brand name should be short, easy to pronounce, spell, recognize and remember e.g., Ponds. 2. A brand should suggest the product’s benefits and qualities e.g. Sunsilk. 3. A brand name should be distinctive e.g., Lotus. 4. It should be capable of being registered and protected legally. Q. 29. Suraj is a small entrepreneur involved in the manufacturing of hair wax. He finds that cost of production of 100 gm of hair wax is Rs. 250. He has decided to keep a margin of 15% as profit moreover, he has assessed that there is a free competition in this product segment. In the context of above case: 1. Identify the function of marketing being performed by Suraj. 2. State briefly the two factors that he is taking into consideration while performing the function as identified in part (a) Ans. 1. Pricing is the function of marketing being performed by Suraj. 2. The two factors that he is taking into consideration while performing the pricing function are as follows. 1. Cost of product: 2. Degree of competition: Q. 30. After doing a diploma in entrepreneurship, Farihad started his own confectionary business. He started doing a lot of hard work and used the recipes taught by his grandmother in various preparations. He also learnt many recipes from online sites and television programmes. He decided to keep the price of the products low initially and also informed his customers about the goodness of the items sold by them. However, he didn’t mention on the package of each item weather it contained eggs or not. As a result, vegetarian people became hesitant in buying things from his shop as they had to verbally inquire from him about the inclusion of eggs in the preparation of various items. In the context of above case: 1. Name the important aspect related to the marketing of products which has been ignored by Farihad. 2. Explain briefly any free functions performed by the aspect as identified in part (a). 3. Mention the right of consumer being violated by Farihad. Ans. 1. The important aspect related to the marketing of products which has been ignored by Farihad is Labeling. 2. The three important functions performed by labeling are: 1. Describes the product and specifies its contents: 2. Helps in identification of the product or brand: 3. Enables grading of products: 1. The Right to information is being overlooked by the company in the above mentioned case. According to the right to information, a consumer has the right to get complete information about the product he / she intends to buy including its contents, date of manufacture, date of expiry, price, quantity, directions for use etc. Also, as per law, it is mandatory for the marketers to provide complete information about the product / service to the buyers. Q. 31. ‘Shudh Hava Ltd.’ is engaged in manufacturing of air conditioners and desert coolers. The company offers a wide range of products to meet the requirements of people from varied income groups. Recently the company has developed a new product, an air purifier that improves the quality of air by filtering out all allergens and microbes. The company introduced the product on two variants namely ‘Nano Tech’ and ‘Nano Tech Premium’. In order to persuade people to buy the product it is offering easy payment options in equal monthly installments for different time periods. Moreover, every buyer will be offered ‘scratch a card’ option to win instant gifts like decorative items, T-shirts etc. the company is also planning to organize competitive events based on skill and luck in various malls in different cities. In the context of above case: 1. Name and explain the ‘type of promotion strategy’ adopted by the company to boost the sales of air purifiers. 2. Also, identify the various techniques of this promotional strategy being used by the company by quoting liens from the paragraph. 3. “The company offers a wide range of products to meet the requirements of people from varied income group.” Name the relevant consumer right being promoted by the company. Ans. 1. The type of promotion strategy adopted by the company to boost the sales of air purifiers is Sales Promotion. Sales Promotion includes the various types of short term incentives offered by a marketer to increase the sale of a product or service. The various techniques of sales promotion being used by the company are listed below: 1. Full finance @ 0% – “It is offering easy payment options in equal monthly installments for different time periods.” 2. Instant draws and assured gifts – “every buyer will be offered ‘scratch a card’ option to win instant gifts like decorative items, T-shirts etc.” 3. Contests – “The company is also planning to organize competitive events based on skill and luck in the various malls in the different cities.” 1. Right to Choose is the consumer right being promoted by the company Q. 32. Nischay, after completing his masters in computer engineering decided to start his own business. He visited his uncle Mr. Jaiprakash who has been running a successful business in web designing. He shared with Nischay that the main reason for his success in the business lies in his approach of building web sites according to the specifications of the clients but also providing continuous online assistance to them and handling their grievances effectively and doing all this at a profit. He provides these services at competitive prices. Anybody interested in getting the web solutions can contact him through his website. Moreover, whenever the market is sluggish he tries to create demand by offering short-term incentives to the buyers. In the context of above case: 1. Define the term ‘Marketing Management’. 2. Briefly explain the various elements of marketing mix being pursued by Mr. Jaiprakash by quoting liens from the para. Ans. 1. Marketing management is “the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value” – Philip Kotler 2. The various elements of marketing mix being pursued by MR. Jaiprakash area as follows: 1. Product: “his business is not only restricted to designing web sites according to the specifications of the clients but also providing continuous online assistance to them and handling their grievances’ effectively.” 2. Price: “doing all this at a profit. He provides these services at competitive price.” 3. Place: “Anybody interested in getting the web solutions can contact him through his website.” 4. Promotion: “Moreover, ,whenever the market is sluggish he tries to create demand by offering short-term incentives to the buyers.” Q. 33. In today’s world, through social media, news spread in a flash. Moreover, if it is bad news, it acquires a speed that is virtually impossible to stop. Hence, all corporate are more susceptible to a tarnished image today than in any other day and age. The loss of goodwill may lead to decreased revenue, loss of clients or suppliers and fall in market share. Over the year, therefore, most of the companies have set up a separate department to manage the public opinions about them. The department works in close coordination with the various interest groups like consumers, government, suppliers etc. and strives to handle effectively if any controversies arise. In the context of above case: 1. Identify the element of promotion mix being referred to in the above liens. 2. Briefly explain any three points highlighting the role of this element of promotion mix as identified in part (a) Ans. 1. The element of promotion mix being referred to in the above lines is Public Relations. 2. The role of public relations as a promotional tool is described below: 1. Public relations helps to create a positive image about the company in the eyes of various interest holders like consumers, government, suppliers etc. 2. It helps in launching new products as they may be accepted easily because of good reputation of business. 3. It helps the business to reinstate itself in wake of controversies or prejudices etc. Q. 34. Traditional trade or kriana stores constitute 90% of the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) business in India. HUL is the market leader in FMCG with over 60 lakh outlets. According to industry estimates, Patanjali products are currently available in two lakh traditional retail outlets. ‘Availability of the product’ is the single largest driver of FMCG sales. A shopper research suggests that 30% – 40% consumers shift preference if their favourite brand is not available at the store. In the context of above case: 1. Identify the component of marketing mix being discussed in the above liens. 2. State the two main decisions related to the concept identified in part (a) 3. Name the type of channel of distribution adopted by HUL. Ans. 1. The component of marketing mix being discussed in the above liens is place / physical distribution. 2. The two main decisions involved in physical distribution are: 1. Physical movement of goods from producers to consumers 2. Choice of channels of distribution 1. Indirect channel of distribution has been adopted by HUL. It is a two level channel i.e. (Manufacturer – wholesaler – retailer – consumer) Q. 35. Arun and Rukun are good friends. After doing a fashion designing course from a reputed institute, they have set up a garment factory in the rural area of Faridabad to manufacture trendy casual wear like jeans, T-shirts, shirts etc. under the brand name ‘Swatantra’. They have employed people from the nearby villages itself in the factory. Moreover, they wish to sell the products through local retailers in the villages and also through “Flipkart’. In the context of above case: 1. Identify the elements of marketing mix being taken into consideration by Arun. 2. Name the two methods of marketing adopted by them. 3. State any two values that are being fulfilled by them. Ans. 1. The elements of marketing mix being taken into consideration by Arun are product and place. 2. The two methods of marketing adopted by them are both direct and indirect marketing. 3. Two values that are being fulfilled by the are: 4. Generating employment 5. Raising the standard of living of the people in the village Q. 36. Yogesh buys a new laptop for his son Mukesh on his birthday from a company owned retail outlet. After a few months, some parts of the laptop get damaged in a road accident. Yogesh approaches the dealer to get the damaged parts replaced with the new ones. But, he is told that the company does not provide any after sale service to the customers. Yogesh feels very dissatisfied as a consumer and woes that he will never buy this companies product ever again. In the context of above case: 1. Identify the function of marketing being ignored by the company. 2. As a business advisor, suggest any two services that will be very effective in enhancing brand loyalty for any such product. 3. Name the appropriate redressal agency that he can approach in case he decides to file a case against the dealer. Ans. 1. The function of marketing being ignored by the company is customer support services. 2. As a business advisor, I would suggest the introduction of the following services that will be very effective in enhancing brand loyalty for any such product. 1. Setting up a separate department for handling consumer complaints. 2. Providing 365 days × 24 × 7 online assistance to the buyers for any maintenance or technical issues. 3. Yogesh can file a complaint in the District forum. Q. 37. Mr. Rajiv wants to buy LCD T.V. for his family. Now he has come to Jagota Electronics, Model Town, after coming to shop he get confused. Write the name of promotion tool which has brought him to the shop and promotion tool needed now. Also write the four points of importance of latter tool. Ans.  The just promotion tool which brought Rajiv to the shop is advertisement and the promotion tool required now is personnel selling. Q. 38. Mr. Rajiv, the sales executive of ABC Ltd. possess good marketing techniques, his techniques involve oral presentation of message, convincing the customer with face to face interaction, etc. Ans. 1. Name the element of marketing mix under which the above technique fall. 2. Identify the element used by Rajiv. 3. Give any three merits of that technique: 1. Promotion 2. Personal Selling 3. Merits of Personal Selling Q. 39. ITC started its business with Jobaico Industry later on its entered in Hotel Industry, Consumer goods industry, stationery, etc. ITC assured quality to customer and kept company’s name as its identity. This help the customers in product identification and hence ensured quality. It also built up their confidence and help in increasing their level of satisfaction. 1. Name the element of marketing mix referred in above para. 2. Name the other elements of marketing mix. 3. Name the concept which assure quality and help in identification of product. 4. Identify the value emphasized by ITC. Ans. 1. Product Mix. 2. Other elements: Price mix, Place mix, Promotion mix. 3. Concept which help in identifying the product and assure quality is branding. 4. (a) Value of supplying quality product. (b) Value of building confidence among customers. Q. 40. Ajay was appointed as a marketing head of Alfa Enterprise manufactures of toothpaste and tooth brushes. His target sale was zero units a month. Apart from thinking about various channels of distribution to achieve the target, he himself started visiting schools in backward areas. He found that even after taking various steps and counseling some school children had not started brushing their teeth. He investigated and found that they could not afford to buy toothbrush and toothpaste. So with due permission the started donating 200 toothbrush and toothpaste to schools. 1. Identify the channels of distribution Ajay would adapt for distribution of toothbrush and toothpaste, justify by giving reasons. 2. State any two values which Ajay want to communicate to society. Ans. 1. The channel of distribution Ajay would adapt is indirect because he is dealing with consumer goods. 2. Values which Ajay wants to communicate to society are: 1. Charity 2. Concern for underprivileged 3. Hygience 4. Sensitivity towards health. Q. 41. Nisha, a school bag manufacturer decided to improve the product for profit maximization and thus added a water bottle holder to the existing design. 1. Identify the marketing management philosophy adopted by Nisha and 2. Explain this philosophy on the basis of: 1. Main focus and 2. Means and ends. Ans.  Product concept. Q. 42. Ayesha is manufacturing lunch boxes for school-going children. To maximize profit she decided to improve the quality and added a warmer for the lunch boxes. Due to this improvement in the product, the sale is increasing day by day. Identify and explain the marketing philosophy involved. Ans.  Product concept. Q. 43. Mansi, a shoe manufacturer for school students, decided to maximize her profit by producing and distributing at large scale and thereby reducing the average cost of production: 1. Identify the marketing management philosophy adopted by Mansi. 2. Explain this philosophy on the basis iof: 1. Main focus 2. Means and ends. Ans.  (i) Production concept. (ii) Give difference, Q. 44. Vasvi purchased a bottle of pickle from the local grocery shop. The information provided on the bottle was not clear. She fell sick on consuming it. She filed a case in the District forum under the Consumer Protection Act and got the relief. 1. Identify the important aspect neglected by the marketer in the above case. 2. Explain briefly the functions of the aspect identified in (a) above. OR Ashima purchased a bottle of tomato-sauce from the local grocery shop. The information provided on the bottle was not clear. She fell sick on consuming it. She filed a case in the District Forum under the Consumer Protection Act and got the relief. 1. Identify the important aspect neglected by the marketer in the above case. 2. Explain briefly the functions of the aspect identified in (a) above. Ans. 1. The marketer had overlooked the Labelling as it was not done appropriately for the product. 2. The functions of labeling are detailed below: 1. Describes the product and specifies its contents: 2. Helps in identification of the product or brand: Q. 45. Radha found a worm crawling out of newly opened tetra pack of a juice manufactured by a reputed company, Zest, Ltd. She went back to the shopkeeper from whom the pack was purchased who directed her to call up the customer care centre. When all her efforts failed, she went to consumer activist group to seek help. The group decided to help Radha and take measures to impose restrictions on the sale of the firm’s products of the particular batch and urge customers to refrain from buying the products of the company. Zest Ltd. lost its image n the market. The CEO gives the responsibility of bringing back the lost image of the company to a Manager. 1. Identify the concept of Marketing Management which will help the Manager getting the firm out of the above crisis. 2. Also explain the role of above identified concept by stating any two points. Ans. 1. Public Relations. 2. Role of public relations can be discussed with respect to the functions which the department performs: (any two) 1. Press relations 2. Product publicity 3. Corporate communication 4. Lobbying. 5. Counseling.

Important Notes for NCERT Class 12 Business Studies Chapter Marketing Management

Introduction: Marketing management is an important functional area of business. It is the process of planning, organising, directing and controlling the activities related to marketing of goods and services to satisfy customer’s needs & achieve organisational goals. Functions of Marketing / Marketing activities 1. Marketing research:  Gathering and analysing marketing information i.e. what the customers want to buy, when they are likely to buy in what quantities do they buy, from where do they buy etc. 2. Marketing planning:  Specific plan for increasing the level of production, promotion of the products etc and specify the action programmes to achieve these objectives. 3. Product designing and development;  Marketer must take decision like, what-product? Which model / size? brand name? Packaged? quality level? So that customer needs are satisfied. 4. Buying & assembling:  e.g., car. Raw material like steel, tyres, batteries, seats, steering wheels etc are bought & them assembled in the form of a complete product. 5. Packing / Labelling:  designing the package & labelling. 6. Branding:  Creating a distinct identity of the product from that of competitors e.g. Videocon washing machine. Concepts & Philosophies of Marketing: – 1. Production concept:  Profits could be maximised by producing products at a large scale, thereby reducing average cost of production. Drawback: Customer do not always buy inexpensive products. 2. Product concept:  Business goals lies in making high quality products as customer favour them. 3. Sales Concept:  Firms must undertake aggressive selling & promotion efforts to make customers buy their products. Marketing Mix: Marketing mix refers to ingredients or the tools or the variables which the markets mixes in order to interact with a particular market. Elements / 4 Ps of Marketing mix 1.  Product Mix: Product live e.g. Hindustan Lever Limited – Colgate, lifebuoy etc. 2.  Price Mix: Value (Money) in lieu of product / Service received by seller from a buyer. 3.  Promotion mix: informing the customers about the products & persuading them to buy the same. 4.  Place Mix : Physical distribution : Various decision regarding distribution of products.

