Microenvironment

Actors close to the company that affect its ability to serve its customers

Macroenvironment:

Larger societal forces that affect the microenvironment

Suppliers

Provide the resources needed by the company to produce its goods and services

Supplier problems seriously affect marketing

– Supply shortages or delays – Labor strikes – Price trends of key inputs

Marketing intermediaries

help the company to promote, sell, and distribute its products to final buyers. – Resellers – Physical distribution firms – Marketing services agencies – Financial intermediaries

Publics

any group that has an actual or potential interest in or impact on an organization’s ability to achieve its objectives – Financial – Media – Government – Citizen action – Local – General – Internal

Five types of customer market

– Consumer markets – Business markets – Reseller markets – Government markets – International markets

Company’s microenvironment

– Company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries – Competitors, publics, customers

forces in the company’s macroenvironment

– Demographic – Economic – Natural – Technological – Political and cultural

Demography

is the study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, gender, race, occupation, and other statistics

Marketers analyze:

– Changing age and family structures – Geographic population shifts – Educational characteristics – Population diversity

Economic Environment

Economic factors affect consumer purchasing power and spending – Changes in consumer spending – Differences in income distribution

Natural Environment

– Shortage of raw materials and high pollution levels – Government intervention – Environmental sustainability

Technological Environment

– Digital Technology – Radio-frequency identification (RFID) – Government regulation

Political Environment

Forces that influence or limit various organizations and individuals in a society – Laws, government agencies, and pressure groups

Legislation regulating business is intended to protect

– companies from each other – consumers from unfair business practices – the interests of society against unrestrained business behavior

Socially Responsible Behavior

• Socially responsible companies actively seek out ways to protect the long-run interests of consumers and the environment. • Companies develop policies, guidelines, and other responses to complex social responsibility issues

Companies use cause-related marketing to

– Exercise their social responsibility – Build more positive images

Cultural Environment

Institutions and other forces that affect a society’s basic values, perceptions, and behaviors

Persistence of cultural values

– Core beliefs and values have a high degree of persistence. – Secondary beliefs and values are more open to change

Shifts in secondary cultural values of people’s views about

– Themselves – Others – Organizations – Society – Nature – Universe

Reactive firms

passively accept the marketing environment and do not try to change it

Proactive firms

develop strategies to change the environment.