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Chapter 3 Discussion Questions Review

1.Name and describe the elements of a companys microenvironment and give anexample showing why each is important.

Microenvironment consists of the actors clos to the company that affects its ability to serveits customersthe company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer markets,

competitors and publics.

When designing a marketing plan marketing management must consider different groups

such as top management, finance, research and development, purchasing, operations, and

accounting. All these interrelated groups from the internal environment.

Suppliers are particularly important because they provide the basic resources the

company needs to produce their products and are integral to the companys overall valuedelivery system.

The company needs to study five types of customer markets closely; consumer markets,

business markets, reseller markets, government markets and international markets.

According to the marketing concept, to be successful marketers must provide greater

customer value and satisfaction than its competitors do. Thus, marketers must do more

than simply adapt to the needs of target consumers. They also must gain strategic

advantage by positioning their offerings strongly against competitors in the minds ofconsumers.

Finally, the companys marketing environment also includes various publics- any group that has an

actual of potential interest in or impact on an organizations ability to achieve its objectives.

Seven types are identified: financial, media, citizen action, local, general, government and

internal publics.

2.What is demography and why are marketers interested in it? List some of thedemographic trends of interest to marketers.

Demography is the study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, gender,

race, occupation and other statistics. The demographic environment is of major interest to

marketers because it involves people, and people make up markets. The major trends discussed

in the chapter include the changing age structure of the population, the changing American

family, geographic shifts in population, a better educated, more white collar, more professional

population and increasing diversity.

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5.Compare and contrast core beliefs/values and secondary beliefs/values. Provide anexample of each and discuss the potential impact marketers have on each.

Core beliefs and values are passed on from parents to children and are reinforced by schools,

churches, business, and government. Secondary beliefs and values are more open to change.

Believing in marriage is a core belief; believing that people should get married early in life is a

secondary belief. Marketers have some chance of changing secondary values but little chance ofchanging core values.

6.How should marketers respond to the changing environment?Many companies view the marketing environment as an uncontrollable element to which they

must react and adapt. They passively accept the marketing environment and do not try to

change it. They analyze the environmental forces and design strategies that will help the

company avoid the threats and take advantage of the opportunities the environment provides.

Other companies take a proactive stance toward the marketing environment. Rather than simply

watching and reacting, these firms take aggressive actions to affect the publics and forces in

their marketing environment. Such companies hire lobbyists to influence legislation affecting

their industries and stage media events to gain favorable press coverage.

However, marketing management cannot always control environmental forces. For example, a

company would have little success trying to influence geographic population shifts, the economic

environment or major cultural values.