We hope the above  Marketing Management Class 12 Business Studies  are useful for you. If you have any questions then post them in the comments section below. Our teachers will provide you an answer. Also refer to  MCQ Questions for Class 12 Business Studies

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Case Studies - Marketing Management | Business Studies (BST) Class 12 - Commerce PDF Download

Q. 1. Zoom Udyog, a car manufacturing Co., has started its business with Zoom 800 and slowly launched Zoom-1000, Wagon-Z, Swy-fy etc. and offered various services like after sale services, availability of spare parts etc. Identify the element of marketing mix referred here.                              (1 mark)

Ans.  Product 

Q. 2. Radha found a worm crawling out of newly opened tetra pack of a juice manufactured by a reputed company, Zest, Ltd.  She went back to the shopkeeper from whom the pack was purchased who directed her to call up the customer care centre.  When all her efforts failed, she went to a consumer activist group to seek help.  The group decided to help Radha and taken measures to impose restrictions on the sale of the firm’s products of the particular batch and urge customers to refrain from buying the products of the company.  Zest Ltd. lost its image in the market.  The CEO gives the responsibility of bringing back the lost image of the company to a Manager.

• Identify the concept of Marketing Management which will help the Manager getting the firm out of the above crisis.
• Also explain the role of above identified concept by stating any two points. (4 Marks)
• Public Relations
• Role of Public Relations:
• Product Publicity:
• Counseling:

  Q. 3. The manager of Impact Enterprise, dealing in cosmetics, is facing the problem of poor sales.  Suggest the four promotional measures that he can undertake to improve the sales.  Also, name the factors affecting their choice.                         (4 Marks)

Ans.  The manager of Impact Enterprise, dealing in cosmetics, should take the following four promotional measures to improve the sales:

• Advertising
• Sales promotion
• Personal selling

Factors affecting choice of promotional tool:

• Nature of market
• Nature of product
• Promotions budget
• Objectives of promotion

Q. 4. A mobile company is launching a new high tech mobile phone in the market.  Which department is going to look into the techniques iof promoting it? 

   (1 Mark)

Ans.  Public Relations (PR) Department

Q. 5. Identify the Marketing Management philosophy adopted in the following cases:

• Mansi, a shoe manufacturer for school students, decided to maximize her profit by producing and distributing at large scale and thereby reducing the average cost of production.
• Nisha, a school bag manufacturer decided to improve the product for profit maximization and thus added a water bottle holder to the existing design.
• Jasdeep, a dealer in school uniforms, decided to maximize his profit by using different aggressive promotional efforts.
• Amar is engaged in manufacturing of refrigerators.  He surveyed the market and found that customers need a refrigerator with a separate provision of water cooler in it.  He decided to launch the same refrigerator in the market.             (4 Marks)
• Production concept
• Product concept
• Selling concept
• Marketing concept

Q. 6. Identify the method of sales-promotion in the following cases:

• A mobile company offers a discount of Rs. 1000 to clear off excess inventory.
• A customer gets Rs. 5 off on return of an empty wrapper while making a new purchase of the same product.
• A Company offers a pack of 1/2kg of sugar with the purchase of a 5 kg bag of wheat flour.
• A Company offers 40% of extra shaving cream in a pack of 500 gms.
• Scratch a card and get a gold coin with the purchase of a cold drink.
• Purchase goods worth Rs. 50,000 and get a holiday package worth Rs. 10,000 free.                                (6 Marks)
• Product-combination
• Quantity-gift
• Instant draws and assigned gift
• Usable Benefit / Lucky Draw

Q. 7. ‘Various tools of communication are used by the marketers to promote their products.’

• Why do companies use all tools at the same time?
• Name and explain the most commonly used non-personal tool of promotion which is paid for by the marketer.
• Which tool of promotion will primarily be used for the following?
• To promote or protect a company’s image or its individual products.
• An existing product meant for mass usage by literate people.
• To introduce a new product to a particular class of people through door-to-door visits.
• To attract attention of the people by using incentives.                       (6 marks)
• The companies use all tools at the same time because of the nature of market, nature of product, promotion budget and objectives of promotion being different at different times.
• The most commonly used non-personal tool of promotion which is paid for by the marketer is advertising. It is a paid and non-personal form having an identified sponsor to promote an idea.
• The tools of promotion used are:
• Advertisements
• Sales Promotion

Q. 8. Good Living Ltd. manufactures mosquito repellent tables.  These tablets are packed in strips of 12 tablets each.  Each of these strips are packed in a cardboard box, 48 such boxes are then placed in a big corrugated box and delivered to various retailers for sale.  State the purpose of packaging the tablets in a corrugated box.                                (1 Mark)

Ans.  The packaging of tablets in a corrugated box is necessary for the purpose of storage, identification and transportation.

Q. 9. Shreemaya Hotel in Indore was facing  problem of low demand for its rooms due to off season.  The Managing Director (MD) of the hotel, Mrs. Sakina was very worried.  She called upon the Marketing Manager, Mr. Kapoor for his advice.  He suggested, that the hotel should announce an offer of ‘3 days and 2 Nights hotel stay package with free breakfast and one day religious visit to Omkarehswar and Mahakaleshwar Temples’.  The MD liked the suggestion very much.  Identify the promotional tool, which can be used by the hotel through which large number of prospective pilgrimage tourists, all over the country and also abroad, can be reached, informed and persuaded to use the incentive.                                  (1 Mark)

Ans.  Sales Promotion

Q. 10. “Every time I travelled, people asked me to bring them chips, khakra and pickles from all over the country,” says Anoushka.  Finally, she and her colleague, Sumemet, decided to make out of it.  They launched a face book bags, asked people what they wanted, and they came up with a list of about 100 places and tried up with two dozen vendors to begin with. They were servicing people from Jaipur who wanted spices from Kerala, people form Panipat who wanted halwa from Jammu and people from Delhi who ordered for fresh tea leaves form Darjeeling.  Through their business they wished to bridge the gap between sellers nd buyers. The business is now worth millions.

Explain any two important activities that Anoushka and Sumeet will have to be involved in for making the goods available to the customers at the right place, in the right quantity and at the right time.                                                                                                                     (4 Marks)

Ans.  Activities / Components of Physical Distribution:                      (any two)

• Order processing:
• Transportation;
• Warehousing:
• Inventory Control:

Q. 11. ‘Beauty Products Ltd’s is a natural and ethical beauty brand famous for offering organic beauty products for men and women.  The company uses plant based materials for its products and is the No. 1 beauty brand in the country.  It not Identify the marketing management philosophy being following by ‘Beauty Products Ltd.’                         (1 Mark)

Ans.  Social marketing concept.

Q. 12. ‘Haryaram’ is a famous chain selling a large variety of products in the Indian market.  Their products include chips, biscuits, sweets and squashes.  It charges a comparatively higher price than its competitors as it sells quality products.  Besides, it offers regular discounts to its customers and easy credit terms to its retailers.  It has five of its own retail shops.  It also sells its products through various grocery stores to that the products are made available to customers at the right place, in the right quantity and at the right time.  It regularly uses different communication tools to increase its sales.

The above para describes the combination of variables used by Hayaram to prepare its market offering.  Identify and explain the variables.        (6 Marks)

Ans.  The combination of variables used by Hayaram to prepare its market offering are:

• Product     :       ‘their products include chips, biscuits, sweets squashes.’
• Price         :       ‘It offers regular discounts to its customers and easy credit terms to its retailers’.
• Place / Physical Distribution     :      five of its own retail  shops.’       or             ‘It also sells its products through various grocery stores …right time.’
• Promotion   :     ‘It regularly uses different communication tools to increase its sales.’

Q. 13. ‘Maruti Vega Ltd.’ entered into the market with coloured television and have now introduced products like audio systems, air-conditioners, washing machines, etc.  the company is not only offering the products but also handling complaints and offering after-sales services.  Identify the element of marketing-mix discussed here.                    (1 Mark)

Ans.  Product/ Product mix.

Q. 14. Radhika was a student of Business Studies of Call XII.  Her father was a farmer who grew different varieties of rice and was well-versed about various aspects of rice cultivation.  He was also selected by the government for a pilot-project on rice cultivation.  As a project-work in Business Studies she decided to study the feasibility of marketing good quality rice at a reasonable price.  Her father suggested her to use internet to gather customers’ views and opinions.  She found that there was a huge demand for packaged organic rice.  She knew that there were no pre-determined specification in case of rice because of which it would be difficult to achieve uniformity in the output.  To differentiate the product form its competitors, she gave it the name of Malabari Organic Rice’ and classified it into three different varieties namely – Popular,, Classic and Supreme, based on the quality.  She felt that these names would help her in product differentiation.

Explain the three function of marketing, with reference to the above paragraph.     (6 Marks)

Ans.  Functions of marketing, with reference to the above paragraph are:

• Gathering and analyzing market information:
• Standardization and Grading:

Q. 15. A Company was marketing water purifiers which were very popular due to their quality and after sales services provided to the customers.  The company was a leading company in the market and earning huge profits.  Because of huge profits, the company ignored the after sales services.  As a result, its relations with customers got spoiled and the image of the company was damaged in the public.  The top management became concerned when the profits for the current quarter fell steeply.  On analysis, it was revealed that ignoring the after sales services was its reasons.  Therefore, the company took all possible measures to protect and promote its favourable image in the eyes of the public.  As a result, the goodwill of the company improved in the society.

• Name and state the communication tool used by the marketer in the above case to improve its image.
• Also explain role of the tool as identified in part (a)
• Public Relations is being used as a promotional tool by the marketer.  It refers to the practice of managing communication between an organization and its publics in order to create the maintain a positive image about itself and its products.
• The role of public relations as a promotional tool is described below:
• Public relations helps to create a positive image about the company in the eyes of various interest holders like consumers, government, suppliers etc.
• It helps in launching new products as they may be accepted easily because of good reputation of business.
• It helps the business to reinstate itself in the wake of controversies or prejudices etc.

Q.16. Crackers Ltd., a fire-cracker manufacturing company launched some new products on eve of Diwali which attracted many buyers.  To meet the increased demand, the company employed children from nearby villages.  Although the product was in great demand, appropriate safety warning for use were not mentioned on the packets that led to many accidents.

• Identify and explain the important product-related decision that was not taken into consideration by the company.
• Also, identify any two values which were violated by the company.
• The company has ignored ‘Labeling’.  It is an important product-related decision.

Labeling refers to the process of designing a label for a product containing product description and the relevant information which is likely to affect a prospective buyers decision in making a purchase.It may vary from a simple tag to a complex graphic.

• The two values being violated by the company are:
• Abiding by law as child labour has been employed
• Concern for human life as appropriate warnings were not placed on the label.

Q. 17. ABC Crackers Ltd., a fire-cracker manufacturing company, launched some new products on the eve of Diwali in the market which attracted many buyers.  To meet the increasing demand, the company employed people from nearby villages where there was a lot of unemployment.  Because of the good behavior of the management with the employees, more and more people wanted to join the company.  As the products were in great demand in the market, a competitor imitated the products.  The products of the competitor were not accepted by the consumers as it was a status symbol to buy the products of ABC Crackers Ltd. because of their quality.

• Identify and explain the product-related decision because of which consumers preferred the products of ABC Crackers Ltd.
• Also, identify any two values which ACB Crackers Ltd. wanted to communicate to the society.
• Branding is the product-related decision because of which consumers preferred the products of ABC Crackers Ltd.

Branding is the process of assigning a name (brand name), sign or symbol (brand mark) or a combination of all to a product.Branding facilitates product differentiation, assists in advertising and display programmes, facilitates differential pricing, promotes consumers loyalty etc.

• The two values that ABC Crackers Ltd. wants to communicate to the society are:
• Generating employment opportunities
• Providing good working environment.

Q. 18. As a project work in Business Studies, the Commerce students of Himachal Public School, Himachal Pradesh though of preparing apple jam from the apples grown in their school premises and sell it in the school annual fete.  They approached the Principal who not only appreciated the students but also gave her consent for the same.  The school decided to donate 50% of the revenue generated from the sale to a nearby orphanage.  After the school fete, the school also decided to extend this project by providing employment to visually challenged and disadvantaged sections of society or regular basis.

• Explain any two product-related decisions which the students had to take.
• Suggest any two functions that the ‘label’ of the jam-bottle must perform.
• Identify two values communicated to society by this project of Himachal Public School, Himachal Pradesh.
• The two product-related decisions which the students had to take are branding and packaging.
• The two important functions that the label of the jam – bottle must perform are:
• Describe the product and specify its contents:
• Helps in identification of the product or brand:

      3. The two values communicated to the society by the project of Himachal Public School are:

Q. 19. Ajay was appointed as the marketing head of Alfa Enterprise, a manufacturer of toothpastes and toothbrushes.  His target sale was 2000 units a month.  Apart from thinking about various channels of distribution to achieve the target, he himself started visiting schools in backward areas.  He found that even after taking various steps and counseling, some school children had not started brushing their teeth.  He investigated and found that they could not start brushing their teeth.  He investigated and found that they could not afford to buy toothbrush and toothpaste.  So with due permission, he started donating 200 toothbrushes and toothpastes every month to the school.

• Identify the channel of distribution Ajay would adopt for the distribution of toothpaste and toothbrushes and justify it by giving one reason.
• State any two values which Ajay ants to communicate to society.
• Ajay would adopt indirect channels of distribution for marketing of toothpaste and tooth brushes because it is a consumer product.  It can be easily marked through longer channels, for example (Manufacturer – Wholesaler – Retailer – Consumer).
• The two values that Ajay wants to communicate to the society are:
• Good health
• Social welfare

Q. 20. Amar is engaged in the manufacturing of refrigerators.  He surveyed the market and found that customers need a refrigerator with a separate provision of water cooler in it.  He decided and launched the same refrigerator in the market.  Identify and explain the marketing philosophy involved.

Ans.  Amar is following the philosophy of marketing concept.  The prime focus of marketing concept is to ‘find wants and fill them’.  Therefore, the marketer first assesses the needs and preferences of its target market and manufacturers products accordingly in order to satisfy their needs and wants optimally.  It aims at profit maximization through customer satisfaction.

Q. 21. Mansi, a shoe manufacturer for school students, decided to maximize profits by producing and distributing shoes on a large-scale and thus reducing the average cost of production.

• Identify the marketing management philosophy adopted by Mansi.
• Explain this philosophy on the basis of the following:
•   Main Focus
• Means and Ends
• Mansi has adopted the production philosophy.
• Means: The production philosophy can be brought into effect by making products affordable and widely available.

        Ends: The production philosophy aims at maximizing profits through high volume of production.

Q. 22. Unilever has found a new way to make ice creams by using an ingredient called ‘ice structuring protein’ which is widely found in nature especially, in fishes which allows them to survive in freezing arctic waters.  Combining ISP with stabilizer technology allows to make ice creams that don’t melt so easily thereby making it more convenient for small children and consumer in hot countries.

In the context of above case:

• Identify the component of marketing mix being taken into consideration by the company.
• Explain briefly the function of marketing highlighted here.
• List any two values that the company wants to communicate to the society.
• The component of marketing mix being taken into consideration by the company is ‘Product’.
• Product designing and development: Every marketer strives to achieve his marketing objectives by creating offerings to satisfy a need or a want.  Therefore one of the core functions of marketing is to develop the product in the most effective and efficient way.  Every marketer endeavours to add value to his product by introducing constant innovations in the product to enhance both its utility and attractiveness in the eyes of the potential buyers and gain a competitive edge.
• The two values that the company wants to communicate to the society are:
• Responsibility towards consumers
• Technological advancement.

