問10
頻出度★★★
企業は，売上高の拡大や市場占有率の拡大などのマーケティング目標を達成するために，4Pと呼ばれる四つの要素を組み合わせて最適化を図る。四つの要素の組合せとして適切なものはどれか。
平成25年度 春期 ITパスポート試験 問10
ストラテジ系経営戦略マネジメント › マーケティング
This question's explanation and your answers so far.
解説
問 10
Incorrectア
Incorrect. Price, product, and promotion are indeed part of the 4P, but the fourth item is profit, and place, which should be included, is missing. Profit is the result obtained after marketing activities are carried out (sales minus costs); it is not a marketing element that a company combines and optimizes. Moreover, no matter how good the product is, how appropriately it is priced, and how well it is promoted, the marketing mix is not complete unless the distribution route (sales channel) that delivers it to customers is decided. A combination that lacks place is therefore not appropriate as the 4P.
- イ
正解 The correct answer is イ: price, product, promotion, place. The 4P are the four marketing elements that a company combines and optimizes in order to achieve marketing goals such as sales volume and market share, namely Product, Price, Place, and Promotion, all of which begin with the letter P. This combination of the four is called the marketing mix. Product decides what to sell (the product functions, quality, design, brand, warranty, and so on); Price decides how much to charge (price setting, discounts, payment terms, and so on); Place decides how the product reaches the customer (sales channels, distribution routes, store location, inventory and transport, and so on); and Promotion decides how to inform customers and make them want to buy (advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, public relations, and so on). The important point here is that all of the 4P are means that the company itself decides and can control (controllable marketing variables). Profit is a result indicator that arises from the difference between sales and costs after the 4P have been carried out; it is not an element that the company directly combines and optimizes, so it is not included in the 4P. Among the choices, only イ leaves out profit and contains all four of product, price, place, and promotion, so イ is appropriate.
Incorrectウ
Incorrect. Price, product, and place are indeed part of the 4P, but the fourth item is profit, and promotion is missing. As stated above, profit is a result indicator, not a marketing element. Promotion, on the other hand, is the activity of conveying the existence and value of a product to customers and encouraging them to buy, through advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, public relations, and so on; it is an indispensable part of the 4P. A combination that drops promotion and replaces it with profit is not appropriate as the 4P.
Incorrectエ
Incorrect. Product, promotion, and place are indeed part of the 4P, but the fourth item is profit, and price is missing. Besides the fact that profit is not a marketing element, price is the only element of the 4P that directly generates revenue, and how price setting, discounts, payment terms, and the like are decided has a large effect on both sales volume and market share. A marketing mix cannot be built without deciding the price, so a combination that lacks price is not appropriate as the 4P.
ここがポイント
- The marketing mix (4P) is the combination of four marketing elements that a company can control from the seller point of view, namely Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. All four begin with P, but profit is a result indicator obtained from carrying out the 4P rather than a marketing element, so it is not included; this is the biggest trap in this question.
- The 4P is a framework from the seller (company) point of view, and replacing it with the buyer (customer) point of view gives the 4C. Product corresponds to Customer value, Price to Cost (what the customer bears), Place to Convenience, and Promotion to Communication. The IT Passport exam sometimes asks about the correspondence between the 4P and the 4C as well.
用語