Introduction
Organisations are surrounded by laws, competitors etc which are marketing environment
Marketing policy operates within a rapidly changing environment
External factors must be monitored and responded to
St Paul’s Cathedral
Major tourist attraction, also a church at the same time
Needs £5.5 million to stay open a year
Non-profit organisation but needs contributions so some parts of the building you have to pay to see
Has to compete with many other attractions, been there 350 years so people will think it can last forever & could go and visit something else
The marketing environment
Threats and opportunities for the business
Divided into the external and internal environment
External concerned with outside of organisation
Internal are factors within the organisation
2 approaches to dealing with environmental factors:
Reactive management: environmental forces are uncontrollable, adjust marketing plans to fit it
Proactive management: ways to change organisations environment, most factors can be controlled or influenced
The external environment
Micro-environment: customer base, location of company warehouses, existence of a local pressure group (can overlap into internal)
Macro-environment: government legislation, foreign competition, exchange rate fluctuations
External environment can be influenced, not directly controlled
Situational analysis
Managers can use SWOT to assess internal environment
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
PEST is useful for looking at the external environment
The micro-environment
Competitors, customers, suppliers, intermediaries, micro-environment publics
Micro and Macro environment
Competitors Firms fail to recognise who their competitors are, they define their business too narrowly
E.g. bus business has other transports as competition, not just buses
Retailers didn’t recognise internet retail shops would become a threat
Which competitors offer