Q. 23. Ranger India Limited, is an automobile manufacturer in India.  It makes 1.5 million family cars every year.  That’s one car every 12 seconds.  It has a sales network of company approved retailers that spreads across 600 cities.

• Identify the type of the channel of distribution adopted by the company.
• State the market related factors that are likely to affect the decision of a marketer about the choice of channel of distribution.
• Indirect channel: One level channel f distribution adopted by the company.

        2. The market related factors that are likely to affect the decision of a marketer about the choice of channel of distribution are explained below:

• Size of market:
• Geographical concentration of potential buyers:
• Quantity purchased:

Q. 24. As a global leader in the consumer electronics and entertainment industries, Sony has set forth ‘Road to Zero environmental plan’, to achieve a zero environmental effect by the year 2-050 by producing world-class products in a manner that both protects and promotes a healthy and sustainable planet.

• Identify the marketing philosophy being implemented by the company.
• Outline the main focus and end of the relevant marketing philosophy.
• State any two values that the company wants to communicate to the society.
• Social marketing concept is being pursued by the company.
• The main focus of this philosophy is on both the needs of the potential buyers as well as concern for the society at large.  The ends include profit maximization through customer satisfaction and social welfare.
• Concern for the environment
• Welfare of the society

Q. 25. As the number of people making online purchases has increase manifolds, there is a growing concern about the disposal and management of packaging waste.  Every item bought is delivered with excess packaging and sometimes even non-biodegradable materials are used.

• Name the other two levels of packaging that the marketers may be using besides the immediate package.
• Describe briefly any two points highlighting the functions of packaging.
• State any two factors that should be kept in mind by the marketers while designing the packaging of its products.
• Secondary packaging and Transportation packaging.
• The functions of packaging in the marketing of goods and services is explained below:
• Product Identification:
• Product Protection:
• The marketers should use biodegradable packaging material and packaging should enhance the usability of the products.

Q. 26. Rastro Inc., is a multinational corporation that creates consumer electronics, personal computers, servers and computer software.  The company also has a chain of retail stores known as Restro Stores.  Despite high competition, Restro has succeeded in creating demand for its products, giving the company power over prices through product differentiation, innovation advertising and ensured brand loyalty.

• What is product differentiation?
• Name any one function of marketing that facilitates product differentiation.
• Identify the component of promotion mix being used by the company by Quoting lines form the paragraph.
• Describe briefly the pricing objective pursued by the company.
• Product differentiation is a strategy used by the marketers to gain an edge over its competitors by creating a distinguished perception of the product in the minds of the potential buyers in terms of its utilities.
• Branding is a function of marketing that facilitates product differentiation.
• Advertising is the component of promotion mix being used by the company “Giving the company power over prices through product differentiation, innovative advertising and ensured brand loyalty.”
• Attaining product quality leadership: Besides aiming at profit maximization as its pricing objective Rastro Inc. seeks to establish a unique place for its products in the market by offering superior quality products which can be easily distinguished from its competitors.  As a result, it is able to use differential pricing i.e. fixing up relatively higher prices for tits products.

Q. 27. Reema, Vibha and Ratna are three women entrepreneurs who are engaged in dealing with handicraft goods under the brand name ‘Gujkriti’ through a chain of retail outlets at five different places in delhi.  Their outsource all their products from tribal and rural women in the state of Rajasthan.  Reema is of the opinion that in order to increase the sale of their products, they should advertise about it on television.  But, Ratna is arguing that advertisement expenses will add to cost of operation.  Whereas Vibha is insisting that they should set up an online portal to market their products across the globe.

• Identify the tool of promotion being taken into consideration by Reema by quoting lines from the paragraph.
• How is the channel of distribution being suggested by Vibha different from the channel of distribution being used by them presently?
• Do you think that Ratna is justified in here argument that advertisement expenses will add to cost of operations?
• The tool of promotion being taken into consideration by Reema is advertising.  (Reema is of the opinion that in order to increase the sale of their products, they should advertise about it on television.)
• Vibha is insisting that they should set up an online portal to market their products across the globe i.e. adopting direct marketing or zero-level channel (manufacturer – consumer).  Whereas at present they are using indirect channels of distribution i.e. one level channel (manufacturer – retailer – consumer) by operating through a chain of retail outlets at five different places in Delhi.
• No, Ratna is not fully justified in her argument although advertising as a tool of promotion is often criticized on the ground that it adds to the cost of distribution which is passed on to the consumers in the form of higher prices.  Therefore, it increases the burden on the consumers.  But, this argument is not entirely true because advertisements help to increase demand for the product.  In order to meet the increased demand the production levels have to be raised.  As a result, the business is able to reap advantage of economies of scale and eventually the cost of production per unit comes down and benefits the buyers as the product’s prices are reduced consequently.

Q. 28. Arvind is planning to start a company manufacturing room fresheners.  He intends to use natural fruit extracts for adding fragrance to them.  He estimates an investment of Rs. 20 crores to set up the factory.  As it is difficult for him to raise the entire capital amount alone, he gives a partnership offer to his school friend, Sanjay who is an angel investor.  Sanjay, after being convinced about the feasibility of the project, accepts his offer.  Sanjay tells Arvind that they should also focus on other important decisions related to the product ‘room fresheners’ besides deciding about its features, variety and quality.  Branding is one of the important such decision.

• Name any other two important decisions related to a product.
• Why is branding considered as an important function by the marketers?  Give any one reason in support of your answer.
• State any four features of a good brand name.
• Labeling and Packaging are the two important decisions related to a product.
• Branding is considered to be a very important decision by the marketers because it facilitates product differentiation.  Through branding the prospective buyers are able to bring about a distinction between a company product and its substitutes available in the market.  This helps the company to obtain a desirable market share.
• The four features of a good brand name are stated below:
• The brand name should be short, easy to pronounce, spell, recognize and remember e.g., Ponds.
• A brand should suggest the product’s benefits and qualities e.g. Sunsilk.
• A brand name should be distinctive e.g., Lotus.
• It should be capable of being registered and protected legally.

Q. 29. Suraj is a small entrepreneur involved in the manufacturing of hair wax.  He finds that cost of production of 100 gm of hair wax is Rs. 250.  He has decided to keep a margin of 15% as profit moreover, he has assessed that there is a free competition in this product segment.

• Identify the function of marketing being performed by Suraj.
• State briefly the two factors that he is taking into consideration while performing the function as identified in part (a)
• Pricing is the function of marketing being performed by Suraj.
• The two factors that he is taking into consideration while performing the pricing function are as follows.
• Cost of product:
• Degree of competition:

Q. 30. After doing a diploma in entrepreneurship, Farihad started his own confectionary business.  He started doing a lot of hard work and used the recipes taught by his grandmother in various preparations.  He also learnt many recipes from online sites and television programmes.  He decided to keep the price of the products low initially and also informed his customers about the goodness of the items sold by them.  However, he didn’t mention on the package of each item weather it contained eggs or not.  As a result, vegetarian people became hesitant in buying things from his shop as they had to verbally inquire from him about the inclusion of eggs in the preparation of various items.

• Name the important aspect related to the marketing of products which has been ignored by Farihad.
• Explain briefly any free functions performed by the aspect as identified in part (a).
• Mention the right of consumer being violated by Farihad.
• The important aspect related to the marketing of products which has been ignored by Farihad is Labeling.
• The three important functions performed by labeling are:
• Describes the product and specifies its contents:
• Helps in identification of  the product or brand:
• Enables grading of products:
• The Right to information is being overlooked by the company in the above mentioned case.  According to the right to information, a consumer has the right to get complete information about the product he / she intends to buy including its contents, date of manufacture, date of expiry, price, quantity, directions for use etc.  Also, as per law, it is mandatory for the marketers to provide complete information about the product / service to the buyers.

Q. 31. ‘Shudh Hava Ltd.’ is engaged in manufacturing of air conditioners and desert coolers.  The company offers a wide range of products to meet the requirements of people from varied income groups.  Recently the company has developed a new product, an air purifier that improves the quality of air by filtering out all allergens and microbes.  The company introduced the product on two variants namely ‘Nano Tech’ and ‘Nano Tech Premium’.  In order to persuade people to buy the product it is offering easy payment options in equal monthly installments for different time periods.  Moreover, every buyer will be offered ‘scratch a card’ option to win instant gifts like decorative items, T-shirts etc.  the company is also planning to organize competitive events based on skill and luck in various malls in different cities.

• Name and explain the ‘type of promotion strategy’ adopted by the company to boost the sales of air purifiers.
• Also, identify the various techniques of this promotional strategy being used by the company by quoting liens from the paragraph.
• “The company offers a wide range of products to meet the requirements of people from varied income group.”  Name the relevant consumer right being promoted by the company.
• The type of promotion strategy adopted by the company to boost the sales of air purifiers is Sales Promotion.

Sales Promotion includes the various types of short term incentives offered by a marketer to increase the sale of a product or service.

• The various techniques of sales promotion being used by the company are listed below:
• Full finance @ 0% - “It is offering easy payment options in equal monthly installments for different time periods.”
• Instant draws and assured gifts – “every buyer will be offered ‘scratch a card’ option to win instant gifts like decorative items, T-shirts etc.”
• Contests – “The company is also planning to organize competitive events based on skill and luck in the various malls in the different cities.”
• Right to Choose is the consumer right being promoted by the company

Q. 32. Nischay, after completing his masters in computer engineering decided to start his own business.  He visited his uncle Mr. Jaiprakash who has been running a successful business in web designing.  He shared with Nischay that the main reason for his success in the business lies in his approach of building web sites according to the specifications of the clients but also providing continuous online assistance to them and handling their grievances effectively and doing all this at a profit.  He provides these services at competitive prices.  Anybody interested in getting the web solutions can contact him through his website.  Moreover, whenever the market is sluggish he tries to create demand by offering short-term incentives to the buyers.

• Define the term ‘Marketing Management’.
• Briefly explain the various elements of marketing mix being pursued by Mr. Jaiprakash by quoting liens from the para.
• Marketing management is “the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value” – Philip Kotler
• The various elements of marketing mix being pursued by MR. Jaiprakash area as follows:
• Product:  “his business is not only restricted to designing web sites according to the specifications of the clients but also providing continuous online assistance to them and handling their grievances’ effectively.”
• Price: “doing all this at a profit.  He provides these services at competitive price.”
• Place: “Anybody interested in getting the web solutions can contact him through his website.”
• Promotion: “Moreover, ,whenever the market is sluggish he tries to create demand by offering short-term incentives to the buyers.”

Q. 33. In today’s world, through social media, news spread in a flash.  Moreover, if it is bad news, it acquires a speed that is virtually impossible to stop.  Hence, all corporate are more susceptible to a tarnished image today than in any other day and age.  The loss of goodwill may lead to decreased revenue, loss of clients or suppliers and fall in market share.  Over the year, therefore, most of the companies have set up a separate department to manage the public opinions about them.  The department works in close coordination with the various interest groups like consumers, government, suppliers etc. and strives to handle effectively if any controversies arise.

• Identify the element of promotion mix being referred to in the above liens.
• Briefly explain any three points highlighting the role of this element of promotion mix as identified in part (a)
• The element of promotion mix being referred to in the above lines is Public Relations.
• It helps the business to reinstate itself in wake of controversies or prejudices etc.

Q. 34. Traditional trade or kriana stores constitute 90% of the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) business in India.  HUL is the market leader in FMCG with over 60 lakh outlets.  According to industry estimates, Patanjali products are currently available in two lakh traditional retail outlets.  ‘Availability of the product’ is the single largest driver of FMCG sales.  A shopper research suggests that 30% - 40% consumers shift preference if their favourite brand is not available at the store.

• Identify the component of marketing mix being discussed in the above liens.
• State the two main decisions related to the concept identified in part (a)
• Name the type of channel of distribution adopted by HUL.
• The component of marketing mix being discussed in the above liens is place / physical distribution.
• Physical movement of goods from producers to consumers
• Choice of channels of distribution
• Indirect channel of distribution has been adopted by HUL.  It is a two level channel i.e. (Manufacturer – wholesaler – retailer – consumer)

Q. 35. Arun and Rukun are good friends.  After doing a fashion designing course from a reputed institute, they have set up a garment factory in the rural area of Faridabad to manufacture trendy casual wear like jeans, T-shirts, shirts etc. under the brand name ‘Swatantra’.  They have employed people from the nearby villages itself in the factory.  Moreover, they wish to sell the products through local retailers in the villages and also through “Flipkart’.

• Identify the elements of marketing mix being taken into consideration by Arun.
• Name the two methods of marketing adopted by them.
• State any two values that are being fulfilled by them.
• The elements of marketing mix being taken into consideration by Arun are product and place.
• The two methods of marketing adopted by them are both direct and indirect marketing.
• Two values that are being fulfilled by the are:
• Generating employment
• Raising the standard of living of the people in the village

Q. 36. Yogesh buys a new laptop for his son Mukesh on his birthday from a company owned retail outlet.  After a few months, some parts of the laptop get damaged in a road accident.  Yogesh approaches the dealer to get the damaged parts replaced with the new ones.  But, he is told that the company does not provide any after sale service to the customers.  Yogesh feels very dissatisfied as a consumer and woes that he will never buy this companies product ever again.

• Identify the function of marketing being ignored by the company.
• As a business advisor, suggest any two services that will be very effective in enhancing brand loyalty for any such product.
• Name the appropriate redressal agency that he can approach in case he decides to file a case against the dealer.
• The function of marketing being ignored by the company is customer support services.
• As a business advisor, I would suggest the introduction of the following services that will be very effective in enhancing brand loyalty for any such product.
• Setting up a separate department for handling consumer complaints.
• Providing 365 days × 24 × 7 online assistance to the buyers for any maintenance or technical issues.
• Yogesh can file a complaint in the District forum.

Q. 37. Mr. Rajiv wants to buy LCD T.V. for his family.  Now he has come to Jagota Electronics, Model Town, after coming to shop he get confused.  Write the name of promotion tool which has brought him to the shop and promotion tool needed now.  Also write the four points of importance of latter tool.

Ans.  The just promotion tool which brought Rajiv to the shop is advertisement and the promotion tool required now is personnel selling.

Q. 38. Mr. Rajiv, the sales executive of ABC Ltd. possess good marketing techniques, his techniques involve oral presentation of message, convincing the customer with face to face interaction, etc.

• Name the element of marketing mix under which the above technique fall.
• Identify the element used by Rajiv.
• Give any three merits of that technique:
• Personal Selling
• Merits of Personal Selling

Q. 39. ITC started its business with Jobaico Industry later on its entered in Hotel Industry, Consumer goods industry, stationery, etc. ITC assured quality to customer and kept company’s name as its identity.  This help the customers in product identification and hence ensured quality.  It also built up their confidence and help in increasing their level of satisfaction.

• Name the element of marketing mix referred in above para.
• Name the other elements of marketing mix.
• Name the concept which assure quality and help in identification of product.
• Identify the value emphasized by ITC.
• Product Mix.
• Other elements: Price mix, Place mix, Promotion mix.
• Concept which help in identifying the product and assure quality is branding.
• (a) Value of supplying quality product.

(b) Value of building confidence among customers.

