Viva Questions with Answers

1. Why bother to plan?

• To ensure survival
•  To compete cost effectively and efficiently
•  To expand horizontally and laterally
•  To motivate employees
•  To satisfy the firm’s responsibilities to all stakeholders

2. What is the strategic plan and what is its relationship to the marketing plan?

Strategic planning is concerned about the overall direction of the business. It is concerned with marketing, of course. But it also involves decision-making about production and operations, finance, human resource management and other business issues.

The objective of a strategic plan is to set the direction of a business and create its shape so that the products and services it provides meet the overall business objectives.

Marketing has a key role to play in strategic planning, because it is the job of marketing management to understand and manage the links between the business and the “environment”.

3. What are the criteria used in establishing a good Mission Statement?

A mission statement – should be short and simple, which at the most basic defines why your business exists, and that’s for all your employees, customers, shareholders, and partners.A mission statement is a guiding light for a business and the individuals who run the business. It is usually made up of three parts:

• Vision - big picture idea of what you want to achieve.
• Mission - general statement of how you will achieve your vision.
• Core Values - how you will behave during the process. Each of these three elements is an important aspect of the businesses guiding light.

4. Should Mission Statements be communicated to all members of the firms? Why?

It should be shared by all members of the firm and widely communicated to all involved including clients and others in the legal community. At the very least,  firm's mission statement should answer the three listed key questions. This first question addresses the purpose of the firm or organization. 

5. Describe Mission Statements.

• Mission statements defines the fundamental, unique purpose of an organisation that set it apart from its competitors.
• It reflects management’s vision of what the organisation is trying to do and how the organisation should compete now and in the future.
• Mission statements are philosophical statements that provide a sense of purpose and direction for the organisation.

6. What are the danger(s) in establishing/developing a mission statement? ie; What are the issues to avoid in creating a Mission Statement

• Avoid marketing myopia-too narrow minded
• Statements are too long, don’t cover all aspects
• Statement are boring, and confusions
• To good too be true
• Too disingenuous, not genuine.

7. Why do we need a time frame/period for our marketing plan?

Timing is important to determine when it’s the best time to implement strategy is often criticized.Taking right actions at the wrong time is as bad as taking wrong action at the right time. 

8.What are the determinants for setting the "time period" for a marketing plan?

 Strategy and Objective.

9. What Time frame is most common for a strategic plan as compared to a marketing plan?

10. What are the Key elements of the planning process? 

• Strategic analysis(Business definition, external environment, internal capabilities and CSF) 
• Strategy Development 
• Implementation 
• Evaluation and control

11. What are the Components of a strategic plan?

1) Plan development, 2) Plan Execution, 3) Plan Review.

12. Why do we write mission statements?

Mission Statements Provides a sense of direction for the planning unit and limits and delimits the scope of the strategic marketing plan. Mission statements are philosophical statements that provide a sense of purpose and direction for the organisation.

13. What is the relevance of critical Success Factors or Key Success Factors when conducting a situational analysis?
Critical Success Factors (CSF) are those relatively few factors that are critical for an organization, in a similar competitive position to the organisation under review, to have in order to succeed. CSFs are the superior skills and resources that do the most to either lower costs or create superior customer value. They are also referred to as ‘Key Success Factors (KSFs).

14. Describe the PLC.

PLC is a descriptive model, which can be used as a systematic framework for explaining market dynamics. The PLC shows the evolution of a product from birth to death, and indicates the objectives and strategies that a marketer can pursue at different stages of the PLC. These stages include Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Decline.

15. What's the danger or trap a lot of managers fall into when discussing the PLC concept?

• It is often used as a predictive tool
• Do not assume the decline stages are automatic
• Do not assume a smooth curve through the PLC. 
• Often the marketing manager's task is to rejuvenate the life cycle
• It must be used Intelligently and Thoughtfully.

16. Why do we need to make note of The Market Life Cycle as distinct from the Product Life Cycle?

17. What are the measures that can be used for each axis of the PLC?

Vertical Axis: Sales and Volume

Horizontal Axis: Time (Years), duration

18. What are the strengths/weaknesses of the PLC?

Weaknesses:

• ·        Difficulty in defining the appropriate market
• ·        The length of the various stages differs for different products or industries. It is often not clear what stage the product/brand is at.
• ·        Industry takes too many different paths so that the PLC pattern, which describes one pattern, does not always hold.

Strengths:

19. What factors should marketing managers be aware of when using the PLC?

20. What are the difficulties faced when using the PLC concept?

·        Difficulty in defining the appropriate market

·        The length of the various stages differs for different products or industries. It is often not clear what stage the product/brand is at

·        Industry takes too many different paths so that the PLC pattern, which describes one pattern, does not always hold.

