UTAR

UBTM1013 Principles of Marketing

UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN

FACULTY OF FINANCE AND BUSINESS (FBF)
FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE (FAS)
FACULTY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (FICT)
FACULTY OF SCIENCE (FSC)
ACADEMIC YEAR 2015/2016
MAY 2015
Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) Accounting
Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons)
Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) Banking and Finance
Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) Entrepreneurship
Bachelor of Economics (Hons) Financial Economics
Bachelor of Marketing (Hons)
Bachelor of Communication (Hons) Advertising
Bachelor of Information Systems (Hons) Business Information Systems
Bachelor of Information Systems (Hons) Information Systems Engineering
Bachelor of Science (Hons) Logistics and International Shipping
Bachelor of Science (Hons) Statistical Computing and Operations Research
UBTM1013 PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
TUTORIAL (QUESTIONS & ANSWERS)

Tutorial 1
To discuss administrative issues and general discussion about marketing concepts, study
method, group project, exams and career with students.

Tutorial 2: Chapter 1
1) Briefly compare and contrast the concepts of needs, wants, and demands and
provide examples to illustrate your answer. How do these three concepts relate to
marketing practices?
2) Company X, a manufacturer of office supplies, follows the selling concept. Explain
Page 1 of 7

UTAR
UBTM1013 Principles of Marketing

how the firm may lose sight of customer relationships with this marketing
orientation.
3) Briefly explain the societal marketing concept. Give an example of an organization
that has effectively used the societal marketing concept.
4) Define customer relationship management and explain its associated tools and levels
of relationships.

Tutorial 3: Chapter 2
1) Define strategic planning. Discuss the steps involved.
2) What is a growth-share matrix? Discuss the BCG growth-share matrix.
3) Describe the most common forms of marketing organizations.
4) Distinguish between market segmentation and market targeting.

Tutorial 4: Chapter 3
1) Who are the major players in a company's microenvironment? Explain the role that
each actor plays.
2) What are marketing intermediaries and what are the various types?
3) What is demography? Why is the demographic environment of major interest to
marketers?
4) Explain the impact of the baby boomers, Generation Xers, Millennials, and
Generation Zers on today's marketing strategies.

Tutorial 5: Chapter 5
1) Cultural factors exert a broad and deep influence on consumer behavior. The
marketer needs to understand the role played by the buyer's culture, subculture,
and social class. Distinguish between culture, subculture, and social class.
2) A consumer's behavior is influenced by social factors, such as the consumer's small
groups, family, and social roles and status. Explain the differences among these
social factors.
3) People's distinct individual personalities influence their buying behavior.
Page 2 of 7

UTAR
UBTM1013 Principles of Marketing

Personality is usually described in terms of traits. What are these traits, and how do
they affect the way people purchase items? Give at least one example.
4) Compare and contrast the four types of buying decision behavior exhibited by
consumers.

Tutorial 6: Chapter 7
1) Why are demographic factors the most popular bases for segmenting customer
groups?
2) Explain the different segmentation variables used in segmenting consumer markets.
3) What are the primary requirements for effective market segmentation?
4) Distinguish between undifferentiated and differentiated marketing strategies.

Tutorial 7: Chapter 8
1) Explain the difference between a consumer product and an industrial product.
Include an example.
2) How does branding help buyers? Describe the principal functions of packaging.
3) What are the different dimensions of a company's product mix? Briefly describe
each dimension.
4) What are the key service characteristics a company must consider when designing
marketing programs? Briefly describe each characteristic.

Tutorial 8: Chapter 9
1) Explain common reasons for the failure of new products. What methods can a
company adopt to improve its odds of new product success?
2) Briefly describe the steps in the new product development process.
3) Each product will have a life cycle, although its exact shape and length is not known
in advance. Briefly explain each phase of the product life cycle.
4) Why do ad expenditures remain high in the growth stage of the PLC?

Page 3 of 7

UTAR
UBTM1013 Principles of Marketing

Tutorial 9: Chapter 10&11

1) What is cost-plus pricing? Explain the pros and cons of using such pricing method
when setting price for a product.
2) Distinguish among optional-product pricing, captive-product pricing, and byproduct pricing. Provide an example for each of these product mix pricing
strategies.

Tutorial 10: Chapter 12

1) Explain the concept of channel conflict and discuss the two types of channel conflict.
2) Describe the three levels of distribution intensity strategies available for a company
when deciding the number of channel members to use.

Tutorial 11: Chapter 14

1) A company's marketing communications mixalso called its promotion mixblend
five different components. List and define these components.
2) Explain the concept of integrated marketing communications (IMC).

Tutorial 12: Chapter 15

1) What is an advertising objective? What are the three primary types of advertising
objectives?
2) Describe any three message execution styles.
3) How are companies taking advantage of interactive technologies to tap consumers
for message ideas and actual ads? What are the benefits and disadvantages of
consumer-generated advertising?
4) Explain how seasonality impacts media timing.

Tutorial 13: Chapter 16

1) Briefly explain the four ways that a company can design their sales force structure.

Page 4 of 7

UTAR
UBTM1013 Principles of Marketing

2) In the personal selling process, many salespeople stop at closing without any followup action, causing them losing customers. Briefly discuss what is follow-up and why
it is important in the personal selling process.
3) Briefly describe the different types of consumer promotions.
4) Explain why sales promotions growth rapidly in today business.

