Note 1.docx
Transcript
1. Introduction
00:00Right. That's us recording now. Welcome to the, I think it's the 7th live live session, but today we'll look at the marketing macro environment. I'll look at the full environment because I think it's important to give context to it. I'll give you the full marketing environment.
00:24You'll get your money's worth of me today. A reminder of the assessment details. These are the instructions from Moodle. Just to confirm that you do need to evaluate and analyze ways in which your selected company has responded to recent macro changes and how this might have impacted on their marketing strategy, the choices that they've made. This session, the topic that it covers clearly is important and significant, and it does underpin your, assessment quite heavily.
01:00Marketing environment is covered in prescribed reading and the suggested textbook that you have access to on Moodle. So all general marketing textbooks cover the the marketing environment. It's by studying the environment in which they operate and the wider environment that marketers are able to then develop that strategies to meet new marketplace challenges and opportunities that inevitably arise no matter what organization or what industry they're in. Makes sense to start with some sort of, moving things off my screen, some definition. Kotler et al, the book that you've got on Moodle, it says the actors and forces outside marketing that affect management's ability to build and maintain successful and profitable relationships with target customers.
02:00Thing to point out here is this was an assessment because it's a quote in the citation, I give the page number. Page numbers are only available on textbooks and journal articles, not on typically an Internet page. So by using a for defining theory by using a a page number, it implies to the the marker that you're using good quality academic sources, which is usually a plus. It sets you off on a on on a good start. If it wasn't an academic source, then you immediately sort of the markers going, oh, no.
02:33Why are they using some silly Internet site? So, anyway, lecture on that part over. The bottom extract, which sadly, this book you don't have access to, except here, obviously, but these authors talk about the market orientated firm looks outward to the environment in which it operates, adapting its practices and processes to take advantage of emerging opportunities and to minimize potential threats. By using market research and marketing intelligence, companies really are constantly watching and attempting to adapt to the changing environment. There are factors that do influence it that we do look at as we go through the session today.
03:16Sorry. Incoming dog. I still think it's still figured out how or who I'm talking to. Yes. But, this, this assessment asks you to consider, ways in which the, company has, perhaps adapted, maybe its products or its markets to take advantage of any opportunities arise, or to equally minimize any threats might impact on its ability.
03:45They also talk about, it has been long argued that the marketing environment consists of 2 dimensions, which are the macro. I've got a picture coming up. The macro and the micro environment, which we'll look at next. So, yep, so this is the marketing environment, but here, although the last author's quoted and said there's 2 dimensions, here, this has 3 dimensions, which will look in turn, the first one being the internal environment. That relates to the organization itself and is concerned with operational aspects and any core competencies within the organization.
04:34Factors that might be relevant might be the company strategy, the corporate culture, the management style in the organization, and I guess it's information system, how it collects and collects information, etcetera. And I think organizations benefit from assessing their strengths and, recognizing that they have got potential weaknesses. It was in the organization you work for. Are you aware of activities that are carried out to assess the, organization? Maybe the performance of the organization.
05:09Is that something you're aware that actually happens within your organization? What sort of things do they do to attempt to assess any potential strengths that they have or weaknesses? Feel free to unmute, or you can maybe use a chat, whatever whatever's good for you. Yeah. Service.
05:38Yeah. And that's something that Napier do. I think if they ask you as students to conduct surveys, but they also ask us, about the working environment and, and several aspects. Then they also know more so now, they then come back several months later for how they acted or not. So that to show that they've actually paid attention to it, not just paid lip service, which is what I think used to happen.
06:06Organizations often did that, but they don't necessarily do anything with the information. I think focus groups are better because they're more qualitative, surveys are quantitative, which I think we look at another one, another lecture. But, but, yeah, focus groups where you get meaningful depth, where you can really talk to people and get insight into them. I think when an organization is developing marketing plans, managers, they often have to take into account other departments within the organization. They can be things like finance, research development, purchasing, potentially engineering, operations management, accounting, customer service.
06:52There's a whole load of different types of department that are in the organization. At the end of the day, I think some of them are more appreciative of marketing. Other times, I think accountants think that marketing is the and not a proper thing, but it is. It drives the whole point of marketing or is to identify and meet customer needs, to design products and services to meet those needs. Marketing is hugely important.
07:23For your assessment for this module, when you introduce a company, a new assessment, you're not asked to conduct either the internal or microenvironment analysis. It does emphasize the the macro. But I think when it comes to, when you do an overview of the company, you are gonna sort of do a an internal environmental analysis because you're gonna give a background on the company, and it probably you will be looking for things that they have done well, things have been successful, or conversely, you might come across any issues, any challenges, maybe negative things in the press that you might uncover. The middle two of the rings, these are the ones that were on the quote on the last slides, the middle ring, the microenvironment, and the outer ring, the macro. For the remainder of the session, that's what we'll look at.
08:11But the internal environment is still important to consider for all organizations. With the microenvironment, Cutler talks about the actors close to the company that affect its ability to serve its customers, The company suppliers marketing intermediaries, competitors, Publix and customers are what they list. I think we'll look at these most of these in in turn, a company which has briefly acknowledged that they do the internal assessment to identify strengths and weaknesses. Suppliers, as it says there, these are the ones that provide resources, materials, and services perhaps that are needed by maybe our company in order that we can produce and manufacture our goods or to deliver our services. And I think it's really important that, you know, man managers really have to watch the availability of supplies that they need and and the costs.
09:17And I think supply shortages can lose you, sales in the in the short term and damage customer satisfaction in the long term, if you then can't provide the orders or fulfill the orders that you've taken, then that is a huge issue and can be quite damaging. Once we might forgive, but more than that, it's unreliable, and we've let down our customers. So therefore, people would tend to move away from you and and go somewhere else. This time last year, there were, supply shortages in the United Kingdom. This was February 2023.
09:53We had a real issue with fruit and vegetables. The shelves were literally empty. You could hardly get any fruit or vegetables at all for various reasons. Were you aware of any supply issues similar to this in your country, industry, or, you know, any supply shortages, not fruit and veg, but any of it may be impacted on your organization. Feel free to unmute or or pop it in the chat.
10:31Okay. From my end, sometimes we do have and so do have issues with ships coming in depending on the weather or what's happening, something like that. Yeah. Of course. Supermarkets would look like that if the ship did not come in with fruits and vegetables.
10:48Yeah. Exactly. And I guess with the weather in the Caribbean. Yes. And and that that's it.
10:55And I think when it is external factors, environmental factors, I think we can be slightly more forgiving sometimes. But, yeah, it's what whether people will wait for these. I mean, if it's sometimes if the ships are held up and it was fresh produce, which I think probably go more by air than the boat, but some some will some will, you know, like apples. Apparently, the apples in the supermarket in the UK, they could be 3 years old because when they're harvested, they're putting a dark barn, and it's dark, and they so they don't perish. But, you know, I mean, because sometimes when you buy cheap apples, they're not really nice.
11:30I don't know. You probably can't read at the bottom there, but it says, from fresh produce to medicines and computer chips, a cocktail of problems is playing havoc with supply chains. And I've not I think in the car industry, it's more as a consumer who wants to buy a car. There's been, well, you couldn't buy UCARS because it was such a long wait because of the semiconductor issues. So the secondhand car market, prices went sky high because that's all people could get.
12:00Eggs shortage for a few months due to a cripping, avian flu. Yep. Yep. We had that too. And the supermarket still don't have back in many of the isolate to buy duck eggs and, but there's very sparse range of eggs.
2. Think Of Fashion
12:16I I haven't I don't know whether even flew still around. I know that I still don't let the dogs eat dead birds on the beach. I'm always really panicking. These are some of supply I did look up just before I came here. I'm just gonna cough, so I shall put that slide up and mute for a second.
12:43Yeah. These are, from this source, supply chain risks for 2024 expected ones, labor shortages, ocean freight bottlenecks. I don't know whether that was it would be the ocean freight. Maybe they meant, I don't know if they meant weather related, but clearly it's an issue. Global port congestion and warehouse shortages.
13:04Yeah. There's nowhere for the stuff to go then. You know? Lack of sustainability and the researches of COVID 19, which I hope that is not what I've got. My friend's got it, so I'm hoping I've not caught it.
13:15But, yeah, these are, this is a I think that this yeah. They seem to be I don't know whether any of these, have have impacted on your organization. Again, bread shortage. Oh gosh right due to extensive rioting in July 2022. I think in the UK we're expecting that there will be issues as consumers.
13:38We've had so much rain. At the beginning of July, a whole month of rain fell in one day. So there's been flooding. So the crops can't survive that. So either we'll have to import from other countries and pay more, or there just won't be the same array, of of of options available in in the supermarkets.
14:00So, yeah, so suppliers are one issue, then there's intermediaries. These are the people that typically get your products or services to the the the the final buyer. So You'll recognize a lot of these like the wholesalers and resellers, the shipping, the distribution companies, which are gotten bigger and more powerful because so much is bought online now. Amazon to distribution for other organizations as well. It's really grown and the technology has hugely helped.
14:28Marketing services. Often, organizations need professional agencies, whether that's advertising or market research. These are really important. I think YouGov down there, I'll put that there just because, that's a great source of market research about the United Kingdom, so so they give quite a good insight. And the bank financial, and intermediaries, things like the the banks and credit agencies, we really do depend on easy transfer of funds, especially with so much ecommerce around and mcommerce and mobile commerce as well.
15:10So we depend on on banks and credit agencies. So some types of businesses require a network of intermediaries. Sometimes, you know, a product may go through, you know, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, or or a combination. So, usually, they can be unless you're delivering yourself, then they are necessary to get your product to the end consumer. And it's, again, important as it is with suppliers if you can have a good strong rule so that if you say, oh my gosh, I need this out quick.
15:41They'll they'll come really quickly. They'll sacrifice somebody else for you because you're a valued customer. Similarly, with the suppliers, you need to build up strong relationships so that, if they've only got a finite number, you're you know, you you want to have favored customer, so they give you first choice and maybe, you know, not to somebody else. So, That's why this relationship development is absolutely significant. In the microenvironment, it's important to think about competitors.
16:08I think that's really important. Who are your competitors? The organizations that you're compared against by the public, and that relates to positioning, which is part of segmentation, which is in Unit 9, I think. We look at that where the idea of against you know, direct competitors, how do people think about you? Did and what way are you thought of as better?
16:29Or if your thought of as less good, why? What aspects are you not being, comparable on? If you think of fashion, and Uniqlo is one of the 3 organizations you can choose. Who do you think might be competitors for Uniqlo? Can you think who their competitors might be?
