MARKETING

ENVIRONMENT AND
RESEARCH
Marketing Environment
• A company’s marketing environment consists of the internal
factors & external forces, which affect the company’s ability to
develop & maintain successful transactions & relationships
with the company’s target customers.

Thus the marketing environment is comprised of the following

two key factors-
• Micro-factors inside the firm or that can be controlled
Macro-factors linked to economic, social, cultural aspects etc.
Micro- Environment
Macro Environment

• The macro environment includes the major societal forces that

affect not only the organisation, but also on its competitors and
on elements in the micro-environment.

• The macro environment tends to be harder to influence than the

micro environment, but this does not mean that organisations
must simply remain passive; the inability to control does not
imply the inability to influence.
1. The Demographic Environment
 Political – Legal Environment (law,
government agencies and pressure group)

• Political influences affect businesses in two main ways: first,

political parties have policies that are often put into legislation,
which clearly must be obeyed.

• Second, the ruling party sets the general tone of behavior in the
country as a whole, and in government departments in
particular. This subtle change in the national culture will also
affect business.
• Increased business legislation: to protect companies from
unfair competition, to protect consumer rights, to protect
society from unfair business practices.

• Growth of special interest group: Political Action Committees

(PAC) lobby gov. official and pressure business executive to
respect the consumer rights.

• Sometime new legislation creates business opportunity such

as mandatory recycling laws boosted recycling industry and
launched dozen of new companies.
 2. The Economic Environment
Factors that affect consumer purchasing power and spending
patterns.

• Economic Condition of the Nation: Recession/Inflation

change the consumer spending patterns (consumer psychology).

• Income, Savings, Debt and credits

• Income Distribution of the Nation: very low income, mostly

low income, very low and very high incomes, low medium and
high incomes, and mostly medium incomes.
 3. The Socio-Cultural Environment
It defines our relationship to ourselves, other, society nature and
universe.

• Views of ourselves
• Views of others
• Views of organizations
• Views of Society
• Views of nature
• Views of the universe
Core Cultural Values: Core belief and values are passed
from generation to generation and reinforced by social
institutions such as churches
4. The Natural Environment
5. The Technological Environment
 Marketing Research
• Marketing research is "the process or set of processes that links the
producers, customers, and end users to the marketer through
information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and
problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor
marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as
a process.

• Marketing research specifies the information required to address

these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages
and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and
communicates the findings and their implications
1. Defining the problem and research objective

• Properly defining the problem is the most important step in the

marketing research process.
• If the wrong problem is defined, all the remaining steps in the
marketing research process are wrong

Research objective
• Exploratory research

• Descriptive research

• Causal research
2. Developing the Research Plan

How to collect data: a) Primary Data Collection

b) Secondary Data Collection

Primary Data Collection

i. Research Approach
ii. Contact Methods
iii. Sampling Plan
iv. Research Instruments
 Research Approach

• Observational Research

• Ethnographic Research

• Survey Research

• Experimental Research
 Contact Methods
• Mail, Telephone, Personal Interview

• Group Interview (Focus Group, Immersion)

• Online Marketing Research (surveys, online focus gp,

web based experiments, tracking consumers online
behavior)
 Sampling Plan
• A sample is a smaller, manageable version of a larger group. It is a
subset containing the characteristics of a larger population. 
• Samples are used in statistical testing when population sizes are too
large for the test to include all possible members or observations.

Sampling Techniques:
• Probability: Simple Random Sampling, Stratified Random Sampling,
Cluster sampling

• Non-Probability Sampling : Convenience, Judgement, Snowball

sampling, Quota Sampling.
Research Instruments
• Questionnaires: Closed and open ended (It should be
simple, direct and unbiased). Question should be
arranged in logical flow so it create interest among the
respondents.

• Mechanical Instruments: used to measure consumer

behavior.
Nielsen Media Research install meters in people TV and
cables to understand TRP and program watched.
Retailers use scanners to record shopeers purchase
Secondary Data Collection
3. Conduct Research (Implementing the Research Plan)

• It involves putting the research plan into action

• Collecting, processing, and analyzing the information.

• Data can be collected by marketing team/ research staff

or outside firms.

• Focus on quality participants and reduce biasness.

Analyze and report findings
• Process and analyze the collected data to isolate
important information and insight.

• Check data accuracy and completeness of data for

analysis

• Tabulate the result using statistical tools , interpret the

findings, draw conclusions, report to the management.