THE MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

THE MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

1. Macro Environment

   • Political/Legal
     • Political includes government policies at a domestic level
     • Legal is when government policies are implemented through legislation passed by parliment
       • It can arise from decisions in courts of law - industry specific
   • Economic
     • Market needs to monitor -unemployment levels, -interest and taxation rates, -economic cycles
       • These factors can affect consumer spending and demand
   • Social
     • Factors such as
       • **Changes to population of country **Social attitudes and changing cultural norms
         • Lifestyle factors have a profound impact on different businesses
   • Technological
     • Widely acknowledged change in macro environment
       • Industry is affected by
         • 3)Development of new tech
         • 2)Technical improvements
         • 1)Pace of technological change
   • Environmental
     • Natural environmental factors and sustainability trends
       • Natural phenomena - earth quakes and tsunamis
         • Man-made factors - Climate change and scarcity of materials

2. Micro environment

   • Customers
     • Different from consumers
       • buying and drinking - customer and consumer
         • Buying behaviour and needs change because of a range of factors
           • some customer groups go to alternative P/S or even cease to exist
             • New segments appear - new opportunities for org.
   • Suppliers
     • Have a significant impact on org. marketing
       • Can affect
         • The quality and cost of finished products
         • The effective delivery of services
   • Intermediaries
     • Include channels used to take a P/S to market
       • org. can be RETAILERS, WHOLESALERS, AGENTS, DITSTRIBUTERS, FRANCHISEES
         • These ensure that P/S reach customers and consumers
           • Be a principal point of contact with customer
   • The General Public
     • Reputation of company is very important
       • Potential customers views is as important as existing customers
         • Pressure groups and campaigning org. are iincluded
   • Competitors
     • Bc org. focuses on competitors a lot
       • They narrow them down too much it can overlook serious threats
         • Benefit the customer derives is most important

3. Internal Environment

   • Resources
     • Assets owned or controlled by org.
       • Physcial - Building and vehicles
       • Financial - Share capital and cash at bank
       • If resources are strong org. has an advantage when attracting customers and competing
   • Systems and processes
     • Market information system used by marketing function
       • Data combined from market research and intelligence gathering (customer internal data)
   • Skills /people
     • Employing marketers with good knowledge of people
       • EG: social media, digital marketing, customer behavoiur
         • All give the org. competitive advantage
   • Internal elements enabling or restricting successful marketing
     • Other elements like org. culture, leadership, vision and strategy affects org. success
       • Strong culture of focusing on customer satisfaction = successful marketing

4. UNDERSTANDING THE MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

   • Supporting decision making
     • Understanding macro env.
       • Long term strategic decisions about WHERE to compete
     • Understanding micro env.
       • Give marketers an insight on HOW to compete
     • Understanding internal resources
       • appreciating the resources and skills can tell whats the org. can accomplish
   • Aid for planning
     • Knowledge of marketing environment helps with planning process
     • Helps managers make better informed decisisons
     • Gives context to managers to the plans they devlp
     • Understanding potential changes allows marketers to plan for potential scenarios, less likely to be caught out
   • Knowledge of situation and changes
     • Scanning and analyzing the marketing environment
       • Gives marketers good knowledge of current state
       • Alerts marketers for potential changes
   • Assessing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
     • SWOT ANALYSIS
       • Strengths and Weaknesses factors from MACRO
       • Opportunities and Threats from MIRCO