Questions No.1
Suppose you are the product manager responsible for General Electric’s line of trash compactors. After many years, the product has yet to gain acceptance by many consumers. Use the diffusion of innovation theory discussed in the text to explain why trash compactors have achieved such poor market penetration. What does this imply concerning the shape of the rest of the trash compactor’s life-cycle curve? What actions might you consider taking to increase the market penetration for this product?
Questions No. 2
Can market segmentation be taken too far? What are the potential disadvantages of oversegmenting a market? What strategy might a firm pursue when it believes that the market has been broken into too many small segments?
Questions No. 3
Should positioning be based on product features or benefits? Why? Under what circumstances should features be the focus of an advertising campaign?
Questions No. 4
In terms of positioning strategy, what is the rationale for the fact that Nabisco offers many different brands within the cracker category, each of which is perceived as being only slightly different from the others? What are the advantages and limitations of such a strategy?