| A | B |
|---|
| competition | other organizations that market products that are similar to products in the same MARKET area |
| brand competitiors | firms that market products with similar features and benefits to the same customers at similar prices |
| product competitors | firms that compete in the same product class but have products with different features, benefits and prices |
| total budget competitors | firms that compete for the limited financial resources of the same customers |
| monopoly | a competitive structure in which an organization offers a product that has no close substitutes, making that organization the sole source of supply |
| oligopoly | a competitive structure in which a few sellers control the supply of a large proportion of a product |
| monopolistic competition | a competitive structure in which a firm has many potential competitors and tries to develop marketing strategy to differentiate its product |
| pure competition | a market structure characterized by an extremely large number of sellers, none strong enought to influence price or supply significantly |
| business cycle | economic fluctuations that have four stages: prosperity, recession, depression, and recovery |
| prosperity | a stage of the business cycle characterized by low unemployment and relatively high total income which together caused buying power to be high (provided the inflation rate stays low) |
| recession | a stage of the business cycle during which unemployment rises and total buying power declines, stifling both consumer and business spending |
| depression | business cycle when unemployment is high, wages are low, total income is low, and consumers lack confidence in the economy |
| recovery | a stage of the business cycle in which the economy moves from recession or depression toward propersity |
| buying power | resources, such as money, goods, and services, that can be traded or exchanged |
| income | for an individual, the amount, of money received through wages, rents, investments, pensions, and subsidy payments for a given period |
| disposable income | after tax income |
| discretionary income | disposable income available for spending and saving after and individual has purchased the basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter |
| wealth | the accumulation of past income, natural resources, and financial resources |
| willingness to spend | an inclination to buy because of expected satisfaction from a product, influenced by the ability to buy and numerous psychological and social forces |
| Federal Trade Commission | an agency that regulates a variety of business practices and curbs false advertising, misleading pricing, and deceptive packaging and labeling |
| better business bureau | a local, nongovernmental regulatory agency, supported by local businesses, that help settle problems between customers and specific business firms |
| national advertising review board | a self-regulatory unit that considers challenges to issues raised by the National Advertising Division (an arm of the Council of Better Busines Bureaus) about an advertisement |
| technology | the application of knowledge and tools to solve problems and perform tasks more efficiently |
| sociocultural forces | the influences in a society that change people's attitudes, beliefs, norms, customers, and lifestyles |
| consumerism | organized efforts by individuals, groups, and organizations to protect consumers' rights |
