BCOR 2201 TEST PAPER 2025/2026 QUESTIONS AND
SOLUTIONS GRADED A+ TIP
✔✔Discontinuous Innovation - ✔✔- Requires new learning and consumption patterns by
consumers
- Ex: wireless router, digital video recorder, electric car
- Marketing Strategy: educate consumers through product trial and personal selling
✔✔Introduction (PLC) - ✔✔- low sales
- high cost per customer
- financial losses
- innovative customers
- few (if any) competitors
✔✔Growth (PLC) - ✔✔- increasing sales
- cost per customer falls
- profits rise
- increasing number of customers
- more competitors
✔✔Maturity (PLC) - ✔✔- peak sales
- cost per customer lowest
- profits high
- mass market
- stable number of competitors
✔✔Decline (PLC) - ✔✔- falling sales
- cost per customer low
- profits fall
- customer base contracts
- number of competitors fall
✔✔Take-off (PLC) - ✔✔End of introduction stage/ beginning of growth stage
✔✔Shake-out (PLC) - ✔✔End of growth stage/ beginning of maturity stage
✔✔Saturation (PLC) - ✔✔Middle of maturity stage/ peak of product lifecycle
✔✔Product lifecycle trends - ✔✔- Some products have a "second life" after decline
- Consumption spreads faster today
- Product life cycles are getting shorter
- More frequent innovation
✔✔How to make the most of Maturity - ✔✔Diversification analysis: helps a firm search
for growth opportunities among current/new products and current/new markets
, ✔✔market pennetration - ✔✔Current products, current markets
✔✔product development - ✔✔new products, current markets
✔✔market development - ✔✔current products, new market
✔✔Diversification - ✔✔new products, new markets
✔✔Takeaways of diversification analysis - ✔✔Most "new products" aren't really new
✔✔levels of a product - ✔✔core product, actual product, augmented product
✔✔core product - ✔✔core benefit or service
✔✔actual product - ✔✔brand name, quality level, packaging, design, features
✔✔augmented product - ✔✔installation, after-sale service, warranty, delivery and credit
✔✔What is a channel? - ✔✔Path that enables products to flow from producers to end
users
- Intermediaries make this possible
✔✔Channel functions: firm perspective - ✔✔transactional, logistical, facilitating
✔✔transactional function: firm perspective - ✔✔- Buying, selling, negotiating, risk taking
(ownership of inventory)
✔✔logistical function: firm perspective - ✔✔Transporting, storing, sorting ("breaking
bulk"), creating assortments
✔✔Facilitating Function: firm perspective - ✔✔Financing, providing information,
promoting, inspecting/testing
✔✔Channel functions: consumer perspective - ✔✔- information needs
- logistic needs
✔✔Information Needs (customer) - ✔✔- Try before buying
- Advice and Demos
- Compare different products, prices
- Customization
✔✔Logistic Needs (customer) - ✔✔- Variety/Assortment
- Convenience
SOLUTIONS GRADED A+ TIP
✔✔Discontinuous Innovation - ✔✔- Requires new learning and consumption patterns by
consumers
- Ex: wireless router, digital video recorder, electric car
- Marketing Strategy: educate consumers through product trial and personal selling
✔✔Introduction (PLC) - ✔✔- low sales
- high cost per customer
- financial losses
- innovative customers
- few (if any) competitors
✔✔Growth (PLC) - ✔✔- increasing sales
- cost per customer falls
- profits rise
- increasing number of customers
- more competitors
✔✔Maturity (PLC) - ✔✔- peak sales
- cost per customer lowest
- profits high
- mass market
- stable number of competitors
✔✔Decline (PLC) - ✔✔- falling sales
- cost per customer low
- profits fall
- customer base contracts
- number of competitors fall
✔✔Take-off (PLC) - ✔✔End of introduction stage/ beginning of growth stage
✔✔Shake-out (PLC) - ✔✔End of growth stage/ beginning of maturity stage
✔✔Saturation (PLC) - ✔✔Middle of maturity stage/ peak of product lifecycle
✔✔Product lifecycle trends - ✔✔- Some products have a "second life" after decline
- Consumption spreads faster today
- Product life cycles are getting shorter
- More frequent innovation
✔✔How to make the most of Maturity - ✔✔Diversification analysis: helps a firm search
for growth opportunities among current/new products and current/new markets
, ✔✔market pennetration - ✔✔Current products, current markets
✔✔product development - ✔✔new products, current markets
✔✔market development - ✔✔current products, new market
✔✔Diversification - ✔✔new products, new markets
✔✔Takeaways of diversification analysis - ✔✔Most "new products" aren't really new
✔✔levels of a product - ✔✔core product, actual product, augmented product
✔✔core product - ✔✔core benefit or service
✔✔actual product - ✔✔brand name, quality level, packaging, design, features
✔✔augmented product - ✔✔installation, after-sale service, warranty, delivery and credit
✔✔What is a channel? - ✔✔Path that enables products to flow from producers to end
users
- Intermediaries make this possible
✔✔Channel functions: firm perspective - ✔✔transactional, logistical, facilitating
✔✔transactional function: firm perspective - ✔✔- Buying, selling, negotiating, risk taking
(ownership of inventory)
✔✔logistical function: firm perspective - ✔✔Transporting, storing, sorting ("breaking
bulk"), creating assortments
✔✔Facilitating Function: firm perspective - ✔✔Financing, providing information,
promoting, inspecting/testing
✔✔Channel functions: consumer perspective - ✔✔- information needs
- logistic needs
✔✔Information Needs (customer) - ✔✔- Try before buying
- Advice and Demos
- Compare different products, prices
- Customization
✔✔Logistic Needs (customer) - ✔✔- Variety/Assortment
- Convenience