16:49Think of either I'm I'm hoping to think more of indirect competitors, but I guess even just knowing who their competitors might be could be useful. Any any organizations that you can think of? I I can feel oh, yes. Sylvia, go ahead. Hello, everyone.
17:12Hi. Hi. Maybe. Which one? Sorry.
17:14Did you see it? And m? H and m. Yeah. Absolutely.
17:18Or m. Zara? Zara? Yep. Yeah.
17:22And there's other ones, I suppose. Mhmm. I was thinking of I don't know if they still exist. Pretty little things or ASOS. I guess they've all got fashion clothing.
17:33But, I I think these might be sort of direct competitors, supermarkets brands. So they're all supermarkets, but they've all gone into having a clothing range. So George is Asda, 2 is Sainsbury's, this is Tesco, and it says Sir Morrison's. In some ways, maybe Uniqlo don't see them as direct competition, but in some ways, they should because they have affordable clothing. They're not the highest quality, but neither Uniqlo or, Primark.
18:09So in some ways, this is an option and a valid option for, for people. So you sometimes have to just think a little bit wider about who your competitors are. Yeah. And in terms of, you know, when you think about competitors, it says about the industry view and that to be successful, you must provide kind of greater value and and more satisfaction for customers than than your competitors, and including those with products are close substitutes. And the example that is like was given was the car industry where there's many competing brands offering really quite similar vehicles for the target market.
18:48And in the pharmaceutical industry, there are products, generic products that are available at much less cost. I think with the pharmaceutical industry, there's patents on a on a a new drug, but that only lasts for x amount of years. And after that, supermarkets, for example, can develop their own, you know, you know, own label, paracetamol or aspirin or whatever whatever drugs they are. So you have to be thinking about that that there are competitors that are offering very similar to what we offer. So, you know, you need to bear them in mind.
19:21And I guess for the the the the main, for pharmaceutical brands, it's important that they try and convey that more level of trust that, you know, the the you know, rather than always the the product features. It's about, you know, the the level of trust in the in the organization to try and build up brand identity. The market view, from this perspective, it says sorry. Moving things again. Competition from companies are trying to satisfy the same need.
19:52And I think from a travel perspective and or from an industry perspective, the Radisson Hotel chain might see its main competition as, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott. They might be the same. Not very good but yeah these ones that came to mind Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott. But from a market point of view for me as a customer who potentially could go to the Radisson Hotel, when I'm looking about what I want, I'm wanting a shelter, I want access to food and drink, and that can come from a range of options. I could go to a guest house, a bed and breakfast.
3. Think Of Types
20:27There are some pubs, or ins to offer, rooms to stay in overnight. It could come from Airbnb. Any of those serve my needs. So the market point of view really should lead a company to consider à broader view of competitors. So they put themselves in the mind of customers.
20:43What are the options rather than coming to Radisson? So they should look at that. And and, again, it allows them to then more effectively communicate with consumers the benefits of what they offer, really focus on that, you know, the the the strengths, the reasons why they should come to the Marriott. And in terms of getting information on on customers or or your competitors, sorry, can you think of ways in which you can get information on your competitors? How might you go about finding out information?
21:17Can you think of any ways to do that? I think the way you're gonna go into it for your assessment, I think, hit the Internet almost, you can get a huge amount. Companies want customers to think really highly of them, so they give a whole lot of information on their websites, including things like their ethical stance, their stance on not usually politics, but on many things. Some might do politics, but they do so that if you can find or match your sort of personality to compared to your customers, that can give you an advantage. So, yeah, research, and you can also pay for research.
22:06Yeah. Product reviews. Yeah. Find out what people are saying about products. Are there any weaknesses?
22:11Yeah. Probably just contact them, inquire. Yeah. You could do that underhanded potential customer perhaps because oftentimes, you can't get actual prices online. So sometimes, you know, you could phone them and pretend to be a customer so you get the price for say a fitted kitchen or or something.
22:31Another aspect of the microenvironment is publics. This is any group really that has any interest or can impact on your ability as a company to operate. They can be potential sources of pressure. The general public can often put pressure on companies because they don't want companies necessarily in their backyard so close. You know, usually, it means, like at Napier, the general public don't like the fact that the students park in their residential Streets and tie up any parking.
23:04The ones in orange, I'm not going to cover them all, but financial publics, that's things like banks, investors, and others related to the financial aspect that could influence your company's ability to get funding perhaps. Media public such things like television, newspapers, social media blogs, and other such content. They're known as media public. Badge reports in the media, about a company can impact on its reputation and its subsequent acceptability to customers. And sometimes, it can be long term damage.
23:36Sometimes, it's, you know, very fast. You know, you're something bad said about you, but 2 days later, something else has come along that knocks you off the headlines. But, a lot of times, modern customers are looking for more ethical companies that are maybe taking a bit more time to research, companies. So you don't want bad things said about you. And governments, obviously, the government, and changes to laws, that the governments imposed must be reflected on businesses.
24:03Many companies have business lawyers, and they run things by sometimes even it's just a job advert to make sure that they're not, discriminating against potential applicants, you know, because you can't know in the UK. I don't think you can advertise that you want a man or a woman. I think you've got to be gender neutral, unless you get a very valid reason for it. The other thing is customers. You have different types of customers.
24:30Customer market, sorry, different types of markets, you know, Consumer markets, business to business. Resellers, they buy goods and services and sell them a profit. Yeah. So the more people that are in the chain, the more, goods tend to cost because each of them have to have their own, add their own profit margin. Government markets and government agencies, these are big customers.
24:56If you can get a government contract, it's usually very good. And international markets are the same, but just in international markets. And I think you do have to consider each that each type of market has special characteristics. Sorry. Yeah.
25:16Whether you're operating on a business to consumer or business to business, basis, customers are key to your growth and your sustainability. So you do need to understand them. And this is a typical environmental set. Now we only looked at the microenvironment. I must watch my time.
25:32But, this is the just to show the complexities of the environment for an organization. And all of the, you know, for for an organization test was a supermarket in the United Kingdom. There are all of these, you know, when it comes to raw material suppliers, you know, you've got potential suppliers, your current ones. You've got customers, you know, different types of customers, stakeholders. All of these you've kinda got to think about.
25:55So it's it's a lot. It's a lot to take on board, and the bigger you are, I think it gets probably more complicated. Just before we move on, though, I'll just call up this. This is, for the microenvironment. This is called Porter's 5 force analysis, and this is a tool that's used to examine the different microenvironmental aspects in order to understand the impact each of them can have on on an organization within the industry.
26:24And typically, what you do is you look at the threat of new entrants. Is the threat of new entrants high or low? Because if you're the one that wants to go into the marketplace, you're hoping that the threat of new entrants will be low, so you you can get into the new market. But then if there's if it's low, then it could mean lots of other people could come onto the market and flood the market. So, you want to know how powerful suppliers are.
26:46And in many markets, suppliers are all powerful, but you hope that you that they're not too powerful because then they could put up prices and there's nothing you can do. So, but yeah. So in the industry, how powerful are suppliers and bargaining power of buyers? How powerful are buyers? And oftentimes, it can be the the they are powerful because there's lots of options.
27:10I don't need to stay with supplier or, you know, company a because company b, c, d, e, and f all provide the same thing, like supermarkets. You know, we're we've got quite a lot of power as buyers because there's quite a lot of supermarkets, certainly in the UK, and I think certainly in other countries. And you look at the threat of substitute products and services. Are there other ones available? And if there are lots of other ones available, then the power, you know, it makes it less attractive.
27:35So this is to, you know, look at the attractiveness of an industry or a new marketplace. I can't really see that your uses in this assessment, but if you weren't interested, you get more information from the body textbook, he covers that and, that will be chapter 3, and you can access that. There's a link on Moodle, but if the link's not working, you can just do a library search and just type author, body, and and you can find it. And it tells you here that it's available online and when you click on that you can access it, read online, so body is it could be quite useful. I'm just going to move on to them, I'm just going to check, yep.
28:16So the wider, that was the outer circle, that's the marketing environment, the macro macro environment. So while we have some level of control over the micro environment, despite, you know, sometimes suppliers might have a bit more power, than we would like. But, generally, we we have got control here with these wider forces. These are out with our control. We don't control them, but we have to be aware of them because it can impact on our ability to operate.
28:46And, yeah, and and you can have impact on many aspects which you'll kind of look at, but, if you, you know, the offer up opportunities or threats. So if you think back to 2024 years ago, when, COVID was around, Can you think of any industries in the 1st few months when COVID was in your country or around? I think it was generally about the March time it hit the UK, when things changed. But can you think for any types of industry or company where COVID nineteen was either a real threat or are there any where it was actually an opportunity and led to them to have increased business? It was good for them.
29:28Can you think of any types of company that COVID was Yep. Mhmm. Sure. So when COVID first, started, which would have been November of 2019, I was in Taiwan doing my, doing my bachelor's degree. And in Asia, people wear masks all the time.
4. Think Many People
29:49So if you have the flu, you will wear a mask. And I think it's because they've had experience with SARS before why masks are so popular there. Yeah. So, in the summer of that year, I had the flu. And I remember my classmates, they gave me masks because I didn't know at the time that, you know, that was something that you do.
30:11You wear a mask. Right. So I had about 10 masks in my in my room, and then COVID came around. And within, like, that 1st month of November going into December, masks were completely scarce. You could not find them anywhere.
30:27And I'm talking about when COVID, like, just dropped. It was it was in existence for about a month, and everywhere masks were completely sold out. And I ended up having those 10 from from when I had them in the summer from my classmates. The mask industry in Taiwan ended up booming so much. Yeah.
30:46Had people opened, like, boutiques that only sold, like, novelty masks. So you could find them in just about any cartoon, any anime. Like, it boomed so much because of COVID. Yep. Yeah.
30:59Yes. And I thought, yes. And all of this protective stuff, mainly masks and then visors became common. I saw people, who were visors, typically things you would have seen in hospitals before. But yeah.
31:14So absolutely. And I think one of the biggest industries that seem to still be around is the the the just eat or, deliver you, the home food deliveries were which brought food and dropped at your doorstep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
31:28That kind of thing. And they're still really popular, you know? So thank you, Zandri. In the insurance industry, we saw a great influx of interest in insurance products, especially health, of course. Also, the home office furniture and technology industry saw a great influx.
31:43Absolutely. And Internet service providers. Yes. Who knew about Zoom before COVID? I hadn't heard of Zoom before, and suddenly everyone still talks about Zoom even though using Webex or or Teams, people still see, I'll I'll Zoom you later on sort of thing.
