Free Practice Question
RC · Reading Comprehension
605-655
Short Passage - Science
Reading Passage
Most management theorists have long told marketers that the marketing environment is both uncontrollable and inescapable, and that therefore the marketer's critical skill is adapting to that environment. These believers in environmental determinism argue that environmental forces such as government regulation, consumers' changing tastes, and foreign competition are essentially unmanageable. But believers in strategic choice presume that decision makers can affect the environment, for instance by lobbying politicians, running public relations campaigns, and employing other techniques to shape the environment to their advantage.
Advocates of strategic choice point out that many conventional marketing tools have built-in deterministic biases. One such tool, the product life cycle (PLC) concept, occupies a prominent place in marketing theory. It holds that industries, product categories, and individual brands pass through four distinct stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Proponents prescribe specific strategies for marketing a product at each stage. The PLC concept is an "if-then" strategic tool: if one can identify the stage, then one knows which strategy to use. There is no doubt that PLC prescriptions are appropriate under certain conditions; for example, a company famous for instant-camera technology decided to enter the conventional film market in light of a steady consumer shift away from instant cameras and film, demonstrating the reasonableness of PLC orthodoxy in light of unmanageable environmental forces. But the PLC approach can often result in missed opportunities. PLC wisdom suggests that sales, profit margins, competitive intensity, and appropriate business strategy are all determined by life cycle stages, thus constraining managerial action within narrow limits. According to strategic choice advocates, however, the marketing environment is subject to human manipulation, and therefore business decisions need not be chained to the PLC "if-then" doctrine. For example, a major cereal company nurtured the adult breakfast cereal market despite warnings that cereal sales would level off as the "baby boomer" generation reached adulthood. Ignoring PLC wisdom, company executives decided to encourage the growth of the supposedly no-growth cereal industry by attempting to influence consumer tastes through targeted advertising. As a result, the ready-to-eat cereal market grew considerably within just five years, and the 25- to 49-year-old segment of the market increased by 26 percent.
Advocates of strategic choice point out that many conventional marketing tools have built-in deterministic biases. One such tool, the product life cycle (PLC) concept, occupies a prominent place in marketing theory. It holds that industries, product categories, and individual brands pass through four distinct stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Proponents prescribe specific strategies for marketing a product at each stage. The PLC concept is an "if-then" strategic tool: if one can identify the stage, then one knows which strategy to use. There is no doubt that PLC prescriptions are appropriate under certain conditions; for example, a company famous for instant-camera technology decided to enter the conventional film market in light of a steady consumer shift away from instant cameras and film, demonstrating the reasonableness of PLC orthodoxy in light of unmanageable environmental forces. But the PLC approach can often result in missed opportunities. PLC wisdom suggests that sales, profit margins, competitive intensity, and appropriate business strategy are all determined by life cycle stages, thus constraining managerial action within narrow limits. According to strategic choice advocates, however, the marketing environment is subject to human manipulation, and therefore business decisions need not be chained to the PLC "if-then" doctrine. For example, a major cereal company nurtured the adult breakfast cereal market despite warnings that cereal sales would level off as the "baby boomer" generation reached adulthood. Ignoring PLC wisdom, company executives decided to encourage the growth of the supposedly no-growth cereal industry by attempting to influence consumer tastes through targeted advertising. As a result, the ready-to-eat cereal market grew considerably within just five years, and the 25- to 49-year-old segment of the market increased by 26 percent.
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Difficulty
605-655
Type
RC
Category