2 course, EXAM QUESTIONS

Market Leader

Unit 1 BRANDS

1. What is branding and why do we need brands?

2. Types of brands. What for do we need new brands?

3. What do you know about the history of brands?

4. How distribution channels are usually organized?

What is branding and why do we need brands?

For the consumer-in-the-street, brands, along with advertising, are the most visible parts of marketing. A brand is a product with unique and easily recognizable character. For example, we all recognize the Coca-Cola brand, not only by its logo but by the shape of its bottles, the colour of its cans, the taste of the product and other features.

A brand takes the form of a symbolic construct created by a marketer to represent a collection of information about a product or group of products. This symbolic construct typically consists of a name, identifying mark, logo, visual images or symbols, or mental concepts, which distinguishes the product or service

The studies have shown that only one out of a hundred marks survives and becomes the brand. Some categories of the names can not become the good trademarks because of different reasons. It is impossible to apply the commonly used terms and words. You should avoid the descriptions, abbreviations, names, which are mixed up with already existing. It is concerned the names which can cause the unpleasant associations in language of any country where the product is on sale. It is particularly important for goods planned for export.

Branding has become part of pop culture. Numerous products have a brand identity: from common table salt to designer clothes.

Types of brands. What for do we need new brands?

Attitude branding is based on the 'feeling', rather than the physical characteristics, of a product. The product may be promoted as making people feel free, energetic or powerful. This is commonly used for soft drinks and sportswear.

Symbolic branding is similar to attitude branding and it is often used for services, such as banks and phone companies. Symbolic branding uses the emotional aspects of a service, such as a sense of security, to attract and retain customers.

Functional brands. In some cases, the functional or physical characteristics of a product or service are more powerful than the emotional aspects. Functional branding promotes the reasons why someone should buy a product or service. These could be that it is unique or that it offers a better price or performs better than other products on the market.

Individual brands. Some businesses choose to give each of their products and services a separate brand. These can sometimes compete against each other, such as with different flavours of soft drink that are produced by the same company. Individual branding can also be used to keep different parts of a business separate, particularly if they span a number of areas, such as in a business that sells food as well as clothing.

Own brands, sometimes referred to as private labels or store brands, are brands that carry the retailer's name. These are commonly used by large supermarket chains. Smaller businesses may also use their own brands - for example, a beautician may also have their own line of beauty products that they use and sell.

What do you know about the history of brands?

Brands originated with the 19th-century advent of packaged goods. Industrialization moved the production of many household items, such as soap, from local communities to centralized factories. These factories, cursed with mass-produced goods, needed to sell their products in a wider market, to a customer base familiar only with local goods. It quickly became apparent that a generic package of soap had difficulty competing with familiar, local products. The packaged goods manufacturers needed to convince the market that the public could place just as much trust in the non-local product.

Many brands of that era, such as Uncle Ben's rice and Kellogg's breakfast cereal furnish illustrations of the problem. The manufacturers wanted their products to appear and feel as familiar as the local farmers' produce. From there, with the help of advertising, manufacturers quickly learned to associate other kinds of brand values, such as youthfulness, fun or luxury, with their products.

This kick-start of the practice we now know as "branding".

How distribution channels are usually organized?

Distribution is one of the four aspects of marketing.

-A distributor is the middleman between the manufacturer and retailer. After a product is manufactured it may be shipped to the next echelon in the supply chain, typically a distributor, retailer or consumer.

A number of alternate 'channels' of distribution may be available:

· Selling direct, such as via mail order, Internet and telephone sales

· Agent, who typically sells direct on behalf of the producer

· Distributor (also called wholesaler), who sells to retailers

· Retailer (also called dealer or reseller), who sells to end customers

-Advertisement typically used for consumer goods

Distribution channels can have a number of levels.

Unit 2 TRAVEL

1. How do airline companies stimulate regular business travelers to stay their loyal customers?

2. What problems can airline personnel face dealing with business travelers?

3. What is “code-sharing”? What other types of cooperation in airline business do you know?

How do airline companies stimulate regular business travelers to stay their loyal customers? What problems can airline personnel face dealing with business travelers?