31:58So, yeah. So there's winners and losers. I think the the, the the threats, I I think the ones that suffered with obviously hospitality and tourism. And and, you know, that that would include, I I guess, hospitality. That would be restaurants, hotels, you know, so many industries that really were decimated.
32:19So you can see that often there are winners and losers. What we knew about COVID, the November of 2019, but other countries were aware of that, but you know, they they held back and didn't anything. I think it was in March where it really came to the UK, retail online shopping as well. Of course, that was a boom. And I think many people have still kept that on where they do still, you know, get, their grocery shopping, order it online and get it delivered or or collect it in the car park.
32:50It has definitely changed people's Didn't that store, Debenhams, they went completely online now because of COVID. Right. Yep. And, and even Primark, they didn't have an online store. And because of COVID, they had to, you know, sort of do that because they lost so much business.
33:08Absolutely. But see, when they reopened their store in Edinburgh, the queue was, like, a mile long. It was unbelievable. Unbelievable. The queues.
33:15It's crazy. Crazy. So yeah. So this, the the, to analyze the the macro environment, it's better if you've got some sort of tool or framework. So we often talk about the PESTEL analysis within the the the circle there.
33:31The the, you know, they're there. The acronym Pestel stands for political, economic, social, cultural, technological, environmental, or ecological and legal factors. And all of these can impact on a company. The the this list here has the the pastel I've just mentioned, but also has demography. But I I think it's, hard it's hard to get a list.
33:54Well, this is I'll tell you why it says because Kotler, this author Kotler, and the book you've got access to, he has this the macro environment. He's got demographic, economic, natural, but that doesn't roll off like then. So pastel rules of the tongue, and I think that's why we tend to use pastel or it used to just be called pest, political, economic, social, cultural, technological. But now it's grown arms and legs. You know, there's pastel, steeple, and long pastel.
34:25It's it's ridiculous. But, anyway, I think pest is short, but pastel, one of the pastels, e l e or e l. I think whatever one you use in your assessments, it is fine. You know, it is fine. But I think, you know, you wouldn't want to have it too long and, yeah.
34:44But I'll I'll I'll use Pestel, and I'll and I'll look at the factors there. So these are factors, obviously, impact on, an organization. I'm not going to go into them. You'll get the slides anyway, but, you know, it's a sort of things in the country which you're maybe thinking of going to. What is this assessment?
35:01I've forgotten the assessments, oh yeah or in the country that they're in, yeah the types of government, the people's relationship with the state is it can be important. It can be, international relations that can impact, because if a if a country's sanctioned by other countries because of bad behavior, then that can have an impact, etcetera. And then under politics now comes climate, gender, race, class. These have become politicized, and privacy laws. And I think well conceived regulation is really important in most countries.
35:32And I think you have to have some sort of regulation to allow for fair market trade if, you know, fair markets for for goods and services and some protection and, legislation, like, the and for for, for consumers. In the UK, we've got quite a lot of laws that cover businesses have to think about. We've got, laws relating to, fair competition, fair trade practices, environmental protection, product safety, truth and advertising, consumer privacy laws, which are global, environmental protection, I think I've said that, labels, labeling, not labeling and packaging, there's even laws around them. So all of these, you know, could, you know, have have potential impact. You know, if the government changes changes things or if you go to a new country you need to ensure you abide by or recognize whether you know you're actually welcome because sometimes there's regulation about banning foreign direct investment.
36:38In terms of countries that are easy or hard to do business with, and I just found this in, it's in the I'll put it in the references, but the most 10 most complex jurisdictions are France, Greece, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Turkey, Peru. But the easiest the 10 least complex countries are the Cayman Islands. So no wonder they're so popular because, obviously, yeah, for tax issues. And I know that they're very popular. Also, Denmark, Curacao, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and the British Virgin Islands are among the, least complex countries to do business with.
37:10So things like that it is important for an organization to know, especially if you're going to go think about going global. So you need to think about politic politics and economics, obviously, these are economic factors, you know, the the currency. And in terms of the second one, who has the money? Think about income distribution and purchasing power. And over the last few decades, it seems in many countries that the rich have grown richer, the middle class has shrunk, and the poor have remained poor.
5. Think Last Year
37:43This distribution of income has created a tiered market. So companies such as, Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, they target the wealthy people. While there are other companies such as like dollar stores, Aldi, Primark, and Uniqlo, they target perhaps people with a more modest means. But I think it is important to recognize whether the country is, in in recession, or if there's, you know, if the financial news is telling that there's going to be a recession coming, The impact on organizations could be that if you've got luxury products, you think, oh, there might be less demand for luxury products. So maybe, you know, you won't order because quite so much stock because you might not be able to sell it.
38:30Conversely, it might mean that the the the the dollar stores might be busier, so they probably need to get more stock. And, yeah, interest rates and exchange rates, they're important as well. I think they can have impact because that will have impact perhaps on the the the prices you charge. You've got to, take into account interest rates, or tariffs. That's the word I was looking for.
38:57I think that in terms of the sort of the tiered system again, there are we we don't look at, segmentation till unit 9, but, I think it's important for, in marketing to to identify certain groups of customers potentially to serve. And some companies can tailor their products and services so that they can serve, like the, those are wealthy and those are less wealthy. So you can actually, a single organization can develop products like that and the example I've got here if it comes up sorry is like ford And I'm sorry. I've used UK example here, so you might not recognize necessarily. But these if Ford, they they serve people on a a more modest income.
39:47So their cheapest car is a Ford Fiesta at 19,350 pound starting from, and the all new Mustang, which starts at 50,000. So and then and they've got in between. So they're able to, serve, a a a quite a variety of different, customers and and their and their financial situation. But, I mean, there are changes in in in the economic variables such as like levels of income, cost of living, interest rates, savings and borrowing patterns. These can have impact on the marketplace and their ability to spend.
40:22So companies do watch, variables. They use economic forecasting, so they're not and the reason they do that, so they're not wiped out by, an economic downturn or get caught short in a boom. They're ready to go for either. So it does pay them to monitor the economic situation closely. Social factors relate obviously to society and impacts, or includes, includes, sorry, aspects that fall within demography, which I'll look at later on.
40:55Social ones vary from country to country, and even within the same country. In the UK, you probably know there's 4 countries, and they're quite different. And in England, which is the biggest of the 4 countries, they've got something called a north south divide. So here, this relates to life expectancy, and green is the longer better than average life expectancy and dark red is the worst and average. So you can sort of see for both male and female that, down here, which is where the wealth is these areas, if you can see the cursor moving, these were the sort of industrial areas where manufacturing took place.
41:37So, of course, there was lots of pollution, and so so, yeah, the impact, I think, has caught up In the 19 sixties seventies, people didn't know about environmental aspects. So, yeah, but down here, there's more wealth, better quality of life. And is that do you in the country you're in, do you have something similar, this kind of divide between, the rich and poor and, the the rich have got higher life expectancy. Is it something that you're familiar with? I'll just put up the other factors so you can look at them in case.
42:28Yeah, the the other factors are are useful to organisations to understand how to market their goods and services to specific customers. And, also, it allows you to strategically sort of plan for future trends and consumer demand so that you're better to meet them better able to meet them. Yeah. It should be technological. I have separated culture.
42:55Sometimes they're together, but I've separated social and culture. Yeah. So cultural factors affect how people think, how they consume. So marketers are quite keen to understand, cultural forces. And I think the cultural environment will impact on our society's basic, you know, their values, how they perceive things, their preferences, their behaviors.
43:17We all grew up in a particular society that shapes our beliefs and our values, and cultural characteristics can affect consumer decision making, what people find acceptable. For organizations, I think when you're going global, it might be that we have to consider more than one culture. Japan has very different, cultural, perspective than the UK. If we operate in both countries, we have to consider 2 different cultures, Equally, if we want to export our goods and services somewhere in the future, it's important to recognize cultural aspects. Religious beliefs can influence what customers will or won't buy.
43:55Obviously, they're talking about sanctioned products and services that could be, you know, things like Hindu, religion where people don't eat beef. Observant Jews and Muslims consume only kosher or halal meats, and some religions don't allow the consumption of alcohol. So that can be quite important to recognize that, values and norms values are the standards by which people in our society, define what is felt to be good or bad, what is desirable or equally not desirable. And norms are what the the the norms what's normal in in the culture is is things that are to be encouraged or discouraged, things that have to be accepted or rejected by by by the group as in the culture. And attitudes, that relates to attitudes towards, authority.
44:44Important if you're doing business in another country, In a hierarchical corporate structure, there are multiple layers of management. I have a boss, but equally, I can have subordinates. And at the very top, it's almost like a pyramid, isn't it? And at the very top sits a chief executive officer. In the egalitarian style, apparently, all or in theory, all employees should equal responsibility and power.
45:08The focus is often on encouraging kind of low level workers to show initiative to put forward ideas because they're the ones who often have the good ideas. They're often the ones that speak to customers and get complaints about a product not working as well, or if only this product could do this, then it would be so much better. So they're encouraged to put forward ideas. And within that, they encourage the bosses to have an open door policy so that you can go upstairs and knock on a big boss's door and speak to them and not, you know, have difficulty getting past the secretary. That can be quite important, especially if you want to expand into new markets.
45:46Technological factors, these can offer exciting opportunities for marketers. There's been a whole load of new technological developments that sometimes offer up opportunities and sometimes offer up threats. I mean, new technologies create new markets and opportunities if a company is in a position to be able to take advantage of them, often as financial reasons that people don't or can't. I'm not sure. I don't have a slide for that or an image.
46:15But if I remember rightly, I think last year, Apple spent something like 285,000,000,000 US dollars on research and development. Now smaller companies cannot afford to spend that much, so they're never going to have necessarily pioneering projects. Although there is a system where they ask for money. Is it case sourcing or crowdfunding? But there's also one where you can do it where you can invest so you can invest in new products.
46:44And there's still at the kind of con inception or cons concept idea. And you so you can get investments. And I I was thinking I didn't actually. I thought I wanted some money. So I I kinda thought I might be tempted to invest in that, and I can't remember what the scheme's called.
46:59But, anyway, so there there might be ways around smaller companies, you know, that they might be able to then, you know, develop, you know, get money for research development and and and building. Crowdfunding. Thanks. Thank you. Yeah.
47:16I think artificial intelligence at the bottom one is, you know, still evolving, and and this would seem to offer more scope, for how it can offer opportunities for businesses and marketers. Can you think of ways of which artificial intelligence issues apart from chat GPT for doing assessments? But, yeah. Can you, think of any ways of which AI issues is used in in your business at all? Is it something you're familiar with?
47:46Feel free to, unmute or put it in the the chat if you prefer. At airports? Is that to make the process of of, boarding, etcetera, much more smooth, sweet, you know, and much more efficient? Napier have it. I I I think they've got a chatbot.
