Keep looking at this page for more - I will toss more ideas into the hat as they come to mind.

1. (W 23 MAR) One student presented an example of how a snack food producer had changed the quantity of contents in a package without changing the size of the package.  Provide arguments to show how and why this could be deceptive marketing and provide arguments to show that this is instead a necessary marketing response to a dynamic environment.

2. (W 23 MAR) A student presentation hinted that an understanding of American subcultures is important to marketers, while your professor commented that American marketers appear to ignore these issues in their consumer promotions.  What are some reasons that marketers would ignore issues of subculture?  Discuss mistakes that marketers might be making; discuss how it is that this might only be an appearance whereby marketers are indeed accounting for subculture issues in both product design and and promotion.

3. (W 23 MAR) We discussed a generic model of consumer behavior.  Is this a good model or a bad model?  If this is a model that serves as the foundation for the study of consumer behavior, why do consumer behavior researchers seem to have no interest in proving or disproving this model?

4. (R 24 MAR) Some presentations have focused on the importance of assessing a prospect's needs in the personal selling process.  Why is this important?  When is this needs-based approach not important, unnecessary, or even undesirable in an organization's personal selling activities or strategies?

5. (R 24 MAR) How is qualifying useful in segmenting prospective customers?

6. (W 30 MAR) One student told about an encounter with a salesperson who wasn't very helpful when he was shopping for a car.  Using the needs-based process that was discussed in presentations, write a brief training manual that could be given to salespeople who work in retail showrooms.

7. (W 30 MAR) Is "needs-based" selling always a necessary component of personal selling?  Why or why not?

8. (W 30 MAR) Why is it difficult for consumers to evaluate the services of a physician?  Be specific with regard to concepts; "because services are intangible" is a useless answer.

9. (R 31 MAR) Discuss a variety of ways in which sales promotion could be used by our class client.

10. (R 31 MAR) Discuss how the concept of the product life cycle could be used by our class client in promotion planning throughout the life of the client's product.

11. (W 6 APR) Several students made presentations associated cost-based pricing.  One student related a business experience in which this strategy hurt sales, while another related a business experience in which this strategy is the only way to remain competitive.  Explain why/how we could have anticipated these dramatic differences in experience.

12. (W 6 APR) In discussing cost-based pricing methods, one student focused on issues of project management and critical path scheduling.  Write a brief report that outlines why this is such an important topic that it (project management / critical path scheduling) should be a required course for a marketing major in college.  That is, suggest how it impacts a variety areas in marketing.

13. (R 7 APR) If a market is so small and unprofitable that a major and successful player in the market would abandon it, how could someone else possibly see any advantage in taking over that market as a niche player?

14. (R 7 APR) There has been talk that Chinese automobiles might be launched in the US in a few years.  Contrast each of the following as strategies that a Chinese automaker might use: mass marketing, a segmentation strategy, a niche strategy.

15. (R 7 APR) Most of us have a belief that our class client's original idea is probably not the best way to launch the product.  That is, most of us would recommend that the idea would be less risky or more profitable if it was modified.  A problem for us as consultants is that the client would naturally be annoyed if we simply attempted to push our own best idea when we were asked to assess the worth of the original idea.  Show and explain how a positioning map could be used to quickly persuade the client that your own best idea is an improvement over the original idea.

16. (W 13 APR) How important is branding in our class client's strategies?

17. (R 14 APR) Why would an understanding of organizational buying processes be important to marketing strategy?

18. (R 14 APR) In conducting a breakeven analysis of our class client's idea, most of us started with a price that was assumed through competitive parity.  Although this is a reasonable starting point to assess the general potential of the idea, the client would ultimately use other methods.  Discuss pricing strategies that would be more appropriate during the final stages of product planning.

19. (W 20 APR) Discuss how our client's industry could be segmented.  Considering the general criteria for assessing whether a segmentation strategy is successful, assess our client's choice of segments in their original idea.  Discuss why another of the segments that you identified above might be better or why the client's original idea is probably the best.

20. (W 20 APR) Use a positioning map to illustrate how our client's original idea is positioned against competing products.  Use the map to defend why this is good positioning or bad positioning and use the map to suggest where the client's idea is best positioned (whether it is best where it is or as repositioned). . Be sure to clearly discuss what is considered to be "competition" in defending the choice of axes that are used in your illustration.