An investor believes that more information increases the accuracy of his forecasts.
> What is collective selection? Give an example.
> Go to www.catholic.org, www.lds.org, www.scientology.org, and www.baptist.org. Each of these sites expresses thoughts about religion and religious freedom. What techniques do the sites use to stimulate their audiences to follow their messages and commit
> How is a collection sacred? What is the difference between collecting and hoarding?
> What is the difference between sacred and profane consumption? Provide one example of each.
> List the three stages of a rite of passage ritual.
> A myth is a special kind of story. What makes it special? What is an example of a modern myth?
> What is the difference between a fad, a fashion, and a classic fashion life cycle?
> What is the trickle-down effect? List some reasons why it is no longer as valid as it used to be.
> Summarize some of the major approaches we can use to understand fashion from the perspectives of psychologists, economists, and sociologists.
> What is the difference among the terms fashion, a fashion, and in fashion?
> Is it practical to assume that people age 55 and older constitute one large consumer market? How can marketers segment this age subculture? What are some important variables to keep in mind when we tailor marketing messages to this age group?
> What are some of the positives and negatives of targeting college students? Identify some specific marketing strategies that you feel have been either successful or unsuccessful at appealing to this segment. What characteristics distinguish the successes
> Go to www.margaritaville.com, www.fblegacy.com, and www.anime.com. What techniques learned in the chapter is used by these websites to attract their audiences? What evidence of ethnicity do you observe? Is there anything “cultish” about the websites? If
> Religious symbolism appears in advertising, even though some people object to this practice. For example, a French Volkswagen ad for the relaunch of the Golf model showed a modern version of the Last Supper with the tag line, “Let us rejoice, my friends,
> When they identify and target newly divorced couples, do you think marketers exploit these couples’ situations? Are there instances in which you think marketers may actually be helpful to them? Support your answers with examples.
> Discuss the pros and cons of the voluntarily childless movement.
> Research suggest that social class influences how much compassion people show to others who need help. For example, one study reported that luxury car drivers were more likely to cut off other motorists instead of waiting for their turn at the intersecti
> Thorstein Veblen argued that men used women as “trophy wives” to display their wealth. Is this argument still valid today?
> Describe the progressive learning model and discuss why this perspective is important when marketing to subcultures.
> How do you assign people to social classes, or do you at all? What consumption cues do you use (e.g., clothing, speech, cars, etc.) to determine social standing?
> What consumption differences might you expect to observe between families characterized as underprivileged versus those whose income is average for its social class?
> What are some of the obstacles to measuring social class in today’s society? Discuss some ways to get around these obstacles.
> Sears, JC Penney, and Walmart tried hard in recent years to upgrade their images and appeal to higher class consumers. How successful have these efforts been? Do you believe this strategy is wise?
> Go to www.maxlang.com. How much would you pay for a belt for casual or business wear? How much does Max Lang charge? Is Max Lang selling belts or status? How can the Max Lang website overcome problems such as sizing and the desire to personally see prest
> Should members of a religious group adapt marketing techniques that manufacturers customarily use to increase market share for their secular products? Why or why not?
> Geodemographic techniques assume that people who live in the same neighborhood have other things in common as well. Why do they make this assumption, and how accurate is it?
> How do religious subcultures affect consumption decisions?
> What roles do status symbols play in purchase decisions?
> How are Gen Yers different from their older brothers and sisters?
> What is cultural capital, and why is enrolling in an etiquette class a way to accumulate it?
> Ask students to use a product example (i.e., food products, automobiles) to illustrate how the marketer might promote to youths to take advantage of the influence they exert on family purchase decisions.
> What are boomerang kids?
> How does the worldview of blue-collar and white-collar consumers tend to differ?
> What are some of the problems we encounter when we try to measure social class?
> This material can be used to illustrate how reference groups also have status symbols. 1. Using the “4A’s” framework in Figure 12.1, analyze the considerations that went into the development of the Gillette Guard razor for the Indian market? 2. Are comp
> Charles Bradley is a Finance student who loves to play the stock market in his spare time. He likes the thrill of rapid price movements and he knows that if he can catch the right price to buy and sell he will make lot of money. Charles has a strong inte
> Given the situations below, (a). Discuss with reasons, whether they will fall into the category of Applied or Basic research, and (b). For scenario 1 explain with reasons, who will conduct the research. Scenario 1: Companies are very interested in acqui
> What is epistemology and why is it important to know about different perspectives on research and how it should be done?
