A Choose the correct answer and explain.

1) Producing a product or service and making it available to buyers requires

building relationships not only with customers but also with key suppliers and
resellers in the company's ________.

A) upstream partnerships
B) marketing channels
C) inventory providers
D) supply chain
E) downstream partnerships

Explain: Today’s marketers often work with a variety of partners to build

consumer relationships. Partner relationship management means working closely
with partners in other company departments and outside the company to jointly
bring greater value to customers. These partners can be inside the company, but
also outside the firm. The supply chain is a channel, from raw material to final
product, and the companies involved can be partners through supply chain
management.
Example: Nike researched and designed the product, then Nike outsourcing
facilities around the world will be the place to place orders to buy materials and
complete the product. The product is then shipped to Nike for distribution. Thus,
we see that Nike does not participate directly in the production stage, but instead
takes full advantage of outsourcing activities from low-cost countries such as
Asian countries. A supply chain through complete outsourcing of manufacturing
helps Nike reduce direct labor costs, infrastructure construction costs, and reduce
administration costs. in its core strength activities such as product design,
marketing and planning, product acquisition, and Nike product management.With
such a supply chain, Nike can easily find and use alternative suppliers flexibly and
broadly.

2) The term supply chain is considered limited because it ________.

A) ignores the make-and-sell aspect of the market
B) suggests that planning begins with raw materials and factory capacity
C) takes a step-by-step, linear view of purchase-production-consumption
activities
D) takes a sense-and-respond view of the market
E) suggests that planning starts with identifying the needs of target customers

Example: Not being able to buy raw materials for production means that the
production stage has no connection with the raw material stage, that is, it has been
cut off from the supply chain. This shows a loose connection between the parties
involved. For example, the fertilizer market frequently has uncertainties during the
peak stages of the crop. The connection between actors in the supply chain of this
item is overlapping, so the cost has been pushed up quite a lot in the distribution
stage, resulting in unreasonably high prices of products to farmers. Meanwhile, the
Chinese clues that buy Vietnamese farmers' raw materials lead to a paradox in the
supply chain that Vietnamese farmers are more closely linked to production in
their supply chains.
3) A view of the market that specifies that planning starts by identifying the needs
of target customers, to which the company responds by organizing a chain of
resources and activities with the goal of creating customer value is a(n) ________
view.

A) make-and-sell
B) identify-and-target
C) purchase-produce-and-consume
D) market-and-profit
E) sense-and-respond
4) ________ play an important role in matching supply and demand by providing
consumers with a broad assortment of products in small quantities.

A) Virtual banks
B) Intermediaries
C) Price consultants
D) Uniform-delivery networks
E) Upstream partners
Explain: The intermediaries act as a link in the distribution process, but the role
they fill is broader than connecting different channel partners. Wholesalers, often
referred to as online wholesalers, helpers move goods between producers and
retailers.
Example, the McLane Company is one of the largest wholesalers in the United
States. Its operating width is described on the company's website:
McLane's food service and its wholly owned subsidiary, Meadowbrook Meat
Company, Inc., operates 80 distribution centers across the United States and one of
the nation's largest private fleets. The company buys, sells and delivers over 50,000
different consumer products to nearly 90,000 locations across the United States. In
addition, McLane provides distribution of alcoholic beverages through its wholly
owned subsidiary, Empire Dist. Investors, Inc. McLane is a unit wholly owned by
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and employ more than 20,000 teammates.
5) Which of the following questions is NOT of major concern regarding
marketing channels?

A) What role do physical distribution and supply chain management plan in

attracting and satisfying customers?
B) What impact do marketing channels have on the profitability of the firm and
its partners?
C) How do channel firms interact and organize to do the work of the channel?
D) What problems do companies face in designing and managing their channels?
E) What is the nature of marketing channels, and why are they important?

6) Distribution channel decisions frequently require long-term commitments

between firms. A primary reason is that ________.

