“The marketing environment consists of the actors and forces that affect a company’s capability to operate effectively in providing products and services to its customers.” (Jobber, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F. 2013, p.78) We can narrow the marketing environment down to the macroenvironment and the microenvironment. The macroenvironment consists of external factors that not only affect the company but also have an impact on its whole environment; factors such as the economic environment, social and cultural factors, technological changes that are occurring, the ecological/physical factors and the political/legal landscape. In comparison the microenvironment is the forces that act in a company’s immediate environment; its distributors, suppliers, competitors and its customers. Both environments are largely out of the company’s direct control which makes them even more important as firms must analyse their marketing environment and prepare for any changes so that they remain in a competitive market position.
Looking at the macroenvironment there was traditionally four forces; economic, social/cultural, technological and political/legal. In recent years with the drastic changes we have seen towards protecting the environment and sustainability ecological/physical factors have had an increasing importance on the marketing environment of a firm. Marketers used to make decisions with no regard to resources or the environmental impact they were having, but with growing concern for our environment they are being forced to reassess, “they need to revise their policies on product development, pricing, distribution, and branding.” (Kotler, P. 2011)
The economic environment within which a company operates has a massive impact on the success of the firm, there are four economic forces that are of particular importance; economic growth and unemployment, interest and exchange rates, the Eurozone and the growth of the so-called ‘BRIC’ countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Economic growth and unemployment are important to monitor the state of the economy and will have a big impact on the demand for certain goods, as unemployment rises the demand for luxury and normal goods will fall while the demand for inferior or substitute goods can increase. Interest rates and exchange rates will affect people’s willingness to spend money, and has particular importance for expensive items that often require loans such as cars or houses. The EU has a widespread effect as it is such a large, deregulated market and there is a large flow around it of goods, services and labour. The EU has an aim of removing any restrictions to business or barriers and overall promotes enterprise.
The BRIC countries in recent years have been experiencing very high rates of economic. They are growing at rates that will see them dominating the world economy in years to come. By 2050 it’s thought that China and India’s economies will be ranked 1st and 3rd in the world respectively. All the BRIC countries offer good opportunities for manufacturing and production but also as they grow so do their disposable incomes and their purchasing power which has seen demand for imports in these countries increase dramatically.
From a social/cultural perspective there are 3 main factors affecting companies and their decision-making, firstly the changing demographics currently seen in the majority of countries, the cultural differences that are evident within countries and between countries and finally, the influence of consumerism. At present demographics are changing rapidly on a global scale, many developed countries have worrisome aging populations, also the growing trend of one-person homes both have huge effects on business. For example, many countries are seeing a move away from traditional grocery shopping as family size decreases and people are living alone or as a couple there is less demand for large family packs of goods instead producers are bringing out new smaller
