THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
3-1
The Marketing Business Environment
Non Market
Environment
Suppliers
Customers
The
Organization
Public
Pressure
Groups
Competitors
Market
Specific
Environment
Environment
©
3-2
The Environment
Defining the Marketing Business Environment
– forces and institutions outside the organization that may
affect organizational performance
• Market environment - includes those constituencies
that have a direct and immediate impact on managers’
decisions and actions
– directly relevant to goal achievement
– is unique to each organization, including:
» customers - absorb organization’s output
» suppliers - provide material and equipment
» competitors –
» pressure groups - special-interest groups
© Prentice Hall, 2002
3-3
The Environment (cont.)
• Non Market environment - includes the broad
conditions that may affect organizations
– Economic conditions - interest rates, changes in
disposable income, and stage of the business cycle
– Legal conditions - federal, state, and local
regulation
» substantial expense entailed to meet regulations
» limit choices available to organizations
– Political conditions - general stability of country
» attitudes of governmental officials toward
business
© Prentice Hall, 2002
3-4
EXHIBIT 3.6: SELECTED U.S. LEGISLATION AFFECTING BUSINESS
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3-5
The Environment (cont.)
• Non market environment (cont.)
– Sociocultural conditions - expectations of society
» values, customs, and tastes
– Demographic conditions - trends in the physical
characteristics of a population
» e.g., “baby boomers” influential because of their
numbers
» e.g., “digital” or “net” generation - immersion
and acceptance of computers
© Prentice Hall, 2002
3-6
The Environment (cont.)
– External environment (cont.)
• General environment (cont.)
– Technological conditions - most rapidly changing
aspect of the general environment
» changing the ways that organizations are
structured
» information is the basis of important
competitive advantages
– Global conditions - increasing number of global
competitors and consumer markets
» major factor affecting organizations
© Prentice Hall, 2002
3-7
The Environment (cont.)
How the Environment Affects Managers
– Assessing environmental uncertainty - determined by:
• degree of unpredictable change
– dynamic - frequent change
– stable - minimal change
• environmental complexity
– the number of components in the environment
– amount of information available or required about
those components
• managers attempt to minimize uncertainty
© Prentice Hall, 2002
3-8
EXHIBIT 3.7: ENVIRONMENTAL UNCERTAINTY MATRIX
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3-9
The Environment (cont.)
Stakeholder Relationship Management
– Who are stakeholders?
• any constituencies that are affected by the
organization’s decisions and actions
–include internal and external groups
–can influence the organization
© Prentice Hall, 2002
3-10
The Environment (cont.)
Stakeholder Relationship Management (cont.)
– Why is stakeholder relationship management
important?
• the more secure the relationship, the more
influence managers will have over
organizational outcomes
• it’s the “right” thing to do
© Prentice Hall, 2002
3-11
EXHIBIT 3.8: ORGANIZATIONAL STAKEHOLDERS
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3-12
The Environment (cont.)
Stakeholder Relationship Management (cont.)
– How can these relationships be managed?
• four steps
– identify the stakeholders
– determine real and potential concerns of each
stakeholder group
– determine whether stakeholder is critical
– determine specific approach to manage the
relationship
• approach to a stakeholder group based on the
importance of the group and the degree of
environmental uncertainty
© Prentice Hall, 2002
3-13
EXHIBIT 3.9: MANAGING STAKEHOLDER RELATIONSHIPS
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3-14
Marketing Mix
Place
Product
Marketing Mix
Convenience
Cust. Solution
Price
Customer Cost
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Promotion
Communication
BUSINESS NEWS PARADIGM
CUSTOMER / PUBLIC
FRONT-LINE PEOPLE
C
U
S
T
O
M
E
R
© Prentice Hall, 2002
MIDLE MANAGEMENT
TOP
MANAGEMENT
C
U
S
T
O
M
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R
© Prentice Hall, 2002
© Prentice Hall, 2002