Reference no: EM133152721

1. What would Apple's sales and margins have looked like in 2010 if it had the same product portfolio then as it had in 2000?

2. How does the Apple product life cycle portfolio add to the strategic insight into Apple's current and future sales and profit performance?

3. Explain why a business-like Ford might shift from an offensive strategy to a defensive strategy over the life cycle of a particular product.

4. How can a business-like Campbell's Soup meet short-run growth and profit performance targets and still invest in strategic market plans that are focused on long run objectives with respect to share position, sales growth, and profit performance?

5. How has Harley-Davidson's offensive strategy to grow revenue per customer affected its sales and profits?

6. How would a Nike offensive strategy to increase market penetration differ from a strategy to grow customer purchases (revenue per customer) in the under-18 female athlete market?

7. Why would Google use an offensive sales growth strategy to expand the Internet search engine market rather than attempting to increase its share of this market?

8. How did Apple's offensive growth strategies affect its percent profit margins?

9. Why would AT&T's efforts to improve customer retention be considered an offensive strategy to improve margins?

10. Absolut Vodka entered two new market segments as part of an offensive strategy to grow sales. Explain the logic of this offensive strategy and why the company elected to create new brand names for each segment shown in Figure 12-6.

11. Microsoft has developed a product called Meeting Pro to help facilitate the running of small business meetings. Although this is a value-added software product, Microsoft offers it at no cost to Windows users. Explain why this is an offensive strategy to grow market share.

12. Why are offensive strategies for General Motors crucial for the long-run success of that company? What kind of offensive strategies could GM use to ensure future growth in sales and profits?

13. Microsoft has embarked on a joint venture with Sony to develop an online alternative to the telephone. What type of offensive marketing strategy best describes this joint venture, and what are the expected short- and long-run performance objectives?

14. How does a market penetration strategy to grow market share differ from a strategy to enter a new segment in the same market for Mac computers?

15. Why would a Starbucks marketing strategy to grow customer purchases (revenue per customer) be potentially more profitable than many other offensive marketing strategies?

16. Why would a business-like Marriott first pursue offensive marketing strategies to increase market share or grow revenue per customer, rather than adopting other offensive marketing strategies?

17. What forces limit new-customer growth within the existing market for personal computers? How could a company like Intel grow market demand by addressing these forces?

18. What important considerations should Starbucks evaluate between a related new market entry strategy and an unrelated new market entry strategy?