Contemporary Issue in Marketing Focusing on the Impact of Global Climate - Essay Example

Running Header: Contemporary issue in marketing Student’s Name: Course Code: Instructor’s Name: Date of Submission: Contemporary issue in marketing Introduction Organisations exist in a particular set of region or country which provides multiple contexts that influence how the organisation operates and what it produces. Adcock and Caroline (2001) describes that the external environment tends to analyse the forces outside organisations boundaries that help in shaping the organisation. These external forces have considerable bearing to that which transpires within the organisation. They provide both facilitating and inhibiting influences on organisational performance. Multiple environmental influences form the boundaries within which an organisation is able to survive and function. They also shape the structure that defines an organisation and how it articulates it activities in order to achieve its goals. The major environmental factors that affect the organisation include legal factors, technical, political, economic and social cultural factors (Charles and Benjamin 1995). The marketing environment on the other hand has various impacts on the organisation. One of the perspectives includes the micro-environment that influences the organisation directly. Recently, there have been various emerging trends in marketing. Daniel and Amos (2000) shows these trends have gathered in the media and network platforms such as in twitter and face book which have billion of users. This has therefore resulted to more and more professionals and brands creating profiles and collecting followers through these emerging media outlets. The introduction of this is now termed as communal marketing or community media marketing. Paul (1997) says that the implication is that it allows businesses to souk and earns massive profit for example in the next decade. This also facilitates the intent of marketing and conduct consumer relations as well as public outreach. It is also easy to communicate the introduction of new products through the media group which is mostly dominated by adults. The users of these shared media are precision to infiltration by salesclerks who dishonest the organic connection between users and producers. Drake (1998, pp. 184-196) describes that in Asia for example that has the fastest growing economies and the largest populace, the region also possesses rich web of cultural complexities. Recently, the region has spurred the influx of global business due to factors such as increased household income, globalization, westernization influence and loosening of regulations of foreign direct and indirect investments. There have also been contradictions between traditional marketing efforts for example relationship marketing to the recent specialised mass marketing of mega businesses. According to Joshi (2005) with the high penetration of internet, large number of people make online searches for both online and offline sales. The marketing trends are therefore changing from push based selling to pull based selling. Due to this companies are marketing themselves in subtle and subliminal therefore making a high impact on sales. The websites that offer this useful information also become popular. This is because most people embrace concepts and always want to be identified with social groups. One a product or service is offered as part of the ideology in which the social groups represent, it is effectively embraced. The growth of information technology tools such as electronic commerce and internet has had a significant effect on marketing of organizational products (McQuarrie 2005). According to Triantaphyllou (2000, p. 320) these tools however have a positive impact since they make business transactions faster and more global promising future benefits. As a result, the nature of global supply chain management and trade had fundamentally changed. Certain things will however not change or may become more local due to globalization. The other factor causing change is human tendency. Individuals desire to be different for example in cases of economic and political forces of convergence. For example when globalization was introduced every business thought it is fashionable and many thought is would make business easier. The concept is easier through it has some disadvantages for example not all people around the world would desire same products. McDonald (2007) shows some of the trends in marketing include use of porter’s generic strategies such as differentiation of products. The ideas of 4Ps have also changed since there are some extra Ps that has been added such as people and process. This shows that people influence the way goods and services are marketed. The processes used in marketing are also important to note in marketing. The macro environment in which a business operates includes all the factors that influence an organization and those that are out of direct control. Marder (1997) argues that businesses are constantly changing and therefore have to be flexible in order to adapt to the changes in the environment. Globalization means that there is always a threat of new entrants and substitute products. Businesses therefore have to be ready to formulate strategies that will beat the substitute products and enable them gain a position in the market. A wider business environment is also ever changing therefore the marketers need to compensate for changes in culture, politics, economics and technology (Plous 1998) According to Bradley (2010) the internal environment is audited using five ‘Ms’ which include men, money, machinery, materials and markets. These factors should be incorporated effectively in order to manage external change. The process of managing internal change is known as internal marketing. Stanley and John (2000, p. 2) describes that to help in communication and change management, marketers use marketing approaches such