Marketing Management Assignment - BUS 101: Fall Semester Analysis

This marketing management assignment solution addresses key concepts in marketing, beginning with an exploration of the lens model of decision-making and its application to consumer behavior and product development. It contrasts the roles of human judgment and quantitative models in business decision-making, emphasizing the importance of human expertise. The assignment then delves into economic concepts such as elasticity and their impact on environmental analysis, as well as the application of Porter's Five Forces model. It examines the lifecycle model and its implications for competitive advantage, alongside discussions of branding, competitive analysis, and cognitive biases like anchoring. The solution also includes a SWOT analysis and the significance of anticipating competitor actions and the power of suggestion in marketing strategies. Overall, the assignment provides a comprehensive overview of essential marketing principles and their practical application.

Running head: MARKETING MANAGEMENT
MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

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Question 1
(a) According to the lens model of decision making, certain parameters are to be chosen in order
to judge a particular person on the basis of his or her age. The three levels of investigations that
the respective behavioral decision making model proposes are: the Input level which investigates
the weight, physical fitness and formation, facial appearance and psychological maturity of the
person, information processing level which investigates the nature of the organization which is
investigating the person, its parameters and targets and output level which investigates the
outcome of the respective investigation.
(b) The product that I have chosen for the respective firm is a face cream. The respective face
cream is meant for the young to the middle aged women who have been facing problems with
tanning and pigmentation. The customers for the respective products should be in between age
25 to 45, suffering from pigmentation and tan of the skin and also should be facing problems
with wrinkles in faces.
(c) From the point of view of the business, the information regarding the target audience will be
helpful for the business as the signals and cues would be utilized further in making strategies for
product development and marketing. For instance, the target audience of the face cream would
be young to middle aged women who would have differentiated taste and preferences. Some
might prefer anti-tanning cream and some might prefer anti-acne cream. Therefore, marketing,
advertising and product development strategies should be built in such a way so that it interests
the target customers.
2. Decision-making is the method by which the best course of action among the several course of
action is selected, usually by the experts and skilled persons who have experience or insight

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regarding the respective matter on which the decision is supposed to be made. Decision-making
is properly done by the help of the human experts because humans have the cognitive senses and
values that are peculiar to them and they have the capability to assess a particular event
instrumentally as well as in an intrinsic way.
3. According to the economics, elasticity or demand elasticity refers to how sensitive the demand
for a good is to changes in the other economic variables, for instance, factors such as prices of
the commodities as well as the income of the consumers (potential or functioning). The
calculation of demand is done by dividing the percentage change in the quantity demanded and
percentage change in another economic variable. Elasticity is important to determine
environmental analysis because economy measures demand elasticity to determine how the
behavior of the consumers and their spending patterns are affected by the external factors. With
the help of elasticity, the external environmental factors can be determined.
4. Porter’s five forces model consists of Competitive rivalry, threat to new entry, buyer power,
threat of substitution and supplier power. With the help of each of the components, the external
environmental analysis of a particular business concern or entity is determined. Competitive
rivalry is analyzed to learnt about the rivals and threats of the concern, threat to new entry and
substitution analyzes the threats and challenges the concern can face, buyer power analyzes the
power of the consumers and supplier power analyzes the power of the stakeholders.
5. In economics, a lifecycle model is a model that expresses and explains the consumer pattern of
the individuals. The hypotheses of the life cycle model suggest that there is a planning of
consumption among the individuals and saving behaviors are inherent in them over their life-
cycle.

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6. (a) Elasticity and branding: Demand elasticity is the sensitivity of demand for a particular
good or service due to change in the another factor, such as income of the consumers, inflation or
deflation of the economic environment and availability of the substitutes. Branding is a
marketing strategy of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a
product from other products.
(b) Locus of competition: Locus of competition can be called a particular situation or place of
competition which determines what kind of business enterprises and concerns can be their
competitive partners as well as rivals and in what ground and standard. Locus of competition of a
business concern determines the standing point of the competitive advantage as well as rivalry of
the respective organization.
(c ) User value, exchange value and consumer surplus: user value, in political economics, refers
to the tangible features of a commodity that has the capability to satisfy some human
requirement, want or need or can serve a purpose or utility. Exchange value, in political
economy, refers to one of four significant features of a commodity sold in the market, the other
three factors being use value, economic value, and price.
7. Controlling of resources leads to sustainable competitive advantage of a particular firm or
industry. It happens because sustainable usage of resources, which means the usage of resources
in a judicious way so that it is not exhausted and the future generation can also utilize them
provides the firm or industry with stability, balance and opportunity. If resources are used
judiciously, the firm achieves financial as well as infrastructural sustainable advantage.
8. Identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine their strength and
weaknesses by comparing that with your respective firm and products is called competitive

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analysis. A company’s market plan exclusively and significantly goes through competitive
analysis of their respective industry.
9. Anchoring happens in the time of decision making when an individual relies on an initial piece
of information to make subsequent judgements. Anchoring bias happens when a person relies too
much on the pre-existing information or the first information they happen to find while they are
on the motive of making or concluding any kind of decision. The anchoring effect or anchoring
bias is a cognitive bias that insists the humans to rely on the pre-existing information while the
time of making decision, which is also kept under cognitive illusion.
10. (a) A SWOT analysis is conducted in order to assess the capability and drawbacks of a
particular entity. SWOT analysis, which is Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat
analysis is a powerful suggestion in case of strategic management as it suggests the respective
firm or entity (business or non-profit) to understand their limits and capabilities so that it can
work upon them and perform as desired in the market.
(b) Anticipation of competitor’s actions is an important part for a company, firm or business
entity. Through proper introspection, analysis and interpretation of anticipation of their
competitor’s action, they can decipher the threats or challenges they might face in the market.
Such analysis will lead them to change or modify their strategies to overpower their competitors
in the market and perform well in the respective industry or market. Power of suggestion in the
respective case is important as it provides ideas to the firm to modify its strategies to meet the
objectives of the firm.
(c ) The power of suggestion is indeed important in case of marketing of a product. A firm’s
most important function after the production of its commodities is the proper and effective

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marketing of their products. The suggestive factors and aspects that provide the firm with
effective and efficient suggestions regarding the business and market environment, consumer
behavior and price condition in the market helps the firm to modify its marketing strategies so
that they can overpower their rivals or competitors in the market and perform well in the industry
while meeting the goals or objectives of the firm.