48:18So if you're doing an inquiry or you were looking if you're looking on your site, looking at courses that pops up, And, I think it can offer, obviously, it it depends on somebody, a human thinking of the sort of questions people may want answered. So they've got the answers to the questions. But whenever I use a chatbot, or, you know, it never ever seems to have what I want. I've got some examples here, conscious of time. These are some of the ways in which, and again, I'll put that slide up.
48:50These are some of the ones that are meant to be significant in in 2024. Yeah. I've got Sarah. Oh, yeah. Yep.
6. Doing Think
49:02Anyway, other technology related ones are are here. These, you know, these aspects are there, analytics, cookies, they're quite old though, but, yes, fake news, virtual reality, which fake news can offer up problems. And security is always a one, and the thought of getting a data, you know, a data breach is is is hugely significant. And, you know, so, I mean, I think even a lot of business because you really have to be online nowadays. It say that, don't you?
49:32You know, to to be successful, you kinda really need to be online. But along, if you're offering products and services online and then you're capturing data, then you have got to, you know, a DIY website is vulnerable. So you've really got to invest in in in security. So, yeah, that's that's an issue for smaller businesses again. Well, that's some more these are some more ones that I found again, from Simply Learn.
49:54These are all the new technology ones again. Digital twins, I have no idea what's most of these are, but I'll I'll give you the link. If you're interested in them, I'll give you them. Ecological physical environments are, that's also sometimes called, and is sometimes called environmental. Yes.
50:13So it's ecological physical environment or sometimes just called environment and some of the acronyms. So, yes, factors could be climate change that can offer up, you know, a real problem here in the manufacturing, you know, a a manufacturing company, and you want to set up a factory in another country, then, well, certainly, it's more pollution controls, but they're they're sort of flaked. Yes, you have to abide by, and they can be quite stringent. I mean, it used to be that China wasn't as, concerned about output, from, carbon carbon output. That's changed now.
50:49I mean, that that has changed with the work towards it, but for a long time, you know, in the UK, we've had sort of carbon dioxide emission things, controls for many, many years. But, yeah, it's something you have to abide by, in the countries you go to. So that could offer up a challenge if if you've not got environmentally friendly manufacturing processes. Yeah. Emissions are energy sources, recycling, sustainability.
51:14These are all factors that you may have to think about, and and the industry you're in, and they can offer up, you know, even recycling, you know, that means that you've got to provide recycling bins. So again, that's, can be a threat because if you've got limited money to provide all of these, you've got to pay for them as a business. And so that can be quite, quite an issue, finding money for all of these. Legal factors, oftentimes political and legal go together and and, like when it was PEST analysis. PEST.
51:46Yeah. PEST are political legal together. And these are just some of the ones that you have to think about, and be aware of. Layers of legislation you might have to think about. If you go international, you have to think about international laws that you need to abide by as is domestic and local ones and things like, the ban on smoking, that was introduced years ago in the UK.
52:09Clearly, that's an opportunity for, the manufacturers of outside ash trees and patio heaters where people go outside to have a cigarette and beer gardens and pubs. But so pubs are to then provide them. But, other businesses where, you well, many pubs didn't survive because people associated to, you know, you go have a drink, have a cigarette. And if you couldn't do that in the pub, you didn't want to go outside. Maybe the climate wasn't suitable.
52:36So so that offered offered up threats for for many in the hospitality industry again. And we've got levels of regulation, and you wonder why when you see these are genuine adverts for cigarettes from the USA in the 19 fifties, I think you now know why there is, legislation. Ofcom, this is a government agency in the United Kingdom that, they, regulates, radio, and television and now, video on demand, things like Netflix content. Yeah, and so factors you've got to think about are some of the ones that fall within legal. So yes you have to abide by them and for any new country you're going to you have to really dig deep to find out what are the laws, what are the rules surrounding.
53:25Many governments have an actual website that they they have, so you can actually look up, you know, what's accept or what what, legislation you have to adhere to, what, certification, etcetera. So so you can hopefully find that information. But again sometimes you might have to then employ a specialist in the new country to find that. Demographic factors, again I looked at that, it sort of falls under the ream of social culture to some extent. But, yes, things to think about in the new country or in the country of the aging population.
53:54That's called the other gray market where life expectancy has increased. That could have an impact on pensions, could be a real good thing for pension companies, and private health care, could be an opportunity for them. Looking at female specific products or culturally specific products, you know, more women, they make up well, in some countries, women make up more than 50% of the workforce in some countries, so they've become more independent. So when you're doing think about your advertising, you probably need to think about targeting directly at women. And in ethnicity, there might be culturally specific products.
54:34In United Kingdom, there was a large influx of Eastern European immigration many years ago, and so much so that, now the supermarkets have a specific, section of an aisle for Polish products. We've also got them for, Indian, Chinese, and a few other, Africa, yeah, Afro Caribbean products as well, to come over the the bring over the products and stock and sell them because there's a big demand for them. And the fact that this down here talks about, that there are 30% of all households in the in the UK are single households. So that can have an impact obviously, on organizations. Maybe the supermarkets need to stop more sort of single person sized products and less of the huge family ones.
55:19And, you know, when the governments are building house or house builders, maybe they have to have more 1 bedroom apartments rather than 23. You know, maybe that's what they need to be thinking about. So it can offer an opportunity that a house builder could, you know, build smaller houses subconscious of time here. This is, the Pastel analysis for international. I, I I I don't know why I was given this slide.
55:43I don't know why it's there, but, sorry. So oh, look. Sorry. Beg your pardon. There's just somebody at the door.
55:56One sec. One sec. I'm sorry about that. Oh, I could sorry about that. Oh, it's right.
56:09Hang on. Right. Sorry about that. Right. I don't know if that box is gone now.
56:14Sorry. Somebody opened the door and came in there. Apologies. I've gone the wrong way. Gosh.
56:18Right. Yeah. Yeah. I think just reflecting if you are going international, you will normally do a pastel analysis for the new country and have examine these and, things that you need to adhere to, whether it's gonna offer up an opportunity for you or whether it's a threat, something that you need to just address. Sometimes that's a skill shortage that you just need to employ people in the local country, the new country.
56:43Sorry, you've got experience. Just a reminder of the SWOT analysis, very briefly, that we carry out a SWOT analysis. It's accumulation of the internal analysis where we've examined the company, we've got the strengths and weaknesses from our examination of our own company. And the opportunities and threats come from outside the, you know, from from the macro and, environment. We've got them.
57:09So contrasting them both, what we're trying to do each one. There's a gray box blocking parts of the slide. I'm not sure if you're able to move it. Is that moved now? Yes.
57:21It is. Thank you. Right. So I didn't know you could see those boxes. That's what they were just on my control.
7. Conclusion
57:25Yep. So, yep, strength is still there. I don't know what the box is. It's still there. It's not over the slides anymore, so we can we can see now.
57:35Right. Sorry. I didn't know Mhmm. This yep. They they shouldn't show up at all.
57:41That's really weird. They don't show up in the recording because they're always there, but they don't show up. Anyway. Sorry about that. But, yes.
57:46So, the idea is that you look for opportunities that match your strengths and that's a plus thing. If you, if if there's something you perceive that, you know, you could take advantage of, and you've got the strengths, you know, that makes it fantastic. Sometimes there are threats that, you know, this is going to provide a fit. Can you adapt your business to minimize that fit? And for I mentioned about the smoking ban in the UK, the organizations that did that, where they provided, you know, an outside garden, an area outside where people could still enjoy a drink and have a cigarette.
58:18That was how they tried to minimize it. So, yeah. In terms of the SWOT analysis, just I think sorry. I don't want to do that. That was just that was just to show that for the internal analysis, sometimes you use an organization.
58:34The BCG as in Boston consultancy group was one company I worked for used. Yeah, this is a cotler book. So this is what it talks about the SWOT analysis. You're not asked to do one for the organization, so you won't necessarily use it. But just be aware that it does relate.
58:53So the SWAT SW from your internal analysis, OT from the external analysis. And these opportunities and threats also impact not just on your company, an organization, but others. Your competitors are probably equally as impacted by them too, so we sort of present them in a more general way. Yep. So very last sorry.
59:17I know I'm late. I beg your pardon. One more second. Yep. For the assessment, you know, sorts of things, should you use all pastel factors?
59:24Well, I think you're not gonna use them all. You'll use the relevant relevant ones, but I think you need to outline whichever framework, you know, external analysis. But yeah. So outline, explain what, you know, why it's significance. And, and then only the ones that are relevant to the one of the companies you pick, the ones that you believe have impacted on their decisions.
59:46And that could be social culture. It could be political. Whatever. If you haven't already chosen one of the organizations, I think you should do that now. So you do a bit digging a bit background information like an internal analysis sort of extent.
01:00:00But well, you'll get information secondhand either from the company's website or you might Google it. Oh, sorry, Iris. I I alright. I said, sorry. Yeah.
01:00:08Go ahead. I just wanted to check. You said last week that you were going to find out if we're able to zoom in on one market, in terms of each of the companies or if we have to do the entire company worldwide. Were you able to, find out or or make a decision on that? Yes.
01:00:26Yes. You can zoom in on one aspect, you know, because you can't do the whole world. So it would be better. Yeah. But I guess, you know, if if there was something that happened in France and something that happened in Africa, I guess you could, relate if you wanted to, but we'd probably make it easier, yes, to do one one market.
01:00:43Yeah. That would make it more easy to to to to handle. So yeah. So one company, a global company, just pick one market that could be reaching. That could be the whole of North America, Or it could be that you, you know, or you you could, choose, like, China rather than whole of the east, or or you could for Europe, you could just pick the UK, for example.
01:01:08So, yeah, I think that would make a better license. I think that will make it more easy for you to to do. Yep. Okay. Thank you.
01:01:17Cool. And, again, check if you've that you can access Microsoft Teams and and PowerPoint. I I think, you know, hopefully, make sure that you've you've done that. And I think I've just got my last slide. It's just oh, that's about you.
01:01:30Yeah, just I I googled macro environment, and and look at how many there are. There are all of these literally are classes macro environment. So I think probably just, picking a smaller like pestil would be there, would be wise. I think that would be the gray box come back again because I've pulled that over. Sorry.
01:01:49I pulled the chat box over, which I always have it there. I don't know why it suddenly showed. Anyway, anyway, so I think that's my last slide. Oh, no. I'm not going to do that task.
01:01:59I'll put that as a task and that's the references that I'll put. So I'm just going to stop recording. For those who are watching the recording, if you've got any questions, feel free to drop me an email if you want anything clarified.
