MARKETING 100 – MIDTERM GENERAL CONCEPT REVIEW
MACRO ENVIRONMENT
MacroEnvironmental Factors (CDSTEP) : all factors that can influence an organization,
but are outside of their control.
Culture:
• “The shared meanings, beliefs, morals, values and customs of a group of people”
• Country Culture vs. Regional culture
Demographics:
• Provides an easily understood snapshot of the typical consumer in a specific target
market
• “Characteristics of human populations and segments especially those used to
identify consumer markets, such as age, gender, income, race, ethnicity, and
education”
• Generational Cohort: Group of people of the same generation
o Ex: Y Gen/Tweens/Seniors/Baby boomers/ X Gen
Social Trends:
• Social trends shape consumer values in North America, and around the world
• Social trends tend to change over time in their popularity and importance
o Ex: Green Consumer
Technological Advances:
• “Technological changes that have contributed to the improvement of the value of
both products and services in the past few decades”
• Technology has impacted every aspect of marketing:
o New products
o New forms of communications
o New retail channels
Economic Situation:
• “Economic changes that affect the way consumers buy merchandise and spend
money; see inflation, foreign currency fluctuations, interest rates, and recession”
• Foreign Currency Fluctuations: Changes in the value of a country’s currency
relative to the currency of another country; can influence consumer spending
• Combined with inflation and interest rates affect a firms ability to market goods
and services
Political/Regulatory Environment:
• “Comprises political parties, government organizations, and legislation and laws
that promote or inhibit trade and marketing activities”
o Competition act
o Consumer packaging and labelling act o Food and drugs act
o NAFTA (patent ActNorth American free trade agreement)
STRATEGIES
1. Defining the Mission and/ or vision
• Broad description of a firms objectives and purpose.
Ex: Heart and Stoke Found.
Volunteerbased health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke and
reducing their impact through the advancement of research and tis application, the
promotion of healthy living and advocacy.
2. Situation Analysis
• Assesses both the internal environment with regard to its strengths,
weaknesses, and the external environment in terms of its opportunities and
threats.
3. Identifying and Evaluating Opportunities using STP (Segmentation, targeting,
Positioning)
• Which of the following refers to a group that responds similarly to a firm’s
marketing efforts?
Correct answer: A) Segment
Sustainable Competitive advantage: Something the firm can consistently do better than
its competitors
Set Marketing Objectives and Develop Marketing Mix (essentially the 4p’s)
• Product & service strategy
• Place strategy
• Price strategy
• Promotion strategy
Pricing Strategies
• Costbased Pricing
• Competitorbased Pricing
• ValueBased Pricing
4. Implement Marketing Mix and Allocate Resources
• In the fourth step of the planning process, marketers implement the marketing mix
– product, price, promotion, and place.
5. Evaluate Performance and Make Adjustments
• In the 5 step metrics are used to explain why things happened and to project the
future. The firm is then able to understand why it achieved or didn’t achieve a
particular task. MICRO ENVIRONMENT
MicroEnvironmental Factors: forces that are part of an organizations marketing process,
but remain external to the organization.
Company Capabilities
• Core Competencies (Primary Strengths): In every company, their marketing
strategies must be coherent with its core competencies, being what it does best.
• Existing knowledge, facilities, patents, etc.
• New markets, new products, etc: the first 2 factors work together to be applied to
new products/markets to finally create successful leveraging for said company
Competitors
• Identify and analyze direct and indirect competitors
• Know strengths & weaknesses
• Competitive Intelligence (CI) is used to collect and synthesize information about
a company’s position with respect to their rivals, it enables companies to
anticipate changes in the market place rather than merely react to them
Corporate Partners
• Firms are part of alliances
• Align with competitors, suppliers, etc.
• Just in Time Delivery Systems (JIT)
o Ex: Many people attribute WalMart’s huge success because of its close
relationships with its suppliers
SWOT ANALYSIS
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Sustainable Competitive Advantage: Something the firm can persistently do better than
its competitors that is not easily copied and thus can be maintained over a long period of
time.
Customer Excellence: Focuses on retaining loyal customers and excellent customer
service
Operational Excellence: Achieved through efficient operations and excellent supply
chain and human resource management
Product Excellence: Having products with highperceived value and effective branding
and positioning
Locational Excellence: Having a good physical location and Internet presence
ANSOFF’S
The Ansoff Matrix, designed by Igor Ansoff, classifies and explains different growth
strategies for a company.
The Ansoff Matrix offers four strategies:
• Penetration of the market
• Extension of the Market
• New products
• Diversification
Opportunity: the matrix provides not only the opportunity to expand on an existing
market but one can also explore the possibility to withdraw from the market or find new
markets.
