If your assignment was (for each segment) to create a value proposition and product-price positioning strategy based on the segment’s unique customer needs and characteristics, you would be in which of the following steps of the segmentation process?

Needs-based segmentation
Segment identification
Segment attractiveness
Segment positioning
Segment "acid-test"

Atlas manufacturing produces a unique valve, and has the capacity to produce 50,000 valves annually. currently atlas produces 40,000 valves and is thinking about increasing production to 45,000 valves next year. what is the most likely behavior of total manufacturing costs and unit manufacturing costs given this change? a. total manufacturing costs will increase and unit manufacturing costs will also increase. b. total manufacturing costs will stay the same and unit manufacturing costs will stay the same. c. total manufacturing costs will increase and unit manufacturing costs will decrease. d. total manufacturing costs will increase and unit manufacturing costs will stay the same.

Galwaysc electronics makes two products. model a requires component a and component c. model b requires component b and component c. new versions of both models are released each year with updated versions of all components. all components are sourced overseas, and abc contracts annually for a quantity of each component before seeing that year’s demand. components are only assembled into finished products once demand for each model is known. for the coming year, alwaysc’s purchasing manner has proposed ordering 500,000 units of component a, 630,000 of component b, and 1,000,000 units of component c. her boss has asked why she has recommended purchasing so much of components a and b when alwaysc will not have enough of component c to fully use all of the inventory of a and b. what factors might the purchasing manager cite to explain her recommended order? explain your reasoning.

David burdick is the ceo of acme bubblegum, a successful public company. as one of the cofounders of the company, burdick has enjoyed speaking and writing about the success of acme bubblegum for several years. typically, he speaks at conferences or directly to the press, but recently, he has been blogging about his firm anonymously. specifically, he defended a recent advertising campaign that was unpopular among consumers and pointedly attacked one of acme bubblegum’s competitors. burdick deeply enjoys his anonymous blogging and believes that none of his readers actually know that he works for acme bubblegum. should burdick be allowed to praise his company’s performance anonymously online? should he be allowed to attack his competitors without disclosing his relationship with the company? how would you feel if the ceo of a company at which you shopped was secretly writing criticisms of his or her competition? how would you feel if you knew a writer for your favorite blog was actually closely involved in a company that the blog discussed? 1. define the ethical issue? 2. who are the primary stakeholders? 3. what are the possible alternatives? 4. how could you evaluate the ethical implications of the alternative actions (use appropriate decision rules)? 5. what action would you recommend and why?