Q. 40. Ajay was appointed as a marketing head of Alfa Enterprise manufactures of toothpaste and tooth brushes.  His target sale was zero units a month.  Apart from thinking about various channels of distribution to achieve the target, he himself started visiting schools in backward areas.  He found that even after taking various steps and counseling some school children had not started brushing their teeth.  He investigated and found that they could not afford to buy toothbrush and toothpaste.  So with due permission the started donating 200 toothbrush and toothpaste to schools.

• Identify the channels of distribution Ajay would adapt for distribution of toothbrush and toothpaste, justify by giving reasons.
• State any two values which Ajay want to communicate to society.
• The channel of distribution Ajay would adapt is indirect because he is dealing with consumer goods.
• Values which Ajay wants to communicate to society are:
• Concern for underprivileged
• Sensitivity towards health.

Q. 41. Nisha, a school bag manufacturer decided to improve the product for profit maximization and thus added a water bottle holder to the existing design.

• Identify the marketing management philosophy adopted by Nisha and
• Explain this philosophy on the basis of:
• Main focus and
• Means and ends.

Ans.  Product concept.

Q. 42. Ayesha is manufacturing lunch boxes for school-going children.  To maximize profit she decided to improve the quality and added a warmer for the lunch boxes.  Due to this improvement in the product, the sale is increasing day by day.  Identify and explain the marketing philosophy involved.

Q. 43. Mansi, a shoe manufacturer for school students, decided to maximize her profit by producing and distributing at large scale and thereby reducing the average cost of production:

• Explain this philosophy on the basis iof:

Ans.     (i) Production concept.

            (ii) Give difference,

Q. 44. Vasvi purchased a bottle of pickle from the local grocery shop.  The information provided on the bottle was not clear.  She fell sick on consuming it.  She filed a case in the District forum under the Consumer Protection Act and got the relief.

• Identify the important aspect neglected by the marketer in the above case.
• Explain briefly the functions of the aspect identified in (a) above.

Ashima purchased a bottle of tomato-sauce from the local grocery shop.  The information provided on the bottle was not clear.  She fell sick on consuming it.  She filed a case in the District Forum under the Consumer Protection Act and got the relief.

• The marketer had overlooked the Labelling as it was not done appropriately for the product.
• The functions of labeling are detailed below:

Q. 45. Radha found a worm crawling out of newly opened tetra pack of a juice manufactured by a reputed company, Zest, Ltd.  She went back to the shopkeeper from whom the pack was purchased who directed her to call up the customer care centre.  When all her efforts failed, she went to consumer activist group to seek help.  The group decided to help Radha and take measures to impose restrictions on the sale of the firm’s products of the particular batch and urge customers to refrain from buying the products of the company.  Zest Ltd. lost its image n the market.  The CEO gives the responsibility of bringing back the lost image of the company to a Manager.

• Also explain the role of above identified concept by stating any two points.
• Public Relations.
• Role of public relations can be discussed with respect to the functions which the department performs: (any two)
• Press relations
• Product publicity
• Corporate communication
• Counseling.

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NCERT Class 12 Business studies Chapter wise Solutions

Business studies part  – i.

• 1 – Nature and Significance of Management
• 2 – Principles of Management
• 3 – Management and Business Environment
• 4 – Planning
• 5 – Organising
• 6 – Staffing
• 7 – Directing
• 8 – Controlling

Business Studies Part  – I I

• 9 – Business Finance
• 10 – Financial markets
• 11 – Marketing
• 12 – Consumer Protection
• 13 – Entreprenuership Development

Chapter 11 Marketing Management

• Marketing, Marketing Management and Marketing Mix
• Advertising: Concept, Role and Objections
• Personal Selling: Concept and Qualities
• Sales Promotion and Public Relations

Very Short Answer Type:

1. Explain the advantages of branding to marketers of goods and services.

An1: Branding implies giving a unique name, sign, symbol or term for the identification of a product. The following are the advantages of branding to the marketers.

(i) Branding enables a firm to distinguish its product from the product of other firms.

(ii) It facilitates advertising of the product. Only when a product is given a brand, it can be advertised and thereby, attract customers. A product with a generic name cannot be advertised.

(iii) Through good branding manufacturers can create loyalty and habituality for their product. Thereby, the firm can benefit from this and charge a different price for its product.

(iv) It helps in establishing the base if a new product is to be launched. This is because if a new product is launched under a good and established brand, it is expected to get a good boost and benefit from reputation of the brand.

2. List the characteristics of a good brand name.

Ans: A good brand name consists of the following characteristics.

(i) The name should be short and easy to spell, pronounce and remember. For example, Ponds, Rin.

(ii) A brand should suggest the benefits or qualities of the product and also suit its functions. For example, Boost, Fair & Lovely.

(iii) The name should be unique as well as adaptable to packaging and labelling requirements. It should also be adaptable to different mediums of advertising and languages.

(iv) A brand name should be versatile and should be able to adapt to the new products if introduced under the brand.

(v) It must be distinctive and capable of being legally protected.

3. What is the societal concept of marketing?

Ans: According to the societal concept of marketing the organisations must identify the needs of the market and the target consumers and deliver the desired results in an efficient manner. The organisation should identify not just the immediate needs of the market rather should also aim at long-term well-being of the consumers. Thus, besides customer satisfaction, organisations should also aim at ecological, ethical and social aspects such pollution, scarcity of resources, etc.

4. List the characteristics of convenience products.

Ans: Convenience products refer to those products that are purchased frequently, immediately and with minimum time and effort.

The following are the characteristics of a convenience product.

(i) Such products are easily available at convenient places with minimum time and effort wastage.

(ii) Convenience products are consumed frequently and have a continuous demand. Generally, the essential commodities come under the category of convenience products.

(iii) They are available in small units and low and standardised prices.

(iv) The competition in the market for such products is high. Thereby, heavy advertising is required for these products.

5. Enlist the advantages of packaging of a customer product.

Ans: Packaging refers to the process of developing and designing the container for a product. A good packaging has the following advantages.

(i) It enables differentiation and identification of a product from other products.

(ii) It acts as a promotional tool. Use of colours, pictures, symbols in packaging helps in attracting the customers.

(iii) Appropriate packaging contributes to the convenience in handling the product.

(iv) It helps in protecting the quality of the product from any kind of damage. It helps in avoiding any kind of spoilage, breakage, etc. particularly at the time of storage and transportation.

6. What are the limitations of advertising as a promotional tool? Enlist.

Ans: The following are the limitations of advertising as a promotional tool.

(i) It lacks personal form of communication and thereby is less forceful.

(ii) Evaluation regarding the effectiveness of the advertisement is very difficult to conduct.

(iii) Advertisements come in standardised form and cannot be moulded as per the requirements of different consumer groups.

(iv) Effectiveness of advertising is low as there can be numerous advertisement.

7. List five shopping products purchased by you or your family during the last few months.

Ans: Shopping products purchased are the following.

(i) Clothes

(ii) Jewellery

(iii) Television

(v) Home furniture

Short Answer Type:

1. What is marketing? What functions does it play with process of exchange of goods and services? Explain.

Ans: Marketing refers to the process wherein the buyers and sellers interact with each other for purchase and sale of goods and services. Earlier, marketing had different approaches with respect to its definition. It was sometimes described as a post-production process that involves purchasing of the final products and sometimes, as a pre-production process that involves merchandising (designing) of the product. In reality, marketing is a much wider concept than this. It consists of all those activities that are involved in the process of exchange of the goods and services between producers and consumers. These activities are basically the functions performed under marketing. It involves planning, designing the product, packaging and labelling of the product, standardising, branding, warehousing, transportation, advertising, pricing and distribution.

It also includes activities that are performed even after the sale of product such as, maintaining customer relations and collecting feedback. Thus, marketing plays an important role in the process of exchange of goods and services.

2. Distinguish between the product concept and production concept of marketing.

3. product is a bundle of utilities do you agree comment..

Ans: When a customer decides to buy a product, his/her main focus lies on the utility which he/she receives while consuming it. A customer seeks different types of satisfaction from the product. Benefits derived from a product can be of three types- functional benefits, psychological benefits and social benefits. For instance, when a consumer purchases a car, it provides him functional utility as a means of transport. Besides, he also receives a psychological benefit in the form of pride and self-esteem that he has bought a car. Along with it comes the social benefit in the form of acceptance by the peers. Thus, a product is said to be a bundle of utilities and a buyer while buying a product values all such kinds of utilities.

4. What are industrial products? How are they different from consumer products? Explain.

Ans: Industrial products refer to those products that are used as inputs for the production of other goods. Such goods are not meant for final consumption rather they are used as raw material and inputs by the manufacturers for the production of consumer goods. For example, machines, tools etc. are industrial products. As against this, consumer products refer to those products that are used by the ultimate customers for their personal consumption purposes. For example, toothpaste, edible oil, furniture, etc. are consumer goods. The following points highlight the difference between industrial products and consumer products.

5. Distinguish between convenience product and shopping product.

6. ‘products is a mixture of tangible and intangible attributes’. discuss..

Ans: Generally, a product is referred to as a tangible asset which has physical attributes. For example, we regard a motorbike or a laptop as a product. However, in marketing a product relates not just to physical or tangible attributes but also to certain intangible attributes. That is, a consumers’ decision to purchase a product is based not just on its tangible attributes but also on certain other intangible attributes. In other words, a consumer purchases a product not just for its functional utility but for other factors as well such as brand name, reputation, social satisfaction, etc. For example, when a person purchases a laptop, along with the physical attributes and functional utility regarding the model, size, features, etc. he also looks for intangible attributes such as guarantee, brand, etc. Hence, product is a mixture of tangible and intangible attributes.

7. Describe the functions of labelling in the marketing of products.

Ans: In the marketing process, labelling plays an important role in packaging of the product. Labelling basically provides the information about the product in the form of a tag (in cases of local unbranded products such as rice, wheat, etc.) or graphics (such as a lady applying cream on face for a face-cream).

There are various functions performed by labelling which are as follows:

(i) Description of Use and Contents: The main function performed by labelling is to provide the description about the product regarding its use, application, cautions, content, etc. For example, on the bottle of a shampoo, the contents are written, along with the cautions such as keep away from children below the age of 10. Similarly, on food products such as maggie cuppa mania, a picture of noodles is there describing its appearance. Along with this, the ingredients and procedure of making it is also stated.

(ii)  Identification and Differentiation: A label helps in easy identification of the product. It helps the consumers to differentiate their favourable products from other products. For example, in a potato chip product, a man eating potato chips is imprinted for identification. A label also provides other valuable information such as name or address of the manufacturer, net weight, maximum retail price, batch number, etc.

(iii)   Standardising and Grading: A label also helps in setting grades for a product. This helps the marketers to classify the product in different categories based on certain specific quality or features. For example, a brand of face-cream comes in different categories such as oily skin, dry skin and normal skin.

(iv)   Promotes the Production: An attractive label helps the marketers in promoting the product as well. It helps in attracting more customers towards the product. For example, for maggie noodles, the label says ”Taste bhi, Health bhi”. Herein, label plays an important role in highlighting the product and promoting its sale.

(v)   Information Required for Law: Label also provides and mentions the information which are required to be mentioned as per the law. For example, on a packet of tobacco it is written ‘chewing tobacco is injurious to health’.

8. Discuss the role of intermediaries in the distribution of consumer non-durable products.

Ans: Intermediaries play an important role in the distribution of consumer non-durables. They facilitate the transfer of goods from the place of production to the place where they are consumed.

The following are the different functions performed by the intermediaries in case of non-durables.

(i)   Arrangement : An intermediary receives the supply of goods from various sources. He then sorts these goods into homogeneous groups based on their characteristics such as size, quality, etc.

For instance, an electronic goods seller receives supply of different electronic goods (T.V., washing machine etc.) and then sorts them based on their functions.

(ii)   Collection : An intermediary maintains large stock of the goods so as to ensure easy flow of supply. For instance, the electronic goods seller maintains large stock of each type of the electronic item.

(iii)   Allocation and Packing : This function includes breaking the larger stock into smaller units. For instance, each electronic item as well as their spare parts are packed separately.

(iv)  Building Variety : An intermediary acquires various goods from different sources and assembles them at a single place. Thus, it maintains a variety of goods. He procures the products and then sells them in different combinations as desired by the consumers. For instance, a television and a video player are preferred together by most of the people. Thus, the retail can sell a combination of both.

(v)   Promotion of Product : They assist in the promotion activities undertaken by the manufacturers. For example, the manufacturers use advertising for the promotion of their product. The intermediaries can aid this process by putting banners and displays. For example, an electronic goods retailer puts up banners for various products highlighting their features.

(vi)   Mediation : Middle men perform the function of setting a deal that can satisfy both the producers and the consumers. They negotiate the price, quality, quantity, etc. for efficient transfer of ownership so as to satisfy the need of both the parties.

(vii)   Bearing Risk : Intermediaries acquire goods from the producers and keep them in their possession till the final sale. In the process they bear the risk of fluctuations in demand, price, spoilage, etc. For example, suppose a retailer acquires large quantities of air conditioners. However, after a few months’ winter sets in and the demand for air conditioners falls. Thus, the stock remains unsold and retailer would suffer a loss.

9. Explain the factors determining choice of channels of distribution.

Ans: One of the important decisions of marketing involves the choice regarding which channel of distribution to opt for. The following factors determine the choice of channels.

(i)  Product Type: The choice of channel of distribution is based on the type of the product that is produced. It is important to check whether the product is perishable or non-perishable, whether it is an industrial or a consumer product, whether its unit value is high or low and also, the degree of complexity of the product. For instance, if a good is perishable then short channels should be used rather than the long ones. Similarly, if a product has a low unit value then longer channel are preferred. In a similar manner, consumer products are distributed through long channels while industrial products are distributed through short channels.

(ii)   Characteristics of the Company: The two important characteristics of a company that affect the choice of channel are its financial strength and the degree of control that the company wishes to hold on the intermediaries. Shorter channels require greater funds than longer channels and also offer greater control over the members of the channel (intermediaries). Thus, companies that are financially strong or wish to command greater control over the channel of distribution opt for shorter channels of distribution.

(iii)   Competitive Factors: The degree of competition and the channels opted by other competitors affect the choice of distribution channel. Depending on its policies a company can adopt a similar channel as adopted by its competitors or opt for a different channel. For example, if competitors of a company opt for sale through retail store, it may also do the same or it can opt a different channel such as direct selling.

(iv)   Environmental Factors: Environmental factors such as economic constraints and legal policies play an important role in the choice of channel of distribution. For example, requirement of complex legal formalities at each step of distribution induces the companies to opt for shorter channels.

(v)   Market Factors: Various other factors such as size of the market, geographical concentration of buyers, quantity demanded, etc. also affect the choice between the channels. For instance, if potential buyers are concentrated in a small geographical area then, shorter channels are used. As against this, if the buyers are dispersed in a larger area then longer channels of distribution may be used.

10. Explain briefly the components of physical distribution.

Ans: Physical distribution refers to movement of products from the place of production to the place of consumption. The following are the components of physical distribution.

(i)  Processing of Order : Processing of order comprises of a number of steps such as placement of order, transmission of the order by the intermediaries to the manufacturer, maintenance of inventory as per the requirement, delivery of goods, etc. As all such processes take time, a physical distribution system should be such that it should ensure speedy and proper order processing. Generally, there exists a direct relationship between speed and accuracy of order processing and customer satisfaction. Fast and accurate order processing results in greater consumer satisfaction.