Tutorial 14: Case study Past year questions

Malaysia Milk
Love your tummy every day. Vitagen is perhaps one of the most memorable jingles on television
these days. And Vitagen is a product well-known in the local market. Vitagen is the brainchild of
Malaysia Milk Sdn Bhd and the cultured milk brand has been loved by young consumers for
many years.
Malaysia Milk was founded in 1969 mainly to act as a distributor for condensed milk produced
by its Singaporean partner, Malaysia Dairy Industries Pte Ltd. However, the small-scale
distribution business was not enough for the company and Malaysia Milk went about developing
its own products. The company established its manufacturing plant in 1977 to produce cultured
milk, a product new to the local market then.
The health awareness level 36 years ago was not really there yet. We were the first to introduce
ready-to-drink cultured milk to the local market and there was a lot of educating to do. We
needed to educate consumers about digestive health before we could educate them about the
product, said Contra Enterprises Sdn Bhd deputy general manager Michael Ong. Contra
Enterprises is a subsidiary and the trading arm of Malaysia Milk.
Malaysia Milk launched its education programme, Vitagen Healthy Tummies Programme, as a
vehicle to promote greater awareness on good digestive health which quickly became a platform
to also promote Vitagen. Vitagen has since become a household brand with more than 30 years of
history. Ong added that after much effort, Vitagen has captured over 60% share in the local
cultured milk pie and the product is widely distributed in Malaysia and Singapore. The company
has not stinged on its advertising and promotional (A&P) efforts to keep Vitagen top-most on
consumers minds. It was reported that the company spent no less than RM10mil on A&P in
2009.
As Vitagen became an acceptable product in the market, Malaysia Milk started developing other
products along the value chain to cater to different consumers. Ong explained that some
consumers preferred yoghurt or yoghurt drinks and other types of healthy beverages like fruit
juices. Through Malaysia Milks diversification strategy, the company spun off another
successful brand Marigold. Under the Marigold brand, the company has a line-up of milk
products, yoghurt and other desserts. Ong noted that its Marigold HL Milk is the leading brand in

Page 5 of 7

UTAR
UBTM1013 Principles of Marketing

the low-fat milk segment and its Marigold PEEL Fresh has been a Gold Award winner of the
Readers Digest Trusted Brand Award for many years.
Over the years, somehow Vitagen became perceived as a kids product. But that is not true.
Even adults need to take care of their digestive system. So we have been running campaigns to
also encourage adults to consume Vitagen and these new products would help with that
campaign, Ong said. He added that reaching out to health-conscious adult consumers enabled
Malaysia Milk to penetrate a new market which would inevitably lead to bigger growth for the
company.
Although Malaysia Milk has other products under its stable, Vitagen remains its core produce.
Ong noted that the growth of the cultured milk market is promising as Malaysians are getting
more health-conscious and this is expected to push up demand for such products. The market
has grown bigger over the years with increased consumption. And as the level of health
awareness increases, we will see the market get bigger. Volume is still growing, he said.
He estimated that the local cultured milk market grows at about 5% to 10% per annum. And as
with most markets, the prospect of growth has drawn more players into the arena. According to
Ong, there are about five major brands of cultured milk in the market. We welcome healthy
competition. When there are more players, we will have to improve ourselves to move ahead,
Ong said. But Ong believes that there is enough room for every player to grow given the many
untapped segments in the market.
Malaysia Milk has been actively identifying opportunities in the market to continue reaching out
to new segments. The markets growth is, however, constrained by the lack of chiller facilities in
the retail market. There are generally two categories of products manufactured by Malaysia Milk,
chilled products and non-chilled products. Ong said the market can only grow hand-in-hand with
the growth of chiller facilities on the distribution and retail side as the lack of facilities limits the
amount of products manufactures are able to push out. One option that Ong said can be explored
by the industry is to co-invest in such facilities with retailers to ensure the quality and freshness
of products are maintained.
Malaysia Milk tries to introduce a new product every year to keep up with the market and to
maintain excitement among consumers for its product range. Ong added that it is a strategy
adopted by every player in town and if it does not keep up, other players will fill the market with
their offerings. What we want to do more is to innovate our product range to create more
excitement in the market and cater to different tastebuds. And we will definitely continue to
invest in promoting our products, Ong said.
[Source: Adapted from
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Community/2013/05/30/Cultivating-growth-Malaysia-Milkdiversifies-to-increase-reach.aspx]
Q1.

(a)

Based on the case presented, identify the challenges faces by Malaysia Milk?
(5 marks)
Page 6 of 7

UTAR
UBTM1013 Principles of Marketing

(b)

Identify and explain FOUR (4) alternative product development strategies. Based
on the case presented, identify the most appropriate product development strategy
which has been adopted by Malaysia Milk?
(15 marks)

(c)

Define distribution intensity. Discuss the THREE (3) categories of distribution

intensity. Based on the case presented, identify the most appropriate cateogry of
distribution intensity for Malaysia Milk?
(12 marks)

(d)

As a marketing consultant to Malaysia Milk, explain how the company can

effectively segment their markets.
(8 marks)

Page 7 of 7