hmmm

Today the class was a bit down than usual,because maybe there were no presentations today.Although i enjoyed even today too the way Mr. Mannan teaches and shows practicles examples for this.

Summary of chapter 3

A company’s marketing environment consists of the actors & forces outside marketing that affect marketing management’s ability to build & maintain successful relationships with target customers.

More than any other group in the company, marketers must be the trend trackers & opportunity seekers. They have disciplined methods-marketing research & marketing intelligence-for collecting information about the marketing environment.

The marketing environment is made up of two groups:
Microenvironment
Macro environment

Microenvironment:
It consists of the actors close to the company that affect its ability to serve its customers. They include:
The company,
Suppliers,
Marketing intermediaries,
Customer markets,
Competitors
Publics

1- The company:
A company includes different groups such as top management, finance, R&D etc. Marketing management makes decisions keeping in mind the strategies & plans made by the top management.

2- Suppliers:
As suppliers provide the resources needed by the company to produce its goods & services; they form an important link in the overall customer value delivery system. Due to this reason most marketers treat their suppliers as partners.

3- Marketing Intermediaries:
They help the company to promote, sell & distribute its products to final buyers. Resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing services agencies & financial intermediaries come under this heading.

4- Customers:
There include the following 5 types:
Individuals, Business markets, Reseller markets, Government markets & International markets.


5- Competitors:
A successful company must provide greater customer value & satisfaction than its competitors do. Apart from targeting customers the marketers gain strategic advantage by positioning their offerings strongly against that of the competitors.

6- Publics:
It is defined as any group that has an actual or potential interest in or impact on an organization’s ability to achieve its objective. Financial publics, Media publics, Government publics, Citizen-action publics, Local publics, General publics & Internal publics.

Macro environment:
It consists of the larger societal forces that affect the microenvironment.. Following are included in it:
Demographic environment
Economic forces
Natural forces
Technological forces
Political forces
Cultural forces

1- Demographic Environment:
It is the study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, gender etc. Changes in the world demographic environment have major implications for business as business target people & demographics is a summary about the people. Some of the most important demographic trends are:
Changing age structure (baby boomers, generation X & generation Y)
Changing family structure (traditional structure is on a decline)
Geographic shifts in population (migratory movements on rise)
Better educated population (increase in demand for professionals than manufactures)
Increasing diversity (migration, sexual orientation, changed life style of disable people)

2- Economic Environment:
It consists of factors that affect consumer purchasing power & spending pattern. Two important trends in this case are:
Change in income (along with rising income come increased financial burdens)
Change in spending pattern (Engel’s laws: As income increases spending on the basic utilities decreases)

3-Natural Environment:
It involves the natural resources that are needed as inputs by marketers or that are affected by marketing activities. Following trends should be kept in mind regarding this factor:
Growing shortage of raw material
Increased population
Increased government intervention

4- Technological Environment:
It is the most dramatic force now days that is shaping our destiny as it is a rapidly changing environment.
Everyone’s perspective is different on this issue & it depends on whether someone is more impressed by technology’s wonders or its blunders.

5- Political Environment:
Marketing decisions greatly depend on the political environment. It comprises of law, government agencies & other pressure groups. Following two are the most important factors:
Legislation Regulating Business: (increasing legislation & changing government agency enforcement)
Increased emphasis on Ethics & Socially Responsible Actions: (socially responsible behavior & cause related marketing)

6- Cultural Environment:
This revolves around institutions & other forces that affect a society’s basic values, perceptions, preferences & behavior. Cultural characteristics that affect marketing are:
Persistence of cultural values
Shifts in secondary cultural values ( people’s view of themselves, people’s view of others, people’s view of organizations, people’s view of society, people’s view of nature & people’s view of the universe)

Responding to the marketing environment:

There are three kinds of companies:
Those who make things happen
Those who watch things happen
Those who wonder what’s happened

Marketing management cannot always control environmental forces. However, they need to be prefer proactive attitude over a reactive one.

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