(ii)   Transportation of Products : Transportation of products refers to the physical movement of goods from the place where they are manufactured to the place where they are consumed. To make the goods physically available to the consumers they must be transported from the place of production to the place of consumption.

(iii)   Warehousing : Warehousing refers to the process of storing the produced goods before the final act of sale. If a company has a larger number of warehouses, it will be able to readily provide the goods on time at different locations. However, maintaining warehouses involves its own cost. Thus, a company must weigh the relative benefits and costs associated with warehousing and maintain a balance between the two as per the requirement.

(iv)   Maintenance of Inventory : The firms maintain inventory so as to ensure timely supply of products. Similar to warehousing, maintenance of inventory also shares a positive relation with customer service. However, maintenance of inventory involves a cost as a huge amount of capital remains tied up in the stock unless it is sold. Thus, the firms must strike a balance between customer service and cost.

11. Define advertising. What are its main features? Explain.

Ans: Advertising is a technique used for promotion of a product. Through advertising the companies attract customers towards their product and induce them to purchase it. Some of the common modes of advertising are newspapers, magazines, television, etc. The following are the important features of advertising.

(i)  Cost Involved : Advertising involves a cost. It is a paid form of promotion. The costs involved in advertising are to be borne by the sponsors.

(ii)   Impersonal Mode : Advertising is an impersonal mode of communication. That is, there is no face-to-face interaction between the customer and the advertiser. Thus, it lacks a personal touch and creates a monologue.

(iii)   Specific Sponsor : There are always some identified individuals or sponsors who undertake the responsibility of designing it and bearing the cost involved.

12. Discuss the role of ‘sales promotion’ as an element of promotion mix.

Ans: Sales promotion refers to the incentives that are offered to the buyers so as to encourage them to purchase the product. It included activities such as offering discounts, gifts, free samples, etc. Such activities supplement other promotional activities undertaken by the company such as advertising and direct selling. They increasingly attract the customers and induce them to immediately purchase the product. Such activities are especially useful at the time of launch of a new product. They bring an initial boost to sales.

For example, discounts are given in the form of offering the product at a lower price than the listed price. Free gifts are offered in the form of quantity gifts (such as 20% extra or buy 2, get 1 free). Free samples are provided in the form of small packets when launching a new brand. Such incentives are opted by the companies to attract more customers and boost its sales.

Long Answer Type:

1. Define marketing. How is it different from selling? Discuss

Ans: Marketing refers to the process wherein the buyers and sellers interact with each other for purchase and sale of goods and services. It comprises of a range of activities such as planning, designing the product, packaging and labelling of the product, pricing and distribution and also after sale services such as maintaining customer relations and collecting feedback. Selling, on the other hand, refers to the promotion activities undertaken for the sale of goods and services. Such promotion activities can be in the form of advertising, publicity, etc. Through the process of selling the product is converted into cash. In this sense, selling can be regarded as a part of marketing.

The following points highlight the difference between marketing and selling.

2. What is marketing concept? How does it help in the effective marketing of goods and services?

Ans: Marketing concept of marketing management lays emphasis on customer satisfaction. It believes that customer satisfaction plays a vital role in the success of any organisation. In the long run, any organisation can survive and maximise profits only if it identifies customer needs and effectively works towards fulfilling them. This concept identifies the fact that people purchase a product for satisfaction of a specific need (such as functional need, social need, psychological need, etc.). Any organisation must aim towards identifying such needs and satisfy them in an effective manner. That is, it must take all decisions based on needs and requirements of the customers. An organisation works and sells not according to what it has, but according to what the customer wants. The marketing concept is based on the following points.

i. The efforts of all marketing activities must be directed towards a particular segment of market or group of customers.

ii. The organisations must clearly identify the needs and requirements of the target customer.

iii. It should develop such products and services that satisfy the needs of the customers.

iv. It should not just independently work towards customer satisfaction, but should also aim at satisfying the customers better than its competitors.

v. The crux of all efforts of marketing is profit.

Marketing concept helps in effective marketing of goods and services. If all marketing activities are directed towards customer satisfaction, marketing of goods and services would take place in an effective and smooth manner. If decisions of production, pricing, designing, etc. are based on the needs of the customers, selling would not be a problem. For example, if customers want dual sim mobile phones, high pixel camera, GPS, etc. the company produces mobile phones with such features. Similarly, other decisions of the company such as pricing, branding, etc. are also based on the requirements of the customers.

3. What is marketing mix? What are its main elements? Explain.

Ans: Marketing mix refers to the set of marketing tools that are used to achieve the various objectives of marketing. In the process of marketing, market offering plays an important role. That is, for effective marketing, an organisation must decide the various features of a product such as its size, quality, location of sale, etc. Such decisions are affected by a large number of factors. Some of them are controllable by the firm. For example, decisions regarding packing, branding, pricing, advertising, etc. are within the control of the firm. However, there are certain non-controllable factors as well that affect the decision making by a firm.

For example, government policies, credit policies of the banks are beyond the control of the firm. A firm continuously alters the various controllable factors to achieve the objectives of marketing. Such factors form the pillars of marketing and are known as marketing tools. From the various alternative marketing tools, a firm chooses the best combination to develop a market offering. Such a set of marketing tools used by the firm to achieve the desired objectives of marketing is known as marketing mix.

The following are the elements of marketing mix.

(a) Product : A product refers to any good or service that offers value and satisfies needs of a customer. For example, a car, toothpaste, soap, services of teacher, etc. are products. In marketing, a product relates not just to the physical product but it also includes the satisfaction of various needs and utilities of the customer. For example, consumption of a product benefits a consumer in the form of satisfaction of consumers’ functional needs, social needs and psychological needs. Such benefits also form a part of product. In addition, a product also includes the after sale services such as taking feedbacks, redressing consumer complaints, etc. Important decisions regarding a product relate to its designing, quality, features, labelling, branding and packaging.

(b) Price : Price refers to the money paid by the customers to obtain a product. Price of a product affects its demand. As the price of a product increases, its demand falls and vice versa. The marketers must analyse properly the various factors that determine the price and decide a suitable price for the product. For example, the target customers, pricing policy followed by the competitors, objectives of the firm, etc. must be consider while deciding a price. The price set should be such that the customers find it at par with the value of the product. Suitable discounts and incentive schemes must also be decided.

(c) Place : Besides the product decisions and pricing decisions, a firm must also take decisions regarding the availability of the product to the target customers. A firm must appropriately decide the dealers or intermediaries for the distribution of the goods. Other important decisions comprise of managing the inventory, warehousing, storage and transportation of the goods

(d) Promotion : Promotion comprises of those activities that communicate customers regarding the availability of a product, its features, qualities, etc. so as to influence the customers to purchase the product. Organisations undertake various promotional activities such advertising, sales techniques, personal selling, etc. An organisation must carefully decide the medium of promotion, thereby, taking the related actions. For example, the organisation must decide which of the sales techniques such as discounts, free gifts, sale, etc. should be used.

4. How does branding help in creating product differentiation? Does it help in marketing of goods and services? Explain.

Ans: Branding implies giving a unique name, sign, symbol or term for the identification of a product. Branding is one of the most important decisions for a marketer. Through branding the firms differentiate their products from that of other similar products. If instead of branding the firms opt for a generic name for their product, they would not be able to distinguish their product from that of competitors. This is because a generic name would represent the whole class of the product. For example, all shampoos are used for cleansing hair. However, one shampoo differs from that of others based on their brand name, symbol or sign used by different shampoo manufacturing firms.

Branding not only helps in product differentiation, rather also helps in marketing of goods and services. The following points highlight the importance of branding in marketing of goods and services.

(a) Helps in Advertisement: Branding helps a firm to advertise their product. Unless branding is not done a product cannot be advertised. Advertisement for a generic product can only create awareness about the category of product as a whole. It cannot attract customers towards a specific product. On the other hand, advertisement for a branded product helps in highlighting the specific qualities and features of the product.

(b) Enables Differential Pricing: Good branding helps in creating a loyalty of the consumers towards the product. The firms can benefit from this loyalty and charge a different price for their product from that of their competitors. For example, if consumers become habitual of using a particular product they would not mind paying a slightly higher price for it.

(c) Facilitates introduction in New Products: Good branding helps in establishing a base for the introduction of a new product. If a new product is launched under an established and reputed brand then, it gets an initial boost and benefits from the brand name. Nowadays, many companies such as Samsung, Cadbury, etc. have multiple products under a single brand name.

5. What are the factors affecting the determination of the price of a product or service? Explain.

Ans: Price refers to the money paid by the customers to obtain a product and this price affects its demand. Thereby, pricing plays an important role in the marketing of goods. The price charged by a firm for its product affects it revenue and profits as well. In addition to this, pricing also acts as a competitive tool. Firms producing similar substitutable products compete with each other on the basis of price. Thus, the firms must pay due emphasis on proper pricing of their products. The marketers must analyse properly the various factors that determine the price and decide a suitable price for the product.

The following are the factors that affect the determination of the price of a product or a service.

(a) Cost of Product : Cost of the product plays an important role in determining the price. It comprises of cost involved in production, distribution and sale of the product. Cost of product can be classified into three broad categories, namely, fixed cost, variable cost and semi variable cost. Fixed cost refers to those cost that do not vary with the level of output produced.

For example, for the production of a good, a firm incurs cost on the purchase of machinery, land, etc. Such costs are fixed cost. On the other hand, variable cost refers to those costs that vary in direct proportion with the volume of production. That is, as the level of output increases, the variable cost also increases. For example, the cost incurred on labour, raw material, etc. are variable cost. Semi variable cost refers to those costs that vary with the level of output but not in direct proportion. For example, commission paid to intermediaries for the sale of good is a semi-variable cost.

Generally, the firms decide the price of a product such that they are able to cover all their cost. In addition, they also aim at earning some profit over and above the cost incurred by them. Thus, the firms decide upon the price keeping in consideration the cost as well as the profit factor.

(b) Demand for the Product : While determining the price, a firm must also consider the demand for its product. Herein, the elasticity of demand plays an important role. Elasticity of demand refers to the proportionate change in demand due to a given proportionate change in price. If due to small proportionate a change in price, the demand changes by a larger proportion, the demand is said to be elastic. That is, demand is said to be elastic, if a small rise (or, fall) in price leads to a relatively large fall (or, rise) in price. In this case, the firm cannot charge a higher price as it would lead to a large fall in the demand.

On the other hand, demand is said to be inelastic, if a change in price does not affect the demand much. In this case, the firm has the privilege of charging a higher price, as even at a higher price, the demand would not fall much. Thus, price for goods having elastic demand is generally lower than price for goods having inelastic demand.

(c)   Degree of Competition in the Market : Generally, higher the competition in the market, the lower is the price that a firm can charge for its product. This is because in case of high competition, if a firm attempts to charge a high price, it would lose its customers to the competitors. On the other hand, if a firm faces very little competition for its product then it has the freedom of charging a higher price.

(d) Government Regulations : At times to protect the interest of public at large, the government intervenes in the determination of price. For example, in case of essential commodities, the government can declare a maximum price that can be charged.

(e) Objectives of Pricing : Every firm has various pricing objectives which it considers while deciding a price. The following are some of the objectives of pricing:

i. Profit Maximisation : Every firm aims at profit maximisation. However, if the firm aims at maximising profits only in the short run, then it may decide to charge a higher price and increase its revenue. On the other hand, if the firm aims to maximise profit in the long run, it would charge a lower price so as to acquire a greater share of the market and benefit from larger sales.

ii. Acquiring Market Share : If a firm desires to capture a greater market share, it would charge a lower price so as to attract a greater number of customers towards its product.

iii. Surviving Competition : In face of high competition, a firm would keep the price for its product lower. This is because if it charges a higher price, it would lose its customers to the competitors.

iv. Focus on Quality : If the firm emphasis on enhancing the quality of the product, it charges a higher price to cover the additional cost incurred.

(f) Method of Marketing : Methods of marketing used by the firm such as distribution, advertisement, customer services, branding, etc. also affect the determination of prices. For example, if the firm uses intense advertising for the promotion of the product, then it would charge a higher price.

6. What do you mean by ‘channels of distribution’? What functions do they play in the distribution of goods and services? Explain.

Ans: Channels of distribution refer to the individuals, institutions, agents who facilitate the process of distribution. As the potential consumers of a product are spread over a larger geographical area, it becomes difficult for the producers or the manufacturers to directly contact the customers for the sale of their products. Here, channels of distribution play an important role. They facilitate the transfer of goods from the place of production to the place where they are consumed. For example, for a manufacturer of sugar in Punjab, it would be difficult to contact the customers in other parts of the country. To ease the process, it would sell its product to whole sellers who in turn would sell it to the retailers.

The retailers then finally sell the product to the customers. In addition, channels of distribution also reduce the efforts of the consumers by offering various goods and services at a convenient single location. For example, at a retail store a customer can get a wide variety of goods.

Thus, channels of distribution refer to the set of individuals, agents and institution that facilitate the exchange or transfer of goods and services from the producer to the consumer.

The following are the functions of channels of distribution.

(a) Arrangement : An intermediary receives the supply of goods from various sources. However, the goods received differ in terms of size, quality and features. The intermediary arranges or sorts these goods into homogeneous groups based on their characteristics.

(b) Collection : A middle man accumulates and maintains large stock of the goods so as to ensure a continuous and smooth flow of supply.

(c) Allocation and Packing : A middle man breaks the whole lot of goods into small, marketable units. It repacks the goods into convenient packets.

(d) Building Variety : An intermediary acquires various goods from different sources and assembles them at a single place. Thus, it maintains a variety of goods. For example, a grocer maintains a wide variety of products for sale.

(e) Promotion of Product : They assist in the promotion activities undertaken by the manufacturers. For example, the manufacturers use advertising for the promotion of their product. The intermediaries can aid this process by putting banners and displays.

(f) Mediation : On one hand, the middle men interact with the producers and on the other hand, with the customers. Thus, they form a link between the producers and the customers. They negotiate on matters related to price, quality, etc. and work towards satisfying the needs of both the parties.

(g) Bearing Risk : Intermediaries acquire goods from the producers and keep them in their possession till the final sale. In the process they bear the risk of fluctuations in demand, price, spoilage, etc. For example, suppose a retailer acquires large quantities of sugar. However, after a period of time, the price of sugar rises which reduces its demand. Thereby, the retailer may lose out as the stock remains unsold.

7. Explain the major activities involved in the physical distribution of products.

Ans: Once the good are produced, packaged, promoted, branded and priced they must be made available to the consumers. That is, they must be moved from the place where they are produced to the place where they would be consumed. This physical movement of products from the place of production to the place of consumption is known as physical distribution of products. It involves the following four major activities.

(a) Processing of Order : Processing of order and delivery of goods is the most important component of buyer-seller relationship. Processing of order comprises of a number of a steps such as placement of order, transmission of the order by the intermediaries to the manufacturer, maintenance of inventory as per the requirement, delivery of goods, etc. All such processes take time. Physical distribution system should be such that it should ensure speedy and proper order processing. Generally, there exists a direct relationship between speed and accuracy of order processing and customer satisfaction. Fast and accurate order processing provides a consumer greater satisfaction. Thus, a proper system of order processing is of vital importance.

(b) Transportation of Products : Transportation of products refers to the physical movement of goods from the place where they are manufactured to the place where they are consumed. The potential consumers of a product are spread across a large geographical area. To make the goods physically available to them, they must be transported from the place of production to the place of consumption. Unless the products are physically transported and made available at the place of consumption, sale cannot take place.

