A category manager is responsible for resolving disputes, being referee, maintaining the position of brand, and developing new brands so that the brands of the same firm do not come across.

Sales analysis: Many managers think about sales as the only indicator of marketing performance. While sales are important, it may be misleading to look only at sales without considering the sales of competitors and marketing costs.

Market segmentation can be based on several variables, including geographic segmentation, demographic segmentation, psychographic segmentation and behavioral segmentation. Behavioral segmentation divides the market according to consumers’ knowledge, attitudes, uses, or responses to a product.

There are two different promotion strategies as push promotion and pull promotion. In the push strategy, promotional efforts are directed to sales force and intermediaries like the retailers. For example, a company may use trade promotion if it wants retailers to give a special support to the sales of a product. In return, the retailer promotes the product to its customers. Another example to push a product through channels may be a sales contest for the salesforce. The sellers may be offered a big prize if they sell a certain amount of product to the retailers.

A company may choose to use diversification strategy, which examines the opportunities for developing or buying new products for new markets. Thus, it involves new brands and new markets since product modifications may develop new uses for products, which may create a different market. Nevertheless, this strategy is the final option to use if only the other three were unable to produce expected results. Since with diversification strategy, a company enters into unknown businesses and markets, and this makes it the most dangerous of all strategic choices.

A seller with an undergraduate mechanical engineering degree visiting potential factories to sell ventilations systems is an example of technician seller. Here, the seller does not only sell a product to a customer but also consults to the company for the effective use of the product with his technical knowledge and expertise. The correct option is E.

“Advertising is non-personal mass communication using mass media such as TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, etc.), the content of which is determined and paid for by a clearly identified sender (the company)”

I. question marks

II. stars

III. cash cows

IV. dogs

Corporate Social Responsibility is about actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law.

Strategic planning process:

1.It should be a people process more than a paper process.
2. It should be a learning process for all managers and employees.
3. It should be words supported by numbers rather than numbers supported by words.
4. It should be simple and nonroutine.
5. It should vary assignments, team memberships, meeting formats, and even the planning calendar.
6. It should challenge the assumptions underlying the current corporate strategy.
7. It should welcome bad news.
8. It should welcome open-mindness and a spirit of inquiry and learning.
9. It should not be a bureaucratic mechanism.
10. It should not become ritualistic, stilted, or orchestrated.
11. It should not be too formal, predictable, or rigid.
12. It should not contain jargon or arcane planning language.
13. It should not be a formal system for control.
14. It should not disregard qualitative information.
15. It should not be controlled by “technicians”.
16. Do not pursue too many strategies at once.
17. Continually strengthen the “good ethics is good business” policy.

In personal communication individual attention is high compared to mass communication. Therefore, the correct choice is E.

Strategy is an action plan that helps the organization achieve its goals by forging the best fit between the firm and the environment.

In a modern marketing department; President heads Executive VP of Marketing and Sales; Executive VP of Marketing and Sales heads Sales Vice President and Marketing Vice President; Sales Vice President heads Sales force; Marketing Vice President heads Other hired marketing functions.

The matrix structure combines the advantages of functional expertise and product project expertise to make the best use of talented people. The most obvious feature of this model is that a sub-function manager has two supervisors. Some disadvantages of this model are that; it may be costly and it often creates troubles.

Outsourcing means using another firm for the manufacture of needed components or products or delivery of a service. All others exist in a simple sales department, therefore the correct answer is B.