Assessing the Marketing
Environment
The MACRO Environment
• Identifies and measures the non-controllable
elements of the environment that
organisation must assess.
• Organisations are assessing the trends in
change as they might impact on them
• MACRO environment is dynamic, it is always
changing
• PESTLE factors are the ones we are analysing
The Social Environment
• Demography
– How fast/slow is the population growing?
– Is it an aging population? What is the ethnic make up?
Level of immigration?
– How is it changing?
• Social Change
– Divorce rates? Single parent and single families?
– Working women? Rise in wealth of women? ‘New’
family units.
– Impact of ‘new’ ethnic groups
The Social Environment
• Culture
– What are the core values in Society? What is their
source?
– Religion and thinkers are key to culture
– Education, language, Aesthetics.
– Family background, sub-cultures, reference groups
• Social responsibility
– As a society we are becoming more concerned with
business behaving in an ethical manner and looking
after the environment
The Economic Environment
• Economic indicators
– Interest rates
– Inflation
– Growth (GDP)
– Unemployment
– International trade (surplus)
– Personal debt
– Exchange rates
– The Business (Economic) cycle
The Political Environment
• Governments
– Pass laws
– Set levels of tax
– Shape behavioural standards, for example laws
about smoking
– Control the public sector
– Take responsibility for International Trade
The Legal Environment
• Government legislate
– Consumer protection laws
– Health and safety
– Laws to protect intangible property
• Patents
• Trademarks
The Natural Environment
• Environmental factors the public are
concerned about
– Reducing fossil fuel consumption
– Re-cycling
– Sustainable sources
– Help workers down the supply chain
– Ethical business behaviour
The Technological Environment
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The speed as which new technology diffuses
The impact of technology on social change
The Internet (how do companies use it?)
Technology impacts on our effectiveness and
efficiency at work
Corporate and Social Responsibility
• Organisations accountability to society
– Social values, consumers want to know more
about the sources of their products
– Fair trade
– Cause related marketing
The MICRO Environment
• Individuals and organisations that directly or
indirectly impact on an organisation. They
include:
– Customers
– Suppliers
– Distributors
– Shareholders
– Competitors
– Interest groups
Customers
• How have/do their requirements change over
time?
• How do the MACRO environmental changes
impact on customers?
• How do suppliers products impact on
customer?
• Is the product/service always on time?
• Happy employees makes for happy customers
Competitors
• In the UK there are many laws to stop unfair
competition. In particular mergers of large
companies are strictly controlled
• Anti-competitive agreements are prohibited
• Trade bodies exist to enforce standards
• Various regional trading bodies
• World trade organisation
Analysing Competitors
• We need to know:
– What the competitor says about itself
– What people say about them
– Their Strengths and Weakness
– Their tactics
– Their product/service offering
– How our company compares
The Internal Environment
• It is about understanding what the company is
capable of and what it does best (core
competencies). They come in various forms in
the UK:
– Sole trader
– Partnerships
– Limited company
– Francises
Internal Culture
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Motivating staff
Rewarding staff
The degree of formality at work
How should staff behave
Degree and expectations of team working
Structure and control inn the organisation
Corporate and Social Responsibility at
the Business Level
• Should business be responsible? Two views
– No, business is only about making a profit so other
people can spend money on social issues
– Yes, business is responsible for all its stakeholders
whether they directly generate income or not
Organisational Strengths and
Weaknesses
• Organisations are constrained by all the actors
in their environment. However with
globalisation new markets opens up.
• Challenge for business in this new world order
is to either:
– Standardise or adapt their products and services
for different markets
– Are you a niche or mass marketer?
Measurement Methods
• Qualitative
– Soft data and opinion
– Can help understand the reasons why
• Quantitative
– Hard data and measurement
– Mathematical models
– Can help understand the what
Organisational Objectives
• Objectives are hierarchical and should be
SMART
– Organisation mission and purpose
– Organisation aims
– Organisation objectives
– Marketing objectives
Auditing Tools
• Internal (5M’s)
– Money, Manpower, Marketing, Materials,
Machinery
• MICRO
– Porters 5 Forces for structure of competition
• MACRO
– PEST, PESTLE
SWOT
• Pulls together the strands of the analysis
– Strengths-what the organisation is good at
– Weaknesses-Internal areas to improve
– Opportunities-external factors that can help the
organisation improve
– Threats-external factors beyond the organisations
control that could put it at risk