(c) Warehousing : Generally, there is a time lag between the act of production and the act of sale or consumption. This implies that the goods must be properly stored and assorted before the actual sale takes place. This process of storing and assorting the products is known as warehousing. Proper warehousing ensures efficiency in delivery and sale of products which in turn results in greater customer satisfaction. For example, through warehousing a company can maintain stock of products and ensure timely delivery of goods as and when required. However, maintaining warehouses involves its own cost. Thus, a company must weigh the relative benefits and costs associated with warehousing and maintain a balance between the two as per the requirement.

(d) Maintenance of Inventory : Inventory implies maintaining a stock of products. The firms maintain inventory so as to ensure timely supply of products. Inventory shares a direct relation with customer service. Maintenance of higher inventory helps a firm in ensuring timely delivery of goods to the customers and thereby, improve customer service. However, maintenance of inventory involves a cost as a huge amount of capital remains tied up in the stock unless it is sold. Thus, the firms must strike a balance between customer service and cost. A firms’ decision to maintain inventory is based on several factors such as how well the distribution system responds to the orders and the deliveries, cost involved in holding the inventory, firms’ objectives, etc. An appropriate inventory must be decided by the firm keeping in consideration the various costs and benefits involved.

8: Expenditure on advertising is a social waste’ Do you agree? Discuss

Ans: Expenditure on advertising is often considered as a social waste. Advertising is criticised on the grounds that it unnecessarily adds to the cost of the company, weakens social values and aggravates, builds up consumer needs and desires for multiple products. However, proponents of advertising argue that advertisement through greater sales brings down the cost and aids the process of growth.

The following points help in judging whether advertising can be considered as a waste:

(a) Higher Cost : Advertisement expenses add to the cost of the company. The companies in turn, pass this increased cost to the consumers in the form of higher prices. However, the supporters of advertisement argue that advertisement in fact brings down the per unit cost of production. This is because through advertisement greater number of customers can be attracted towards the product which in turn implies an increase in the demand for the product. In response to the increased demand, the manufacturers increase production. With increased production the per unit cost of production comes down. Thus, it can be said, that even though advertisement expenses add to the cost, this increase in cost can be compensated through fall in the per unit cost due to increased demand and production.

(b) Weakens Social Values : One of the major criticisms to advertising is that it weakens social values and instead promotes materialism in the society. Advertisement attracts customers towards new products and induces them to purchase it. With increased knowledge about the availability of new products, the customers feel dissatisfied about what they currently have. In the process, often they end up buying what they don’t even require. However, such a process of discontentment and purchase of new products is never ending and materialism increases.

On the other hand, it is argued that advertisements just inform the buyers about the availability of various products and the final decision to purchase the product rests with the consumer. Advertisement increases the knowledge of the customers and keeps them informed.

(c) Creates Confusion : It is argued that a large number of advertisements on similar products confuse the customers. For example, advertisements of different hair oil claim for healthy and long hair by the use of their product. With numerous advertisements the consumer gets confused as to the product of which of the brand should be purchased.

On the contrary, supporters of advertisement do not agree with this criticism and argue that advertisement provided a choice to the consumers. The consumers can make a rational choice for themselves after analysing various factors such as price, style, quality, etc.

(d) Promotes Inferior Goods : It is argued that products of both superior quality as well as inferior quality are advertised. Through advertisement, demand for inferior goods can also be induced. However, such a claim is only partially true. This is because quality is a relative concept. What is inferior to one consumer can be superior to another. Advertisements promote all kinds of products and the consumer purchases them if it suits their requirements.

(e) Objectionable Advertisements : It is said that often advertisement undermine social values and are in bad taste. Sometimes the language, images and the content of the advertisement may not appeal to the society at large. For example, women in men cantered products (such as, shaving creams, deodorants, etc.) are often criticised.

As against this, it is argued that good or bad taste is a subjective phenomenon and varies from person to person. What may be acceptable by one may be offensive for other.

Thus, it can be said that expenditure on advertisement though draws criticism, but the objections are not entirely true. While on one hand, they can be misused and have their own cons but on the other hand one cannot deny the benefits derived from advertisement.

9. Distinguish between advertising and personal selling.

Ans: Advertising is an impersonal, paid form of communication used by the marketers for the promotion of goods and services. On the other hand, personal selling involves direct communication of the seller with the potential customers. That is, it involves direct face to face communication of the sellers with the customers for the purpose of sale of the product. The following points highlight the difference between advertising and personal selling.

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• CBSE Revision Notes
• Business Studies
• Chapter 11: Marketing

Class 12 Revision Notes For Business Studies Chapter 11 Marketing

Marketing is a chapter that deals with various concepts, such as – Market, customer, marketer or seller, marketing, features of marketing – need and want, creating a market offering, customer value, exchange mechanism, marketing management – choosing target market, growing customers in target market, creating superior value, difference between selling and marketing – scope, objective, focus, start and end, efforts, supremacy, approach, demand, marketing management philosophies – production concept, product concept, selling product concept, marketing concept, societal concept.

Frequently asked Questions on CBSE Class 12 Business Studies Notes Chapter 11: Marketing

What is ‘marketing management’.

Marketing management is defined as the art and science of choosing target markets and building profitable relationships with them.

What is ‘Product Concept’?

A product concept is a detailed description of an idea, which you describe from the perspective of your customer.

What is ‘Superior value’?

Superior value is created when customers are willing to pay more for a product or service than competitors’, or when customers prefer this version of a product or service to all others.

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• Class 12th /

Marketing Management Class 12 Notes

• Updated on  
• Jan 28, 2022

Business Studies is an integral subject of the class 12 commerce syllabus and marketing management is one of the most scoring chapters of the class 12 business studies syllabus. If you are thorough with your notes and prepare well, it can be easy as well. . Here in this blog, we shall discuss in brief about this chapter. If you are preparing for your class 12 board exams then it would be of great help to you. Read on to know more about m arketing management class 12.

Important Definitions in Marketing Management Class 12

Market : Set of potential and actual buyers of a product or service’.

Customer : People or organisations that seek satisfaction of their needs and wants.

Marketer or Seller : The marketer is a person or organisation who offers products or services to the customer with an intention of satisfying the customer.

Marketing: It is a social process by which individuals acquire what they need and want through creating, offering and freely exchanging products and services of value with others.

JF Pyle says, “Marketing is that phase of business activity through which the human wants are satisfied by the exchange of goods and services.”

Essential Features of Marketing

Here are the important features of marketing:

• Need and want
• Creating a market offering
• Customer value
• Exchange Mechanism

Marketing Management 

P lanning, organising, directing and controlling the activities in exchange of goods and services. Marketing management involves:

• Identifying the target market
• Growing customers in target market

Difference between Selling and Marketing

One can differentiate between marketing and selling on the basis of

• Scope 
• Objective 
• Start and end 
• Efforts 
• Approach 

Marketing Management Philosophies

Listed below are few of the marketing management philosophies:

• Production concept
• Product concept
• Selling concept
• Marketing concept
• Societal concept

Objectives of Marketing Management

• Creates demand
• Market share
• Profitable sales volume through customer satisfaction

  Functions of Marketing

• Gathering and analysing market information
• Market planning
• Product designing and development
• Standardisation and grading
• Packaging and Labelling
• Customer support services
• Pricing of products
• Promotion and selling
• Physical distribution
• Transportation
• Storage and warehousing

Marketing Mix

Refers to the ingredients or the tools or the variables mixed by the marketeer to interact with a particular market.

Philip Kotler defines marketing mix as, “Marketing mix are the set of – marketing tools that firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market.”

 Elements of Marketing Mix

• Product : the tangible or intangible products that are offered to the customer.

Classification of Product

Products can be classified in two categories

• Consumer goods
• Industrial goods

Consumer Goods

One of the important sections of Marketing Management Class 12 is Consumer Goods. These are defined on the basis of certain characteristics. Here are the some of the categories and their examples as Consumer Goods:

• Durable products
• Non-durable products
• Convenient goods
• Shopping goods
• Speciality goods

Industrial Product

In Marketing Management Class 12, Industrial products are used as an input or raw material in the production of consumer goods, e.g., tools, machinery etc. Features of industrial products are a number of buyers, the channel of distribution, geographical concentration, derived demand, technical consideration, reciprocal buying and leasing.

Industrial goods are classified as

• Material and Parts 
• Capital Item
• Supplies and Business Services

Product Mix

It refers to important decisions that are related to the product such as quality of product, product packing etc.

• Branding : A brand is the identification of a product. It can be in the form of a name, symbol or design etc.
• Various Terms Related to Brand- Brand, Brand Name, Brand Mark and Trade Mark.
• Helps in product differentiation
• Helps in advertising
• Differential pricing
• Easy introduction of new product
• Helps in identification of product
• Ensures quality
• Status symbol

A set of tasks or activities that involve designing, production of an appropriate wrapper, container for the product.

• There are three levels of packaging
• Primary packaging
• Secondary packaging
• Transportation packaging
• The rising standard of health and sanitation
• Self-service outlets
• Product differentiation
• Innovational opportunities
• Functions of Packaging
• Identification 
• Convenience  

 Labelling

The process of labelling involves putting identification marks on the package. Functions of labels are:

• Describe the product and specify its contents
• Identify the product
• Helps in grading
• Promotes sale
• Providing information required by law/legal requirement

It is the value for which a product or service is provided to the customer by the seller.

This involves taking important decisions related to fixing the price of any commodity. The factors that must be kept in mind while fixing the price of a commodity:

• Pricing objectives
• Product cost
• Extent of competition in the market
• Customer’s demand and utility
• Government and legal regulation
• Marketing methods used

Pricing Strategies

There are two pricing strategies – Price skimming and Penetration pricing.

It refers to important decisions that involve physical distribution of goods and services. These decisions include deciding the channel of distribution, market for distribution.

 Functions of Distribution Channels

• Sorting/Granding
• Accumulation
• Negotiation
• Risk taking

Factors Determining Choice of a Channel

The factors that are essential in determining choice of a channel are give below:

• Product related factors
• Competitive factors
• Company related factors
• Market related factors
• Environmental factors

Promotion Mix

It refers to all the important decisions that are related to promotion of sales of products and services.

Given below are the important tools or elements of promotion, are also called elements of promotion mix:

Advertising

• Sales promotion
• Personal selling

It is defined as the paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services and by identified sponsor. The advantages of advertisement are listed below:

• Expressiveness
• Enhancing customer satisfaction

Apart from the advantages, there are certain Disadvantages of Advertisement as well, listed below:

• Less forceful
• Less effective
• Difficulty in media choice
• Inflexibility
• Lack of feedback
• Adds to cost
• Undermines social values
• Confuses the buyers
• Encourages sale of inferior products
• Some advertisements are not appealing

Different Platforms Available for Advertising

Sales promotion.

It is the short term use of certain promotional activities that stimulate the customer to buy the product.

Sales Promotion Techniques for Customers

• Rebate and Discount
• Refunds and Product combination
• Quantity gift and Instant draws and assigned gift
• Lucky draw and Usable benefit
• Full finance @ 0%
• Sampling and Contents

Merits of Sales Promotion

• Attention attract
• Useful in new product launch
• Synergy in total promotion efforts
• Aid to other promotion tools

Demerits of Sales Promotion 

• Reflects Crisis 
• Spoils Product Image

Personal Selling

As the name suggests personal selling means selling personally and involves one on one interaction between the seller and the customer for the purpose of sale.

So, this was all about Marketing Management class 12l. We hope it helps you prepare for your exams and also aids you in revising. If you are confused about which career path to choose after class 12th commerce then get in touch with our experts at Leverage Edu. They will help you choose a stream that suits you perfectly and help you carve a niche for yourself. Sign up for a free session today! 

So, this was all about Marketing Management class 12l. We hope it helps you prepare for your exams and also aids you in revising. If you are confused about which career path to choose after class 12th commerce then get in touch with our experts at Leverage Edu . They will help you choose a stream that suits you perfectly and help you carve a niche for yourself. Sign up for a free session today! 

Sonal is a creative, enthusiastic writer and editor who has worked extensively for the Study Abroad domain. She splits her time between shooting fun insta reels and learning new tools for content marketing. If she is missing from her desk, you can find her with a group of people cracking silly jokes or petting neighbourhood dogs.

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Commerce Aspirant » Business Studies Class 12 MCQs » MCQ on Marketing Management Class 12

MCQ on Marketing Management Class 12

MCQ on Marketing Management Class 12 Business Studies includes Multiple choice questions and Fill in the Blanks. Answers to MCQ on Marketing Management Class 12 Business Studies CBSE are available after clicking on the answer.

MCQ on Marketing Management Class 12 – Multiple choice questions

1. Under the concept of “Marketing management” marketing is done keeping _______ as a focus : – a) Consumer b) Supplier c) Investor d) None of the above

Answer: (a) Consumer

2. The products and services should be brought in the market based on which of the following : a) Needs, b) Wants, c) Desires and aspirations d) All of the above

Answer: (d) All of the above

3. According to Philip Kotler, marketing management is an art and science of which of the following : – a) Choosing target markets b) Getting, keeping and growing customers c) Both a and b d) None of the above

Answer: (c) Both a and b

4. Which of the following are key aspects of marketing management ? a) Focus on customer needs and wants b) Proving customer satisfaction c) Creating demand of the product or service d) All of the above

5. The success of an organization can be achieved through customer satisfaction as it helps : – a) Keep the existing customers b) Restrict addition of new customer base c) Lose the existing customer and Develop new customer base d) Keep the existing customers and facilitate addition of new customer base

Answer: (d) Keep the existing customers and facilitate addition of new customer base

6. What is the difference between marketing and selling : – a) Marketing is a part of selling activities b) Selling is a part of marketing activities. c) Both marketing and selling are the same d) None of the above

Answer: (b) Selling is a part of marketing activities.

7. Marketing activities do not include which of the following activities : – a) Designing, b) Manufacturing, c) Procuring raw material d) Collection from debtors

Answer: (d) Collection from debtors

8. Selling activity is done ________ the transfer of the title of the goods : – a) During b) After c) Before d) None of the above

Answer: (a) During

9. Which of the following are strategies involved in marketing : – a) Analysis of consumer needs and demands b) Production c) Pricing d) All of the above

10. Which of the following are strategies involved in Selling : – a) Branding b) Labelling c) Packaging d) None of the above

Answer: (d) None of the above

11. Which of the following are strategies involved in Selling : – a) Advertising b) Sales promotion c) Personal selling, d) All of the above

12. Read the following statements Assertion(A) and Reason(R). Choose one of the correct alternatives given below- Assertion(A)- The marketing concept strives to identify and meet the wants and requirements of customers in an efficient manner. Reason(R)- Products are purchased based on their quality and other attributes, according to the marketing theory

(a) Both A and R are correct (b) A is correct R is incorrect (c) Both A and R are correct and R is the correct explanation of R (d) Both A and R are correct and R is not the correct explanation of R

Answer: (b) A is correct R is incorrect

13. Read the following statements Assertion(A) and Reason(R). Choose one of the correct alternatives given below- Assertion(A)- It is critical to have a firm grasp on the philosophy or concept that will be used Reason(R)- It defines how much focus or weight should be placed on certain aspects in order to achieve the organisational goals

Answer: (c) Both A and R are correct and R is the correct explanation of R

14. Read the following statements Assertion(A) and Reason(R). Choose one of the correct alternatives given below- Assertion(A)- The term “market” refers to a location where buyers and sellers meet to conduct business and exchange goods and services. Reason(R)- A market is a group of present and potential customers for a product or service. It does not have to be a specific location.