as market targeting and positioning. The organisation should also be conceptualised as a system with independent and interrelated sections. An organisation is capable of adopting marketing concepts that provides better customer value than its competitors can provide. Due to the increased global competition, most organisations have introduced a process of carrying out a market research that will enable the companies discover the needs of their customers who are a greatest asset in business. Kotler and Armstrong (2007) describes that market research involved organised process for gathering information about markets and analysing the needs of customers. Young (2005) shows market research form a significant part of the business strategy that shows an organisation which direction to take in order to attain a competitive advantage against the competitors. The first objective for carrying out the above market research is to examine the importance of marketing research in achieving organisational goals and to analyse the various marketing trends. The other objective is to outline the contents of research brief and proposal. The final objective is to explain how the information is to help the organisation in coping with the trends. The marketing research carried out identifies directions, discover new business models and web distribution models. These will enable the businesses to set strategies for the future (Levin 2006). Sources of information There sources of information include primary sources and secondary sources. Primary sources may be talking to someone for example at an event or reading a journal given at a meeting. This may not be fully reliable as the person giving the information may be biased to give wrong information. Facione and Facione (2007) gives the advantages of various sources and methods of evaluating information include the fact that these forces give up to date information therefore giving managers time to evaluate and formulate strategies of coping with the marketing trends. The sources of information also relate to research objectives and therefore it is easier to formulate decisions. Information acquired is more reliable than when estimated by individuals. This is necessary as managers are able to know the right time of changing their marketing strategies to effectively achieve organizational goals. The secondary sources of information are advantageous as they give condensed information. There is also connection of multiple points that are necessary in structuring the organizational setup. According to Blackhart and Kline (2005, pp. 427-437) the authors of secondary sources of information have access to documents that would not be accessed by an ordinary person. This shows that the information is reliable and clear. This information is necessary to the managers as they are able to create a predisposition to the future development of the position. This is where the managers set strategies of marketing their products that fits with the trends for example, the current internet marketing where most people use the internet. The information also induces the environment in a certain way for example through development such as improved technology and infrastructure. Chekitan and Don (2005) explains that in trying to qualify and quantify the challenges and opportunities posed by trends in marketing, managers and board of directors have to make decisions of coping with the situation. This process involves establishing the objectives. These objectives must be classified and should be placed in order of priorities. Alternative actions are then developed that are then evaluated against all the objectives therefore coming up with an alternative that is able to achieve all the objectives. This is said to be a tentative decision which is evaluated for more possible consequences. Conclusion An organization operates within a larger framework comprising of the external environment. This shapes opportunities and poses threats to the organization. The external environment is said to be complex and rapidly changing. There are also significantly interacting institutions and forces that affect the organization’s ability to serve customers. The external forces are influenced by the organization but may not be controlled by it therefore, it is necessary to understand the environmental conditions. The external environment poses a major impact in determining marketing decisions. It is therefore important to carry out a successful scan on the environment to be capable of responding profitably to unmet needs and trends in the targeted markets. Managers should also be able to collect useful information about the changes in the market and formulate strategies of meeting with the needs of customers. References Adcock, D & Caroline, R 2001, Introduction, Marketing principles and practice, p. 16, viewed 23 April 2011, Blackhart, G & Kline, J 2005, Individual differences in anterior EEG asymmetry between high and low defensive individuals during a rumination/distraction task, Personality and individual differences, vol. 39, pp. 427–437. Bradley, N 2010, Marketing research, Tools and techniques, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Charles, H & Benjamin, B 1995, The rational manager, A systematic approach to problem solving and decision-making, McGraw-Hill. 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McQuarrie, E 2005, The market research toolbox: a concise guide for beginners, 2nd ed., SAGE.  Paul, H 1997, Sales process engineering, A personal workshop, Milwaukee, WI. p. 23. Plous, S 1998, The psychology of judgement and decision making, McGraw-Hill, New York. Stanley, J & John, K 2000, Back to first principles. International Marketing, Modern and Classic Papers, 1st ed., p. 2. Triantaphyllou, E 2000, Multi-criteria decision making, A comparative study, Springer Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, p. 320. Young, E 2005, The advertising handbook, Ideas in flight, Seattle: WA. Read More