The psychology of air rage is a new area of study, and there are almost as many explanations as 2 examples.

Most analysts of the phenomenon blame alcohol, but many people now think that the airlines are at fault.

To cut costs, they are cramming ever more passengers into their aircraft, while reducing cabin crew, training and quality of service, all of which increase passenger frustration. In addition, there is increasing concern about another cost-cutting exercise, which could seriously harm passengers’ health: cabin ventilation.

What is “code-sharing”? What other types of cooperation in airline business do you know?

Code sharing is a business term which was first originated in the airline industry in 1990 when the Australian airline, Qantas Airways and the US's American Airlines combined services between an array of US domestic cities and Australian cities. The code share was part of a "cooperative services" agreement between the two carriers before the various airline alliances were formed.

Code sharing is a commercial agreement between two airlines that allows passengers to use a ticket from one airline to travel on another.

Most major airlines today have code sharing partnerships with other airlines, and code sharing is a key feature of the major airline alliances. Lots of airlines, including all the big legacy lines, are involved with code sharing arrangements. Those arrangements permit you to buy through tickets on routs that no single airline can serve. They may also provide opportunities to cut the cost of your airfare.

There are different types of cooperation between airlines:

-associations (like International Association of Air Transport (IATA) which deals with the air navigation, the security of air transport and the coordination of flight services),

- particular global airline alliances and code share agreements that have multiplied over the past years.

Unit 3 ORGANISATIONS

1. What are the main differences between three main company structures: sole trader, partnership, limited company?

2. What is necessary for creating a good working environment?

3. What changes have many companies faced recently?

What are the main differences between three main company structures: sole trader, partnership, limited company?

Sole Proprietorship(Trader)the business organization in which a

-single person owns, manages and controls all the activities of the business is known as sole proprietorship form of business organization. The individual who owns and runs the sole proprietorship business is called a ‘sole proprietor’ or ‘sole trader’. A sole proprietor

-pools and organizes the resources in a systematic way and controls the activities with the sole objective of earning profit. This form of business is the oldest and most common form of business organization.

Partnership. A company form of business organization is known as a Joint Stock Company. It is a

-voluntary association of persons who generally contribute capital to carry on a particular type of business, which is

-established by law and can be dissolved only by law. Persons who contribute capital become members of the company. This form of business has a legal existence separate from its members, which means even if its members die, the company remains in existence. This form of business organizations generally requires huge capital investment, which is contributed by its members.

Private Limited Company

These companies can be

-formed by at least two individuals having minimum fixed paid–up capital (the amount of money is determined by legislation of the country). The total membership of these companies cannot exceed a certain number of people ( this number can be different in different countries).

The shares allotted to its members are also not freely transferable between them. These companies are not allowed to raise money from the public through open invitation and are required to use “Private Limited” after their names.

Public Limited Company.

A minimum of seven members are required to

-form a public limited company. It must have

-minimum paid–up capital. There is no restriction on maximum number of members.

The shares allotted to the members are freely transferable. These companies can raise funds from general public through open invitations by

selling its shares or accepting fixed deposits. These companies are required to write either ‘public limited’ or ‘limited’ after their names. These are the main, but not the only types of business organization.

What is necessary for creating a good working environment?

What changes have many companies faced recently?

The current buzzword is flexibility. This has a number of related meanings. Where people can choose when they work within certain limits. Then there is the flexible working of the British Airways office, with some of its staff hot-desking, particularly those who are homeworklng, teleworking or telecommuting and only need to come into the office occasionally.

A third type of flexibility is where employees are recruited on short contracts to work on specific projects, maybe part-time. Perhaps the organisation only has a core staff, and outsources or contracts out work from outside as and when required. Some management experts say that this is the future, with self-employment as the norm, and portfolio workers who have a number of different clients.

Unit 4 CHANGE