1. Marketing Environment
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Marketing Environment
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.
Marketers have disciplined methods—marketing research & marketing intelligence—for
collecting information about the marketing environment.
The marketing environment consists of a microenvironment & a macro environment. The
microenvironment consists of the actors close to the company that affect its ability to
serve its customers—the company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer
markets, competitors, & publics. The macroenvironment consists of the larger societal
forces that affect the microenvironment—demographic, economic, natural,
technological, political, & cultural forces.
The Microenvironment
Marketing success requires building relationships with other company departments,
suppliers, marketing intermediaries, competitors, various publics, & customers, which
combine to make up the company’s value delivery network.
The Company
Company has different groups such as top management, finance, research &
development (R&D), purchasing, operations, & accounting. All of these interrelated
groups form the internal environment.
Top management sets the company’s mission, objectives, broad strategies, & policies.
Suppliers
Suppliers form an important link in the company’s overall customer value delivery
network. They provide the resources needed by the company to produce its goods &
services. Supplier problems can seriously affect marketing. Marketing managers must
watch supply availability & costs. Supply shortages or delays, labor strikes, & other
events can cost sales in the short run & damage customer satisfaction in the long run.

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Rising supply costs may force price increases that can harm the company’s sales volume.
Most marketers treat their suppliers as partners in creating & delivering customer value.
For example, Toyota knows the importance of building close relationships with its
suppliers. With satisfied suppliers Toyota produce lower-cost, higher-quality cars, which
in turn results in more satisfied customers.
Marketing Intermediaries
Marketing intermediaries help the company to promote, sell, & distribute its products
to final buyers. They include resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing services
agencies, & financial intermediaries. Resellers are distribution channel firms that help
the company find customers or make sales to them. These include wholesalers & retailers
who buy & resell merchandise. Selecting & partnering with resellers is not easy.
Physical distribution firms help the company stock & move goods from their points of
origin to their destinations. Marketing services agencies are the marketing research
firms, advertising agencies, media firms, & marketing consulting firms that help the
company target & promote its products to the right markets. Financial intermediaries
include banks, credit companies, insurance companies, & other businesses that help
finance transactions or insure against the risks associated with the buying & selling of
goods. Company must partner effectively with marketing intermediaries to optimize the
performance of the entire system.
Customers
Customers are the most important actors in the company’s microenvironment. The aim
of the entire value delivery network is to serve target customers & create strong
relationships with them. The company has five types of customer markets.
Consumer markets consist of individuals & households that buy goods & services for
personal consumption. Business markets buy goods & services for further processing or
use in their production processes, whereas reseller markets buy goods & services to
resell at a profit. Government markets consist of government agencies that buy goods &
services to produce public services or transfer the goods & services to others who need
them. Finally, international markets consist of these buyers in other countries, including

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consumers, producers, resellers, & governments. Each market type has special
characteristics that call for careful study by the seller.
Competitors
The marketing concept states that, to be successful, a company must provide greater
customer value & satisfaction than its competitors do. Each firm should consider its own
size & industry position compared to those of its competitors. Large firms with dominant
positions in an industry can use certain strategies that smaller firms cannot afford. But
being large is not enough. There are winning strategies for large firms, but there are also
losing ones. & small firms can develop strategies that give them better rates of return
than large firms enjoy.
Publics
The company’s marketing environment also includes various publics. A public is any
group that has an actual or potential interest in or impact on an organization’s ability to
achieve its objectives. We can identify seven types of publics:
• Financial publics. This group influences the company’s ability to obtain funds. Banks,
investment analysts, & stockholders are the major financial publics.
• Media publics. This group carries news, features, & editorial opinion. It includes
newspapers, magazines, television stations, & blogs & other Internet media.
• Government publics. Marketers must often consult the company’s lawyers on issues of
product safety, truth in advertising, & other matters.
• Citizen-action publics. A company’s marketing decisions may be questioned by
consumer organizations, environmental groups, minority groups, & others.
• Local publics. This group includes neighborhood residents & community
organizations.
• General public. A company needs to be concerned about the general public’s attitude
toward its products & activities. The public’s image of the company affects its buying.
• Internal publics. This group includes workers, managers, volunteers, & the board of
directors. Large companies use newsletters & other means to inform & motivate their

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internal publics. When employees feel good about the companies they work for, this
positive attitude spills over to the external publics.
The Macro environment
The company & all of the other actors operate in a larger environment forces that shape
opportunities & pose threats to the company. The six major forces in the company’s
macroenvironment are as follows.
The Demographic Environment
Demography is the study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age,
gender, race, occupation, & other statistics. The demographic environment is of major
interest to marketers because it involves people, & people make up markets. Changes in
the world demographic environment have major implications for business. Thus,
marketers keep a close eye on demographic trends & analyze changing age & family
structures, geographic population shifts, educational characteristics, & population
diversity. Eg:- The U.S. population contains several generational groups. Like baby
boomers, Generation X, & the Millennials.
The Baby Boomers. The post–World War II baby boom produced 78 million baby
boomers, who were born between 1946 & 1964. Over the years, the baby boomers have
been one of the most powerful forces shaping the marketing environment. Today’s baby
boomers account for about 25 percent of the U.S. population Generation X. The baby
boom was followed by a ―birth dearth,‖ creating another generation of 49 million people
born between 1965 & 1976. Millennials (also called Generation Y or the echo
boomers). Born between 1977 & 2000,
The Economic Environment
The economic environment consists of economic factors that affect consumer
purchasing power & spending patterns. Nations vary in their levels & distribution of
income. Some countries have industrial economies, which constitute rich markets for
many different kinds of goods. Some are subsistence economies; they consume most of
their own agricultural & industrial output & offer few market opportunities. In between
are developing economies that can offer outstanding marketing opportunities for
products. Ex:-In the past, only India’s elite could afford to buy a car. But recent dramatic
changes in India’s economy have produced a growing middle class & rapidly rising