> Academic researchers usually develop more complex and elaborate models than applied researchers. Discuss this statement.
> Develop a conceptual model for the scenario below. Incidence of smoking in movies has started to increase again, after having declined for several decades. According to the National Cancer Institute smoking is seen in at least three out of four contempo
> Discuss the following statement: The hallmarks of scientific research do not/cannot apply to inductive research.
> The exact purpose of a critical literature review depends on the research approach that is taken. Discuss this statement.
> When is applied research, as distinct from basic research, useful?
> For what specific purpose is Basic Research important?
> Why should a manager know about research when the job entails managing people, products, events, environments and the like?
> Give two specific instances where an external research team would be useful and two other scenarios where an internal research team will be deployed, with adequate explanations as to why each scenario is justified for an external or internal team.
> Research in behavioral finance has shown that overconfidence can cause investors to underreact to new information. What is the dependent variable in this case?
> A manager of an insurance company finds that “fear appeals” in commercials are positively associated with consumers’ behavioral intentions to insure their house. This effect is particularly strong for people with a high inherent level of anxiety.
> A marketing manager believes that selecting physically attractive spokespersons and models to endorse their products increases the persuasiveness of a message.
> A marketing manager believes that limiting the availability of a product increases product desirability. What is the dependent variable here?
> Avatars are virtual characters that can be used as representatives of a company that is using the Internet as a distribution channel. For instance, avatars can be used as shopping assistants, website guides, or as identification figures. A manager of an
> You are interested in how person–organization fit relates to employees’ affective commitment and intention to stay with an organization during the early stages of a strategic organizational change.
> Define the problem statement (the why and the what) in the following situation: Employee loyalty Companies benefit through employee loyalty. Crude downsizing in organizations during the recession crushed the loyalty of millions. The economic benefits of
> How would you go about doing literature survey in the area of corporate social responsibility?
> A typical examples of causal research questions is: “What is the effect of reward system on productivity?” And What is the problem here, according to the researcher? And what is a possible solution to the problem, according to the same researcher?
> Do the project assigned below, following the step‐by‐step process outlined: Compile a bibliography on any one of the following topics, or any other topic of interest to you, from a business perspective: (a). service quality; (b). product development;
> Offer a clearly focused problem statement in the broad area of corporate culture, job satisfaction or risk-seeking behaviors of investors.
> Describe a situation where research will help you as a manager to make a good decision.
> The problem definition stage is perhaps more critical in the research process than the problem solution stage”. Discuss this statement.
> For the topic you chose to work on for the project in Chapter 4, do the following: ● Go through the computer‐generated bibliography again. ● Define a problem statement that, in your opinion, would be most useful for researchers to investigate. ● Carry ou
> The Mobile Phone Company has been named as the most complained about mobile phone Company, narrowly beating 3G, which has shot to the top of the table as the worst landline provider. According to the latest figures from the regulator, Ofcom, the Mobile P
> 1. Develop a theoretical framework for the following situation and state one testable hypothesis in the null and the alternate. A school administrator is interested in finding how the threatened teachers’ strike can be averted. He knows that pay demands
> Several situations are given below. For each situation, respond to the following research design questions. a. What would be the nature of the study that would be designed - Exploratory, descriptive, or hypothesis-testing? b. Give reasons for your answer
> Make up three different situations in which motivation to work would be an independent variable, a mediating variable, and a moderating variable.
> A manager finds that off‐the‐job classroom training has a great impact on the productivity of the employees in her department. However, she also observes that employees over 60 years of age do not seem to derive much benefit and do not improve with such
> A recent study has investigated the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the market value of the firm. This study developed and tested a conceptual framework, which posits that (1) customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between CSR
> In 1864 Henricus Laroche started making high-quality chocolate in his kitchen in Ooigem, Belgium. Henricus learned his trade at a famous chocolate shop in Paris, and he and his wife began to make chocolate in bars, wafers and other shapes soon after Henr
> A production manager is concerned about the low output levels of his employees. The articles that he has read on job performance frequently mention four variables as being important to job performance: (1). skills required for the job, (2). rewards, (3
> Create a diagram to illustrate the relationships between the relevant variables in Exercise 5.9 and develop five different hypotheses.
