Business Environment and Marketing Mix - Essay Example

Management Paper Business environment is a term used to refer to the external and internal environments in which a particular business is operating in. M. Weimer states that business environment is a term used to refer to the set of circumstances, such as political legal and economical circumstances in which the business is operating and functioning (Weimer 1966). Business environment consists of external and internal elements that effect the decision making process of the business. A business can either control or change in accordance to the changes in the business environment. An organization has higher amount of control over the internal elements of the business environment and its control is weaker on the external forces of its business environment. Internal forces of business environment include: strategy, employees and its own culture. External forces of business environment include government, climate, political and economic conditions. Business environment is of utmost importance to an organization and a manger has to work while monitoring the external and internal sources of business environment and either change or continue its operations in accordance to the changes in the business environment to remain successful and increase profitability of the organization. If managers are able to keep a watch on its business environment, they can benefit from opportunities available in the environment, they can counter the threats and weaknesses that are available in the internal and the external business environment and further enhance the strength of the business. For example: Managers need to continuously monitor the changes in the demographics of the country in which it is operating in so it can adjust its marketing and human resource activities accordingly and benefit from opportunities. In most of academic books and journals, market have been defined as a situation comprising of individuals and groups who are interested in purchasing goods and services from a particular organization and the organization has a interest in selling its goods and services to the group or individual. In alternative vocabulary, market may be defined as a scenario in which individuals have needs and wants and these needs and wants can be satisfied through offerings of goods and services by organizations. People may have a desire to purchase a good or service, but their desire does not create a market. A market is created with a customer can be qualified as able to make a purchasing transaction. Customers are only qualified to make a purchase if they have an existing need that needs to be satisfied, have the ability to make the purchasing transaction, have monetary resources to conduct the transaction and have the power to complete the transaction. Contemporary society consists of connections between human beings; market is a network that creates such connections by connecting buyers and sellers. When humans of the contemporary society interact with each other, they achieve wellbeing and the conditions of their life increases. Markets provide individuals with goods and services to satisfy their needs which help in improving the conditions of individuals and leading to well being of the society. Works Cited Weimer, Arthur M. Business Administration: An Introductory Management Approach. Homewood, Ill: R.D. Irwin, 1966. Print. Paper 2 One of the major elements in the marketing mix is the place of distribution of product. Distribution is regarded as the procedure through which a good or service is made available for the consumers to consume by a manufacturer or business making that product or service (Longenecker 200). The activity of distribution can be conducted through direct and indirect methods. This form of transfer of products from the manufacturer to the consumer is conducted through one of the options of channels available to the producer. Channels are referred to as organizations that are dependant on other organizations and all these organizations combine their operations to make the product or service available for consumer. Those organizations that are recognized as channels conduct the practice of buying the product or service from the manufacturer and then they resell the purchased product to the consumers. In the process of transfer of goods and service, there are certain channels that work while representing the manufacturer and do not buy the product from the manager, but they make the goods available for consumption while acting on behalf of the manufacturer. Selection of the channel of distribution involves the number of intermediaries and the channels that will be involved in the process of transferring goods from manufacturer to consumer. A channel is recognized zero level channel when intermediaries are not involved in the transfer, this takes place when manufacturers sell directly to the consumer. This kind of distribution is mostly witnessed when the manufacturer is involved in the process of direct marketing. A marketing mix comprises of four elements and these elements are given great importance while a marketing strategy is designed, these elements include the setting where the product will be sold, the promotion as well as packaging of the product, the product itself and monetary value of the product. Advertising is one of the objects of the promotion variable, but it has immense effect on other variables of the mix of marketing. Product is referred to the physical element which includes the shape size and quality of the product. Product qualities may differ and product needs to be carefully operated as it may have a very technical or delicate design. The information aspect of the product is affected by advertisement and advertisement plays the role of providing information about the product. Advertising plays a role of persuading and convicting consumers to the product in the pricing segment of the marketing mix. Through advertising, marketers promote the product by informing them about the price of the product and the price may reflect the quality of the product. Advertising assists in expanding the market for a particular product and even assists in distributing the product in an effective manner. In the place segment of the marketing mix, marketers decide about where the products should be sold and what channels should be used to transfer the products to the consumers. Marketers need to ensure that the product reaches the consumers in the timeliest fashion and the product should be easily accessible. The role of advertising in the promotion segment of the marketing mix is to create an image of the product that the marketer wants to portray and advertising even helps the marketing achieving brand loyalty for their product. Work Cited Longenecker, Justin G. Small Business Management: Launching & Growing Entrepreneurial Ventures. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Read More