The Cessna case in Chapter 6 provides an excellent introduction to the topic of business markets. To see how Cessna is trying to reach this market via the Web, take a look at the following homepage and answer the questions below:

Cessna Aircraft Company http://www.cessna.textron.com

a) First, give a brief description of Cessna's target business market. How does this homepage differ from those aimed at consumer markets? What other features might Cessna offer via the Web to better serve the special needs of its business market?

b) Next, take a look at the New Piper Aircraft homepage (http://www.newpiper.com). Based on what you see here, how does Piper differentiate itself from competitors like Cessna? Compare and contrast these two homepages.

In today's complex and multifaceted commercial environment, one company can often assume many roles with respect to the other companies with which it does business. Take Dell Computer as an example:

Dell Computer http://www.dell.com

As you peruse the Dell homepage, make a list of all the ways in which this company represents different aspects of the business market. Keep in mind that Dell can be seen as both buyer and seller. Use the definitions of business market and business user on pp. 134-5 to provide a framework for your answer.

The agricultural business market is more complex than you might think. To test your knowledge of the agriculture market, make a list of all the different agriculture-related products and service types you can think of (limit your list to just the business market). Once you have finished your list, go to the Yahoo! site (http://www.yahoo.com) and follow the link sequence below:

Business and Economy ® Companies ® Agriculture

As you peruse the multitude of links under the "Agriculture" heading, make a note of those products and service types you left off your list. Odds are that you missed at least a few. Based on what you've learned, write a one-page description of the modern day agriculture market.

Take a look at the following homepages and determine whether or not each organization can be classified as a reseller. For those that fall in this category, prepare a brief sketch of their likely supplier organizations and target markets. (Beware... this exercise is trickier than it may seem!)

STA Travel http://www.sta-travel.com

Egghead Software http://www.egghead.com

Century 21 http://www.century21.com

Burlington Coat Factory http://www.coat.com

The All Music Guide http://www.allmusic.com

The authors point out that the producer of a business product may engage in marketing efforts to encourage the sale of its buyers products, thereby inducing derived demand. Explore the following homepages and answer the questions below.

Plastics Resource http://www.plasticsresource.com

American Egg Board http://www.aeb.org

Dow Chemical http://www.dow.com

Which of the above marketing efforts could be characterized (at least in part) as a derived demand strategy? For those that fall in this category, describe the process by which this practice benefits the original producer (be sure to specifically identify the derived demand in each case). For those that don't fall in this category, explain why. (It may be useful for you to think of other advertising media - such as magazine and television - that you have seen for similar organizations.)

You can find indices for the Standard Industrial Classification system at the following URLs:

http://weber.u.washington.edu/~dev/sic.html

http://www.window.texas.gov/ecodata/sic1987.html

a) Give three examples of how this coding system is organized. Be sure to trace each example from the most general to the most specific level of classification. (You may want to follow the format shown in Figure 6-1.)

b) Let's say you wanted to obtain all of the information published by the federal government about a particular industry. One of best places to start is the National Technical Information Service (a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce).

NTIS http://www.ntis.gov/business/

Identify an industry of particular interest to you and make a list of all relevant publications available through the NTIS. Next, use all Web resources at your disposal (search engines, etc.) to locate other government publications that are relevant to your chosen industry. Write a brief summary of how these government documents can help you get a better handle on your chosen business market.

As you peruse the following homepages, determine whether each company's primary product is aimed at a vertical or horizontal business market. Describe this relationship and give illustrative examples.

BEI, Inc. http://www.bei-inc.com

Lanxide http://www.lanxide.com/lanxcoat

How do these homepages reflect the difference between vertical and horizontal markets?

All of the government-published activity indicators listed on p. 146 can be accessed via the Web. Here are the relevant URLs:

Census of Manufactures http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/econ/www/mansum.html

Census of Mineral Industries http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/econ/www/minecen.html

Census of Agriculture http://govinfo.kerr.orst.edu/ag-stateis.html

Current Construction Reports http://blue.census.gov/mp/www/pub/con/mscho.html

As you familiarize yourself with each of these resources, think of the kinds of companies that could make the most of this information. Give a company example (real or hypothetical) for each area and describe briefly the kinds of information that would be most relevant to these organizations. How do these data reflect the purchasing power of business customers?

Many companies market their products to both the business and consumer markets. For example, automobile manufacturers sell to both the general public and car rental firms. Other examples include large computer companies such as Hewlett-Packard, which maintains separate Web homepages for personal computing (i.e., the consumer market) and business computing:

HP Personal Computing http://www.hp.com/PersonalComputing/

HP Business Computing http://www.hp.com/esy/

Discuss the buying motives appealed to in each of these marketing efforts. Be sure to point out both the similarities and differences between them. How does HP's business computing page reflect the two views of business buying motives as discussed on p. 147?

The following organizations are very different from each other, but they can both be used to illustrate the three types of buying situations, or buy classes. As you peruse each homepage, come up with three likely scenarios that exemplify each of the three buy classes respectively. Be sure to explain how each example conforms to the appropriate buy class definition. (Refer to the hospital example on p. 148 if you get stuck.)

Harvard Business School http://www.hbs.edu

Crayola http://www.crayola.com