In which one of the following situations/circumstances is it most reasonable for a company to consider modifying its strategy to cater to buyers looking to purchase stylish high-quality athletic footwear by strongly differentiating its branded footwear from the offerings of rival companies on the basis of "high" S/Q ratings (8.5 stars or higher) and marketing this footwear at well above-average prices?

a. When the managers of most other companies believe selling a large volume of branded pairs is much more important to achieving the investor-expected image rating than is producing and marketing branded footwear with a well-above average S/Q rating.

b. When the company is struggling to meet or beat the five investor-expected performance targets because there are so many other rivals also targeting the relatively small buyer segment that is willing to pay top prices for branded footwear with high S/Q ratings.

c. When a company's strategy to differentiate its product offering from rival brands on the basis of a high Š/Q rating is easily defeated by rival companies pursuing a competitive advantage based on well above-average spending for brand advertising

d. When the sellers of branded footwear with high S/Q ratings are confronted with strong competitive efforts from rivals striving to dominate the Internet segment by offering free shipping to attract online buyers.

e. When most every other rival company seems to be pursuing a low-cost/low-price/high- volume strategy Copying, redistributing, or website posting is expressly prohibited and constitutes copyright violation.

When most every other rival company seems to be pursuing a low-cost/low-price/high- volume strategy Copying, redistributing, or website posting is expressly prohibited and constitutes copyright violation.

Explanation:

For differentiation strategy that provides a product with higher attributes than those provided by other competitors at a higher price to work the appropriate business environment must be in place.

The high quality product to be produced must not be subject to copying, redistribution, or website posting. If the product is protected by copyright laws the company will be the only seller in the market and will make high profits as a result of the product differentiation.

Also most other sellers will be focused on selling low-cost/low-price/high- volume products. This will create a customer pool that will prefer to purchase stylish high-quality athletic footwear.

Footwear with high" S/Q ratings (8.5 stars or higher) can be sold above-average prices