Flibbertigibbet

Parsimonious my Butt. Just Try to Borrow Some Money from Me.

I dunno if I've mentioned this or not, but I'm in grad school right now. I'm studying business, which is a generally boring and stodgy subject in spite of being all about money.

Anyway, one of my assignments recently was to write a Multiple Choice Question for the class. Here's mine:

MegaTechie Chemical Corp has a new product, the Sparkle-Widget 3000, that costs $10,000 per unit and is used by Mechanics and Beauticians to assess the chemical composition of various solvent solutions used in their trades. Which of the following answers represents a market or a market segment?

A) Nan Pneumatic, a mechanic in Seattle who runs her own shop for race car repairs and has purchased each of the previous versions of the Sparkle-Widget, and Max Maximumoverdrive, owner of a shop across the street from Nan that employs 400 mechanics for big rig repairs.

B) Jim Supercuts, a barber shop owner in Wisconsin, and Sally Snips, a restaurateur in New York.

C) Tad Tallorder, a chemical engineer in East Namibia who wants to order 1,700 Sparkle-Widget 3000 s to monitor the amount of fertilizer that reaches various reservoirs in the region.

D) Zan, a Wonder Twin whose hobbies include classic car repair, who wants the Sparkle-Widget 3000 to mix a solvent that won t ruin the paint job on his 1964 Camaro and Jana, the other Wonder Twin from whom Zan is estranged due to the Form of an Ice Cage Debacle of 82 but nevertheless shares his love for classic cars and a need for well-mixed solvents.

E) Larry, a stylist at Pomp salon in Los Angeles, California, Daryl, a stylist at A Dor Salon & Spa in the Amish community of Carriageride, Pennsylvania, both of whom specialize in permanent curl hair styles, and Daryl, a mechanic on Fire Island, New York.

Answer: A

Concepts:
A market is
- A set of actual or potential customers
- For a given set of products or services
- Who have a common set of needs or wants, and
- Who reference each other when making a buying decision

B is not the answer because Sally isn t an actual or potential buyer for the Sparkle-Widget 3000; she s a restaurateur, not a mechanic or beautician.

C is not the answer because Tad needs the Sparkle-Widget 3000 for things other than assessing the chemical composition of a solvent solutions.

D is not the answer because Zan and Jana do not reference one another; they re estranged.

E is not the answer because Larry and Daryl (1) do not reference one another because Daryl has no phone in the Amish community (Even if Daryl did have a phone it s unlikely they would reference each other.) and Daryl (2) is a mechanic and although mechanics and beauticians have the same need, they do not reference one another and should be considered separate market segments.

A perfectly good multiple choice question, no? You'll note the multiple choices and I even went so far as to explain the in/validity of each answer, which is not part of the assignment.

My teacher wrote:

Excellent MCQ, Flibby,

You get 4/3.

However, for next time, try to be more parsimonious.

G.

PARSIMONIOUS? Full stop, yo.

First of all, 4 of 3? Is that like an A++ or something? Literally, I got a 133% on this assignment, as opposed to a regular 100%. So, I think I got extra points.

Why? Why did I get extra points?

Undoubtedly, it is because my multiple choice question is FAR superior (33% more superior) than even the scope of the assignment required.

So, I don't understand this 'parsimonious' remark. Am I to understand that I might have gotten like 6 points if I hadn't been so loquacious (Yeah, I have 10 cent words, too!) ?

Well, you can betcha that Zan and Jana will be part of my next MCQ as well.

Parsimonious my butt. Just try to borrow some money from me.