Macro And Micro Environments To The Marketing Environment Definition (Case Study Sample)

MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Students Name
University
Professor
Course
Date
Marketing Environment
Marketing environment is a business term that describes the factors and forces that affect a company’s aptitude for shaping and preserving a profitable customer relationship. The marketing environment has three levels, which include micro, and macro. The microenvironment is the force within the firm that influences its ability to attend to the customers. Finally, the macro environment refers to the external larger forces that dictate the microenvironment (Kotler and Armstrong 1996).
How Changes in the Demographic, Cultural, and Economic Environments affect United Airlines’ Decision-making Process
Demographic, culture, and economic conditions play a vital role in the growth and development of any business. These factors fall under the socio-cultural-environment. To understand how the change of these factors influences a company’s decision-making process, there is a need to understand each concept. Demography is the structure of the human population in regards to size, income distribution, race, age, and gender. Culture refers to the disparity in behavior, opinions, and traditions among people from different nations. The constant change of these factors presents both opportunities and challenges to any business establishment concerning marketing (Blythe and Megicks, 2010). Due to the diverse nature of the population and culture, it is challenging to offer products and services that will satisfy the entire market.
In the case study, United Airlines operates in over 26 countries. These countries have different population sizes, diverse cultural beliefs, and a larger marketing environment. This level of diversity, therefore, influences the marketing strategies and decision-making of United Airlines. For them to fulfill their customers’ desires and attract profitable customers, the airline must consider everyone’s taste and preference. Consequently, the firm opted a grouping method that involved grouping clients according to their social class, age, gender or occupation. United Airlines uses modern communication systems to gather the information they need in enhancing their products and services. They also use questioners to classify the customers based on their motivation.
Define Market Segmentation, Market Segment, Targeting, and Positioning
Market segmentation refers to a method of grouping or dividing an extensive consumer or business market that often comprises of both existing and potential clients into subgroups known as segments based on the shared interests. While grouping customers, marketing researchers emphasize on common characteristics such as collective needs, interests, and lifestyle or respective demographic locations. Market segmentation identifies a profitable group of clientele who may be considered as the first priority or those that require special attention.
The process of market segmentation comprises of three basic steps. The steps that formulate the process include segmentation, targeting, and positioning. The task is engaging and involves a significant amount of analysis skills to complete. Although the process requires a high level of concentration and judgment call, marketing researchers often use the S-T-P method (Segmentation –Targeting -Positioning) to simplify the process. “Segmentation” is the process of identifying the market that needs to be secluded. “Targeting” is the process of evaluating each segment that attracts attention; it also selects which segment should be targeted. “Positioning” is the process of identifying the best position of developing the marketing program.
In the case study, United Airlines used market segmentation to identify the market opportunities and developed it to obtain its marketing objectives. Market segmentation allowed the United Airlines to understand better its customers, the service they required, the time they needed it, and the place they wanted to purchase the offered services. United Airlines was able to identify its customers’ needs, develop ideal products, and priced them adequately to coincide with the budget of the client, target communication to customers in each segment, and distribute funds to support and develop each market opportunity targeted. The process enabled United Airlines to exploit the productivity of its marketing efforts by pushing the company to utilize the diverse strategy for each market segment.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is an acronym for strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats. This refers to an organized planning method that analyzes the elements stated above of a firm or a business project. A SWOT analysis can be conducted in a company, a place, product, or a person. It involves stipulating the objective of a business project and determining the internal and external aspects that are conducive and unconducive to attain the specified goal. The level to which the internal conditions of a firm match with the external conditions is articulated by the concept of strategic fit.
SWOT Components
Strength
In a SWOT analysis, strength symbolizes the features of a firm that are regarded to be essential for the final success of a project. The strengths are the properties and the abilities that can be utilized to gain a competitive advantage. These may include a strong brand name, good organization reputation, and cost benefit of particular expertise.
Weakness
Weakness is the aspect of a SWOT analysis that could limit or prevent satisfactory results o...