Discussion Question 1 – Marketing has often been defined in terms of satisfying customers’ needs and wants. Critics, however, maintain that marketing goes beyond that and creates needs and wants that did not exist before. They feel marketers encourage consumers to spend more money than they should on goods and services they do not really need. What is your understanding of the role of marketing and the marketing management process?\n\nDiscussion Question 2 – Compare Complete the “Think About It” activity in Section 1.2 of the text: \n\nSelect a consumer product of personal interest—one that you have purchased within the past six months. It can be anything, just as long you are familiar with the product and generally understand how it is marketed. Using the matrix model of marketing management in Table 1.2, fill in the cells of the matrix as completely and thoroughly as you can for the brand that you purchased. Be sure that your entries correspond to your perspective as a customer for this brand. In short, you are the target market. You may wish to create one or more positioning maps to help illustrate how you perceive the competitive playing field. Once you’re done, examine the intersection of each cell. \n\nHow do the elements of the marketing mix align with the four strategy categories in the left-hand column? \nDoes every one of the 4 P’s contribute to each of the strategic objectives established in the left-hand column? \nDo you see room for improvement? How would this assessment be different for other types of customers? \n\n*Writer – Use at least one source for each discussion question. Each discussion question should be about 250 words each.