Transcript
1. Introduction
00:00Right. That's us recording now. Welcome to the, I think it's the 7th live live session, but today we'll look at the marketing macro environment. I'll look at the full environment because I think it's important to give context to it. I'll give you the full marketing environment.
00:24You'll get your money's worth of me today. A reminder of the assessment details. These are the instructions from Moodle. Just to confirm that you do need to evaluate and analyze ways in which your selected company has responded to recent macro changes and how this might have impacted on their marketing strategy, the choices that they've made. This session, the topic that it covers clearly is important and significant, and it does underpin your, assessment quite heavily.
01:00Marketing environment is covered in prescribed reading and the suggested textbook that you have access to on Moodle. So all general marketing textbooks cover the the marketing environment. It's by studying the environment in which they operate and the wider environment that marketers are able to then develop that strategies to meet new marketplace challenges and opportunities that inevitably arise no matter what organization or what industry they're in. Makes sense to start with some sort of, moving things off my screen, some definition. Kotler et al, the book that you've got on Moodle, it says the actors and forces outside marketing that affect management's ability to build and maintain successful and profitable relationships with target customers.
02:00Thing to point out here is this was an assessment because it's a quote in the citation, I give the page number. Page numbers are only available on textbooks and journal articles, not on typically an Internet page. So by using a for defining theory by using a a page number, it implies to the the marker that you're using good quality academic sources, which is usually a plus. It sets you off on a on on a good start. If it wasn't an academic source, then you immediately sort of the markers going, oh, no.
02:33Why are they using some silly Internet site? So, anyway, lecture on that part over. The bottom extract, which sadly, this book you don't have access to, except here, obviously, but these authors talk about the market orientated firm looks outward to the environment in which it operates, adapting its practices and processes to take advantage of emerging opportunities and to minimize potential threats. By using market research and marketing intelligence, companies really are constantly watching and attempting to adapt to the changing environment. There are factors that do influence it that we do look at as we go through the session today.
03:16Sorry. Incoming dog. I still think it's still figured out how or who I'm talking to. Yes. But, this, this assessment asks you to consider, ways in which the, company has, perhaps adapted, maybe its products or its markets to take advantage of any opportunities arise, or to equally minimize any threats might impact on its ability.
03:45They also talk about, it has been long argued that the marketing environment consists of 2 dimensions, which are the macro. I've got a picture coming up. The macro and the micro environment, which we'll look at next. So, yep, so this is the marketing environment, but here, although the last author's quoted and said there's 2 dimensions, here, this has 3 dimensions, which will look in turn, the first one being the internal environment. That relates to the organization itself and is concerned with operational aspects and any core competencies within the organization.
04:34Factors that might be relevant might be the company strategy, the corporate culture, the management style in the organization, and I guess it's information system, how it collects and collects information, etcetera. And I think organizations benefit from assessing their strengths and, recognizing that they have got potential weaknesses. It was in the organization you work for. Are you aware of activities that are carried out to assess the, organization? Maybe the performance of the organization.
05:09Is that something you're aware that actually happens within your organization? What sort of things do they do to attempt to assess any potential strengths that they have or weaknesses? Feel free to unmute, or you can maybe use a chat, whatever whatever's good for you. Yeah. Service.
05:38Yeah. And that's something that Napier do. I think if they ask you as students to conduct surveys, but they also ask us, about the working environment and, and several aspects. Then they also know more so now, they then come back several months later for how they acted or not. So that to show that they've actually paid attention to it, not just paid lip service, which is what I think used to happen.
06:06Organizations often did that, but they don't necessarily do anything with the information. I think focus groups are better because they're more qualitative, surveys are quantitative, which I think we look at another one, another lecture. But, but, yeah, focus groups where you get meaningful depth, where you can really talk to people and get insight into them. I think when an organization is developing marketing plans, managers, they often have to take into account other departments within the organization. They can be things like finance, research development, purchasing, potentially engineering, operations management, accounting, customer service.
06:52There's a whole load of different types of department that are in the organization. At the end of the day, I think some of them are more appreciative of marketing. Other times, I think accountants think that marketing is the and not a proper thing, but it is. It drives the whole point of marketing or is to identify and meet customer needs, to design products and services to meet those needs. Marketing is hugely important.
07:23For your assessment for this module, when you introduce a company, a new assessment, you're not asked to conduct either the internal or microenvironment analysis. It does emphasize the the macro. But I think when it comes to, when you do an overview of the company, you are gonna sort of do a an internal environmental analysis because you're gonna give a background on the company, and it probably you will be looking for things that they have done well, things have been successful, or conversely, you might come across any issues, any challenges, maybe negative things in the press that you might uncover. The middle two of the rings, these are the ones that were on the quote on the last slides, the middle ring, the microenvironment, and the outer ring, the macro. For the remainder of the session, that's what we'll look at.
08:11But the internal environment is still important to consider for all organizations. With the microenvironment, Cutler talks about the actors close to the company that affect its ability to serve its customers, The company suppliers marketing intermediaries, competitors, Publix and customers are what they list. I think we'll look at these most of these in in turn, a company which has briefly acknowledged that they do the internal assessment to identify strengths and weaknesses. Suppliers, as it says there, these are the ones that provide resources, materials, and services perhaps that are needed by maybe our company in order that we can produce and manufacture our goods or to deliver our services. And I think it's really important that, you know, man managers really have to watch the availability of supplies that they need and and the costs.
09:17And I think supply shortages can lose you, sales in the in the short term and damage customer satisfaction in the long term, if you then can't provide the orders or fulfill the orders that you've taken, then that is a huge issue and can be quite damaging. Once we might forgive, but more than that, it's unreliable, and we've let down our customers. So therefore, people would tend to move away from you and and go somewhere else. This time last year, there were, supply shortages in the United Kingdom. This was February 2023.
09:53We had a real issue with fruit and vegetables. The shelves were literally empty. You could hardly get any fruit or vegetables at all for various reasons. Were you aware of any supply issues similar to this in your country, industry, or, you know, any supply shortages, not fruit and veg, but any of it may be impacted on your organization. Feel free to unmute or or pop it in the chat.
10:31Okay. From my end, sometimes we do have and so do have issues with ships coming in depending on the weather or what's happening, something like that. Yeah. Of course. Supermarkets would look like that if the ship did not come in with fruits and vegetables.
10:48Yeah. Exactly. And I guess with the weather in the Caribbean. Yes. And and that that's it.
10:55And I think when it is external factors, environmental factors, I think we can be slightly more forgiving sometimes. But, yeah, it's what whether people will wait for these. I mean, if it's sometimes if the ships are held up and it was fresh produce, which I think probably go more by air than the boat, but some some will some will, you know, like apples. Apparently, the apples in the supermarket in the UK, they could be 3 years old because when they're harvested, they're putting a dark barn, and it's dark, and they so they don't perish. But, you know, I mean, because sometimes when you buy cheap apples, they're not really nice.
11:30I don't know. You probably can't read at the bottom there, but it says, from fresh produce to medicines and computer chips, a cocktail of problems is playing havoc with supply chains. And I've not I think in the car industry, it's more as a consumer who wants to buy a car. There's been, well, you couldn't buy UCARS because it was such a long wait because of the semiconductor issues. So the secondhand car market, prices went sky high because that's all people could get.
12:00Eggs shortage for a few months due to a cripping, avian flu. Yep. Yep. We had that too. And the supermarket still don't have back in many of the isolate to buy duck eggs and, but there's very sparse range of eggs.
2. Think Of Fashion
12:16I I haven't I don't know whether even flew still around. I know that I still don't let the dogs eat dead birds on the beach. I'm always really panicking. These are some of supply I did look up just before I came here. I'm just gonna cough, so I shall put that slide up and mute for a second.
12:43Yeah. These are, from this source, supply chain risks for 2024 expected ones, labor shortages, ocean freight bottlenecks. I don't know whether that was it would be the ocean freight. Maybe they meant, I don't know if they meant weather related, but clearly it's an issue. Global port congestion and warehouse shortages.
13:04Yeah. There's nowhere for the stuff to go then. You know? Lack of sustainability and the researches of COVID 19, which I hope that is not what I've got. My friend's got it, so I'm hoping I've not caught it.
13:15But, yeah, these are, this is a I think that this yeah. They seem to be I don't know whether any of these, have have impacted on your organization. Again, bread shortage. Oh gosh right due to extensive rioting in July 2022. I think in the UK we're expecting that there will be issues as consumers.
13:38We've had so much rain. At the beginning of July, a whole month of rain fell in one day. So there's been flooding. So the crops can't survive that. So either we'll have to import from other countries and pay more, or there just won't be the same array, of of of options available in in the supermarkets.
14:00So, yeah, so suppliers are one issue, then there's intermediaries. These are the people that typically get your products or services to the the the the final buyer. So You'll recognize a lot of these like the wholesalers and resellers, the shipping, the distribution companies, which are gotten bigger and more powerful because so much is bought online now. Amazon to distribution for other organizations as well. It's really grown and the technology has hugely helped.
14:28Marketing services. Often, organizations need professional agencies, whether that's advertising or market research. These are really important. I think YouGov down there, I'll put that there just because, that's a great source of market research about the United Kingdom, so so they give quite a good insight. And the bank financial, and intermediaries, things like the the banks and credit agencies, we really do depend on easy transfer of funds, especially with so much ecommerce around and mcommerce and mobile commerce as well.
15:10So we depend on on banks and credit agencies. So some types of businesses require a network of intermediaries. Sometimes, you know, a product may go through, you know, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, or or a combination. So, usually, they can be unless you're delivering yourself, then they are necessary to get your product to the end consumer. And it's, again, important as it is with suppliers if you can have a good strong rule so that if you say, oh my gosh, I need this out quick.
15:41They'll they'll come really quickly. They'll sacrifice somebody else for you because you're a valued customer. Similarly, with the suppliers, you need to build up strong relationships so that, if they've only got a finite number, you're you know, you you want to have favored customer, so they give you first choice and maybe, you know, not to somebody else. So, That's why this relationship development is absolutely significant. In the microenvironment, it's important to think about competitors.
16:08I think that's really important. Who are your competitors? The organizations that you're compared against by the public, and that relates to positioning, which is part of segmentation, which is in Unit 9, I think. We look at that where the idea of against you know, direct competitors, how do people think about you? Did and what way are you thought of as better?
16:29Or if your thought of as less good, why? What aspects are you not being, comparable on? If you think of fashion, and Uniqlo is one of the 3 organizations you can choose. Who do you think might be competitors for Uniqlo? Can you think who their competitors might be?
