The marketing environment of an enterprise is a set of active subjects and forces operating outside the enterprise or together with it and influencing or having the ability to influence its market activities. Marketers must monitor, study and analyze changes in the external environment of the enterprise in order to adapt the company's activities to these changes.

The marketing environment is divided into macro and micro environments.

Macro environment of the enterprise - external factors influencing the microenvironment as a whole. This includes the following items.

Demographic environment(demography is a science that studies the population in terms of its size, density, age, sex ratio, race, occupation and other statistics). It is important for marketers to know what changes are occurring in the structure of the population: population aging, population growth, family structure, etc. All these factors, on the one hand, can pose dangers to the company’s activities, and on the other hand, provide new opportunities for growth and development.

Cultural environment - social institutions and other forces that contribute to the formation and perception of values, tastes and norms of behavior of society. Thus, the company needs to take into account society's mindset, norms and values.

Natural environment - natural resources used as raw materials for production. Marketers must monitor trends such as shortages of raw materials, rising prices for electricity, and pollution of water, soil, and air. For example, increasing water pollution has led to consumers needing additional purification of drinking water. This is an opportunity for companies producing industrial filters to enter the consumer market (if we return to the previous chapter, this is a market development strategy - one of the growth strategies according to the Ansoff matrix). The same trend has led to the emergence of a new market - the bottled water market (i.e. drinking water in bottles of different sizes). Due to environmental pollution, a new need for environmentally friendly food is emerging.

Technological environment - forces that contribute to the creation of new technologies that create new marketing opportunities. The development of technology radically changes the life of mankind. Computers have completely replaced typewriters, cell phones are competing with local telephone service, Internet technologies have changed the way we think about communications, and advances in medical technology have made it possible to perform operations that doctors could only dream of just a few years ago. In modern conditions, companies are faced with an ever-increasing rate of technological change, expanding technical capabilities, and increasing costs for scientific and technological progress.

Economic environment - a set of factors influencing the purchasing power of consumers and consumption patterns. These include inflation, income crisis, changes in income distribution, and the amount of loans. For example, the crisis of 1993, when the ruble collapsed, led to foreign juice producers leaving the Russian market, unable to withstand competition and thus freeing up the market for Russian companies. This example shows that one and That The same event poses a threat for some enterprises and an opportunity for others.

Political and legal environment - the set of laws, government agencies and structures that influence and restrict the activities of companies and individuals in society. The relationship of politics to the business sector, subsidiaries, government legislation (laws on consumer protection, export, taxation, environment, advertising, media, etc.) - all this needs to be monitored and analyzed by marketers.

Enterprise microenvironment consists of the entities with which the company must interact in the course of its work, and factors that are directly related to the company itself and influence its ability to operate effectively in the market.

Enterprise microenvironment:

Competitors

Suppliers => Enterprise => Intermediaries => Buyers

(all its divisions)

Public

The functional divisions and services of the company itself (management, financial department, accounting, research and development department, production department, marketing department, etc.) form the internal environment of the enterprise. As noted above, for successful operations it is necessary that all divisions of the company work in concert to meet the needs of consumers. On the other hand, marketers must develop marketing plans in strict accordance with the company's goals and capabilities.

Suppliers - These are companies and individuals who provide an enterprise with the resources necessary to produce goods and services.

Intermediaries - distribution channels, service departments, agents. Public - financial public groups (shareholders, banks), governments, pressure groups, neighbors, public opinion, interest groups (trade unions, consumer organizations).

Competitors - organizations vying for the attention of potential consumers.

Buyers - individuals, households, or organizations that purchase a company's goods and services and constitute its target market.

SWOT analysis

Special techniques have been developed for effective analysis of the external environment. The most commonly used technique is SWOT analysis.

SWOT analysis- this is a situational analysis - an analysis of the past, present and future position of a product or organization, taking into account its plans and environmental factors

Assessments are used: strengths (Strengths) and weaknesses (Weaknesses) of the enterprise (its advantages and disadvantages); Opportunities and Threats of the market.

Strengths and weaknesses refer to the internal characteristics of a company, while opportunities and threats are external factors that a company must consider.

Opportunities are events or trends in the development of the external environment that potentially allow the company to create competitive advantages or lead to the strengthening of existing competitive advantages.

Dangers are events or trends in the development of the external environment that lead to a weakening of the company's existing competitive advantages or will negatively affect the company's ability to realize competitive advantages in the future. For example, an increase in the level of consumer well-being has an impact on the market as a whole, and a decrease in the importance of product characteristics in the eyes of target consumers will have an adverse effect on the competitiveness of the company under study.

Strengths include the resources and skills available to an enterprise that enable it to capitalize on opportunities and avoid or cope with threats.

Weak sides represent deficiencies in skills or resources in some area that reduce a business's ability to perform more successfully than its competitors.

Based on the identified factors, it is carried out development of recommendations(decision options) regarding how to strengthen the company's strengths, correct weaknesses, seize opportunities and overcome threats.

Market segmentation.

It is quite obvious that different consumers want to purchase different products. To meet these different needs, manufacturing and marketing organizations seek to identify consumer groups that are most likely to respond positively to product offerings and target their marketing activities primarily to these consumer groups.

Market segmentation involves dividing the market into distinct groups of buyers (market segments) to which different products and marketing efforts should be targeted.

A market segment is a group of consumers characterized by a similar reaction to the product offered and to a set of marketing incentives.

When segmenting the consumer goods market, criteria such as geographical, demographic, socio-economic, psychographic (psychological), behavioral, etc. are used.

Geographical segmentation. The market can be divided into different geographical units: states, regions, cities, territories and microdistricts. A firm may decide to operate in one or more geographic areas, or in all areas, but be sensitive to the differences in needs and preferences determined by local conditions.

Segmentation based on demographics. It is possible to segment the market into groups based on demographic variables such as gender, age, family size, stage of the family life cycle, income level, occupation, education, religious belief and nationality. Demographic variables are the most popular factors that serve as the basis for identifying consumer groups.

Segmentation based on psychographic principles. In psychographic segmentation, buyers are divided into groups based on their social class, lifestyle, or personality characteristics. Members of the same demographic group can have completely different psychographic profiles.

/. Social class. Belonging to a social class greatly affects a person’s preferences for cars, clothing, household utensils, leisure activities, reading habits, and choice of retail outlets. Many firms design their products and services with members of a particular social class in mind, providing features and characteristics that appeal to that particular class. Unfortunately, studies of the formation of the class structure of Russian society during the transition period are few.

2. Lifestyle. Affects interest in certain products and the lifestyle of consumers. Sellers are increasingly resorting to segmenting markets on this basis. For example, the plan is to create jeans for the following groups of men: pleasure seekers, "traditional" homebodies, fidgety workers, "business leaders" or successful "traditionalists". Each group needs jeans of a specific cut, at a different price, offered through different advertising texts, through different retailers. If a company doesn't announce the lifestyle the product is intended for, its jeans may not generate interest.

3. Personality type. Personality characteristics are also used by sellers as a basis for market segmentation. Manufacturers give their products characteristics that match the personal characteristics of consumers. For example, it has been observed that the personality types of American convertible and hardtop car owners are different. The former are more active, impulsive and sociable.

Segmentation based on behavioral principles. In behavioral market segmentation, buyers can be divided into groups based on their knowledge, attitudes, usage patterns, and reactions to the product. Behavioral variables are considered the most appropriate basis for the formation of market segments.

1. Reasons for making a purchase. Buyers can be differentiated depending on the reason for the idea of ​​purchasing or using a product. For example, the reason for air travel may be business, vacation or family problems. An airline may specialize in serving people who have one of these predominant reasons.

2 Benefits sought. One powerful form of segmentation is to classify buyers based on the benefits they seek. It was found that in the United States, approximately 23% of buyers purchased watches at the lowest prices, 46% were guided when purchasing by factors of durability and quality of the product, and 31% bought watches as a symbolic reminder of some important event.

3. User status. Many markets can be broken down into the following segments: non-users, former users, potential users, new users and regular users. Large firms that are looking to gain a larger market share are especially interested in attracting potential users, while smaller companies are looking to win regular users. Potential and regular users require different marketing approaches.

4. Intensity of consumption. Markets can also be divided into groups of weak, moderate and active consumers of the product. Heavy users typically make up a small portion of the market, but they account for a large percentage of total product consumption. Using the example of beer consumption in the USA, we can see that 68% of respondents do not drink it. The remaining 32% consists of two groups of 16% each: weak consumers (12% of total beer consumption) and active (88%). Most brewing companies focus on active consumers.

5. Degree of commitment. Market segmentation can also be carried out according to the degree of consumer commitment to the product. Consumers may be loyal to brands, stores, and other distinct entities. According to the degree of commitment, buyers can be divided into four groups: unconditional adherents, tolerant and fickle adherents, and “wanderers.”

* Unconditional supporters - These are consumers who always buy the same brand of product.

* Tolerant Followers - These are consumers who are committed to two or three brands.

* Fickle followers - these are consumers who transfer their preferences from one product brand to another. The pattern of their purchasing behavior shows that consumers gradually shift their preferences from one brand to another.

* "Wanderers" - These are consumers who are not loyal to any branded product. The non-committed consumer either buys any brand currently available or wants to purchase something different from the existing assortment. Any market is represented by a different combination of buyers of these four types. A brand loyalty market is a market in which a large percentage of buyers demonstrate unconditional commitment to one of the product brands available in it.

6. The degree of readiness of the buyer to perceive the product. At any given point in time, people are in varying degrees of readiness to purchase a product. Some are not aware of the product at all, others are aware, others are informed about it, others are interested in it, others want it, and others intend to buy it. The ratio of consumers of different groups must be taken into account in the marketing program.

7. Attitude to the product. The market audience may be enthusiastic, positive, indifferent, negative or hostile towards the product. Experienced political party campaigners making door-to-door pre-election campaigns are guided by the voter's attitude when deciding how much time to spend working with him. They thank voters who are enthusiastic about the party and remind them of the need to vote; they waste no time trying to change the attitude of negative or hostile voters, but strive to strengthen the opinion of those who are positive and win over indifferent ones.

Selecting Target Markets

After identifying market segments, the next step is to determine their attractiveness and select target markets and marketing strategies towards them. The attractiveness of each market segment is assessed and one or more segments are selected for development. When assessing the degree of attractiveness of various market segments that meet the requirements for their successful segmentation, the following three main factors are taken into account: the size of the segment and the rate of its change (growth, decrease); structural attractiveness of the segment; goals and resources of the organization developing the segment. The structural attractiveness of a market segment is determined by the level of competition, the possibility of replacing the product with a fundamentally new product that satisfies the same needs (for example, in many cases, plastic is a substitute for metals), the strength of the positions of buyers and the strength of the positions of suppliers of components and resources in relation to the organization in question, the competitiveness of the companies in question. products in these segments. When studying the structural attractiveness of a market segment, it is advisable to use the competition model discussed in Section 9.

Even if a market segment is of the right size and growth rate and has sufficient structural attractiveness, the organization's goals and resources must be taken into account. There may be a discrepancy between the goals of the organization's long-term development and the current goals of activity in a specific market segment. There may be a lack of resources to provide competitive advantages.

Here are the following options:

1. Concentrate efforts aimed at selling one product in one market segment.

2. Offer one product to all market segments (product specialization).

3. Offer all products to one market (market specialization).

4. Offer different products for some selected market segments (selective specialization).

5. Ignore the results of segmentation and supply all manufactured products to the entire market. This strategy is primarily used if it has not been possible to identify market segments with different consumer response profiles and/or the segments considered individually are small in number and are not of interest for commercial development. Large firms usually follow this policy. For example, Coca-Cola strives to supply its drinks to all market segments of soft drinks.

In the selected target markets, the following approaches to their development can be used: undifferentiated marketing, differentiated marketing and concentrated marketing.

Undifferentiated Marketing- a type of market activity in which an organization ignores the differences between different market segments and enters the entire market with one product. The organization focuses on what is common in customer needs rather than on how they differ from each other. Mass distribution systems and mass advertising campaigns are used, thereby achieving cost savings. An example is the marketing of the Coca-Cola company at the initial stage of its development, when all consumers were offered only one drink in a bottle of one size.

Differentiated Marketing- a line of activity in a market in which an organization decides to operate in several segments with products specifically developed for them. By offering a variety of products and marketing mix, the organization expects to achieve more sales and gain a stronger position in each market segment than its competitors. For example, General Motors proclaimed: “We make cars for every wallet, every purpose and every personality.” Although differentiated marketing typically generates higher sales volumes than undifferentiated marketing, its implementation costs are higher.

Concentrated (focused) marketing- a market activity in which an organization has a large market share in one or more submarkets (market niches) as opposed to focusing on a small share of a large market. Attractive for organizations with limited resources and small businesses. This requires deep knowledge of narrow market segments and a high reputation of the organization's product in these segments.

When assessing and selecting market segments in the case where it is intended to develop several segments in parallel, it is necessary to take into account their relationship with both production and sales and marketing activities. To do this, we must try to reduce total costs by possibly increasing the volume of production (economies on the scale of production), combining operations for storing and transporting products, conducting coordinated advertising campaigns, etc.

Each company operates in special, specific conditions for it, while solving a wide variety of problems. That is why the enterprise marketing system changes depending on where it needs to be applied.

And marketing specialists must take into account regional characteristics when taking into account potential resources and consumer requirements in the market environment. The market (or marketing) environment is usually understood as the entire set of factors, forces, and resources that have a direct impact on the activities of the company.

All factors that influence the activities of any enterprise are usually divided into two large groups: internal and external. The first include elements created by the organization itself, which are dependent on the decisions and actions of management. The second group is quite difficult, but can be controlled (with proper organization of management activities). The combination of external and internal factors is called the marketing microenvironment.

There is also a group of forces and factors independent of the efforts of the management of a particular enterprise. This totality is called the “macroenvironment,” which represents global and uncontrollable factors that have an effect on a national scale. Unlike the microenvironment, elements of this category influence the company's activities in unpredictable ways. Making forecasts requires in-depth system analysis and study. The company's macro-environment includes socio-economic factors, demographic, natural, technical, political, cultural and others.

Main factors of the macroenvironment

Any organization has suppliers, customers, intermediaries, competitors, but they all operate within the framework of forces that can introduce both new opportunities and threats. The macroenvironment is characterized by demographic, economic, natural, scientific, technical, political and cultural environments. Let's take a closer look at each of them:

Demographic. It is of particular interest to marketers, because the consumers of any product or service are people. The main trends in demography include the aging of the population, a decrease in the birth rate, an increase in mortality, demographic “explosions” and others.

Economic. The level of income of the population, the availability of borrowed funds, and prices have a direct impact on purchasing power, which is undoubtedly of great importance for any company.

Natural. Manufacturers offer products in accordance with changes in nature. Thus, the following features have a huge impact on supply: shortages of certain raw materials, increasing energy costs, environmental pollution, and others.

Scientific and technical. This category carries both great benefits (medicines, the ability to carry out complex medical operations, automation of production) and danger (nuclear weapons). Any invention has long-term consequences, the results of which are not always foreseeable. Companies must keep abreast of the latest scientific and technological developments.

Political. This is a set of regulatory documents, government agencies, and public groups that can limit freedom of action in the public environment.

Cultural. Being in society, a person accepts norms of behavior, values ​​and certain views that are important to take into account.

Conclusion

The macroenvironment and microenvironment are closely interconnected. Any enterprise cannot exist outside of society, therefore, in the process of carrying out activities, it is important to take into account the influence of not only internal factors (competitors, clients, suppliers), but also global ones (demographic, political situation in the country, level of scientific and technical progress and many others).

Exercise 1.

Describe the microenvironmental factors of any company you know. Explain the directions of their action.

Let's consider the factors of the microenvironment of the furniture company "Shatura".

Market environment factors	Stimulating effect	Deterrent effect
Suppliers	The company offers furniture from two manufacturers: Albert & Stein company Furniture factory "Marta". World class manufacturers	Quite high prices for products
Consumers	The main consumers of the company's products are individuals with average and higher income levels and companies and firms in Novosibirsk. Consumers are characterized by the desire to have comfort and convenience at a price that matches the quality.	The products are of high quality and, as a result, a high price, which constrains sales due to problems with the effective demand of the population.
Competitors	The calculations showed that the Shatura store-salon has a more complete range of upholstered furniture (sofas and armchairs) compared to competing companies. We can say that the analyzed company satisfies consumer demand for the products presented quite fully.	The company's main competitors are companies selling domestic and imported furniture. Domestic furniture has the advantage of a lower price. Importers' products have strong advertising support from manufacturing companies on the Russian market. The companies “Finist” (PE Golubev) and “Kashtan” occupy a leading position in the Novosibirsk market.
Market infrastructure	Novosibirsk is a major transport hub (airport, railway, river port, federal and regional highways). The relative proximity of suppliers and transport links with them create quite favorable conditions for trade.	The increase in tariffs for transport services, the proximity of foreign competitors - manufacturers, the lack of a stable customs policy negatively affects the company's activities.

Task 2.

Give examples of strategies formed as part of the marketing mix.

The main types of marketing strategies are usually the price-quantity strategy or the preference strategy.

When using the price-quantity strategy, you can use the price category as one of the components of success in competition. Of fundamental importance in this case is the potential and level of development of the relevant industries, as well as an active influence on production costs. The “price-quantity” strategy is typical for “commodity” type operations, i.e. for the marketing of many products produced using well-established and proven technologies and which have been sold on the markets for a long time.

The preference strategy uses various sales policy tools that are independent of price competition. The ultimate goal of this strategy is to create sustainable competitive advantages. To achieve this goal, the entire set of marketing tools can be used: changes in production technology that help improve the quality of the product, its design and packaging; service (consulting and training, repair and technical maintenance, supply of spare parts, etc.); logistics activities (compliance with contractual obligations and reliability of supplies).

The preference strategy is generally accepted for high-tech operations.

The “mi-tu” strategy (strategy of adaptation, adjustment) involves adaptation to competitors in such parameters as products, distribution, communication, prices. When implementing this strategy, they strive to repeat the actions of competitors as accurately as possible.

A sharp differentiation strategy involves a product whose profile is clearly different from that of a competitor.

It can be noted that the price-quantity strategy is more widely used on a global scale than the preference strategy, primarily due to its greater capabilities and greater ease of use.

The price-quantity strategy presupposes the existence of so-called price competition, and the preference strategy with its modifications presupposes the existence of non-price competition.

The original “laser beam strategy” is used (and, as we know, quite successfully!) by Japanese companies, first gaining a foothold in the markets of countries that do not have their own production of this product, then, based on accumulated experience, developing new, more complex competitive markets.

Task 3.

Characterize certain types of information that have the strongest impact on the marketing and pricing policies of companies.

Task 4.

List the distinctive characteristics of the various consumers of the territory.

Consumers differ in nationality, income, gender, age, education, and profession.

Task 5.

Provide examples of market segmentation based on specific attributes.

Consumer segmentation can be carried out according to several parameters:

Male;

Female.

Over 60 years old.

Income level:

Average;

Above average;

High.

The level of education:

Lower secondary;

Average;

Specialized secondary;

Task 6.

List specific parameters, symbols, emotional characteristics that represent the everyday, socio-economic, business and financial image of Russia.

The image of Russia can be characterized by the following theses:

Household image of Russia: vast territory, poor living conditions, poor health of the population compared to other countries, high level of education of the population, rich natural resource potential.

Socio-economic image of Russia:

Russia is a low-income country

Russia is a country with cheap labor

Russia is the guarantor of security and sustainable development of the CIS countries

Russia is the center of the Eurasian space, a bridge between civilizations, races, cultures, continents

Russia is an outpost on the path of terrorism and drug trafficking into Europe.

Business image of Russia: information technologies are underdeveloped compared to the West, good research base, successful businesses learn quickly and find a common language with their Western partners

Financial image: the investment attractiveness of Russian regions is increasing

Task 7.

Conduct a SWOT analysis of the region in which you live, taking into account specific economic indicators for the industrial and natural resource blocks.

Let's conduct a SWOT analysis of the Siberian region.

Potential internal strengths	External potential opportunities
Developed infrastructure High industrial growth rates Richness of fuel and raw materials A system of transport highways along which intensive communications are carried out: railways - latitudinal and meridional (Trans-Siberian, South Siberian, Central Siberian and North Siberian, Turkestan-Siberian), pipelines. Significant water resources Rich forest resources, land resources The leading place is occupied by industry, which is mainly based on its own fuel and raw materials base Market sectors of specialization - fuel (oil, gas, coal) industry (55%), ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy (6.4%), forestry industry, mechanical engineering (7%), chemical industry (4.6%) and some food industries industry (~ 7.9%) (production of animal oil, cheese, dairy, canned meat and fish). Pristine nature of Altai Developed by agriculture	Attracting investment to the region Further development of industry; Threat of environmental pollution in Altai due to industrial development Opportunity to create the country's largest fuel, energy and export base
Weak potential internal parties	Potential external threats
Cold climate Slow development of manufacturing industry high air pollution, large plowed lands	The fuel and energy complex will require centralized capital investments from the federal budget and attraction of foreign investments in the development of new oil and gas fields

The process of corporatization is currently underway. At the same time, the priority development of fuel and energy sectors will require centralized capital investments from the federal budget and the attraction of foreign investments in the development of new oil and gas fields (on the Yamal Peninsula). It is especially important to increase the level of extraction of hydrocarbons from the subsoil, their comprehensive processing and, on this basis, the creation of chemical complexes and the development of production infrastructure.

At the same time, the rationalization of the structure of the West Siberian region should be carried out with the mandatory requirement of protecting the environment from pollution, minimal impact of the fuel industries on the existing ecological systems, and on the living conditions of the indigenous population of the North.

In the future, in Western Siberia it is necessary to overcome the narrow specialization of the economy by diversifying the structure of the economy, creating new manufacturing industries based on the integrated use of raw materials and their deep processing.

Task 8.

Describe the existing image of your regional entity and write down tasks to change or strengthen the existing image.

The current image of the Siberian Federal District:

A relatively high level of population health compared to other regions, a high level of education (the visiting card of the region is NSU, scientific institutes of the SB RAS in Akademgorodok).

Rich natural resource potential.

Strengthening the image of Siberian Regina will be facilitated by competent management of the state policy.

Bibliography

1. Marketing: strategies, plans, structures./ E.P. Golubkov - M., “Publishing house “Delo” - 1995 - 253 p.

2. Modern marketing./ under. Ed. V.E. Khrutsky - M., Finance and Statistics - 2003. - 256 p.

3. Fundamentals of Marketing. / F. Kotler / - M., Progress Publishing House - 2001.-325 p.

4. Marketing / Ed. Vinnitsky A.D. - M., “Finance and Statistics”, 2002.-298 p.

5. Zavyalov P.S., Demidov V.E. “The formula for success is marketing,” M., “International Relations,” 1991.-198 p.

MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

External macro environment of the enterprise

The marketing of an enterprise is influenced by the external environment in which the organization operates. Within the framework of the marketing approach, all elements of the external environment according to the ideology of establishing relationships with them can be divided into two groups. These are macroenvironment and microenvironment. The structure of the marketing environment is presented in Figure 3.1

Fig. 3.1 Marketing environment of the enterprise

Macro environment- this is a set of factors that an enterprise cannot influence and must take into account in its marketing activities. The main factors of the macroenvironment that determine the state of the external environment include the state of the economy, the legal environment, political processes, the social and cultural components of society, the natural environment and resources. In relation to the first group, it is necessary to implement a policy of active adaptation.

Economic environment mainly manifests itself through fluctuations in purchasing power, which directly depends on the level of current income, prices, savings of the population, the availability of credit, the level of unemployment, etc.

Legal and political environment includes, first of all, such factors as: laws, regulations of government agencies, demands of public groups (pressure groups), which influence various organizations and individuals and limit their freedom of action.

In this case, it is necessary to highlight the following methods of state regulation: administrative, legal, economic.

TO administrative These methods include a variety of measures on licensing and quotas, control over prices, income, exchange rates, discount rates, etc.

State legal regulation is carried out within the framework of economic legislation through the system of norms and rules established by it.

Direct economic regulation includes various types of subsidies, benefits, additional payments from special budgetary and extra-budgetary funds at various levels, as well as preferential lending.

Indirect economic regulation includes, first of all, the levers of monetary, tax, depreciation, foreign exchange, foreign economic, including customs and tariff policy, etc. The action of indirect regulators is automatic and unaddressed.

Socio-demographic environment also shape the external environment of enterprises. The standard of living of the population affects the level of education, the professional level of the employee, the degree of satisfaction with living and working conditions, the degree of employment, and ultimately, effective demand. The number and density of population also have a significant impact on the marketing activities of an enterprise. It should be noted that this environment is taken into account in such an important type of marketing activity as market segmentation. Currently, in the socio-demographic environment there are such important changes affecting marketing activities as a global demographic explosion, a decrease in the birth rate and an increase in aging in developed countries and in Russia, significant migration of the population in Russia, an increase in the educational level and an increase in the number of employees.

Scientific and technical environment are decisive in the production and sale of competitive products. Constant progress in production technology, improvement of the equipment used, introduction of new materials, organization of after-sales service, etc. leads to continuous improvement of products, increasing their quality and competitiveness. The enterprise must constantly monitor the latest achievements of scientific and technological progress in order to make changes to its marketing policy. This should take into account the acceleration of scientific and technological progress, increased allocations for research and development, the spread of small improvement strategies, and tightening government control over quality and safety.

The natural and geographical environment is an important component in the formation of regional markets located in different natural and climatic conditions. Changes in the natural environment affect the range of goods produced in a given region. This environment includes: natural and climatic changes, the state of the environment in the country and in the regions, the main legislative and regulatory acts regulating environmental issues, the degree of influence of various environmental movements on the state of the environment, etc. In their marketing activities, enterprises must take into account the shortage of a number of types of resources and raw materials, the increase in environmental pollution, and state regulation of the process of rational use and reproduction of natural resources.

External microenvironment of the enterprise

Microenvironment- this is a set of factors acting on an enterprise and which this enterprise can influence in the process of its marketing activities. Microenvironmental factors include: consumers, suppliers, competitors, intermediaries, contact groups, etc. For elements of this group, it is necessary to use a strategy of targeted influence.

Consumers are a determining factor in the microenvironment of an enterprise. Therefore, it is no coincidence that much attention is paid to market research in the marketing activities of an enterprise. This market includes a number of large consumer groups: individual and family consumers; industrial consumers; government orders.

Individual and family consumers purchase goods and services for personal consumption. When working with individuals and citizens, there are great opportunities to accurately target your product to the end consumer. This allows the enterprise to identify target markets, in accordance with whose needs the range of goods and services is formed and appropriate pricing and communication policies are developed.

The producer market consists of businesses that purchase goods and services for further processing or for use in their production process. For enterprises, the main criterion for purchasing goods and services will be their technological orientation. At the same time, interaction on the market will be carried out on the basis of an agreement. Therefore, there will be a certain stability for the duration of the agreement. At the same time, the manufacturer will not have a prompt assessment of the demand for its products for this period. Naturally, the enterprise market will be significantly narrower than the market of personal and family consumers, which makes it possible for the manufacturer to study it in more detail.

The government orders market involves the purchase of goods and services for government needs. Typically, commercial activities in this market are carried out on the basis of competitive bidding. Therefore, marketing activity in this case comes down to assessing the competitiveness of the manufacturer’s products and its pricing policy. Due to large volumes of procurement, the government procurement market is characterized by high stability.

Suppliers- these are enterprises and individuals who provide the manufacturer with the material resources necessary for the production of goods and services. When choosing suppliers, the following criteria must be taken into account: reliability of supply, price, quality of goods, terms of payment, the possibility of unscheduled deliveries, and the financial condition of the supplier.

Intermediaries- these are enterprises or individuals who provide services to the manufacturer in purchasing and sales activities. They differ in the range of services provided to clients, product specialization, servicing certain categories of consumers, etc. Intermediary relations are based on the acquisition and sale of products through resellers, with whom special agreements are concluded, providing, along with commissions and other remuneration, special obligations in connection with sale (purchase) of goods by the seller (buyer). The services of resellers are used when selling serial or minor products, as well as in certain hard-to-reach and small markets, when promoting new products, in the absence of their own sales network.

Competitors are a set of enterprises that supply similar products to the market. In a saturated market, the manufacturer must provide the market with goods of higher quality and lower prices than competitors. The competition factor is completely independent of the manufacturer and is determined by the competitive environment.

Contact audiences- this is a group of people who show real or potential interest in the enterprise and on whom its activities depend. Contact audiences include: banks, investment companies, credit organizations, media, government agencies, public organizations, residents of surrounding areas and local organizations, etc. In order to expand sales of its products, the manufacturer must develop marketing plans aimed at interacting with various types of contact audiences.

If you carefully read the list of parameters that we proposed to use to assess the external environment in the article devoted to the development of a SWOT analysis, you probably noticed that the factors of demand, competition and sales are quite different from economic, political and similar factors. The fact is that the first three factors (demand, competition and sales) relate to microenvironmental factors, and all subsequent factors relate to the macroenvironment of your enterprise.

The microenvironment of an enterprise is those subjects with whom you constantly and directly interact: these are your customers, suppliers, competitors, partners, contact audiences (sponsors, media, consultants, banks) and government agencies.

The relationship between your enterprise and the subjects of the microenvironment is equal - just as they can influence you, so you influence them.

The macro-environment of an enterprise is factors that your enterprise does not directly encounter, but which, nevertheless, have a serious impact on its activities. Macroenvironmental factors most often include economic, political, legal, scientific and technical, socio-demographic, socio-cultural, natural, environmental and international factors.

The macro environment has two important features:

• it affects not only your enterprise, but also the microenvironment: competitors, partners, clients;
• you yourself cannot influence the macroenvironment.

In other words, the microenvironment consists of those with whom you can talk, and the macroenvironment is that which cannot even be clearly seen. An analogy can be drawn with the army. If you compare your enterprise with an army, then your enemy, sutlers, etc. is the microenvironment, and the weather, time of year, and place of battle are the macroenvironment.

Methods of collecting information

Analysis of the external environment can be divided into 2 parts: analysis of the microenvironment and analysis of the macroenvironment. As a rule, the methods for obtaining information about the micro and macro environments are somewhat different. Information about the macroenvironment can only be obtained from various publications, documents, that is, from so-called sources. secondary information.

Information about the microenvironment can also be partially obtained from secondary information, but other methods can also be used - surveys (of buyers, suppliers and intermediaries), observation (of competitors), etc.

Methods for obtaining information about the macroenvironment

When you start collecting information about the macro environment, you first need to make a list of the data you need. As a basis, you can take the liver of the environmental factors of the enterprise, which was given in the article on SWOT analysis. For each group of factors, we make a list of information that is interesting to us. For example, your list might look like this:

Economic forces:

• find out the ruble to dollar exchange rate for the last year, the forecast for its changes for the coming year;
• find out the inflation rate forecast for 2003;
• the level of average wages in your region and its changes compared to previous months;
• and so on.

Next, you need to determine where the information you need may be contained. To study the macroenvironment, secondary information is used, i.e. publications in the media, various reference books, the Internet, ready-made reports from marketing firms on research conducted.

To make your search easier, here is a list of the most useful (in our opinion) sources of information:

• data from the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation and its regional divisions (in our case, this is the St. Petersburg Committee on Statistics). Open data can be viewed on the Goskomstat website www.gks.ru, where you can also find out how to access regulated data.
• general economic newspapers and magazines - “Vedomosti” (www.vedomosti.ru), “Business Petersburg” (www.dp.ru), “Expert”, “Expert North-West” (www.expert.ru), and others.
• the Internet, which is a storehouse of useful information. You can find a lot of useful information by looking at:
• To industry portals. As a rule, they contain a lot of valuable information on the market they are dedicated to. Nowadays, many industry portals have appeared, below we will list some of them. If you don’t find the portal you need in this list, don’t despair, try searching for it on the Internet.
• www.yarmarka.net - food market. The portal contains free reviews of the food market (including food retail and catering establishments), provides the opportunity to purchase ready-made research on a topic of interest, and contains a lot of other useful information.
• www.conditer.ru - information and analytical center of the confectionery industry. Contains the latest news from the confectionery, grocery and bakery markets, marketing research, offers from companies in this industry, reviews of the macroeconomic situation, and a calendar of thematic exhibitions.
• www.coffeetea.ru - a site dedicated to news of the coffee and tea market in Russia. Contains a news feed with an overview of events taking place in the Russian and global coffee and tea markets, as well as electronic versions of the magazine “Coffee and Tea in Russia” and the newspaper “Planet of Coffee and Tea”, which cover news, events and novelties of the coffee and tea markets , history and culture of coffee and tea producing countries, discussions about the problems of the Russian coffee and tea market.
• Less informative from the point of view of collecting secondary information are the portals www.printmix.ru (printing and equipment), www.upakmix.ru (packaging in Russia), www.mebelmix.ru (furniture in Russia). The structure of all these portals is similar - a company catalog, business offers, thematic exhibitions and industry news.
• To the websites of specialized companies that publish reviews based on the results of their research. The websites of the Bink company (www.infors.ru), the consulting and research company Ecotrans www.marketsurveys.ru, and many others are quite interesting. On the mentioned sites you can find reviews of various markets, results of marketing research, news from various markets.
• To sites engaged in the sale of ready-made marketing research (for example, the site //research.rbc.ru of the RosBusinessConsulting company)
• To search engine sites (www.yandex.ru, www.rambler.ru, www.aport.ru)

Once you have gathered the information you need, each document needs to be evaluated by asking yourself the following questions:

1. For what purpose was this document created (perhaps the document is dedicated to revealing the author’s point of view, and it contains only figures that confirm this opinion, and those that contradict it are omitted);
2. Who is the author of this document and the data used in it (can you trust this source of information);
3. How the information contained in the document was collected (whether the use of these particular methods in collecting information was justified, and whether the data collection methods used led to their distortion);
4. When was this information collected (does the document contain outdated information);
5. How does the information contained in this document compare with other information available to you (does it conflict with other information).

Methods for obtaining information about the microenvironment

Some information about the microenvironment can also be obtained from secondary information - for example, the number of competitors, their location and contact information can be found from telephone directories (Yellow Pages, All Petersburg, Contact).

In addition, trade shows are a valuable source of information about the microenvironment, where you can exchange views with colleagues and gather a lot of valuable information about your potential customers, industry trends as a whole, and the actions and plans of your competitors. You can find out about exhibitions being held in the near future on the Internet at the websites www.exponet.ru (“Exhibitions of Russia”), www.vistavki.ru, //exhibitions.spb.ru (Exhibitions of St. Petersburg) and www.allexpo.ru.

However, it is better to obtain some information using methods of collecting primary information - observation and questioning.

Observation

Let's imagine, for example, that you are the owner of a clothing store and decide to study your competitors. After you have compiled a list of all the clothing stores located near yours, you will need to visit them to understand what they sell and how their customer service is organized. The best way to understand this is to visit your competitors under the guise of a buyer (this research method is called Mystery Shopping, or, translated into Russian, “Mystery Shopper”). This way, you can put yourself in the buyer’s shoes and understand what advantages and disadvantages your competitors and you have, what you can change in your store (for example, by borrowing the successful ideas of your competitors).

In order for this visit to bring the greatest benefit and not become a waste of time, you need to create a questionnaire in advance (a list of questions that you must answer after visiting your competitors). If competitors know you by sight, then you can send someone else in your place; in this case, the questionnaire is especially necessary if you do not want to receive an incoherent story later.

The questionnaire, for example, might look like this:

Questionnaire for studying competitors Company name Address of the sales area Block 1. Location Transport accessibility Ease of finding the sales area Window decoration Block 2. Decoration of the sales area Lighting Availability of air conditioning Quality of repair Product placement Other factors Block 3. Qualification of sellers Appearance of sellers Sellers' communication style with buyers Block 4. Product offer List of products sold Appearance of goods Price level List of additional services Block 5. Promotion Notes, impressions

Survey

The survey may be useful for:

• assessing customer satisfaction with your product and service;
• to find out what additional products or services your customer would like to see.

The simplest option in this case (if you have a cafe, hairdresser, beauty salon, etc.) is to invite visitors to fill out forms on their own while waiting (in line at the hairdresser, ordering in a cafe, etc.). However, this option is only feasible in places where there is not a large flow of buyers and where they are in no hurry. In other cases, it is better to have one or two specially trained interviewers interview customers in your store over the course of several days.

In order to obtain results suitable for analysis, it is necessary to correctly compose the questionnaire.

In this case it should be:

• short (no more than 10-20 questions), contain only those questions to which you really need to get answers. Otherwise, you risk receiving a lot of questionnaires that will only be half completed because the respondent will get tired of answering your questions. It is unnecessary to remind that such questionnaires are not suitable for analysis and are considered discarded.
• consist primarily of closed questions (i.e., each question must be accompanied by answer options from which the respondent can choose the one that most closely matches his own opinion). However, when using closed questions, great care must be taken to ensure that all possible answer options are covered.
  

  Example of an open question:

  What telephone directories do you usually use?_________________
  (the respondent’s answer is written verbatim in the field left for this)
  

  Example of a closed question:

  What telephone directories do you usually use?
  (the respondent’s answer is noted in the field next to the answer. If the respondent names a directory that is not listed among the answers, the option “other directories” is noted).
  

• understandable. To check the ease of understanding of the questionnaire and identify possible errors, the questionnaire is tested on several respondents before replication (conduct a so-called “pilot survey”).

After conducting the survey, you will need to convert the questionnaires into electronic form and analyze the data.

A survey is a rather complicated matter, so to conduct it it is better to contact a specialized company engaged in conducting marketing research.

Summary

The external environment of an enterprise consists of a macroenvironment and a microenvironment. The microenvironment of an enterprise includes buyers, suppliers, competitors, partners, and government agencies. The macroenvironment of an enterprise is factors that the enterprise does not directly encounter, but which have a serious impact on its activities.

To analyze the macroenvironment of an enterprise, secondary information is used, which can be obtained from publications of the State Statistics Committee and its regional divisions, from newspapers and magazines, and the Internet (including on industry portals, websites of specialized companies, etc.). After collecting the information you need, you need to evaluate each document for the accuracy and relevance of the information it contains, and check the data for consistency with other information at your disposal.

To analyze the microenvironment of an enterprise, secondary information from the sources listed above, as well as data collected at industry exhibitions, can also be used, but it is additionally recommended to collect primary data about your customers, suppliers, and competitors. To do this, you can use the two most popular methods of collecting primary data - observation and survey.

With the help of observation, you can collect information about your competitors, evaluate them from the point of view of consumers and implement their most successful ideas in your enterprise. To do this, you can (personally or with the help of your employees) visit your competitors’ stores (offices) and evaluate their work using a pre-prepared questionnaire.

Using a survey, you can find out the opinions of your customers and find out what additional products/services they would like to receive. Besides. You can conduct surveys of your suppliers and intermediaries. In the case of a customer survey, you can either invite them to fill out the questionnaire themselves (if there is such an opportunity), or conduct a survey with the help of interviewers (in the case of a large flow of visitors).