MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 2021

MBA 504: Marketing Management

Final Examination (Take Home)

December 19, 2021, Exam Duration: 3.5 hours (1800h – 2130h)

Instructions to Candidates
hrs
Add the standard cover page with the title “Take Home Exam” and straight start
answering the questions from next page. Save as a PDF document with your registration
number as the file name and upload to the given link in the subject page of Prajna portal.
As informed, your answer script will be subject to Turnitin similarity search. Please
upload the document during the specified time period.

• Answer any five (05) questions. All main questions carry equal marks.
• Each answer should be comprehensive, to meet the requirements of the areas of the Rubrics
as the answer scripts will be assessed according to the Rubrics.
• Illustrate your answers with real-world examples and demonstrate your knowledge and
application of such knowledge on the marketing concepts and principles discussed in the
lectures. You can use the appropriate brands selected for both your individual and group
assignments to elaborate your answers depending on their relevance and applicability.

1. Mass marketing is becoming obsolete in today’s world with more and more consumers
connecting digitally and getting spoilt for choice. Most firms are moving away from
traditional mass marketing to micro-marketing as part of their marketing strategy. Micro
marketing is all about marketing to the right segment(s), profitably.

a) Discuss with relevant examples, the commonly adopted micro marketing approaches
based on levels of segmentation of markets? (08 marks)

b) Taking a suitable example, elaborate the ways (bases) a company can perform market
segmentation and explain the applicability of Porter’s five forces to determine the
intrinsic long-run attractiveness of market segments. (12 marks)

2. In a multichannel system, it will be prohibitively costly and complex for producers to sell
their products directly to the end users without the use of channel partners. Channel partners
are the intermediaries performing a variety of functions between the producer and the end
user in marketing brands.

a) Discuss the key tasks, marketers need to perform in designing a marketing channel
system with relevant examples? (08 marks)

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 b) Elaborate through examples, what shopper marketing is & why is it important
especially in emerging sales channels that are growing in importance? (12 marks)

3. For businesses to grow consistently, competitively and profitably, a robust strategic plan is
a necessity to deliver customer value better and differently than rivals, especially in the
hypercompetitive market scenario of today.

a) Taking an appropriate example, discuss the approaches available to a firm to assess

b) Explain a suitable metrics to assign resources among Strategic Business Units (SBUs)
of a firm by monitoring its external and internal environments. Discuss the framework
and approaches available for managers to achieve this? (12 marks)

4. Value creation to each and every target consumer segment requires a thorough
understanding of how consumers think, feel and act towards brands and categories. Key to
this depends on the in depth study of consumer (buyer) behavior.

a) Elaborate the widely accepted factors that influence consumer behavior along with the
key psychological processes that influence the way consumers respond to a marketing
program of a brand? Explain through examples. (12 marks)

b) Discuss the five-stage buying decision process with a relevant example. (08 marks)

5. In todays’ highly connected world, companies need to closely monitor the trends in the
market place to make proactive decisions by making use of a modern Marketing
Information System (MIS). An MIS reflects the “gaps” between what managers think they
need & what they really need & what can be afforded (commercially feasible). Answer the
following:

a) Select a company of your choice and discuss the components of a MIS and the
importance of monitoring the major forces in the macro environment in a rapidly
changing world. (12 marks)

b) Explain the steps of carrying out a market research process through a relevant example
(08 marks)

6. Strong Brands are the most valuable intangible assets of a firm to create value to all
stakeholders. The core task of Marketing is to constantly make brands strong by building
brand equity and managing them to be strong in the minds of the target consumer. Answer
the following.

a) What are the key brand equity drivers and explain through an example, the 3 key
ingredients of brand equity that lead to differences in consumer response? (12 marks)

b) Innovation is the key to keep a brand strong in the consumers’ minds over a long period
of time. Elaborate with examples, the 2 types of innovation lead action, marketers can
embark on? (08 marks)

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7. Marketing as a discipline that has undergone significant changes and the marketing
environment has never been as complex as it is today. With this level of change in the
environment, the relevance of the concepts of marketing have also changed. There are 5
different concepts of marketing, each of which vary in the function that they deal with.

a) Compare and contrast the marketing concepts of the product, production and selling
against the social responsibility of marketing with relevant examples. (12 marks)

b) Take a brand or a company of your choice and explain as to how social responsibility
marketing is currently practiced or should be practiced. (08 marks)

8. In a world where services are becoming increasingly important and demanded for, it is
widely debated that marketing a service has more differences than similarities to product
marketing. Explain the following with examples.

a) Taking the “best practices” offered by leading service oriented companies as examples,
discuss the distinctive characteristics that have a greater impact on “Services” when
designing marketing programs for the service sector. (12 marks)

b) Elaborate with examples the key difference in the service marketing mix to product
marketing? (08 marks)

-End of the question paper-