21. What are the indicators of a position on the product life cycle?

Characteristics: Sales, Price, Profits (per unit), Customers and Competition

22. In what way(s) does the PLC assist in establishing marketing objectives?

23. Describe the BCG.

24. What do we measure on each axis of the BCG?

Vertical Axis: Market Growth Rate Horizontal Axis: Relative Market Share

25. How do we calculate - Relative market share for the BCG- Market growth rate?

26. What are the arguments For/Against using the BCG? Is there a better alternative to the BCG?

For: BCG Matrix is simple, uses common measure and easy to understand and interpret. Against: It is difficult to define market and hence calculate market share and market growth. Factors other than relative market share and market growth influence cash flow. It provides little insight into how one business unit might be compared with another in terms of investment opportunity.

27. Describe the circumstances when it would not be advisable to adopt the BCG?

The assumption that relative market share is linked to profit, thereby indicating business strength, does not hold as there are many other factors that influence business position including financial resources, marketing expertise and access to distribution channels.

The assumption that market growth is an adequate indicator of market attractiveness is similarly flawed as there are many other factors that influence market attractiveness. These include the Porter Five Forces.

28. What's the relationship between the BCG and the GE matrix?

GE Matrix is a more detailed and sophisticated than BCG Matrix.GE Matrix takes into consideration the market attractiveness factors (which may include market growth rate) and Business strength factors (which usually addresses a firm’s relative position especially against competitors and influences on relative market share).The BCG approach overlooked a number of important factors that determine market attractiveness and business strength.

29. Describe the GE matrix. How is it used?

The GE Matrix is similar to the BCG Matrix, two dimensional. However, instead of using a single factor as the basis of determining market attractiveness and a single factor as the basis of determining business position. The GE Matrix uses a variety of factors (multifactor portfolio model). Additionally the GE model divides each dimension into high, medium and low categories, thereby proving nine strategies positions compared to the four strategic positions in the BCG.

At what level in the organisation structure is the GE usually applied?

For corporate level strategists to assign investment priorities in their various business units and to provide a guide for resource allocation.

30. What are the advantages/disadvantages of the GE matrix?

·        More detailed evaluation is required than with tools such as PLC and BCG

·        Need to choose factors carefully

·        Need to make rating judgment for each factor carefully

31. Describe the circumstances when you would use the GE matrix?

When assigning investment priorities in various business units and to provide a guide for resource allocation.

32. What types of factors would one expect to see under each of the GE axes?

Vertical axis: Market Attractiveness Horizontal axis: Business position

33. When would you use the BCG matrix and when would you use the GE?

34. What are the labels for each axis of the GE matrix?

Vertical axis: Market Attractiveness Horizontal axis: Business position

35. Is there a relationship between the market life cycle and the portfolio matrix?

36. Define Gap Analysis? When is it used?

Gap analysis is a tool for analyzing strategic options for closing a revenue (or a profitability) shortfall between objectives and expected performance via c continuation of current marketing strategies over the next few years. Gap analysis is a tool that helps a company to compare its actual performance with its potential performance. At its core are two questions: "Where are we?" and "Where do we want to be?”The goal of gap analysis is to identify the gap between the optimized allocation and integration of the inputs, and the current level of allocation. This helps provide the company with insight into areas which could be improved.

At what level in the organization structure is Gap Analysis usually applied?

Gap Analysis is performed at the strategic or operational level of an organization

37. What are the arguments For/Against using Gap Analysis.

38. Describe the Ansoff Matrix.

39. What does the Ansoff Matrix tell a planner?

The Ansoff Matrix provides a basis for considering where and how the organization will derive its future revenue and profitability. Four product market strategic options: Market penetration, market development, new product development and Diversification. These four provide the strategist with a framework for considering the potential revenue and profit that can be achieved for each year of the time frame of the strategic marketing plan.

40. What are the arguments For/Against for using the Ansoff Matrix?

41. Do you see a difference between a Market audit and a SWOT Analysis?

42. Is there a difference between a market audit and a marketing audit?

Market audit is a fundamental part of the marketing planning process, not only it is the beginning but the points in implementation both internal and external. Market audit covers only for marketing areas and NOT for business area. Marketing audit clarifies opportunities and threats for internal and external level. It is done by 3^rd party outside the organization. It is a comprehensive periodic exam of company environment, strategic objective to determine problem areas and opportunities and recommend a plan for improvement.

43. What is a SWOT Analysis? / What does this indicate to you? / What action(s) should you take?

 45. What ways/techniques are available for analyzing  competitors and competitor's activities?

1) Porter 5 Forces: a model that used to make an analysis of industry attractiveness by the identification of 5 fundamental competitive factors.2) Bench marking: Is used to ascertain on how well you are doing against your competitor. Competitor can be a source of information about the general market.