Marketing Planning Exam for Graduate Students

Professor: Paulo Gonalves Marcos January, 2013 Duration: 1h45m

Name:____________________________ Number:_________
Group I (5 values)
Maria is a young Nutritionist Professional. Since she has begun her liberal profession
three years ago she has been busy consulting and lecturing individuals and companies
on topics related with behaviour towards food, prevention and treatment of food related
diseases (diabetes, overweight, morbid fatness, metabolic syndrome) and strategies and
recipes for a cheaper and better food buying and cooking.
Initially she had consulting appointments with medical and health companies, spread all
over the city of Lisbon. After a while, her practice became noticed to the media and
social networks. Invitations to public presentations, quotes in the press and appearances
on television became frequent and a flood of new customers ensued.
Maria decided it was time she had a place of her own, where she could concentrate her
consulting practice and receive customers. After some research, she settled for an office
within a medical company, Centro Mdico das Amoreiras, in one of the Amoreiras
Towers in Lisbon.
She leased an office for 280 per month with four afternoons and can perform up to 5
one hour consultations. Each customer is charged 70 per consultation appointment
(one hour on average, each). She foresees 52 weeks of consultations yearly.
For each consultation she had stationary consumed of a magnitude of 1 and a parking
ticket (that she offers to customers) valued at about 1 each.
In addition she has a web page and an advertising campaign running on Google and
Facebook. The site costs her 30 in maintenance and housing, on a monthly basis. The
campaign costs 150 monthly. She also negotiated a parking slot for herself for the four
afternoons for 12 and a reduced price for her customers.
She had a licence fee due to the Health Ministry Supervisory Board, of 180 yearly and
for Ordem dos Nutricionistas(Nutritionist Professional Board) fee for 250 for
twelve months.

a) How much are Marias fixed costs?

b) How much is the single consultation variable cost?

c) How much is the unitarian contribution margin?
d) What is the break-even point (BEP) in terms of quantity of consultations?

Having surveyed normal business practices in other markets, namely within other
medical professions, Maria proposed a revenue sharing between her and the Centro
Mdico das Amoreiras. Instead of a fixed rent for the office lease, she proposed a
revenue sharing agreement, where she retains 70% of each consultation appointment
and the Centro Mdico das Amoreiras with the minor part (assume that Maria has
enough customers to fulfil her entire agenda)
e) What is the new BEP? What course of action would you recommend Maria to
follow: stick with the old agreement of a fixed rent or with the new revenue
sharing proposal with Centro Mdico das Amoreiras?
As her notoriety and word of mouth grow, Maria is seriously considering expanding its
business. A new site, oriented towards the selling of healthy recipes and web seminars,
is a possible path of development. Or a new consultation practice, in the city of Setubal.
But she feels she can not have time and stamina for both.
For a better understanding of the choices facing Maria, she collected the data and
presented it to you:
Setbal consultation practice, with Centro Mdico e Clnico de Setbal: 50 for each
consultation appointment and a revenue sharing where Maria could retain 80% of the
income. She would practice four afternoons per month, five hours each afternoon, one
hour consultations appointments and 100% occupancy rate (she will have 5 customers
each afternoon). No parking tickets or costs. Stationary of about 1 each per
consultation. Consultations are due to begin in 01/June, till 31 December, every week.
New site development: includes concept development, design and programming and
payment systems partners agreements (Pay Pal, Amazon, Itunes, Debit and Credit
Cards,...). A one shoot lump sum investment of 2.700 is required and a transaction
costs of 3% of every product sold is due to the payment systems partners. The site is
bound to be operational by 01/June and every year a new investment of the same
magnitude is expected. On average the site will provide sales revenues with an average
ticket of 10.
f) Which course of action would you recommend to Maria for the remaining
months of the year? New site development or Setubal Consultation Practice?
Sensing that her reputation is growing everyday, Maria decided to increase the
consultation fee she charges in Centro Mdico das Amoreiras from 70 to 80. By
the same token, a decline of 10% in demand is expected.
g) Do you think this increase in fees charged is a wise movement by Maria?
Explain.

Name:____________________________ Number:_________
Group II (6 values)
(5 lines for each answer)
1. What strategies are Knorr and Starbucks using to prevent brand value from
erosion and keep competitors at bay?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________
2. What is the relevance of the packaging decisions on the profitability prospects
of a consumer oriented company and what similarities are found between of
Knorr and Prophenyl in this respect?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________
3. What kind of strategy and precautions are due in a Classic Car Club to prevent
it from being associated with the Rolex crowd (see Poor Litte Rich Brands)?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________

Name:____________________________ Number:_________
Group III (4 values)
(pick the answer that you think is most appropriate)
1. Which of the following is not one of the five characteristics of services?
a. Separability.
b. Lack of ownership.
c. Intangibility.
d. Heterogeneity.

2. A retailer which offers consumers 20 percent discount with a coupon is in fact

offering a
a.

Consumer promotion.

b.

Retailer promotion.

c.

Trade promotion.

d.

One-off promotion.

3. There are a number of stages in the development of an advertising campaign.

What stage follows the budget setting stage?
a.

Setting the campaign objectives.

b.

Selecting appropriate media.

c.

Implementing the advertisement.

d.

Pre-testing the advertisement.

4. Starbucks will establish a coffee shop wherever they can justify a need for it.
What channel strategy are they using?
a.

Intensive distribution.

b.

Selective distribution.

c.

Exclusive distribution.

Name:____________________________ Number:_________

5. Each cell of the BCG Matrix has a name attached to it. Which of the following
holds a weak market share in a low growth market?
a.

Star

b.

Question mark

c.

Dog

d.

Cash cow

6. Which of the following is not particularly useful as a criterion for assessing the
viability of targeting a new market segment?
a.

The number of potential customers in the segment.

b.

The number of competitors targeting other segments of the market.

c.

The availability of media through which to communicate with the segment.

d. The extent to which the needs of a segment are significantly different from
other segments.
e. The extent to which the proposed basis for segmentation is of relevance to
potential customers.
7. Setting a high price which gradually reduces as competitors enter the market is
called
a.

Penetration pricing.

b.

Competitive pricing.

c.

Skimming.

d.

Price discount.

8. A bespoke man suit is an example of

a.

A tangible product.

b.

A durable product.

c.

A Fast Moving Consumer Good.

d.

A service.

Name:____________________________ Number:_________
Group IV (5 values)
(5 lines for each answer)

1. A common myth among marketers is that market share is the key to profitability.
Do comment.
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________
2. According to recent studies, Apple tops the list of the worlds strongest brands,
followed by Google, IBM, and McDonalds. Why do these brands command so much
respect? What makes a strong brand? How would you measure brand equity?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________