16:49Think of either I'm I'm hoping to think more of indirect competitors, but I guess even just knowing who their competitors might be could be useful. Any any organizations that you can think of? I I can feel oh, yes. Sylvia, go ahead. Hello, everyone.
17:12Hi. Hi. Maybe. Which one? Sorry.
17:14Did you see it? And m? H and m. Yeah. Absolutely.
17:18Or m. Zara? Zara? Yep. Yeah.
17:22And there's other ones, I suppose. Mhmm. I was thinking of I don't know if they still exist. Pretty little things or ASOS. I guess they've all got fashion clothing.
17:33But, I I think these might be sort of direct competitors, supermarkets brands. So they're all supermarkets, but they've all gone into having a clothing range. So George is Asda, 2 is Sainsbury's, this is Tesco, and it says Sir Morrison's. In some ways, maybe Uniqlo don't see them as direct competition, but in some ways, they should because they have affordable clothing. They're not the highest quality, but neither Uniqlo or, Primark.
18:09So in some ways, this is an option and a valid option for, for people. So you sometimes have to just think a little bit wider about who your competitors are. Yeah. And in terms of, you know, when you think about competitors, it says about the industry view and that to be successful, you must provide kind of greater value and and more satisfaction for customers than than your competitors, and including those with products are close substitutes. And the example that is like was given was the car industry where there's many competing brands offering really quite similar vehicles for the target market.
18:48And in the pharmaceutical industry, there are products, generic products that are available at much less cost. I think with the pharmaceutical industry, there's patents on a on a a new drug, but that only lasts for x amount of years. And after that, supermarkets, for example, can develop their own, you know, you know, own label, paracetamol or aspirin or whatever whatever drugs they are. So you have to be thinking about that that there are competitors that are offering very similar to what we offer. So, you know, you need to bear them in mind.
19:21And I guess for the the the the main, for pharmaceutical brands, it's important that they try and convey that more level of trust that, you know, the the you know, rather than always the the product features. It's about, you know, the the level of trust in the in the organization to try and build up brand identity. The market view, from this perspective, it says sorry. Moving things again. Competition from companies are trying to satisfy the same need.
19:52And I think from a travel perspective and or from an industry perspective, the Radisson Hotel chain might see its main competition as, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott. They might be the same. Not very good but yeah these ones that came to mind Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott. But from a market point of view for me as a customer who potentially could go to the Radisson Hotel, when I'm looking about what I want, I'm wanting a shelter, I want access to food and drink, and that can come from a range of options. I could go to a guest house, a bed and breakfast.
3. Think Of Types
20:27There are some pubs, or ins to offer, rooms to stay in overnight. It could come from Airbnb. Any of those serve my needs. So the market point of view really should lead a company to consider à broader view of competitors. So they put themselves in the mind of customers.
20:43What are the options rather than coming to Radisson? So they should look at that. And and, again, it allows them to then more effectively communicate with consumers the benefits of what they offer, really focus on that, you know, the the the strengths, the reasons why they should come to the Marriott. And in terms of getting information on on customers or or your competitors, sorry, can you think of ways in which you can get information on your competitors? How might you go about finding out information?
21:17Can you think of any ways to do that? I think the way you're gonna go into it for your assessment, I think, hit the Internet almost, you can get a huge amount. Companies want customers to think really highly of them, so they give a whole lot of information on their websites, including things like their ethical stance, their stance on not usually politics, but on many things. Some might do politics, but they do so that if you can find or match your sort of personality to compared to your customers, that can give you an advantage. So, yeah, research, and you can also pay for research.
22:06Yeah. Product reviews. Yeah. Find out what people are saying about products. Are there any weaknesses?
22:11Yeah. Probably just contact them, inquire. Yeah. You could do that underhanded potential customer perhaps because oftentimes, you can't get actual prices online. So sometimes, you know, you could phone them and pretend to be a customer so you get the price for say a fitted kitchen or or something.
22:31Another aspect of the microenvironment is publics. This is any group really that has any interest or can impact on your ability as a company to operate. They can be potential sources of pressure. The general public can often put pressure on companies because they don't want companies necessarily in their backyard so close. You know, usually, it means, like at Napier, the general public don't like the fact that the students park in their residential Streets and tie up any parking.
23:04The ones in orange, I'm not going to cover them all, but financial publics, that's things like banks, investors, and others related to the financial aspect that could influence your company's ability to get funding perhaps. Media public such things like television, newspapers, social media blogs, and other such content. They're known as media public. Badge reports in the media, about a company can impact on its reputation and its subsequent acceptability to customers. And sometimes, it can be long term damage.
23:36Sometimes, it's, you know, very fast. You know, you're something bad said about you, but 2 days later, something else has come along that knocks you off the headlines. But, a lot of times, modern customers are looking for more ethical companies that are maybe taking a bit more time to research, companies. So you don't want bad things said about you. And governments, obviously, the government, and changes to laws, that the governments imposed must be reflected on businesses.
24:03Many companies have business lawyers, and they run things by sometimes even it's just a job advert to make sure that they're not, discriminating against potential applicants, you know, because you can't know in the UK. I don't think you can advertise that you want a man or a woman. I think you've got to be gender neutral, unless you get a very valid reason for it. The other thing is customers. You have different types of customers.
24:30Customer market, sorry, different types of markets, you know, Consumer markets, business to business. Resellers, they buy goods and services and sell them a profit. Yeah. So the more people that are in the chain, the more, goods tend to cost because each of them have to have their own, add their own profit margin. Government markets and government agencies, these are big customers.
24:56If you can get a government contract, it's usually very good. And international markets are the same, but just in international markets. And I think you do have to consider each that each type of market has special characteristics. Sorry. Yeah.
25:16Whether you're operating on a business to consumer or business to business, basis, customers are key to your growth and your sustainability. So you do need to understand them. And this is a typical environmental set. Now we only looked at the microenvironment. I must watch my time.
25:32But, this is the just to show the complexities of the environment for an organization. And all of the, you know, for for an organization test was a supermarket in the United Kingdom. There are all of these, you know, when it comes to raw material suppliers, you know, you've got potential suppliers, your current ones. You've got customers, you know, different types of customers, stakeholders. All of these you've kinda got to think about.
25:55So it's it's a lot. It's a lot to take on board, and the bigger you are, I think it gets probably more complicated. Just before we move on, though, I'll just call up this. This is, for the microenvironment. This is called Porter's 5 force analysis, and this is a tool that's used to examine the different microenvironmental aspects in order to understand the impact each of them can have on on an organization within the industry.
26:24And typically, what you do is you look at the threat of new entrants. Is the threat of new entrants high or low? Because if you're the one that wants to go into the marketplace, you're hoping that the threat of new entrants will be low, so you you can get into the new market. But then if there's if it's low, then it could mean lots of other people could come onto the market and flood the market. So, you want to know how powerful suppliers are.
26:46And in many markets, suppliers are all powerful, but you hope that you that they're not too powerful because then they could put up prices and there's nothing you can do. So, but yeah. So in the industry, how powerful are suppliers and bargaining power of buyers? How powerful are buyers? And oftentimes, it can be the the they are powerful because there's lots of options.
27:10I don't need to stay with supplier or, you know, company a because company b, c, d, e, and f all provide the same thing, like supermarkets. You know, we're we've got quite a lot of power as buyers because there's quite a lot of supermarkets, certainly in the UK, and I think certainly in other countries. And you look at the threat of substitute products and services. Are there other ones available? And if there are lots of other ones available, then the power, you know, it makes it less attractive.
27:35So this is to, you know, look at the attractiveness of an industry or a new marketplace. I can't really see that your uses in this assessment, but if you weren't interested, you get more information from the body textbook, he covers that and, that will be chapter 3, and you can access that. There's a link on Moodle, but if the link's not working, you can just do a library search and just type author, body, and and you can find it. And it tells you here that it's available online and when you click on that you can access it, read online, so body is it could be quite useful. I'm just going to move on to them, I'm just going to check, yep.
28:16So the wider, that was the outer circle, that's the marketing environment, the macro macro environment. So while we have some level of control over the micro environment, despite, you know, sometimes suppliers might have a bit more power, than we would like. But, generally, we we have got control here with these wider forces. These are out with our control. We don't control them, but we have to be aware of them because it can impact on our ability to operate.
28:46And, yeah, and and you can have impact on many aspects which you'll kind of look at, but, if you, you know, the offer up opportunities or threats. So if you think back to 2024 years ago, when, COVID was around, Can you think of any industries in the 1st few months when COVID was in your country or around? I think it was generally about the March time it hit the UK, when things changed. But can you think for any types of industry or company where COVID nineteen was either a real threat or are there any where it was actually an opportunity and led to them to have increased business? It was good for them.
29:28Can you think of any types of company that COVID was Yep. Mhmm. Sure. So when COVID first, started, which would have been November of 2019, I was in Taiwan doing my, doing my bachelor's degree. And in Asia, people wear masks all the time.
4. Think Many People
29:49So if you have the flu, you will wear a mask. And I think it's because they've had experience with SARS before why masks are so popular there. Yeah. So, in the summer of that year, I had the flu. And I remember my classmates, they gave me masks because I didn't know at the time that, you know, that was something that you do.
30:11You wear a mask. Right. So I had about 10 masks in my in my room, and then COVID came around. And within, like, that 1st month of November going into December, masks were completely scarce. You could not find them anywhere.
30:27And I'm talking about when COVID, like, just dropped. It was it was in existence for about a month, and everywhere masks were completely sold out. And I ended up having those 10 from from when I had them in the summer from my classmates. The mask industry in Taiwan ended up booming so much. Yeah.
30:46Had people opened, like, boutiques that only sold, like, novelty masks. So you could find them in just about any cartoon, any anime. Like, it boomed so much because of COVID. Yep. Yeah.
30:59Yes. And I thought, yes. And all of this protective stuff, mainly masks and then visors became common. I saw people, who were visors, typically things you would have seen in hospitals before. But yeah.
31:14So absolutely. And I think one of the biggest industries that seem to still be around is the the the just eat or, deliver you, the home food deliveries were which brought food and dropped at your doorstep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
31:28That kind of thing. And they're still really popular, you know? So thank you, Zandri. In the insurance industry, we saw a great influx of interest in insurance products, especially health, of course. Also, the home office furniture and technology industry saw a great influx.
31:43Absolutely. And Internet service providers. Yes. Who knew about Zoom before COVID? I hadn't heard of Zoom before, and suddenly everyone still talks about Zoom even though using Webex or or Teams, people still see, I'll I'll Zoom you later on sort of thing.
