COMPANY’S MICRO ENVIRONMENTTHE FORCES CLOSE TO THE COMPANY THAT AFF...

1. Company’s micro environmentThe forces close to the company that affect its ability to serve its customers – the company,market channel firms, customer markets, competitors and publics, which combine to make upthe firm’s value delivery system.● The company- Top management sets the company’s mission, objectives, broad strategies andpolicies. - Marketing managers make decisions within the plans made by topmanagement.- Finance is concerned with finding and using funds to carry out the marketingplan. - The R&D department focuses on the problems of designing safe and attractiveproducts. - Purchasing worries about getting supplies and materials, - Operations is responsible for producing the desired quality and quantity ofproducts.- Accounting has to measure revenues and costs to help marketing know howwell it is achieving its objectives.● Suppliers- Provide the resources needed by the company to produce its goods andservices.- Marketing managers must watch: supply availability – supplyshortages or delays, labour strikes → can cost sale in the shortrun and damage customer satisfaction in the long run. - Rising supply costs may force price increases → harm thecompany’s sales volume. ● Marketing intermediaries- Marketing intermediaries are firms that help the company to promote, sell anddistribute its goods to final buyers. - They include:+ Resellers: distribution channel firms that help the company findcustomers or make sales to them. These include wholesalers andretailers + Physical distribution firms: help the company to stock and move goodsfrom their points of origin to their destinations.+ Marketing services agencies: are the marketing research firms,advertising agencies, media firms and marketing consultancies that helpthe company target and promote its products to the right markets.+ Financial intermediaries.● Customers- Consumer markets: individuals and households that buy goods and servicesfor personal consumption. - Business markets buy goods and services for further processing or for use intheir production process.- Reseller markets buy goods and services to resell at a profit. - Institutional markets are made up of schools, hospitals, nursing homes, prisonsand others. Institutions that provide goods and services to people in their care.- Reseller markets buy goods and services to resell at a profit. and other. Institutions that provide goods and services to people in their care● Competitors- To be successful, a company must provide greater customervalue and satisfaction than its competitors do. → Marketersmust do more than simply adapt to the needs of targetconsumers.● Public- Financial publics. Financial publics influence the company’s ability to obtainfunds. Banks, investment houses and stockholders are the principal financialpublics.- Media publics. Media publics include newspapers, magazines and radio andtelevision stations that carry news, features and editorial opinion.- Government publics. Management must take government developments intoaccount. Marketers must often consult the company’s lawyers on issues ofproduct safety, truth in advertising and other matters.- Citizen action publics. A company’s marketing decisions may be questioned byconsumer organisations, environmental groups, minority groups and otherpressure groups. Its public relations department can help it stay in touch withconsumer and citizen groups- Local publics. Every company has local publics, such as neighbourhoodresidents and community organisations. Large companies usually appoint acommunity-relations officer to deal with the community, attend meetings,answer questions and contribute to worthwhile causes.- General public. A company needs to be concerned about the general public’sattitude towards its products and activities. The public’s image of the companyaffects its buying. Thus, many large corporations invest huge sums of money topromote and build a healthy corporate image.- Internal publics. These include its workers, managers, volunteers and theboard of directors. Large companies use newsletters and other means to informand motivate their internal publics. When employees feel good about theircompany, this positive attitude spills over to their external publics.