The macro environment
Introduction
Marketings role is to match the capabilities and resources within the organisation with
market opportunities external to the organisation. Understanding customer needs is central
to achieving this aim, but marketers must also be aware of factors that can cause customer
needs to evolve. A change in customer needs will impact upon the organisations ability to
serve its customers. This means that marketers have to be knowledgeable about what is
happening in the external environment, or macro environment.
Beyond the organisations that immediately influence a companys operations lies the macro
environment. This consists of the larger social and international forces that affect the
society within which a company operates. There is little a company can do to manage
these powerful macro environmental forces, so it is important that marketers understand
the macro environmental factors that affect products and services in order to devise the
optimal marketing strategy to cope with these conditions. This topic explores the features
of the external environment that impact upon marketing decisions.
Demographics
The demographic environment itself is affected by changes in the mix of age groups in the
population. If the population becomes older, this will lead to rising demand for products
and services consumed by older people and a similar fall in demand for products
consumed by younger people. The development of ethnic markets can also be relevant. In
a number of countries, the ethnic mix of consumers is changing due to immigration and
other factors. This will be reflected in changing demands for various goods, not only from
the specific ethnic group but from other consumers whose tastes have been affected by
them. Furthermore, as ethnic groups emigrate to other countries, their own tastes can affect
those of consumers in the host nation (e.g. Asian foods are now sold in UK supermarkets).
The demographic environment is also affected by the level of education in a country, since
changes in education have an impact on the wealth of a nation and the tastes of its people.
The lifestyles of a population also have an impact on the macro environment facing
marketers. In Western countries there has been a growth in households made up of single
people; and a large proportion of women now go out to work. This has resulted in an
increase in the sales of convenience foods. There is also a greater proportion of couples
whose children have grown up and left home. Such couples have more disposable income
