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Public relations – embraces publicity but is broader; PR includes other ways of

gaining favorable responses. Typical PR activities include donating money to charity, giving speeches, participating in community activities, sponsoring events, and other public-facing activities and the organizational function that manages the firm’s communications to achieve a variety of objectives, including building and maintaining a positive image, handling or heading off unfavorable stories or events, and maintaining positive relationships with the media.

Intensive distribution – When customers limit search, products should be easily available. The firm maximizes the number/type of outlets where customers buy. Intensively distributed consumer products include convenience goods like snacks, soft drinks. In emerging markets, intensive distribution is a critical strategic thrust for firms like Coca-Cola and P&G.

Exclusive distributionExclusive distribution is an agreement between a supplier and a retailer granting the retailer exclusive rights within a specific geographical area to carry the supplier’s product.

Distribution channel breadth: The number of members at a particular level in the channel system

Value-added resellers: Firms that build additional software modules onto other firms’ platforms and modify hardware for niche markets.

System integrators – is a person or company that specializes in bringing together component subsystems into a whole and ensuring that those subsystems function together, a practice known as system integration.

The Robinson Patman Act – The RobinsonPatman Act of 1936 (or Anti-Price Discrimination Act, Pub. L. No. 74-692, 49 Stat. 1526 (codified at 15 U.S.C. § 13)) is a United States federal law that prohibits anticompetitive practices by producers, specifically price discrimination.

Retail price maintenance (RPM) Or Resale price maintenance – Under RPM, suppliers set. Retail prices. In some countries, RPM is illegal; in other countries, RPM is quite legal. Is the practice whereby a manufacturer and its distributors agree that the distributors will sell the manufacturer’s product at certain prices (resale price maintenance), at or above a price floor (minimum resale price maintenance) or at or below a price ceiling (maximum resale price maintenance).

Tying agreements – Strong suppliers force resellers to sell their entire product line. This practice is illegal in the U.S. if it reduces competition.

Service definition – “Activities, benefits and satisfactions which are offered for sale or are provided in connection with the sale of goods.”

Service equipment – Generally, services require tangible physical products: air travel — air-plane; iTunes — iPod/iPhone; haircut — scissors and mirror. Service equipment quality often influences the service experience. Many passengers choose airlines with new planes (Singapore Airlines, jetBlue) versus those with older fleets.

Variability – A  feature  of  services  emphasizing  a  lack  of consistency  because  of  human  involvement  in  service delivery.

Reliability-If I repeat data collection, will I get the same results?
Ability to perform promised service accurately and dependably.

Responsiveness – Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service

Pre-purchase customer service – Assist customers preparing for purchase, including help identifying needs. Also, promotional activities providing information about products and purchase locations.

Post-purchase customer service – Helps customers pay for, transport, receive, install, use, return and exchange, repair, service and dispose of products

Customer relationship management – Customer relationship management (CRM) systems — Chapter 2 —

provide significant information about customers, including purchase histories, buying patterns, and firm interactions.

CRM systems that allow firms to identify customers by name, buying patterns, and history support this organizational form

Communications tipping point – The level above which communications generate customer resentment

Perceived value analysis – The firm secures data directly from customers,  but  sometimes  experienced  managers provide  best-guess data that can be validated later by marketing research.

A customer’s opinion of a product’s value to him or her. It may have little or nothing to do with the product’s market price, and depends on the product’s ability to satisfy his or her needs or requirements.

Customer value map – is an invaluable tool for tracking how customers perceive your products. Customers, whether households or businesses, look for products that give them the best value for their money.

Cost-plus pricing – is a pricing methodology that many firms use, harkening back to our earlier

discussion of internal orientation — Chapter 1. Despite its popularity, cost-plus is the wrong way to set prices. Cost-plus pricing proceeds simply by identifying product costs, then adding a pre-determined profit margin (markup).

Marginal costs – it is the cost of producing one more unit of a good. In general terms, marginal cost at each level of production includes any additional costs required to produce the next unit.