> A store manager observes that the morale of employees in her supermarket is low. She thinks that if their working conditions are improved, pay scales raised, and the vacation benefits made more attractive, the morale will be boosted. She doubts, however,
> Failure to follow accounting principles causes immense confusion, which in turn creates a number of problems for the organization. Those with vast experience in bookkeeping, however, are able to avert the problems by taking timely corrective action. List
> You want to investigate the specific effects of specific emotions on customers’ behavioral responses to failed service encounters across industries. Discuss the design decisions that you as a researcher will make to investigate this issue, giving reasons
> You want to examine how exposure to thin or heavy models in advertisements influences a person’s selfesteem. You believe that the effect of exposure to models in advertisements depends on the extremity of the model’s thinness or heaviness. Discuss the de
> A foreman thinks that the low efficiency of the machine tool operators is directly linked to the high level of fumes emitted in the workshop. He would like to prove this to his supervisor through a research study. 1. Would this be a causal or a correlati
> Describe a situation where you used research in order to inform thinking, decisions, and/or actions in relation to a personal issue of interest such as buying a new mobile phone or going to the movies. Provide information about the purpose of your resear
> Explain giving reasons which is more important – applied or basic research.
> Why is it important to be adept in handling the manager-researcher relationship?
> Explain the processes of deduction and induction, giving an example of each.
> One hears the word research being mentioned by several groups such as research organizations, college and university professors, doctoral students, graduate assistants working for faculty, graduate and undergraduate students doing their term papers, rese
> Why do we still have transform the following problem statement into a researchable topic for investigation? The introduction of flexible work hours has created more problems than it has solved.
> Below are three scenarios. Indicate how the researcher should proceed in each case; that is, determine the following, giving reasons: a. Type of research question (exploratory, descriptive, or causal). b. The extent of researcher interference. c. The s
> Discuss the interrelationships among the research questions of a study (exploratory, descriptive, and causal), study setting (no contrived or contrived), researcher interference, research strategy, and time horizon of study.
> Why is the unit of analysis an integral part of the research design?
> A field study is often more useful than a lab experiment.” Discuss this statement
> Is a field study totally out of the question if one is trying to establish cause and effect relationships?
> Why is it important to consider basic research design issues before conducting the study and even as early as at the time of formulating the research question?
> What are the basic research design issues? Describe them in some detail.
> Daniel Lourenço is a Portuguese student of International Business. Born in Reguengos de Monsaraz, he is an active sportsman, excelling in football and swimming. As a young man Daniel developed a keen interest in aviation. He read everything he was able t
> For the following case: a. Identify the problem b. Develop a diagram representing the conceptual model c. Develop the hypotheses. Concerned about her current customer base, manager Andersen started to think of factors that might affect the attractiveness
> In recent decades, many service markets have been liberalized. For this reason, incumbent service firms are facing new competitors and must address customer switching. You are discussing the determinants of customer switching with a service firm manager.
> It is advantageous to develop a directional hypothesis whenever we are sure of the predicted direction. How will you justify this statement?
> There is an advantage to stating the hypothesis both in the null and the alternate; it adds clarity to our thinking about what we are testing. Explain.
> In an applied research context you do not need to explain the relationships between the variables in your conceptual model. Discuss this statement.
> Good models are complex. What’s more, a good model should include both moderating and mediating variables. Discuss this statement.
> Develop a theoretical framework for the following case. Once given, perks are extraordinarily hard to take away without sapping employee morale. The adverse effects of these cuts far outweigh the anticipated savings in dollars. Research has shown that wh
> Because literature survey is a time-consuming exercise, a good, in-depth interview should suffice to develop a theoretical framework. Discuss this statement.
> Why is appropriate citation important? What are the consequences of not giving credit to the source from which materials are extracted?
> After studying and extracting information from all the relevant work done previously, how does the researcher know which references, articles, and information should be given prominence in the literature survey?
> The (over)consumption of calories is one of the most important determinants of the obesity problem in Europe and the United States. Governments promote the consumption of healthy alternatives and try to support consumers in making healthy choices, for in
> What is the purpose of the literature survey?