Answer: (d) Both A and R are correct and R is not the correct explanation of R

15. Ashan Ltd. is a natural and ethical firm that specialises in providing organic bathing items for men and women. The company uses plant-based elements in its goods and is the country’s leading organic brand. It not only meets the needs of its clients, but it also believes in environmental conservation as a whole. Determine the marketing management philosophy that ‘Beauty Products Ltd.’ employs.

(a) Social marketing concept (b) Selling concept (c) Production concept (d) Product concept

Answer: (a) Social marketing concept

16. A beauty goods manufacturing firm has decided to determine client demands in order to begin successful marketing of the clothing it produces, and is conducting a SWOT analysis to accomplish so (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat Analysis). The organisation is working hard to achieve its goals. It has decided to create a blueprint for how much production it will accomplish, how much work it will put into promotion, and all other significant measures it will do to reach its goals. However, the business has one flaw that it would like to address. Last year, the physical movement of the company’s prepared items was not done effectively, and the company wants to make sure it is done correctly this year. It has established a separate department to appropriately carry out this task. I’m hoping for a better future for the company. In the preceding example, which marketing functions were highlighted?

(a) Marketing planning and transportation (b) Transportation and identifying customer needs (c) Gathering and analysing market information and planning (d) Both a and c

Answer: (d) Both a and c

17. A tea company is attempting to expand its operations. It recognises that the function of the intermediaries will be crucial in this regard. A conference of top management is called, and the causes that are causing the distributors’ potential to be underutilised are discussed. Intermediaries play a critical function in a product like tea. The company has decided to offer them discounts and to launch a robust promotional effort to entice them to participate. In the example above, which aspect of the marketing mix is highlighted?

(a) Promotion (b) Price (c) Place (d) Product

Answer: (c) Place

18. An electronic manufacturing firm is confident in its ability to sell its goods. The company’s major focus is always on the features of the products it produces. They are constantly attempting to add new features, which are added after extensive research on the issue. For them, quality is everything. They strive to maintain the highest levels of quality and take all required procedures in the production process to achieve this. To put it simply, the company’s primary strength is the product’s quality and features. Which marketing factor is ‘Quality and Features’ in this case?

(a) Product (b) Promotion (c) Place (d) Pricing

Answer: (a) Product

19. A chocolate manufacturing firm spends a significant amount of money on marketing, personal selling, and sales promotion strategies to encourage target clients to buy its chocolates. Determine which part of the marketing mix is being discussed.

(a) Place (b) Price (c) Promotion (d) Product

Answer: (c) Promotion

20. Read the following statements Assertion(A) and Reason(R). Choose one of the correct alternatives given below- Assertion(A)- A good design can boost a product’s performance and offer it a competitive edge in the market Reason(R)- Standardisation is the process of categorising things into several groups based on important qualities such as quality, size, and so on.

21. Read the following statements Assertion(A) and Reason(R). Choose one of the correct alternatives given below- Assertion(A)- Packaging is necessary not just to protect the goods but also to serve as a marketing tool. Reason(R)- Grading is so essential in today’s marketing that it’s regarded as a marketing pillar.

22. Raheja Foods is a well-known brand in the market. People have admired and purchased their products for years. In terms of repeat purchases and new customers, the brand has experienced significant growth. The company’s top management has decided to launch new items now that the company has grown. The names that will be maintained for the new items provide them with new challenges. The company has decided to release a spice called “Hot” since it has a very spicy flavour and makes food spicy and delicious.There are more products on the list as well. One alternative would be to use fat-free cooking oil. Because the oil will be offered in various packages, on various media, and in various regions, the name of the oil should reflect this. Flour is the third new product to be released. The corporation wants a name for the flour that sets it apart from the competition, since if it doesn’t, it will be just another flour on the market. Frozen foods are also being considered by the company.The corporation has chosen that the name should be simple to remember because individuals from all sorts of backgrounds would need it for cooking, and a long or difficult name may be easily forgotten. The pickles are the last new product on the list that they have opted to launch. They have invested a significant amount of money in the production of this product and wish to market it in the same way that they have been selling Raheja Foods for many years. Clearly, this organisation is putting in a lot of effort to maintain its name.

I. Which feature of marketing has been highlighted in the above case-

(a) Brand name (b) Placing of products (c) Promotion (d) Both a and c

Answer: (a) Brand name

II. Which feature is being highlighted in the above case-

(a) Good pricing (b) Good brand name (c) Customer choices and preferences (d) None of these

Answer: (b) Good brand name

III. Which features of the identified feature of marketing are highlighted in the case-

(a) Suggestive benefits (b) Short and easy to spell and remember (c) Distinctive (d) All of the above

Answer: (d) All of the above

23. Read the following statements Assertion(A) and Reason(R). Choose one of the correct alternatives given below- Assertion(A)- Warehousing adds value to your time Reason(R)- Warehousing connects the dots between products and its consumption.

24. Read the following statements Assertion(A) and Reason(R). Choose one of the correct alternatives given below- Assertion(A)- The transportation industry’s technological advancements have aided in bringing the market closer together. Reason(R)- Manufacturers can now deliver products to retailers and wholesalers more promptly and at a lower cost thanks to technological advancements.

25. Read the following statements Assertion(A) and Reason(R). Choose one of the correct alternatives given below- Assertion(A)- Customers pay greater prices as a result of advertising costs being passed on to them. Reason(R)- Advertising aids in the increase of sales and thus the reduction of costs.

26. Read the following statements Assertion(A) and Reason(R). Choose one of the correct alternatives given below- Assertion(A)- Personal selling only reaches a small percentage of the population. Reason(R)- Personal selling is extremely adaptable because the message may be changed.

27. Read the following statements Assertion(A) and Reason(R). Choose one of the correct alternatives given below- Assertion(A)- Advertising is less expensive than other advertising methods. Reason(R)- The whole expense of advertising is shared among a huge number of people.

28. Read the following statements Assertion(A) and Reason(R). Choose one of the correct alternatives given below- Assertion(A)- Customer support services are extremely successful at generating repeat sales and building brand loyalty for a product. Reason(R)- All of the services are aimed at raising the dealers’ profit margins, which is the key to current marketing success.

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Moment Marketing: Of case studies and why brands should consider the Power and Perils of this #MarketingTrend

Moment marketing has succeeded and is today an actively scouted strategy because it feels credible on so many counts..

 By Amit Mathur

Moment marketing has surged into a global phenomenon embraced by marketers around the world. Thanks to rising social media usage, brands have leveraged global events like the Olympics, World Cup, and major cultural moments like the Oscars or Super Bowl to create impactful moment marketing campaigns that resonate with audiences worldwide. Social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook have therefore become powerful arsenals for global moment marketing, enabling brands to engage with audiences in real-time and spark conversations on a global scale.

Samsonite became a major success during the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections with their timely campaign, “#EkDinKiChutti | Let’s travel to vote,” proving the brand’s ability to connect with the audience through a compelling message. Domino’s Pizza experienced a phenomenal response in 2015 for their ‘Tweet for Pizza’ campaign, after the widespread popularity of emojis, which resonated exceptionally well with fans. Capitalising on the popularity of “The Mandalorian,” Lego created a limited-edition Baby Yoda set. This timely product launch, aligned with the Star Wars hype, generated significant sales and buzz. Uber’s impactful campaign in the US amid the Covid-19 pandemic, featuring the message “Thank You For Not Riding Uber,” resonated with many as the brand emphasized the importance of staying indoors for the sake of public health .

WHY MOMENT MARKETING WORKS?

From an Indian context, moment marketing has generally done wonders. The undisputed king of topical advertising , Amul’s witty topical hoardings have been a cultural phenomenon for decades. Their recent take on the Chandrayaan-3 mission, captured the public’s excitement, and serves as a prime example of their mastery of this art. Fevicol took a full-plunge into the witty-side of moment marketing when CR7 (Cristiano Ronaldo) abruptly exchanged the bottle of Coca-Cola with a bottle of water. All that Fevicol needed was post an image of its product on a blank table and soon X was abuzz with memes. 

Moment marketing has succeeded and is today an actively scouted strategy because it feels credible on so many counts. First, it provides a brand to showcase genuine responses that resonate with its core values. Secondly, witty and engaging content significantly enhances the impact of a message. Since most of the messaging is online, brands can track results and learn/unlearn from every campaign in quick time. 

Moment marketing and memes have also worked since they enable the interoperability of different channels and consumers. In other words, the interplay of a copy does not exist just on an OOH but can soon turn into a social rage online as well. Zomato and Blinkit for instance promoted an image of a billboard with the following copy. 

Blinkit: Doodh maangoge, Doodh denge

Zomato: Kheer Mangoge, Kheer Denge

Soon the billboard was joined by Netflix (Friday maangoge, Wednesday denge). 

BUT, WATCH OUT FOR MOMENTS

Harnessing moment-marketing may seem like a powerful tool to connect with audiences. But it also presents the risk of wiping tarnishing a brand’s image when one’s not careful. In 2019, an athlete’s team sued brands of Rs 5 crores for unethically promoting themselves by pasting their logo adjacent to a picture of her Bronze-winning Olympic performance. 

Sharing a congratulatory message may not appear unethical at first glance, but brands sure have a lot to learn to avoid messages that backfire. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), in fact, had to come out with a stern warning in 2019 to desist brands from using Olympic winners in their advertisements without approval from athletes. Beyond the opportunity to stay present, there is the serious damage of not doing it the right way. Misreading the sentiment or cultural context of a moment can be disastrous.

It’s essential for marketers to carefully evaluate opportunities and ensure that their moment marketing campaigns align with the values, sentiments, and cultural context of the events. By doing so, brands can leverage the power of moment marketing while minimizing the risks associated with it. And now with IPL 2024 around the corner, the marketing teams gear up to scout for opportunities to engage in meaningful marketing – promote their brand with a six or a wicket. 

The author is President, Sales and Marketing, Finolex Cables Ltd.

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HADM 4315 Nonprofit Social Enterprise and Food Justice

Course description.

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024 . Courses of Study 2024-2025 is scheduled to publish mid-June.

This course will provide an overview of nonprofit social enterprise and food justice through service-learning, with a focus on food systems, social ventures and economic policies. Key objectives include identifying management best practices for leading nonprofit food service organizations, including strategy, managing employees/volunteers, fundraising, grant proposal writing, board governance, and marketing and social media. Through lectures, class discussions, case study analysis, research, community service practicums, and a service learning final project working with a partner organization, students will explore the economic, social, and political issues of combating poverty and hunger in the United States. The focus of the course will be on nonprofit food service organizations designed to combat hunger in our communities such as food banks, soup kitchens and shelters, community outreach organizations, school feeding programs, and social change through advocacy. Contingent university travel guidelines in the fall, a field trip may be required.

When Offered Fall.

Prerequisites/Corequisites Recommended prerequisite: HADM 1360, or equivalent food service management course, or permission of instructor.

Distribution Category (GLC-HA, SCD-HA) Course Attribute (CU-CEL, CU-SBY) Satisfies Requirement Satisifies HADM or free electives for NSHA students.

• Identify some of the causes and consequences of hunger and food security in the United States, including methods of measuring availability and accessibility of food in communities.
• Identify critical means of providing healthy, nutritious and affordable meals for undeserved populations, such as children and the elderly.
• Compare emergency food programs, federal food and nutrition assistance and the community food security movement, and assess strengths and limitations of each.
• Gain comparative and holistic knowledge of today's food systems (production, distribution, consumption, and waste) with an emphasis on food system system problems and possible solutions.
• Define and explain social entrepreneurship and social innovation.
• Outline key financial issues facing food service nonprofit organizations, including identifying various sources of fundraising for nonprofit food service organizations and identify key components of a compelling grant proposal.
• Outline methods for assessing nonprofit performance in the food service industry.
• Articulate connections between hunger, health and food service systems that are designed to combat these social issues.
• Describe key legal issues facing food service nonprofit organizations (such as food safety and sanitation guidelines).
• Explore and establish networking connections with nonprofit food service organizations through a service learning project.

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  Regular Academic Session.   Choose one lecture and one field studies.

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3 Credits GradeNoAud (Letter grades only (no audit))

Class Number & Section Details

 8673 HADM 4315   LEC 001

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• Aug 26 - Dec 9, 2024

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Kolakowski, H

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Instruction Mode: In Person Field trip fee of $75.00. Highly recommended HADM 1360/HADM 1361 or other food service management equivalent course (NS 1150 - Nutrition, Health, and Society), or by permission of the instructor. Open to all Juniors and Seniors only. Drop deadline is 9/11/24.

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Rajasthan school bars rape survivor from taking exam: 'Will spoil atmosphere'

A girl in rajasthan's ajmer was stopped from appearing for her class 12 board examination as she was a gang-rape victim. the school teachers told her that her presence in the school "will spoil the atmosphere" and asked her to study at home..

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• Rape survivor alleges school didn't issue admit card to appear for Class 12 exam
• Complaint lodged with Child Welfare Committee, panel sought action against school
• Efforts were on to allow victim to appear for board's supplementary exam

A Class 12 student in Rajasthan's Ajmer has alleged she was not allowed to give her board examination as she was gang-raped last year. She also alleged that her teachers told her to study at home as her presence "will spoil the atmosphere" of the school, an official said.

The matter came to light when the victim wrote to the Child Welfare Committee about the incident. In her complaint, the survivor said she had appeared for the board exams four months ago and the school did not give her admit card to appear for the examination, Child Welfare Committee Chairperson Anjali Sharma said.

The school told the victim that her name had been struck off from its list of students appearing for the examination, Sharma added.

Taking note of the matter, Sharma said she wrote to the District Education Officer asking to take strict action against the school and ensure that the survivor's academic session was not hampered.

"The victim appeared for her board examination in December last year. But, she was not allowed to give her examination as the school did not give her admit card. School teachers told her to study at home or else the school's atmosphere would be spoilt," Sharma said.

"A copy of our letter has also been handed over to the District Collector. Besides, the Child Welfare Committee is also in talks with the District Legal Services Authority to ensure legal help is being provided to the survivor," she added.

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Man suffering over existence of 2 of his fingers has them surgically amputated, study says

(Gray News) – A 20-year-old man who suffered distress over two fingers on his left hand successfully relieved his stress by amputating them, according to experts.

The surgery results were published March 27 in the medical journal Clinical Case Reports .

According to researchers, the unnamed 20-year-old suffered from body integrity identity disorder (BIID), a condition which causes a person to have the distressing belief that a particular body part should not exist. Experts said this could potentially lead to self-amputation attempts that could put their lives at risk.

Researchers said the 20-year-old who experienced BIID regarding the fourth and fifth fingers on his left hand experienced immediate relief after the amputations. Some of the symptoms he was relieved from included nightmares and emotional distress and he also had improved functionality after the surgery.

The decision to move forward with the amputation was made despite ethical concerns because doctors had the patient’s desire and consent for the procedure. The results would also mitigate the risks of self-harm from the patient.

Researchers said the procedure’s results suggest that amputation should be carefully considered to help relieve the distress caused by BIID in patients.

