---- THE DYNAMIC MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

Note – five stages of environmental analysis

Audit of environmental influences

Assessments of the nature of the environment

Identification of the key environmental forces

Identification of the competitive position

Identification of the principal opportunities and threats

Strategic position

The PEST framework for environmental auditing

Political and Legal Factors

Economic Factors

Social and Cultural Factors

Technological Factors

Responding to the changing market by coming to terms with the future
Three approaches ---
To ignore what is happening and accept the consequences of strategic drift
To respond quickly or slowly, but largely reactively
To try to predict the nature of the changes and then manage proactively

The third approach is difficult , but how can a company get to the future first. It is the failure to do this and for external change to move ahead faster than management learning that typically creates significant problems for the marketing planning team. Recognising this allows us to identify five types of manager –
Those who make it happen
Those who think they make it happen
Those who watch it happen
Those who wonder what happened
Those who fail to realise that anything has happened

The last two manager types are significantly noticed when the company has a poorly developed or non-existent marketing information system. The marketing planner can then either continue to deny the nature and significance of market changes or respond in one of a number of ways –

Moving towards the future –
Stage 1 – The initial shock when managers recognise the mismatch between the environmental demands
Stage 2 - Denial of the significance of the changes taking place and a temporary retreat from reality
Stage 3 - Gradual recognition of the significance of market change
Stage 4 - Acceptance of the need to change the strategy and marketing behaviour in major ways
Stage 5 - A commitment to the future and adaptation to the new reality
Stage 6 - Creativity and risk-taking that leads to a very different marketing profile

Note – varying approaches to environmental scanning –
Irregular systems – in which the focus is upon responding to environmentally generated crises. An emphasis being placed upon finding solutions to short-term problems with little effort expended on assessing the impact of future environmental changes.
Periodic models – more systematic, resource intensive and often sophisticated. The environment is reviewed regularly and a longer-term perspective is developed.
Continuous models – which