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All The Answers Together Shall Not Exceed 3 (Three) A4 Pages

This document is the mid-term examination for the course "B2B Marketing" given at the Indian Institute of Management Ranchi for their MBA 2019-21 program. The exam contains 9 questions related to topics in business-to-business marketing, including customer segmentation, purchase classification, customer touchpoint analysis, and customer relationship management strategies. Students are instructed to answer all questions within 3 pages and the exam is open book and open internet.

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Nancy suri
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90 views

All The Answers Together Shall Not Exceed 3 (Three) A4 Pages

This document is the mid-term examination for the course "B2B Marketing" given at the Indian Institute of Management Ranchi for their MBA 2019-21 program. The exam contains 9 questions related to topics in business-to-business marketing, including customer segmentation, purchase classification, customer touchpoint analysis, and customer relationship management strategies. Students are instructed to answer all questions within 3 pages and the exam is open book and open internet.

Uploaded by

Nancy suri
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Indian Institute of Management Ranchi

MBA 2019-21
Term V

B2B Marketing

Mid-term Examination: 28 November 2020 10:00 hrs

Time: 1 hr 30 min Full Marks: 25

Instructions:
• This is an ‘Open book, open laptop, and open Internet’ exam. By ‘book’ only the referred
textbook for the course is meant. If any student is found using any other resource,
then punitive action shall be taken against that student.

• Answer all questions


• All the answers together shall not exceed 3 (three) A4 pages. Anything written beyond
three pages shall not be read, and hence not graded.
• Please write your name and/or regn. no. on all the sheets.

Think more, write less!

1. As an industrial customer, Suzuki Motors India will be classified as a user while


purchasing car assembly line equipment from General Electric. It will be classified as
an OEM while purchasing headlights from Lumax. From a marketer’s perspective,
what is the significance of this distinction? (3 marks)
2. Sunil has recently joined as the purchasing manager in the Noida plant of Siemens
India. Siemens India is contemplating a change in the design and material for the high
frequency generator in its CT-scan machines. Sunil considers purchasing and related
decisions for procuring such generators to be high on risk dimensions. What actions
Sunil can take to reduce his risk perceptions without jeopardising the benefits of
Siemens? (3 marks)
3. Shapiro and Bonoma say, “People, not companies, make purchase decisions, …
[M]arketers for industrial goods … can segment markets according to the individuals
involved in a purchase.” One needs to understand that business marketers need to
segment firms, and not individuals. Please explain and then justify the rationale
behind this apparent dichotomy of segmenting firms by using individual traits. (2
marks)
4. How will the purchase of a very expensive and sophisticated piece of material
handling equipment (an automated guided vehicle for use in a warehouse) be
classified as – (i) new task, (ii) modified rebuy, (iii) straight rebuy, (iv) any of these
(classification does not matter), or (v) none of these? Justify your answer. (3 marks)
5. Customer touchpoint audit: As a business marketer, once you have mapped your
typical customer journey/s, the next step is to identify the touchpoints where the
customer interacts with your brand and/or organization. These are the ‘moments’ that
influence and impact the customer experience. What will be the basis of prioritising
these touchpoints for managing the customer experience? (3 marks)
6. As a business consultant in the Supply Chain Management domain to a highly-
diversified and multi-plant FMCG firm in India like say, Dabur, what can be the
reasons for which you would not suggest Dabur to resort to reverse auctions for
procurement of commodities, services, and supplies? (3 marks)
7. Almost all firms need to use law firms and advertising agencies for the work they do.
What class of business products can these be put into and why? (2 marks)
8. Medha Bendre has recently completed the sales training programme at the Dow India
Technology Centre in Navi Mumbai and has spent the past few months in Chennai, her
assigned territory. Today she plans to call on two accounts and then complete a sales
forecast for next quarter.
The first account is a small, high-tech firm that potentially could use a Dow product
directly in a production process. This production process is new and the purchasing
manager indicated that several substitute products will likely receive consideration.
What strategy should Medha follow in dealing with this customer?
The second account has been buying their chemical products from BASF India for the
past three years. Of course, Medha would like them to change to Dow but the
purchasing manager at this firm seems preoccupied with other matters. What
strategy should Medha follow here? She wonders if it is even worth stopping by
because she could spend the time talking to an existing customer. (3 marks)
9. As software manufacturers and consulting organizations diffuse best practices, and
the relevant CRM software becomes widely available and economical to use, all the
players in any industry will get equally equipped. However, when compared to rivals,
some firms will be rewarded by customers with higher rates of customer loyalty and
lower rates of defection. In the end, to excel at customer relationship management, a
firm requires relationship orientation and customer-relating capability. Explain how
these two can provide a firm with a significant advantage over its competitors. (3
marks).

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