Issues To Be Considered in A Situation Analysis Issues To Be Considered in A Situation Analysis
Issues To Be Considered in A Situation Analysis Issues To Be Considered in A Situation Analysis
Situation Analysis
Internal, Customer, and
External Environments
Micro Environment
Micro Environment
• Company: The Marketing function must work closely with other company departments. Finance is
concern with funding and using funds to carry out marketing plan. The R& D department is
concern with designing safe and attractive products. Purchasing worries about getting supplies
and materials whereas manufacturing is concerned with producing the desired quality and
quantity of products. Together all these dep’t has an impact on the marketing dep’t plans
• Suppliers: Important in the “ value delivery” service -> rawmaterials component and parts
packaging etc. MM must watch supply availability as supply shortages or delays, labour strikes and
other event can cause sales in the short run and damage customer satisfaction in the long run
• Distributors or Market Intermediary: Firms that help the company distribute or sell the firm’s
product to final buyers. They include, Agents, retailers, wholesalers- physical distribution firms
• Customers: A company need to study its customer market closely.
– Consumer Market: Individual or household that buys g/s for personal consumption
– Business Markey: Businesses buys G/S for further processing or use in the production process
– Reseller Market: Buys goods and services for resale in business marker
– Government Market: Made up of Government Agencies that buys g/s inorder to produce public services or transfer the
goods and services to others who need them
– International Markets: Consist of buyers in other countries which includes customers, business, resellers and gov’t
• Competitors: Each firm must consider its own size and industry position compared to those of its
competitors. Each firm must select his own strategy that fits his/her competitive position for
instance a large firm who is the leader in market share might be the most dominant company and
may pursue dominant strategies, this might not be suitable for smaller firms who will have to select
niches to serve.
• Publics:- Any group that has an actual or potential interest in or impact on the organization ability
to achieve its objective,
– Financial
– Govt
– Media
– Etc
The Internal Environment
• Availability of Resources
– Includes a review of financial, human, and
experience resources, as well as resources from key
relationships
– Financial resources tend to get most attention
• Organizational Culture and Structure
– Problems can arise when marketing does not hold a
prominent position in the organizational hierarchy
– Culture and structure are relatively stable but can be
affected by mergers
The Customer Environment
• Characteristics
– Assess key competitors’ size, strategy, profitability, markets, etc.
• Assessment
– Assess key competitors’ strengths and weaknesses
• Capabilities
– Focus the analysis on competitors’ marketing capabilities
• Response
– Estimate competitors’ most likely strategies and responses under different
environmental situations
The External Environment
• Technological –
Perhaps the most dramatic force that now shaping our destiny
It refers to forces that create new technologies, creating new product and market
opportunity
» the pace of technology
» new innovations
» ability to compete/supply
• Educational environment:
» levels of education within population
» standards of education
» continuous learning
» employment requirements
• Economic environment
the economic environment affect both customers and suppliers.
» interest rates
» unemployment levels
» exchange rates
» income levels
» taxation policies
» inflation rates
» gross domestic product
» political stability
» foreign policy
» manifesto promises/policy
» trading blocs
» competition policies
» trading agreements/alliances
Legal environment
» statutory requirements
» codes of practice
» trading laws
» health and safety aspects
» employment legislation
» union issues/legislation
Environmental issues
» packaging
» pollution and waste disposal
» manufacturing methods and restrictions
» presence of pressure groups
• ETHICS IN MARKETING
Ethics and Social Responsibility
in Marketing
• Grown in importance recently due to firms having
problems in these areas: coke
• Have become necessities due to:
– Stakeholder demands (especially customers)
– Rapid communication and 24/7 news
• Improve marketing performance and profits
NIKE
• Are important to the development of marketing
strategy
Dimensions of Social
Responsibility
• Social Responsibility
– A broad concept that relates to an organization’s
obligation to maximize its positive impact on
society while minimizing its negative impact
• Marketing Ethics
– Principles and standards that define acceptable
marketing conduct as determined by the public,
government regulators, private interest groups,
competitors, and the firm itself
The Pyramid of Corporate Social
Responsibility
Social Responsibility
• Market Orientation
– The development of an organizational culture
that effectively and efficiently promotes the
necessary behaviors for the creation of superior
value for buyers and, thus, continuous superior
performance of the firm
– Strongly tied to ethics and social responsibility
– Means fostering a sense of cooperation and
information exchange
Stakeholder Orientation
• Stakeholder Orientation
– The degree to which a firm understands and
addresses stakeholder demands
– Strongly tied to ethics and social responsibility
– Comprised of three activities
• Organization-wide generation of data about stakeholder
groups and the assessment of the firm’s effects on these
groups
• Distribution of this information throughout the firm
• The organization’s responsiveness as a whole to this
intelligence
Connecting Ethics and Social
Responsibility to Performance
• Strong ethics and social responsibility leads
employees to be:
– Motivated to serve customers
– Committed to the firm
– Committed to high quality standards
– Satisfied with their job
• Can lead to trust among firm’s stakeholders
– Often leads to higher customer loyalty
• Is so important that firms can experience major
negative effects if they don’t uphold ethical standards
Green Marketing Philosophy
• Firms too have become more “green” in their
business methods, particularly production and
other operational methods. They have also
become more “green” in terms of the
packaging used on their products, and of
course in terms of the products and services
themselves.
• A firm that practices green marketing may go
on the extreme of environmentally friendly,
not tested on animals, ethically, non
exploitatively produced cosmetic and related
products.
• Many firms are now adopting a “proactive”
rather than reactive “green” marketing
strategy in an attempt to gain a competitive
business environment.
• If the market wants, and is prepared to pay for,
“green” products and services then marketing-
orientated firms are duty bound to find ways of
offering such goods and services to their
customers
Marketing Audit
• Definition: pg 39
• Funding
• Defining purpose and objective
• Support
• Time
SWOT Analysis
• Production • Marketing
– Location
– Machinery obsolesce – Distribution
– Purchase system – Market share
– Quality control – Advertising
– Production efficiency – Customer satisfaction
– Product quality
–
• Management and Organization –
Reputation
Sales force turnover
– Management Quality
– Staff Quality • Finance
– Degree of centralization – Profit margin
– Planning, Information and – Credit rating
control
The SWOT Matrix (Exhibit 5.5)
Quantitative Assessment of
the SWOT Matrix