04 Aug Magazines and Trade Publications Discussion

Please select only one of the two discussion questions below and provide a thoughtful 250+ word response to all of the questions (250 words total, not for each section). Please separate your answers by the parts of the question. It makes it easier to see your specific response to each part.

NOTE: This is a POST FIRST discussion board. That means you can see responses by your classmates ONLY after you post your response. Your first post counts, so if it’s blank – that’s what you will be graded on. You cannot go back and edit your posts after you submit it. The reason this for this is that I want each of you to thoughtfully develop your own response. But then, I want you to be able to see what other students think about the same topics as you. It’s helpful to learn from our peers.

OPTION #1 – Searching for Research

Suppose the Oreo Cookie company is looking to modify and/or add a new flavor to its line of products. Please answer the following questions with that scenario in mind:

1. What are some secondary sources of information that might be used to conduct research for this company?
2. Describe how these sources might be used.
3. Describe a method you could use to gather primary research data for this company.
4. Review the SURVEY RESEARCH subhead in the PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES section of Chapter 10. Then develop questions to ask consumers – 2 structured and 2 unstructured – to use in the primary research method chosen in Part 3. Please clearly identify which questions are structured and which are unstructured.

OPTION #2 – Global Marketing

We will take on an international theme for this question. Go to the CIA World Factbook site (Links to an external site.), choose one of the following countries about which you would like to learn more, and answer the questions below:

• • Albania
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Israel
  • Kenya
  • Morocco
  • New Zealand
  • Pakistan
  • Russia
  • South Africa
  • Uganda
  • Uruguay

Questions:

1. Which of the following products would be “best” to market to residents in your chosen country? What are some of the statistics you used to help make your decision? Be sure to include the specific statistics to support your answer.
   • Baby toys
   • Hearing aids
   • Sporting goods
   • Bottled water
   • Luxury cars
   • Prescription drugs
   • Dinnerware
2. Considering the elements of the marketing mix (the 4ps) give a brief marketing mix. For instance:
   • How would you design the product? Are there any cultural considerations?
   • How would you price it? I am not looking for a specific price but more of some pricing considerations.
   • How would you advertise it? Make sure to think about media options and communications abilities.
   • Where would you distribute/sell it?
3. Explain, in your own words, what other general transnational issues are related to this country (see that section on the above referenced website) and how could these issues could affect marketing.

NOTE: Another great source of information to help you with information for these questions is Michigan State’s Global Edge (Links to an external site.). About halfway down the page you can click on “By Country” and select the same country as above.