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incomes. Now, to meet the new demand different countries automakers are introducing
smaller, more-affordable vehicles in India.
Changes in Consumer Spending : The changes in economic factors like recession,
inflation, boom in the market will directly affect on consumer spending & buying
behavior. Consumers buy less & look for greater value.
Income Distribution : Marketers should pay attention to income distribution as well as
income levels. Over the past several decades, the rich have grown richer, the middle
class has shrunk, & the poor have remained poor. Changes in major economic variables,
such as income, cost of living, interest rates, & savings & borrowing patterns have a
large impact on the marketplace.
The Natural Environment
The natural environment involves the natural resources that are needed as inputs by
marketers or that are affected by marketing activities. Environmental concerns have
grown steadily over the past three decades. In many cities around the world, air & water
pollution have reached dangerous levels. World concern continues to mount about the
possibilities of global warming. Marketers should be aware of several trends in the
natural environment.
1) The 1st
involves growing shortages of raw materials. Air & water may seem to be
infinite resources, but some groups see long-run dangers. Air pollution chokes many of
the world’s large cities, & water shortages are already a big problem in some parts of the
country & world. By 2030, more than one in three of the world’s population will not
have enough water to drink. Renewable resources, such as forests & food, also have to
be used wisely. Nonrenewable resources, such as oil, coal, & various minerals, pose a
serious problem.
2) A 2nd
environmental trend is increased pollution. Industry will almost always damage
the quality of the natural environment. Consider the disposal of chemical & nuclear
wastes; the dangerous mercury levels in the ocean; the quantity of chemical pollutants in
the soil & food supply; & the littering of the environment with non biodegradable
bottles, plastics, & other packaging materials.

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3) A 3rd
trend is increased government intervention in natural resource management.
The governments of different countries vary in their concern & efforts to promote a clean
environment. Many nations, do little about pollution, because they lack the needed funds
or political will. Many Environmental Protection Agency enforce pollution standards &
conduct pollution research. Government has strong control & pressure on companies.
Instead of opposing regulation, marketers should help to develop solutions to the
material & energy problems facing the world. Concern for the natural environment has
spawned the so-called green movement. Companies are developing strategies & practices
that support environmental sustainability by developing recyclable or biodegradable
packaging, recycled materials & components, better pollution controls, & more energy-
efficient operations.
Ex:-PepsiCo is working to dramatically reduce its environmental footprint. PepsiCo
markets hundreds of products that are grown, produced, & consumed worldwide. Making
& distributing these products requires water, electricity, & fuel. In 2007, the company set
as its goal to reduce water consumption by 20 percent, electricity consumption by 20
percent, & fuel consumption by 25 percent.
The Technological Environment
Technology has released wonders such as antibiotics, robotic surgery, miniaturized
electronics, smartphones, & the Internet. It also has released horrors as nuclear missiles
& chemical weapons. Our
attitude toward technology depends on whether we are more impressed with its wonders
or its blunders.
New technologies can offer exciting opportunities for marketers. For example, Radio-
frequency identification (RFID) is a technology to track products through various points
in the distribution channel. Walmart has strongly encouraged suppliers shipping products
to its distribution centers to apply RFID tags to their pallets. The technological
environment changes rapidly. All of today’s common products that were not available
100 years ago—or even 30 years ago. New technologies create new markets &

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opportunities. However, every new technology replaces an older technology. When old
industries fought or ignored new technologies, their businesses declined.
The Political & Social Environment
Marketing decisions are strongly affected by developments in the political environment.
The political environment consists of laws, government agencies, & pressure groups
that influence or limit various organizations & individuals in a given society.
Legislation Regulating Business
Governments develop public policy to guide sets of laws & regulations that limit
business for the good of society. Many laws covering issues such as competition, fair
trade practices, environmental protection, , truth in advertising, consumer privacy,
packaging & labeling, pricing, product safety, competitive behavior, product standards,
product liability, & commercial transactions etc. The purpose of Business legislation /
Government Regulations is:
1) To protect companies from each other for unfair competition.
2) Toto protect consumers from unfair business practices. Eg: Some firms, mislead
consumers in their advertising, & deceive consumers through their packaging & pricing.
3) To protect the interests of society from unrestrained (not controlled/not restricted)
business behavior.
So, marketers need to know about the major laws protecting competition, consumers, &
society. They need to understand these laws at the local, state, national, & international
levels. Increased Emphasis on Ethics & Socially Responsible Actions encourages
companies, to protect the long-run interests of their consumers & the environment.
The Cultural Environment
The learned behavior is called as culture. The cultural environment consists of
institutions & other forces that affect a society’s basic values, perceptions, preferences,
& behaviors. People grow up in a particular society that shapes their basic beliefs &
values. The following cultural characteristics can affect marketing decision making.
The Persistence of Cultural Values : People in a given society hold many beliefs &
values. For example, most Americans believe in individual freedom, hard work, getting

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married, & achievement & success. These beliefs shape more specific attitudes &
behaviors found in everyday life. Core beliefs & values are passed on from parents to
children & are reinforced by schools, churches, business, & government. Secondary
beliefs & values are more open to change. Marketers have some chance of changing
secondary values but little chance of changing core values.
Shifts in Secondary Cultural Values : Consider the impact of popular music groups,
movie personalities, & other celebrities on young people’s hairstyling & clothing norms.
Marketers want to predict cultural shifts to spot new opportunities or threats. People use
products, brands, & services as a means of self-expression, & they buy products &
services that match their views of themselves. Marketers can target their products &
services based on such self-views.