31:58So, yeah. So there's winners and losers. I think the the, the the threats, I I think the ones that suffered with obviously hospitality and tourism. And and, you know, that that would include, I I guess, hospitality. That would be restaurants, hotels, you know, so many industries that really were decimated.
32:19So you can see that often there are winners and losers. What we knew about COVID, the November of 2019, but other countries were aware of that, but you know, they they held back and didn't anything. I think it was in March where it really came to the UK, retail online shopping as well. Of course, that was a boom. And I think many people have still kept that on where they do still, you know, get, their grocery shopping, order it online and get it delivered or or collect it in the car park.
32:50It has definitely changed people's Didn't that store, Debenhams, they went completely online now because of COVID. Right. Yep. And, and even Primark, they didn't have an online store. And because of COVID, they had to, you know, sort of do that because they lost so much business.
33:08Absolutely. But see, when they reopened their store in Edinburgh, the queue was, like, a mile long. It was unbelievable. Unbelievable. The queues.
33:15It's crazy. Crazy. So yeah. So this, the the, to analyze the the macro environment, it's better if you've got some sort of tool or framework. So we often talk about the PESTEL analysis within the the the circle there.
33:31The the, you know, they're there. The acronym Pestel stands for political, economic, social, cultural, technological, environmental, or ecological and legal factors. And all of these can impact on a company. The the this list here has the the pastel I've just mentioned, but also has demography. But I I think it's, hard it's hard to get a list.
33:54Well, this is I'll tell you why it says because Kotler, this author Kotler, and the book you've got access to, he has this the macro environment. He's got demographic, economic, natural, but that doesn't roll off like then. So pastel rules of the tongue, and I think that's why we tend to use pastel or it used to just be called pest, political, economic, social, cultural, technological. But now it's grown arms and legs. You know, there's pastel, steeple, and long pastel.
34:25It's it's ridiculous. But, anyway, I think pest is short, but pastel, one of the pastels, e l e or e l. I think whatever one you use in your assessments, it is fine. You know, it is fine. But I think, you know, you wouldn't want to have it too long and, yeah.
34:44But I'll I'll I'll use Pestel, and I'll and I'll look at the factors there. So these are factors, obviously, impact on, an organization. I'm not going to go into them. You'll get the slides anyway, but, you know, it's a sort of things in the country which you're maybe thinking of going to. What is this assessment?
35:01I've forgotten the assessments, oh yeah or in the country that they're in, yeah the types of government, the people's relationship with the state is it can be important. It can be, international relations that can impact, because if a if a country's sanctioned by other countries because of bad behavior, then that can have an impact, etcetera. And then under politics now comes climate, gender, race, class. These have become politicized, and privacy laws. And I think well conceived regulation is really important in most countries.
35:32And I think you have to have some sort of regulation to allow for fair market trade if, you know, fair markets for for goods and services and some protection and, legislation, like, the and for for, for consumers. In the UK, we've got quite a lot of laws that cover businesses have to think about. We've got, laws relating to, fair competition, fair trade practices, environmental protection, product safety, truth and advertising, consumer privacy laws, which are global, environmental protection, I think I've said that, labels, labeling, not labeling and packaging, there's even laws around them. So all of these, you know, could, you know, have have potential impact. You know, if the government changes changes things or if you go to a new country you need to ensure you abide by or recognize whether you know you're actually welcome because sometimes there's regulation about banning foreign direct investment.
36:38In terms of countries that are easy or hard to do business with, and I just found this in, it's in the I'll put it in the references, but the most 10 most complex jurisdictions are France, Greece, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Turkey, Peru. But the easiest the 10 least complex countries are the Cayman Islands. So no wonder they're so popular because, obviously, yeah, for tax issues. And I know that they're very popular. Also, Denmark, Curacao, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and the British Virgin Islands are among the, least complex countries to do business with.
37:10So things like that it is important for an organization to know, especially if you're going to go think about going global. So you need to think about politic politics and economics, obviously, these are economic factors, you know, the the currency. And in terms of the second one, who has the money? Think about income distribution and purchasing power. And over the last few decades, it seems in many countries that the rich have grown richer, the middle class has shrunk, and the poor have remained poor.
5. Think Last Year
37:43This distribution of income has created a tiered market. So companies such as, Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, they target the wealthy people. While there are other companies such as like dollar stores, Aldi, Primark, and Uniqlo, they target perhaps people with a more modest means. But I think it is important to recognize whether the country is, in in recession, or if there's, you know, if the financial news is telling that there's going to be a recession coming, The impact on organizations could be that if you've got luxury products, you think, oh, there might be less demand for luxury products. So maybe, you know, you won't order because quite so much stock because you might not be able to sell it.
38:30Conversely, it might mean that the the the the dollar stores might be busier, so they probably need to get more stock. And, yeah, interest rates and exchange rates, they're important as well. I think they can have impact because that will have impact perhaps on the the the prices you charge. You've got to, take into account interest rates, or tariffs. That's the word I was looking for.
38:57I think that in terms of the sort of the tiered system again, there are we we don't look at, segmentation till unit 9, but, I think it's important for, in marketing to to identify certain groups of customers potentially to serve. And some companies can tailor their products and services so that they can serve, like the, those are wealthy and those are less wealthy. So you can actually, a single organization can develop products like that and the example I've got here if it comes up sorry is like ford And I'm sorry. I've used UK example here, so you might not recognize necessarily. But these if Ford, they they serve people on a a more modest income.
39:47So their cheapest car is a Ford Fiesta at 19,350 pound starting from, and the all new Mustang, which starts at 50,000. So and then and they've got in between. So they're able to, serve, a a a quite a variety of different, customers and and their and their financial situation. But, I mean, there are changes in in in the economic variables such as like levels of income, cost of living, interest rates, savings and borrowing patterns. These can have impact on the marketplace and their ability to spend.
40:22So companies do watch, variables. They use economic forecasting, so they're not and the reason they do that, so they're not wiped out by, an economic downturn or get caught short in a boom. They're ready to go for either. So it does pay them to monitor the economic situation closely. Social factors relate obviously to society and impacts, or includes, includes, sorry, aspects that fall within demography, which I'll look at later on.
40:55Social ones vary from country to country, and even within the same country. In the UK, you probably know there's 4 countries, and they're quite different. And in England, which is the biggest of the 4 countries, they've got something called a north south divide. So here, this relates to life expectancy, and green is the longer better than average life expectancy and dark red is the worst and average. So you can sort of see for both male and female that, down here, which is where the wealth is these areas, if you can see the cursor moving, these were the sort of industrial areas where manufacturing took place.
41:37So, of course, there was lots of pollution, and so so, yeah, the impact, I think, has caught up In the 19 sixties seventies, people didn't know about environmental aspects. So, yeah, but down here, there's more wealth, better quality of life. And is that do you in the country you're in, do you have something similar, this kind of divide between, the rich and poor and, the the rich have got higher life expectancy. Is it something that you're familiar with? I'll just put up the other factors so you can look at them in case.
42:28Yeah, the the other factors are are useful to organisations to understand how to market their goods and services to specific customers. And, also, it allows you to strategically sort of plan for future trends and consumer demand so that you're better to meet them better able to meet them. Yeah. It should be technological. I have separated culture.
42:55Sometimes they're together, but I've separated social and culture. Yeah. So cultural factors affect how people think, how they consume. So marketers are quite keen to understand, cultural forces. And I think the cultural environment will impact on our society's basic, you know, their values, how they perceive things, their preferences, their behaviors.
43:17We all grew up in a particular society that shapes our beliefs and our values, and cultural characteristics can affect consumer decision making, what people find acceptable. For organizations, I think when you're going global, it might be that we have to consider more than one culture. Japan has very different, cultural, perspective than the UK. If we operate in both countries, we have to consider 2 different cultures, Equally, if we want to export our goods and services somewhere in the future, it's important to recognize cultural aspects. Religious beliefs can influence what customers will or won't buy.
43:55Obviously, they're talking about sanctioned products and services that could be, you know, things like Hindu, religion where people don't eat beef. Observant Jews and Muslims consume only kosher or halal meats, and some religions don't allow the consumption of alcohol. So that can be quite important to recognize that, values and norms values are the standards by which people in our society, define what is felt to be good or bad, what is desirable or equally not desirable. And norms are what the the the norms what's normal in in the culture is is things that are to be encouraged or discouraged, things that have to be accepted or rejected by by by the group as in the culture. And attitudes, that relates to attitudes towards, authority.
44:44Important if you're doing business in another country, In a hierarchical corporate structure, there are multiple layers of management. I have a boss, but equally, I can have subordinates. And at the very top, it's almost like a pyramid, isn't it? And at the very top sits a chief executive officer. In the egalitarian style, apparently, all or in theory, all employees should equal responsibility and power.
45:08The focus is often on encouraging kind of low level workers to show initiative to put forward ideas because they're the ones who often have the good ideas. They're often the ones that speak to customers and get complaints about a product not working as well, or if only this product could do this, then it would be so much better. So they're encouraged to put forward ideas. And within that, they encourage the bosses to have an open door policy so that you can go upstairs and knock on a big boss's door and speak to them and not, you know, have difficulty getting past the secretary. That can be quite important, especially if you want to expand into new markets.
45:46Technological factors, these can offer exciting opportunities for marketers. There's been a whole load of new technological developments that sometimes offer up opportunities and sometimes offer up threats. I mean, new technologies create new markets and opportunities if a company is in a position to be able to take advantage of them, often as financial reasons that people don't or can't. I'm not sure. I don't have a slide for that or an image.
46:15But if I remember rightly, I think last year, Apple spent something like 285,000,000,000 US dollars on research and development. Now smaller companies cannot afford to spend that much, so they're never going to have necessarily pioneering projects. Although there is a system where they ask for money. Is it case sourcing or crowdfunding? But there's also one where you can do it where you can invest so you can invest in new products.
46:44And there's still at the kind of con inception or cons concept idea. And you so you can get investments. And I I was thinking I didn't actually. I thought I wanted some money. So I I kinda thought I might be tempted to invest in that, and I can't remember what the scheme's called.
46:59But, anyway, so there there might be ways around smaller companies, you know, that they might be able to then, you know, develop, you know, get money for research development and and and building. Crowdfunding. Thanks. Thank you. Yeah.
47:16I think artificial intelligence at the bottom one is, you know, still evolving, and and this would seem to offer more scope, for how it can offer opportunities for businesses and marketers. Can you think of ways of which artificial intelligence issues apart from chat GPT for doing assessments? But, yeah. Can you, think of any ways of which AI issues is used in in your business at all? Is it something you're familiar with?
47:46Feel free to, unmute or put it in the the chat if you prefer. At airports? Is that to make the process of of, boarding, etcetera, much more smooth, sweet, you know, and much more efficient? Napier have it. I I I think they've got a chatbot.