Risk: each strategy will have a different risk level. This risk increases proportionally with
the level of change. Diversifying is more risky than increasing the penetration of a
product on an existing market.
ETHICS
Scope of Marketing Ethics: • Business Ethics: “Refers to a branch of ethical study that examines ethical rules
and principles within a commercial context, the carious moral or ethical problems
that might arise in a business setting, and any special duties or obligations that
apply to persons engages in commerce.”
• Marketing Ethics: “Refers to those ethical problems that are specific to the
domain of marketing”
Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
• Firms should implement programs that are socially responsible
• Employees should act in ethically responsible manner
• CSR (Corporate social responsibility): “Refers to the voluntary actions taken by a
company to address the ethical, social and environmental impacts of its business
operations and the concerns of its stakeholders”
Framework for Ethical Decision Making
Step 1: Identify Issues
• Data Collection Methods: Not informing respondents that they are being observed
• Hiding the True purpose of a study from respondents: telling them they are an
independent research company, but actually doing research for a particular
politician
• Using results to mislead or even harm the public: results of a pharmaceutical
study
Step Two: Gather information and Identify Stakeholders
• Identify all ethical issues and relevant legal information
• Identify all relevant stakeholders and get their input on any identified ethical
issues
Step Three: Brain Storm Alternatives
• Half the market research project?
• Make responses anonymous?
• Instituting training on the CMA code of ethics for all researchers • The alternative solutions depend on the type of ethical issue and how the
stakeholders are affected
Step Four: Choose a Course of Action
• Weigh the alternatives
• Take a course of action
• Alternatives are then evaluated and a course of action is chosen. The chosen
course represents the best solution for the stakeholders using ethical best practices
Integrating Ethics into marketing strategy
• Planning Phase
• Implementation Phase
• Control phase
Planning Phase:
• The mission or vision statement sets the overall ethical tone for planning
• Mission Statements can be used as a means to guide a firm’s SWOT analysis
Implementation Phase
• Should the firm be targeting this market with this product?
• Should the firm be relocating production to another country?
• Should the firm be selling this product in this market in this manner?
Control Phase
• Check successful implementation
• React to change
Which step in the ethical decision making framework involves collecting legal
information?
B) Gather information and identify stakeholders
The Six Tests of Ethical Action
• Publicity Test – Would I want to see this in the media
• The Moral Mentor Test – Would the person I admire the most do this ?
• The Admired Observer Test – Would I want the person I admire the most to see
me doing this?
• The Transparency Test – Could I give a clear explanation for the action
• The Person in the Mirror Test – Would I be able to look in the mirror and respect
myself
• The Golden Rule Test – Would I like to be on the receiving end of this action?
CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS
Consumer Decision Process
• Need Recognition
• Information Search
• Alternative Evaluation
• Purchase • Post purchase evaluation
Step 1: Need Recognition
• “The beginning of the consumer decision process; occurs when consumers
recognize they have an unsatisfied need and want to go from their actual, needy
state to a different desired state”
• Functional needs: “Pertain to the performance of a product or service”
• Psychological Needs: “Pertain to the personal gratification consumers associate
with a product or service”
Step 2: Information Search (The Consumer Decision Process)
• A search for information about the various options that exist to satisfy that need
• Internal Search: “Occurs when the buyer examines his or her own memory and
knowledge about he product or service, gathered through past experiences”
• External Search: “Occurs when the buyer seeks information outside his or her
personal knowledge base to help make the buying decision
• Factors like cost vs. benefits are factors affecting consumers search process
o Internal Locus of Control: “Refers to when consumers believe they have
some control over the outcomes of their actions, in which case they
generally engage in more search activities”
o External Locus of Control: “Refers to when consumers believe that fate or
other external factors control all outcomes”
• There are five types of risks associated with purchase decisions
o Performance risk: “Involves the perceived danger inherent in a poorly
performing product or service”
o Financial risk: “Risk associated with a monetary outlay; includes the
initial cost of the purchase, as well as the cost of using the item or service”
o Social risk: Involves the fears that consumers suffer when they worry
others might not regard their purchases positively”
o Physiological risk: Risk associated with the fear of an actual harm should
the product not perform properly”
o Psychological risk: Associated with the way people will feel if the product
or service does not convey the right image
• Type of Product or service (affecting consumer search process)
o Speciality goods/services: “Products or services toward which the
customer shows a strong preference and for which he or she will expend
considerable effort to search for the best suppliers
o Shopping goods/services: “Products or services, such as apparel,
fragrances, and appliances, for which consumers will spend time
comparing alternatives”
o Convenience goods/services: “Products or services for which the
consumer is not willing to spend any effort to evaluate prior to purchase”
Step 3:
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