Marketing Environment (micro, macro)

Marketing Environment

The factors or forces influencing marketing decision making are collectively called as marketing environment. Marketing environment can be broadly divided into two categories:
i. Micro- Environment and ii. Macro-Environment. (Jain, 2010)

i. Micro Marketing Environment:

Micro environment refers to the company’s immediate environment. Micro environmental factors are closely related to a specific company/firm and are included as part of the firm’s total marketing system. These factors are-

Company’s internal environment- Top management, Finance department, Purchase department, Production department, Accounting department, Research and Development department.; Suppliers; Marketing intermediaries- Resellers, Physical distribution firms, Marketing service agencies, Financial Intermediaries; Customers- Population point of view (Final consumers, Prospective consumers) and the marketing environment point of view (Ultimate consumers, Industrial consumers, Resellers, Government Agencies, Foreign consumers); Competitors; and Public- Financial publics, Media publics, Government publics, Citizen action publics, Internal public, Local public, General public.

ii. Macro Marketing Environment:

It consists of Demographic- age-group, income group, division according to sex, marital status, occupation and profession etc.; Economic- interest rate, money supply, price level, consumer credit, etc.; Socio-cultural- change in lifestyle and social values, caste structure, mobility of labor, customs and conventions, cultural heritage, life style, social values, beliefs, view towards scientific methods, etc.; Political and Legal; Technological and Physical forces- air pollution, noise pollution, water pollution, etc. which influence marketing policies and operations. These are all uncontrollable as far as business is concerned.

Advantage of Marketing Environment:

-       Marketers are able to know stated, unstated, secret and real needs or the customers

-       Trendy products can be brought out in the market

-       Competitor moves can be anticipated and countered

-       Marketing mix strategy can be properly formulated

-       Marketer is able to know the organisational strengths, capabilities and related opportunities. (Jain, 2010)

Bibliography:

Jain, A. (2010), Principles of Marketing, New Delhi: V.K. (India) Enterprises