48:18So if you're doing an inquiry or you were looking if you're looking on your site, looking at courses that pops up, And, I think it can offer, obviously, it it depends on somebody, a human thinking of the sort of questions people may want answered. So they've got the answers to the questions. But whenever I use a chatbot, or, you know, it never ever seems to have what I want. I've got some examples here, conscious of time. These are some of the ways in which, and again, I'll put that slide up.
48:50These are some of the ones that are meant to be significant in in 2024. Yeah. I've got Sarah. Oh, yeah. Yep.
6. Doing Think
49:02Anyway, other technology related ones are are here. These, you know, these aspects are there, analytics, cookies, they're quite old though, but, yes, fake news, virtual reality, which fake news can offer up problems. And security is always a one, and the thought of getting a data, you know, a data breach is is is hugely significant. And, you know, so, I mean, I think even a lot of business because you really have to be online nowadays. It say that, don't you?
49:32You know, to to be successful, you kinda really need to be online. But along, if you're offering products and services online and then you're capturing data, then you have got to, you know, a DIY website is vulnerable. So you've really got to invest in in in security. So, yeah, that's that's an issue for smaller businesses again. Well, that's some more these are some more ones that I found again, from Simply Learn.
49:54These are all the new technology ones again. Digital twins, I have no idea what's most of these are, but I'll I'll give you the link. If you're interested in them, I'll give you them. Ecological physical environments are, that's also sometimes called, and is sometimes called environmental. Yes.
50:13So it's ecological physical environment or sometimes just called environment and some of the acronyms. So, yes, factors could be climate change that can offer up, you know, a real problem here in the manufacturing, you know, a a manufacturing company, and you want to set up a factory in another country, then, well, certainly, it's more pollution controls, but they're they're sort of flaked. Yes, you have to abide by, and they can be quite stringent. I mean, it used to be that China wasn't as, concerned about output, from, carbon carbon output. That's changed now.
50:49I mean, that that has changed with the work towards it, but for a long time, you know, in the UK, we've had sort of carbon dioxide emission things, controls for many, many years. But, yeah, it's something you have to abide by, in the countries you go to. So that could offer up a challenge if if you've not got environmentally friendly manufacturing processes. Yeah. Emissions are energy sources, recycling, sustainability.
51:14These are all factors that you may have to think about, and and the industry you're in, and they can offer up, you know, even recycling, you know, that means that you've got to provide recycling bins. So again, that's, can be a threat because if you've got limited money to provide all of these, you've got to pay for them as a business. And so that can be quite, quite an issue, finding money for all of these. Legal factors, oftentimes political and legal go together and and, like when it was PEST analysis. PEST.
51:46Yeah. PEST are political legal together. And these are just some of the ones that you have to think about, and be aware of. Layers of legislation you might have to think about. If you go international, you have to think about international laws that you need to abide by as is domestic and local ones and things like, the ban on smoking, that was introduced years ago in the UK.
52:09Clearly, that's an opportunity for, the manufacturers of outside ash trees and patio heaters where people go outside to have a cigarette and beer gardens and pubs. But so pubs are to then provide them. But, other businesses where, you well, many pubs didn't survive because people associated to, you know, you go have a drink, have a cigarette. And if you couldn't do that in the pub, you didn't want to go outside. Maybe the climate wasn't suitable.
52:36So so that offered offered up threats for for many in the hospitality industry again. And we've got levels of regulation, and you wonder why when you see these are genuine adverts for cigarettes from the USA in the 19 fifties, I think you now know why there is, legislation. Ofcom, this is a government agency in the United Kingdom that, they, regulates, radio, and television and now, video on demand, things like Netflix content. Yeah, and so factors you've got to think about are some of the ones that fall within legal. So yes you have to abide by them and for any new country you're going to you have to really dig deep to find out what are the laws, what are the rules surrounding.
53:25Many governments have an actual website that they they have, so you can actually look up, you know, what's accept or what what, legislation you have to adhere to, what, certification, etcetera. So so you can hopefully find that information. But again sometimes you might have to then employ a specialist in the new country to find that. Demographic factors, again I looked at that, it sort of falls under the ream of social culture to some extent. But, yes, things to think about in the new country or in the country of the aging population.
53:54That's called the other gray market where life expectancy has increased. That could have an impact on pensions, could be a real good thing for pension companies, and private health care, could be an opportunity for them. Looking at female specific products or culturally specific products, you know, more women, they make up well, in some countries, women make up more than 50% of the workforce in some countries, so they've become more independent. So when you're doing think about your advertising, you probably need to think about targeting directly at women. And in ethnicity, there might be culturally specific products.
54:34In United Kingdom, there was a large influx of Eastern European immigration many years ago, and so much so that, now the supermarkets have a specific, section of an aisle for Polish products. We've also got them for, Indian, Chinese, and a few other, Africa, yeah, Afro Caribbean products as well, to come over the the bring over the products and stock and sell them because there's a big demand for them. And the fact that this down here talks about, that there are 30% of all households in the in the UK are single households. So that can have an impact obviously, on organizations. Maybe the supermarkets need to stop more sort of single person sized products and less of the huge family ones.
55:19And, you know, when the governments are building house or house builders, maybe they have to have more 1 bedroom apartments rather than 23. You know, maybe that's what they need to be thinking about. So it can offer an opportunity that a house builder could, you know, build smaller houses subconscious of time here. This is, the Pastel analysis for international. I, I I I don't know why I was given this slide.
55:43I don't know why it's there, but, sorry. So oh, look. Sorry. Beg your pardon. There's just somebody at the door.
55:56One sec. One sec. I'm sorry about that. Oh, I could sorry about that. Oh, it's right.
56:09Hang on. Right. Sorry about that. Right. I don't know if that box is gone now.
56:14Sorry. Somebody opened the door and came in there. Apologies. I've gone the wrong way. Gosh.
56:18Right. Yeah. Yeah. I think just reflecting if you are going international, you will normally do a pastel analysis for the new country and have examine these and, things that you need to adhere to, whether it's gonna offer up an opportunity for you or whether it's a threat, something that you need to just address. Sometimes that's a skill shortage that you just need to employ people in the local country, the new country.
56:43Sorry, you've got experience. Just a reminder of the SWOT analysis, very briefly, that we carry out a SWOT analysis. It's accumulation of the internal analysis where we've examined the company, we've got the strengths and weaknesses from our examination of our own company. And the opportunities and threats come from outside the, you know, from from the macro and, environment. We've got them.
57:09So contrasting them both, what we're trying to do each one. There's a gray box blocking parts of the slide. I'm not sure if you're able to move it. Is that moved now? Yes.
57:21It is. Thank you. Right. So I didn't know you could see those boxes. That's what they were just on my control.
7. Conclusion
57:25Yep. So, yep, strength is still there. I don't know what the box is. It's still there. It's not over the slides anymore, so we can we can see now.
57:35Right. Sorry. I didn't know Mhmm. This yep. They they shouldn't show up at all.
57:41That's really weird. They don't show up in the recording because they're always there, but they don't show up. Anyway. Sorry about that. But, yes.
57:46So, the idea is that you look for opportunities that match your strengths and that's a plus thing. If you, if if there's something you perceive that, you know, you could take advantage of, and you've got the strengths, you know, that makes it fantastic. Sometimes there are threats that, you know, this is going to provide a fit. Can you adapt your business to minimize that fit? And for I mentioned about the smoking ban in the UK, the organizations that did that, where they provided, you know, an outside garden, an area outside where people could still enjoy a drink and have a cigarette.
58:18That was how they tried to minimize it. So, yeah. In terms of the SWOT analysis, just I think sorry. I don't want to do that. That was just that was just to show that for the internal analysis, sometimes you use an organization.
58:34The BCG as in Boston consultancy group was one company I worked for used. Yeah, this is a cotler book. So this is what it talks about the SWOT analysis. You're not asked to do one for the organization, so you won't necessarily use it. But just be aware that it does relate.
58:53So the SWAT SW from your internal analysis, OT from the external analysis. And these opportunities and threats also impact not just on your company, an organization, but others. Your competitors are probably equally as impacted by them too, so we sort of present them in a more general way. Yep. So very last sorry.
59:17I know I'm late. I beg your pardon. One more second. Yep. For the assessment, you know, sorts of things, should you use all pastel factors?
59:24Well, I think you're not gonna use them all. You'll use the relevant relevant ones, but I think you need to outline whichever framework, you know, external analysis. But yeah. So outline, explain what, you know, why it's significance. And, and then only the ones that are relevant to the one of the companies you pick, the ones that you believe have impacted on their decisions.
59:46And that could be social culture. It could be political. Whatever. If you haven't already chosen one of the organizations, I think you should do that now. So you do a bit digging a bit background information like an internal analysis sort of extent.
01:00:00But well, you'll get information secondhand either from the company's website or you might Google it. Oh, sorry, Iris. I I alright. I said, sorry. Yeah.
01:00:08Go ahead. I just wanted to check. You said last week that you were going to find out if we're able to zoom in on one market, in terms of each of the companies or if we have to do the entire company worldwide. Were you able to, find out or or make a decision on that? Yes.
01:00:26Yes. You can zoom in on one aspect, you know, because you can't do the whole world. So it would be better. Yeah. But I guess, you know, if if there was something that happened in France and something that happened in Africa, I guess you could, relate if you wanted to, but we'd probably make it easier, yes, to do one one market.
01:00:43Yeah. That would make it more easy to to to to handle. So yeah. So one company, a global company, just pick one market that could be reaching. That could be the whole of North America, Or it could be that you, you know, or you you could, choose, like, China rather than whole of the east, or or you could for Europe, you could just pick the UK, for example.
01:01:08So, yeah, I think that would make a better license. I think that will make it more easy for you to to do. Yep. Okay. Thank you.
01:01:17Cool. And, again, check if you've that you can access Microsoft Teams and and PowerPoint. I I think, you know, hopefully, make sure that you've you've done that. And I think I've just got my last slide. It's just oh, that's about you.
01:01:30Yeah, just I I googled macro environment, and and look at how many there are. There are all of these literally are classes macro environment. So I think probably just, picking a smaller like pestil would be there, would be wise. I think that would be the gray box come back again because I've pulled that over. Sorry.
01:01:49I pulled the chat box over, which I always have it there. I don't know why it suddenly showed. Anyway, anyway, so I think that's my last slide. Oh, no. I'm not going to do that task.
01:01:59I'll put that as a task and that's the references that I'll put. So I'm just going to stop recording. For those who are watching the recording, if you've got any questions, feel free to drop me an email if you want anything clarified.