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Chapter 4: The Marketing Environment
Chapter Objectives
1.
including the company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customers, and public.
3. Explain how changes in the demographic and economic environments affect marketing,
and describe the levels of competition.
5. Explain the key changes that occur in the political and cultural environments.
Teaching Suggestions
The following explanations and suggestions are outlined based on the Chapter Objectives.
1.
microenvironment, including the company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries,
customers, and public.
Break students into groups and assign them different hospitality operations. Ask them to
map out the suppliers, marketing intermediaries and customers. This should help them
visualize the different elements of the microenvironment.
The company: Marketing managers must work closely with top management and
2.
its customers.
Macro environmental forces shape opportunities and pose threats to the company. These
environmental forces include:
Competitors
o The entrance of future competitors is often difficult to predict and can
have a major effect on existing businesses.
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Demographic Environment
Economic Environment
Natural Environment
o The natural environment involves the natural resources that are needed as
inputs by marketers or that are affected by marketing activities.
Technological Environment
o The most dramatic force shaping our destiny is technology, which has
given us wireless access to the Internet. This has made it possible for
Political Environment
o The political environment is made up of laws, government agencies, and
Cultural Environment
o The cultural environment includes institutions and other forces that affect
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3. Explain how changes in the demographic and economic environments affect
marketing, and describe the levels of competition.
Discuss some of the current demographic and economic trends, such as the changing age
structure of the population, increased diversity, global economic patterns and consumer
spending patterns. How have these different trends affected the hospitality industry? In
Keep students in the same groups from #1 above or assign new groups and hospitality
operations. Have students map out the competitors of these operations based on the four
levels of competition detailed below.
There are four levels of competition:
All companies that offer similar products and services to the same customers at a
similar price.
All companies supplying the same service.
4.
Have students bring in articles that discuss natural and technological environments, such
as the implementation of green initiatives or new self-service technologies.
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Marketers should be aware of several trends in the natural environment.
The first involves growing shortages of raw materials.
A second environmental trend is increased pollution.
o ne cartons years ago and now uses
A third trend is increased government intervention in natural resource
management.
Technology has affected the hospitality industry in many ways.
For example Intelity has produced a product called ICE (Interactive Customer
5. Explain the key changes that occur in the political and cultural environments.
Have students bring in articles that discuss political and cultural environments, such as
new laws or regulations or new societal causes or concerns.
As products become more complex, public concern about their safety increases.
Governmental agencies have become involved in the investigation and regulation of
everything from fire codes to foodhandling practices. Legislation and regulation affecting
business have been enacted for three reasons. Government legislation and regulation:
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6. Discuss how companies can be proactive rather than reactive when responding to
environmental trends.
Companies should take an environmental management perspective. Rather than simply
watching and reacting, these firms take aggressive action to affect the publics and forces
in their marketing environment. In addition, companies should also use an environmental
Chapter Outline
I. Microenvironment. The microenvironment consists of actors and forces close to the
company that can affect its ability to serve its customers. The actors in the
microenvironment include the company, suppliers, market intermediaries, customers, and
publics. [Slide 4-4]
A. The company. Marketing managers work closely with top management and the
various company departments.
B. Existing competitors are part of the microenvironment and must be monitored
E. Disintermediation. The elimination of intermediaries.
F. Marketing services agencies. Marketing research firms, advertising agencies,
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II. Macroenvironment. The macroenvironment consists of the larger societal forces that
affect the whole microenvironment: demographic, economic, natural, technological,
political, competitor, and cultural forces. Following are the seven major forces in a
[Slide 4-9]
A. Competitive environment. Each firm must consider its size and industry position
B. Demographic environment. Demography is the study of human populations in
terms of size, density, location, age, sex, race, occupation, and other statistics. The
C. Economic environment. The economic environment consists of factors that affect
D. Natural environment. The natural environment consists of natural resources
required by marketers or affected by marketing activities. [Slide 4-13]
E. Technological environment. The most dramatic force shaping our destiny today is
technology.
III. Linked Environmental Factors. The change in food consumption patterns relates to
economic, demographic, technological, cultural, and competitive trends.
IV. Responding to the Marketing Environment. Many companies view the marketing
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Answers to Discussion Questions
1.
forces were behind
next decade, given the new forces operating in the environment?
The instructor can lead students to answer this question by reminding students to focus on
the three environments that influence companies (internal environment,
microenvironment and macroenvironment) and how these have changed over time.
For example,
increasingly on-the-go, time-squeezed, family-oriented lifestyles.
With changing market trends and preferences,
and instead focused on improving the food, service, atmosphere, and marketing at
existing outlets. McDonald’s redecorated its restaurants with clean, simple,
een marketed to the family, but now there is a distinct
2. What environmental trends will affect the success of a first-class hotel chain, such as
Hyatt or Sofitel, over the next ten years? If you were corporate director of
marketing for this type of hotel, what plans would you make to deal with these
trends?
Again, the instructor can lead students to answer this question by reminding students to
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3. The 78 million members of the baby boom generation are aging, with the oldest
members in their early sixties. List some marketing opportunities and threats
associated with this demographic trend for the hospitality and travel industry.
The instructor can lead students to answer this question by reminding students about the
characteristics of baby boomers discussed in Demographic environments.
For example, opportunities associated with the aging of the baby boomers include the
4. How have environmental trends affected the design of hotels?
While there are avid debaters on both sides, the world is increasingly becoming aware of
5. Mobile marketing involves any type of marketing message voice, text, image, or
video delivered to a handheld device such as a cell phone, iPhone, or BlackBerry.
Although still in its infancy in the United States, mobile marketing has grown
rapidly in other countries. Learn more about mobile marketing and discuss the
current applications and the potential for future applications in the travel and
hospitality industries.
By establishing new technology while still focusing on political issues affecting usage
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6. If we have little control over the macroenvironment, why should we be concerned
with it?
Lead students to answer this question by covering the concept of environmental
management perspective. Even though companies have little control over the macro
environment, companies should still be concerned with the macro environment.
7. What environmental trends will affect the success of the Walt Disney Company in
the first decade of the twenty-first century? If you were in charge of marketing at
Disney, what plans would you make to deal with these trends?
Lead students in a discussion of different environmental trends that they expect to see in
the near future. Ask them to address how these trends will specifically affect Disney.