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How to Invest in OpenAI's ChatGPT (Updated 2024)

April 08, 2024 — 04:30 pm EDT

Written by Melissa Pistilli for Investing News Network  ->

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is one of the latest technological breakthroughs in the artificial intelligence (AI) space. But is there a good investment case for a technology that has become so controversial?

This emerging technology is representative of a niche subsector of the AI industry known as generative AI — systems that can generate text, images or sounds in response to prompts given by users.

Precedence Research expects the global AI market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19 percent to reach US$2.57 trillion by 2032. Just how much of an impact OpenAI’s ChatGPT will have on this space is hard to predict, but S&P Global suggested in December 2023 that the total market revenue of generative AI as a whole will see a CAGR of 57.9 percent through 2028, increasing from US$3.7 billion last year to US$36.36 billion in 2028.

“The key trend last year was the rise of generative AI, and 2023 will go down as one of the most exciting years for AI yet! With the launch of ChatGPT late in 2022, the true scale of its disruptive potential was more realized across the world in 2023,” said Naseem Husain , senior vice president and exchange-traded fund (ETF) strategist at Horizons ETFs. “Its success has sparked a wave of generative and chat AI models, from Midjourney to Grok.”

Of course, OpenAi has also generated a lot of controversy, such as fears over job destruction and targeted disinformation campaigns . And let’s not forget the odd and abrupt, however brief, ousting of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman .

Many lawsuits have emerged as well. Multiple news outlets , including the the New York Times , have launched copyright lawsuits against OpenAI, and some of the plaintiffs are also seeking damages from the private tech firm’s very public partner Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ). Additionally, the Authors Guild, which represents a group of prominent authors , launched a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI that is calling for a licensing system that would allow authors to opt out of having their books used to train AI, and would require AI companies to pay for the material they do use.

With all of that said, there's still a lot of excitement surrounding generative AI technology. Many investors are wondering if it's possible to invest in OpenAI's ChatGPT, and if there are other ways to invest in generative AI. Here the Investing News Network (INN) answers those questions and more, shedding light on this new landscape.

​What is OpenAI's ChatGPT?

Created by San Francisco-based tech lab OpenAI, ChatGPT is a generative AI software application that uses a machine learning technique called reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) to emulate human-written conversations based on a large range of user prompts. This kind of software is better known as an AI chatbot.

ChatGPT learns language by training on texts gleaned from across the internet, including online encyclopedias, books, academic journals, news sites and blogs. Based on this training, the AI chatbot generates text by making predictions about which words (or tokens) can be strung together to produce the most suitable response.

More than a million people engaged with ChatGPT within the first week of its launch for free public testing on November 30, 2022. Many were in awe of the chatbot’s seemingly natural language capabilities, not only in terms of understanding questions, but also because of its human-like responses. Users felt as if they were having a conversation with a human.

Besides being an excellent conversation partner, ChatGPT can write engaging short stories , develop catchy marketing materials, solve complicated math problems and even create code in various programming languages.

Based on this success, OpenAI has created a more powerful version of the ChatGPT system called GPT-4 , which was released in March 2023. It is currently only available to paid ChatGPT subscribers and Microsoft Copilot users .

This iteration of ChatGPT can accept visual inputs , is much more precise and can display a higher level of expertise in various subjects. Because of this, GPT-4 can describe images in vivid detail and ace standardized tests.

Unlike its predecessor, GPT-4 doesn't have any time limits on what information it can access; however, AI researcher and professor Dr. Oren Etzioni has said that the chatbot is still terrible at discussing the future and generating new ideas. It also hasn't lost its tendency to deliver incorrect information with too high a degree of confidence.

​What is Elon Musk's relationship to OpenAI?

DIA TV / Shutterstock

OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Altman, its current CEO, as well as Tesla's (NASDAQ: TSLA ) Elon Musk and other big-name investors, such as venture capitalist Peter Thiel and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. Musk left his position on OpenAI's board of directors in 2018 to focus on Tesla and its pursuit of autonomous vehicle technology.

A few days after ChatGPT became available for public testing, Musk took to X , formerly known as Twitter, to say, “ChatGPT is scary good. We are not far from dangerously strong AI.” That same day, he announced that X had shut the door on OpenAI’s access to its database so it could no longer use it for RLHF training.

His reason: “OpenAI was started as open-source & non-profit. Neither are still true.”

Furthering his feud with OpenAI, Musk filed a lawsuit against the company in March 2024 for an alleged breach of contract. The crux of his complaint was that OpenAI has broken the "founding agreement" made between the founders (Altman, Greg Brockman and himself) that the company would remain a non-profit. Altman and OpenAI have denied there was such an agreement and that Musk was keen on an eventual for-profit structure.

​Is ChatGPT revolutionary or hype?

Is ChatGPT a revolutionary technology or just another hyped-up tech fad that will flop, much in the way of Google Glass or the Segway ? It may be too early to tell, but as with any new technology, there are plenty of wrinkles to iron out.

One of the most challenging bugs to fix before ChatGPT can be deployed more widely is the chatbot’s propensity to respond with “plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers," admits OpenAI .

Remember, its selection of which words to string together are actually predictions — not as fallible as mere guesses, but still fallible. Even the latest 4.0 version is “ still is not fully reliable (it “hallucinates” facts and makes reasoning errors),” says the company, which emphasizes that users should exercise caution when employing the technology.

Indeed, ChatGPT's failings can have dangerous real-life consequences. Among other negative applications, the tech can be used to spread misinformation, carry out phishing email scams or write malicious code. What’s more, the AI-based technology is prone to racial and gender-based biases. Not only has this language learning model contributed to the human-like quality of its responses, but it has also picked up on some of humanity’s shortcomings.

“ChatGPT was trained on the collective writing of humans across the world, past and present. This means that the same biases that exist in the data, can also appear in the model,” explains Garling Wu , staff writer for online technology publication MUO, in a September 2023 article. “In fact, users have shown how ChatGPT can give produce some terrible answers, some, for example, that discriminate against women. But that's just the tip of the iceberg; it can produce answers that are extremely harmful to a range of minority groups.”

On the flip side, an August 2023 study by the University of East Anglia identified a left-wing bias in ChatGPT. Researchers at the school said their work shows that ChatGPT "favors Democrats in the U.S., the Labour Party in the U.K., and president Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party in Brazil," according to Forbes.

There’s also the fear among teachers that the technology is leading to an unwelcome rise in academic dishonesty, with students using ChatGPT to write essays or complete their science homework.

“Teachers and school administrators have been scrambling to catch students using the tool to cheat, and they are fretting about the havoc ChatGPT could wreak on their lesson plans,” writes New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose .

Despite these concerns, we’re likely to see new iterations of ChatGPT — hopefully without the aforementioned bugs — as OpenAI has the backing of tech giant Microsoft.

Why is Microsoft investing in OpenAI? ​

Ascannio / Shutterstock

Since 2019, Microsoft has invested at least US$3 billion in OpenAI to help the small tech firm create its ultra-powerful AI chatbot, as reported by New York Times technology correspondents Cade Metz and Karen Weise.

Microsoft announced in mid-January 2023 that as part of the third phase of its partnership with OpenAI, it will make "a multiyear, multibillion dollar investment." Although the company hasn't disclosed the total amount of its latest spend, reports at the time indicated that US$10 billion is on the table . According to a February article from Reuters , OpenAI was recently valued at US$80 billion, meaning Microsoft's US$10 billion move would be huge. However, as of late 2023 there were rumors that OpenAI has only received a fraction of that purported investment.

How could Microsoft benefit from its investment? It seems the tech giant is hopeful advancements in generative AI may increase revenues for its Azure cloud computing business, as OpenAI officially licensed its technologies to Microsoft in 2020. Indeed, Pitchbook has described the deal as an “ unprecedented milestone ” for generative AI technology.

The strength of Microsoft’s confidence in OpenAI’s Altman was definitely on display in late November, when it quickly moved him to the payroll of its advanced AI research team after he was fired from OpenAI . Barely a week passed before Altman was back at the helm of OpenAI with major board changes, including the addition of Dee Templeton , Microsoft's vice president of technology and research partnerships and operations, as a non-voting observer.

​What's the future of OpenAI and ChatGPT?

The ChatGPT 3.5 platform is free to use, and can be accessed via the web. Those with an iPhone or iPad can also use ChatGPT through an app , and an Android version launched in July 2023 . OpenAI also launched a paid subscription, ChatGPT Plus for business use , in August 2023. ChatGPT Plus gives users access to the newest iteration, GPT-4.

In addition to Microsoft's use of the ChatGPT technology as part of Copilot, other companies are working with OpenAI to incorporate the technology into their platforms, including Canva, Duolingo (NASDAQ: DUOL ), Intercom, Salesforce (NYSE: CRM ), Scale, Stripe, and Upwork (NASDAQ: UPWK ).

As uptake increases, generative AI technology is replacing humans in the workplace, and will likely continue doing so in a number of fields, from content creation and customer service to transcription and translation services, and even in graphic design and paralegal fields. However, humans are hitting back, as evidenced by recent lawsuits launched against OpenAI and Microsoft. As mentioned, a growing group of prominent authors is suing the creator of ChatGPT and its financial backer for infringing on their copyright by using their books without permission to train the language models behind ChatGPT and other AI-based software.

The New York Times has also taken a stand by taking OpenAI and Microsoft to Manhattan Federal Court.

"Defendants seek to free-ride on the Times's massive investment in its journalism by using it to build substitutive products without permission or payment," states the complaint . "There is nothing 'transformative' about using the Times's content without payment to create products that substitute for the Times and steal audiences away from it."

What about the long-term goals for OpenAI and ChatGPT? Metz of the New York Times believes the end game is “artificial general intelligence, or AGI — a machine that can do anything the human brain can do.”

In keeping with this end goal, OpenAI made a major move by acquiring an AI creative firm with a deep talent bench, Global Illumination , in mid-August 2023. "Global Illumination is a company that has been leveraging AI to build creative tools, infrastructure, and digital experiences," states OpenAI on its website .

"The team previously designed and built products early on at Instagram and Facebook and have also made significant contributions at YouTube, Google, Pixar, Riot Games, and other notable companies."

In November 2023, OpenAI decided to give customers without coding skills the ability to create customized versions of its chatbot and access to large data sets for training. “OpenAI wants people to start innovating using the chatbots and creating special chatbots,” Hod Lipson, an engineering and data science professor at Columbia University, told CNBC .

Chatbot creators will eventually have the ability to share their custom chatbots through OpenAI’s GPT Store. “They’re really trying to create a marketplace, which will allow companies and people to innovate and play around with this incredible form of AI that they’ve just unleashed,” Lipson added.

What is Google's Bard AI?

Carl DMaster / Shutterstock

While ChatGPT has been generating major buzz, it's definitely not the only chatbot out there.

Notably, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL ) subsidiary Google launched its answer to ChatGPT in March 2023. Known as Bard AI , the chatbot is built on Google’s Language Model for Dialogue Applications (or LaMDA). Google CEO Sundar Pichai has described Bard as an “experimental conversational AI service … (that) seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models.”

As with ChatGPT, users can key in a query, request or prompt and Bard will provide a human-like response. One way in which Bard may have had a leg up on the original ChatGPT is that the latter could only use data up to 2021, while the former can access up-to-date information online; this is less relevant now that GPT-4 no longer has this limitation.

However, Bard's ability to access current data hasn’t spared it from ChatGPT’s biggest folly: confidently stating misinformation as fact. The Verge reported that when asked about new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope, Google’s Bard “made a factual error in its very first demo.”

In early in 2024, Google launched the latest iteration of its Bard Advanced AI chatbot with a new name, Gemini AI. The new version is powered by Google's Gemini Ultra large language model.

​Which stocks will benefit the most from AI chatbot technology?

Other than companies directly tied to generative AI technology, which stocks are likely to get a boost from advances?

There are several verticals in the tech industry with indirect exposure to AI chatbot technology, such as semiconductors, network equipment providers, cloud providers, central processing unit manufacturers and internet of things.

Some of the publicly traded companies in these verticals include:

• Graphics processing unit leader Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA )
• The world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE: TSM )
• Computer memory and data storage producer Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU )
• Digital communications firm Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO )
• Networking products provider Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR )
• Semiconductor producer Marvell Technology Group (NASDAQ: MRVL )
• Cloud-computing Amazon Web Services' parent company Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN )
• Bluechip multinational technology company IBM (NYSE: IBM )
• Major semiconducter chip manufacturer Intel (NASDAQ: INTC )

While most companies specializing in generative AI remain in the venture capital stage, there are plenty of AI stocks for those interested in the space. INN's article 5 Canadian Artificial Intelligence Stocks , ASX AI Stocks: 5 Biggest Companies , and 12 Generative AI Stocks to Watch as ChatGPT Soars includes some examples.

Investors who don’t like to put all their eggs in one basket can check out these 5 Artificial Intelligence ETFs . And if you’re looking for a more general overview of the market, INN has you covered with How to Invest in Artificial Intelligence . You can also take a look back at the market in 2023 with our AI Market 2023 Year-End Review , or read projections for AI this year in our AI Market Forecast: 3 Top Trends that will Affect AI in 2024 .

​FAQs for investing in OpenAI and ChatGPT

When will openai go public.

So, can you invest in OpenAI itself? The company is not currently a publicly traded stock; however, if Microsoft does take a large position in the company, investors will be able to gain indirect exposure to OpenAI by purchasing Microsoft shares.

For those seeking direct exposure, be on the lookout for news of an initial public offering (IPO). As of late-March 2024, there are no plans for an OpenAI IPO on the horizon.

How is OpenAI funded?​

OpenAI raised US$11.3 billion over six funding rounds from 2016 to January 2024.

The three top investors are technology investment firm Thrive Capital, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and revolutionary technology investment firm Founders Fund.

​What is the market value of ChatGPT/OpenAI?

OpenAI has a market valuation of US$80 billion as of February 2024. The company’s 2023 revenue had reached US$2 billion mark in December 2023 to join the ranks of Google and Meta (NASDAQ: META ).

Does ChatGPT use Nvidia chips?

ChatGPT’s distributed computing infrastructure depends upon powerful servers with multiple graphics processing units (GPUs). High-performance Nvidia GPU chips are preferred for this application as they also provide excellent Compute Unified Device Architecture support.

​Will ChatGPT cause another GPU shortage?

Most likely not. The type of GPUs used for machine learning models like ChatGPT are different from other types of GPUs, including those used to power gaming systems or crypto mining.

​Can ChatGPT make stock predictions?

A University of Florida study recently highlighted the potential for advanced language models such as ChatGPT to accurately predict movements in the stock market using sentiment analysis. During the course of the study, ChatGPT outperformed traditional sentiment analysis methods, and the finance professors conducting the research concluded that “incorporating advanced language models into the investment decision-making process can yield more accurate predictions and enhance the performance of quantitative trading strategies.”

When to expect ChatGPT 5?

OpenAI filed a trademark application for ChatGPT-5 in mid-July 2023, which hinted that the next iteration of the generative AI technology is currently under development. There were rumours the company planned to complete training for ChatGPT-5 by the end of 2023, which did not materialize. Its anyone's guess when we may see its launch, but most likely not before Q3 2024 .

While PC Guide notes that OpenAI did release GPT-4V and GPT-4 Turbo in Q4 2023, there is little sign that ChatGPT-5 is close to market. However, the publication did share that, "In a March 2024 interview on the Lex Fridman podcast, Sam Altman teased an “ amazing new model this year ” but wouldn’t commit to it being called GPT 5 (or anything else)".

This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2023.

Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!

Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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