A) advertising is not easy to change

B) old products are difficult to discard and new products are difficult to introduce
C) when they set up distribution through franchisees, independent dealers, or
large retailers, they cannot readily replace these channels with company-owned
stores or Internet sites if conditions change
D) changing the manufacturing requirements is expensive and takes significant
time
E) management does not want to be constantly changing the method of selling
and distributing its products

B: Essay Questions

1. Should product brand names from the same company be the same or
different? Give some examples.
The product and company name should be the same – especially for startups. A
company should consider branding each product as a strategic investment. The top
three goals of brand strategy should be:

 Increasing customer loyalty

 Differentiating the product from the competition
 Establishing market leadership.

Branding architecture tries to optimize the customer’s view of a product in relation

to both the company itself and the other products in the company’s portfolio. The
product may be branded as a stand-alone product, associated with other products,
or simply associated with the company as a whole.

There are two main forms of brand architecture: master brand strategy and sub-
branding strategy. Master brand strategies can be highly beneficial for start-ups. In
a master brand strategy, the company’s products and services hold the company
name. Sub-branding strategies can make marketing a little cloudy. In a sub-
branding strategy, the company’s products and services don’t carry the company
name.

Example:

Sub-branding strategies such as Coca Cola with Coca Cola Zero, Diet Coca, Coca
Cola Vanilla, Coca Cola Clear, and so on
Master brand strategy such as Google with Google Calendar, Google Analytics,
Google AdWords, Google Chrome, Google Alerts – and the list goes on

2. Discuss the advantages and challenges of social media marketing. Give

example(s). What types of direct marketing are used in your country?
Evaluate the pros and cons of each direct marketing method and choose
what works best recently from your opinion.

ADVANGTAGE
 Precise Targeting: You can precisely target anyone and you only need to
find out who’s your perfect customer
Example: On Facebook, you can upload a list of your customers and
Facebook will create a lookalike audience.
In other words, you even don’t need to know how your perfect customer
looks because Facebook will use its advanced algorithms to find them for
you. You only have to set your audience as a source and select a country to
target. Facebook will do everything else.
 Interaction: Men like to comment and share posts about cars, and women
like to comment and share posts related to the Fashion industry. Anyway,
SalesForce data shows us that day of the week has an impact on engagement
rates. One of the ways of improving the engagement rate is using hashtags.
Example: twitter, facebook,…
 Cost Effective: Social media marketing is surely cost effective. When it
comes to advertising, CPM, CPC, and CTR depend a lot on the industry
your business belongs.
 Measurable: The big benefit of digital marketing is that you know what
brings you the best results. Another important part of social media marketing
is Google Analytics because there you can see which social media
campaigns are the most valuable to you
Example: posting at the optimal time will always help you to get most shares,
or most clicks, depending on your goals.

DISADVANTAGE
 Negative Comments: not every consumer will write all the best about your
business. Some consumers will write horrible things. Precisely, there are
 consumers who were REAL consumers who aren’t satisfied with your
services, and what’s worse, there are FAKE comments. You can easily
identify fake comments, but this is about real (bad) comments.
 Social Media Requires Time: Building relationships with customers take a
lot of time. But also, you need to be sure that you invest enough time in
building your social media presence.
Example: According to SocialMediaToday, 43% businesses spend 6 or more
hours per week on social media. After that, 25% businesses spend 6 to 10
hours per week on social media.
 Competitiveness: every company that matters in the industry invest in the
social media. So so the competition rate will be higher

*Vietnam has 2 kind of social media direct marketing.

Traditional group includes tools such as: Direct mail - postcard, Brochure /
catalog (Mail order), Remote marketing (Telemarketing), Newsletter
(Newsletter), Coupon (Coupon), Advertising response (Direct Response
Advertising), Door to door marketing modern tools group has been developed
in recent years such as: Email (Email Marketing), Messaging (SMS
Marketing), Social Network (Social Media).