The relationship between advertising and product differentiation is a. irrelevant; firms with differentiated products do not need to advertise. b. zero; there is no relationship between product differentiation and advertising. c. negative; the more differentiated the product, the less a firm is likely to spend on advertising. d. positive; the more differentiated the product, the more a firm is likely to spend on advertising.

d.positive; the more differentiated the product, the more a firm is likely to spend on advertising.

Explanation:

A product can be defined as any physical object or material that typically satisfy and meets the demands, needs or wants of customers. Some examples of a product are mobile phones, television, microphone, microwave oven, bread, pencil, freezer, beverages, soft drinks etc.

Advertisement refers to the promotional multimedia messages designed and developed to make the products or services of a company known to its customers and potential customers.

Product differentiation refers to the differences imposed on consumers by the seller of a product. Thus, it typically makes a product better for some consumers and worse for others.

Hence, the relationship between advertising and product differentiation is positive; the more differentiated the product, the more a firm is likely to spend on advertising so as to convince and spur consumers into buying the product.

in 2001, dell computer became the world’s largest personal computer vendor, continuing to

gain market share and post profits in an industry struggling with slumping sales and billions of

dollars in losses. dell sells 90% of its pcs directly to the final customer, largely bypassing the

reseller channel that accounts for most of the world’s pc sales. this direct customer relationship

is the key to dell’s business model, and provides distinct advantages over the indirect sales

model. dell’s direct relationship with the customer allows it to tailor its offerings to customer

needs, offer add-on products and services, and use the internet to offer a variety of customer

services. in addition, dell’s pcs are built to customers’ specifications upon receipt of an order,

giving dell additional advantages over indirect pc vendors who must try to forecast demand and

ship products based on those forecasts. dell’s direct sales and build-to-order model has achieved

superior performance in the pc industry in terms of inventory turnover, reduced overhead, cash

conversion, and return on investment (kraemer, et al., 2000).

explanation:

d. automatic stabilizers.

explanation: