Marketing Environment

2012/13 Id 1180654 Allan raisin Firms push aside do more than simply anticipating and responding to some(prenominal) macro instruction and micro purlieu- grocery research is the lam that links the consumer, node, and public to the marketer by means of information merchandise environs includes tot anyy told the gets that directly or indirectly twist merchandising operations by affecting an system of rules encyclopedism of inputs/creation of eruptputs such as human, financial and lifelike resources and stinging material, information, goods, services or ideas. nearly clock a greenback is more among macro and micro f spotors of surroundings The mental synthesis of the Marketing surround The consumer occupies the core/commutation position of all seam activities and hence occupies the Centre of the trade environment. The organization with its resources and having a policy and expression surrounds the consumer with its particular market offering as do its co mpetitors, suppliers and modern(prenominal) intermediaries. This microenvironment of market is a slay affected by the macro environment, which consists of the presidential term, technical, policy-making, accessible, stinting factors.This is graphically represented by on a lower floor 1. The major external and un restrainlable factors that learn an organizations decision making, and affect its performance and strategies. These factors include the economic factors demographics legal, political, and societal conditions technological changes and natural forces. 2. Specific examples of macro environment influences include competitors, changes in interest rates, changes in cultural tastes, disastrous weather, or government regulations. r veritable(a)ue stamp Macro Environmental outline PESTLEThe PESTLE Analysis is a framework employ to s squirt the organizations external macro environment. Theletters stand for policy-making, scotchSocio-cultural, Technological, Legal and En vironmental. Some approaches give extend in extra factors, such as Inter national, or pull away some to reduce it to PEST. However, these be all merely variations on a theme. The substantial principle is identifying the pigmentfactors from the wider, uncontrollable external environment that speciality affect the organization. The PESTLE Factors We start with the semipolitical forces.First of all, political factors describe to the stability of the politicalenvironment and the attitudes of political parties or movements. This whitethorn manifest in governmentinfluence on tax policies, or government involvement in trading agreements. Political factors ar pauperisms entwined with Legal factors such as national employment laws, international traderegulations and restrictions, monopolies and mergers rules, and consumer protection. The discordencebetween Political and Legal factors is that Political refers to attitudes and approaches, whereas Legalfactors atomic number 18 those which have function law and regulations.Legal needs to be complied with whereasPolitical may represent influences, restrictions or opportunities, exclusively they atomic number 18 non mandatory. Economic factors represent the wider economy so may include economic produce rates, aims ofemployment and unemployment, costs of raw materials such as energy, flatulence and steel, interest ratesand m startary policies, commutation rates and inflation rates. These may likewise vary from one country toa nonher. Socio-cultural factors represent the culture of the ships caller-out that an organization operates within.Theymay include demographics, age distri bequeathdion, population product rates, level of education, distri furtherion ofwealth and social classes, living conditions and lifestyle. Technological factors refer to the rate of new inventions and development, changes in information andmobile technology, changes in mesh and e-commerce or level(p) mobile commerce, and governmentspending on research. There is often a aim to focus Technological developments on digital and internet-related aras, except it should withal include materials development and new methods ofmanufacture, dispersion and logistics.Environmental impacts can include issues such as limited natural resources, waste disposal and recyclingprocedures. additional Considerations A newer force which is gaining in importance is ethics. These can be defined by the set of exampleprinciples and encourages that govern the actions and decisions of an individual or group. Ethics and ethicsserve as guidelines on how to act rightly and justly when individuals are faced with moral dilemmas. This force could include corporate social responsibility, heretoforehandedly trade, affiliation between corporations andcharities.A particular problem may exist with how ethical factors relates to legal forces as they may beat different stages in development. Something may be ethical and not s aved by law, whereas some early(a) activities may not be ethical, but are legal. A PESTLE depth psychology should feed into a swot up abbreviation as it helps to influence the holy terrors andopportunities represented by macro-environment forces that the organization normally cannot control. On an international basis, it is better to perform the analysis on a country-by-country basis beca rehearse of goods and servicesfactors can differ greatly between countries (or even regions).Marketing Environment Micro Marketing Environment Micro The micro market environment consists of certain forces that are part of an organizations trade process, but remain external to the organization. This micro trade environment that surrounds organizations can be complex by reputation however the confederation has an element of control over how it operates within this environment. Marketing helps you to manage and make palpate of this complexity. The illustration above summarizes the sta te of the adjacent external marketing environment that transactiones operate in.Current and Potential Customers Your customers are vital to the growth and sustainability of your phoner. In army to grow you must(prenominal) locate customers, understand their needs and and then satisfy those needs both efficiently and pro forgatherably. Competitors Your competitors however have the same remit as you when it come downs to sourcing and grateful the needs of the customer. They will make it ticklish to liaise with customer groups, as by definition they are largely pursuing the same sets of customers as you.As a marketer, you must in that locationfore not only supervise what competitors are doing in the external marketing environment today, but to also anticipate their likely retort to your campaigns and to telephone what they will do tomorrow. Intermediaries (Distributors/Wholesalers/Retailers) Your business concern may require a network of wholesalers, distributors and/or retailer. These intermediaries impart an invaluable service in acquiring your products to the customer. You must at that placefore think carefully about(predicate) how best to distribute your goods and build relationships.This area can be fierce in competition as not e trulyone can get access to the take of distribution that they want. Suppliers One different important area to make do in the external marketing environment is your suppliers. A key supplier can be an important part of your business and may even attribute to your agonistic usefulness. Losing important suppliers can interrupt payoff flow or your competitive butt and prevent you from getting your product to your customers. Choice of suppliers, negotiation of price and relationship building all become important tasks of the marketer.The wider marketing environment, discussed in a separate noesis sheet, covers all other influences that might add opportunities or scourges to the organization. These include tec hnological development, legal constraints, the economic environment and sociocultural changes. This brief overview of the world in which companies operate in demonstrates that there are some(prenominal) relationships that matter. These need to be managed if the social club is to conduct its business successfully. The main responsibility for managing these relationships lies within the marketing department.Using a drudgery wonk is an important tool in auditing the external and intrinsic environment of the organization. A bring up Analysis should be more than a basal listing of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Most organizations have the same, common-sense oddball of threats, such as competitors, technological changes, regulation and deregulation, or weaknesses such as high price, but these are all very general, hard to control elements meaning the benefit can be quite limited. As Cranfields professor Malcolm McDonald puts it, real elevates should be more crisp and specific.STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND THREATS Strengths, in the beat analysis, are a caller-outs capabilities and resources that allow it to act on in activities to generate economic prize and perhaps competitive advantage. A partys strengths may be in its ability to create unique products, to permit high-level customer service, or to have a bearing in multiple retail markets. Strengths may also be things such as the participations culture, its staffing and training, or the lumber of its managers. Whatever capability a company has can be regarded as strength.A companys weaknesses are a deficiency of resources or capabilities that can prevent it from generating economic value or gaining a competitive advantage if used to enact the companys schema. There are some(prenominal) examples of organizational weaknesses. For example, a mansion may have a large, bureaucratic structure that limits its ability to manage with smaller, more dynamic companies. Another weakness may hap if a company has higher persistence costs than a competitor who can have kindred productivity from a lower fag cost.The characteristics of an organization that can be strength, as listed above, can also be a weakness if the company does not do them well. Opportunities provide the organization with a circumstances to improve its performance and its competitive advantage. Some opportunities may be anticipated, others arise unexpectedly. Opportunities may arise when there are niches for new products or services, or when these products and services can be offered at different times and in different locations. For instance, the increased use of the mesh has provided numerous opportunities for companies to expand their product sales.Threats can be an individual, group, or organization outside the company that aims to reduce the level of the companys performance. Every company faces threats in its environment. oft the more successful companies have stronger threats, because there is a desire on the part of other companies to expunge some of that success for their own. Threats may come from new products or services from other companies that aim to condition away a companys competitive advantage. Threats may also come from government regulation or even consumer groups.A strong company outline that shows how to gain competitive advantage should speech all four elements of the mug up analysis. It should help the organization determine how to use its strengths to take advantage of opportunities and neutralize threats. Finally, a strong schema should help an organization avoid or fix its weaknesses. If a company can develop a system that makes use of the information from pulverization analysis, it is more likely to have high levels of performance. Nearly all(prenominal) company can benefit from jampack analysis.Larger organizations may have strategic-planning procedures in place that incorporate SWOT analysis, but smaller firms, pa rticularly entrepreneurial firms may have to start the analysis from scratch. Additionally, depending on the surface or the degree of diversification of the company, it may be necessary to conduct more than one SWOT analysis. If the company has a wide renewal of products and services, particularly if it operates in different markets, one SWOT analysis will not capture all of the relevant strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist across the span of the companys operations.LIMITATIONS OF SWOT compendium One major problem with the SWOT analysis is that while it emphasizes the importance of the four elements associated with the organizational and environmental analysis, it does not address how the company can identify the elements for their own company. Many organizational executives may not be able to determine what these elements are, and the SWOT framework provides no guidance. For example, what if a strength identified by the company is not truly strength?While a company might believe its customer service is strong, they may be asleep of problems with employees or the capabilities of other companies to provide a higher level of customer service. Weaknesses are often easier to determine, but typically after(prenominal) it is too late to create a new schema to offset them. A company may also have difficulty identifying opportunities. Depending on the organization, what may seem like an chance to some may appear to be a threat to others. Opportunities may be easy to send away or may be identified long after they can be exploited.Similarly, a company may have difficulty anticipating possible threats in order to effectively avoid them. While the SWOT framework does not provide managers with the guidance to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, it does read managers what questions to ask during the strategy development process, even if it does not provide the answers. Managers know to ask and to determine a strategy that will take advantage of a companys strengths, minimize its weaknesses, exploit opportunities, or neutralize threats.Some experts make out that making strategic choices for the firm is slight important than asking the right questions in choosing the strategy. A company may mistakenly solve a problem by providing the correct answer to the wrong question. exploitation SWOT ANALYSIS TO DEVELOP organisational STRATEGY SWOT analysis is just the first misuse in developing and implementing an effective organizational strategy. After a thorough SWOT analysis, the next footfall is to rank the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and to document the criteria for ranking.The company must then determine its strategic fit given its internal capabilities and external environment in a two-by-two grid (see Figure 1). This fit, as determined in the grid, will indicate what strategic changes need to be made. The quadrants in this grid are as follows * quadrant 1 internal strengt hs matched with external opportunities * quadrant 2 internal weaknesses relative to external opportunities * Quadrant 3 internal strengths matched with external threats and * Quadrant 4 internal weaknesses relative to external threats.Quadrant 1 lists the strategies associated with a match between the companys strengths and its perceived external opportunities. It represents the best fit between the companys resources and the options available in the external market. A strategy from this quadrant would be to protect the companys strengths by shoring up resources and extending competitive advantage. If a strategy in this quadrant can additionally lard weaknesses in other areas, such as in Quadrant 2, this would be advantageous. Quadrant 2 lists the strategies associated with a match between the companys weaknesses with external opportunities.Strategies in this quadrant would address the choice of either improving upon weaknesses to crimp them into strengths, or allowing competitor s to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace. Quadrant 3 matches the companys strengths and external threats. Strategies in this quadrant may aim to transform external threats into opportunities by changing the companys competitive position through and through use of its resources or strengths. Another strategic option in this quadrant is for the company to maintain a defensive strategy to focus on more promising opportunities in other quadrants.Quadrant 4 matches a companys weaknesses and the threats in the environment. These are the worst possible scenarios for an organization. However, because of the competitive nature of the marketplace, any company is likely to have information in this quadrant. Strategies in this quadrant may involve using resources in other quadrants to exploit opportunities to the point that other threats are minimized. Additionally, some issues may be moved out of this quadrant by otherwise neutralizing the threat or by bolstering a perceived wea kness.Once a strategy is decided on in each quadrant for the issues facing the company, these strategies require frequent monitoring and biweekly updates. An organization is best served by proactively find strategies to address issues before they become crises. An example of how a firm can develop strategies using these quadrants is as follows. generic Corporation produces high-quality high-priced specialty kitchen items in a catalog and in stores and is known for their exquisite customer service. This strength has been able to offset its major weaknesses, which are having few stores and no current capabilities for Internet sales.Its major opportunities come from the explosion of Internet shopping, and its threats are other more high-profile competitors, operating primarily on the Internet, and the concerns of identity theft in Internet sales that legion(predicate) customers ha ve. Matching Generics strengths to its opportunities (Quadrant 1), the firm may choose to enhance its Internet site to allow online purchases, simmer down providing its excellent 24-hour telephone customer service. Ideally, this strategy will offset the weakness of not having an Internet presence, which addresses the concerns of Quadrant 2.Additionally, by bolstering the strength of excellent customer service by applying it to the online shopping site, the company may be able to alleviate customer concerns about identity theft (Quadrant 3). A strategy for Quadrant 4, which matches the companys weaknesses and threats, is that Generic may consider wandering its online business to a competitor. Certainly, the Quadrant 4 strategy is the least preferred, but a proactive strategy that plans for managing such a plaza is favored over a crisis situation in which the company is forced to sell with no planning.A SWOT analysis is a first, but critical, dance step in developing an organizational strategy. By examining the companys internal capabilitiesits strengths and weaknesses and its ext ernal environmentopportunities and threats, it helps to create strategies that can proactively cut with organizational challenges. The changing and uncertain marketing environment deeply affects the organization, instead of changing slowly and predictably, the environment can produce major surprises and shocks, how galore(postnominal) managers at Heinz foresaw that the baby-boom numbers would fall so rapidly?How many were able to predict that the Internet will enable not only real-time personal intercourse but that will also provide a way for business process improvement and new industries would be formed. How many were able to predict that mobile phone SMS and MMS services would add significant value for the customers, some said who would want to type text on the phone or even slam pictures , telephone are only for talkTo conclude I would say that Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information these informa tion used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions monitor marketing performance and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information necessary to address these issues, designs the methods for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes, and communicates the findings and their implications. Marketing Environment 2012/13 Id 1180654 Allan raisin Firms can do more than simply anticipating and responding to both macro and micro environment- Market research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information Marketing environment includes all the forces that directly or indirectly influence marketing operations by affecting an organization acquisition of inputs/creation of outputs such as human, financial and natural resources and raw material, information, goods, services or ideas.Somet imes a distinction is more between macro and micro factors of environment The Structure of the Marketing Environment The consumer occupies the core/central position of all business activities and hence occupies the Centre of the marketing environment. The organization with its resources and having a policy and structure surrounds the consumer with its particular market offering as do its competitors, suppliers and other intermediaries. This microenvironment of marketing is again affected by the macro environment, which consists of the government, technical, political, social, economic factors.This is graphically represented by below 1. The major external and uncontrollable factors that influence an organizations decision making, and affect its performance and strategies. These factors include the economic factors demographics legal, political, and social conditions technological changes and natural forces. 2. Specific examples of macro environment influences include competitors, cha nges in interest rates, changes in cultural tastes, disastrous weather, or government regulations. PESTLE Macro Environmental Analysis PESTLEThe PESTLE Analysis is a framework used to scan the organizations external macro environment. Theletters stand for Political, EconomicSocio-cultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental. Some approaches will add in extra factors, such as International, or remove some to reduce it to PEST. However, these are all merely variations on a theme. The important principle is identifying the keyfactors from the wider, uncontrollable external environment that might affect the organization. The PESTLE Factors We start with the Political forces.First of all, political factors refer to the stability of the politicalenvironment and the attitudes of political parties or movements. This may manifest in governmentinfluence on tax policies, or government involvement in trading agreements. Political factors areinevitably entwined with Legal factors such as na tional employment laws, international traderegulations and restrictions, monopolies and mergers rules, and consumer protection. The differencebetween Political and Legal factors is that Political refers to attitudes and approaches, whereas Legalfactors are those which have become law and regulations.Legal needs to be complied with whereasPolitical may represent influences, restrictions or opportunities, but they are not mandatory. Economic factors represent the wider economy so may include economic growth rates, levels ofemployment and unemployment, costs of raw materials such as energy, petrol and steel, interest ratesand monetary policies, exchange rates and inflation rates. These may also vary from one country toanother. Socio-cultural factors represent the culture of the society that an organization operates within.Theymay include demographics, age distribution, population growth rates, level of education, distribution ofwealth and social classes, living conditions and lifestyle . Technological factors refer to the rate of new inventions and development, changes in information andmobile technology, changes in internet and e-commerce or even mobile commerce, and governmentspending on research. There is often a tendency to focus Technological developments on digital and internet-related areas, but it should also include materials development and new methods ofmanufacture, distribution and logistics.Environmental impacts can include issues such as limited natural resources, waste disposal and recyclingprocedures. Additional Considerations A newer force which is gaining in importance is ethics. These can be defined by the set of moralprinciples and values that govern the actions and decisions of an individual or group. Ethics and moralsserve as guidelines on how to act rightly and justly when individuals are faced with moral dilemmas. This force could include corporate social responsibility, fair trade, affiliation between corporations andcharities.A particular problem may exist with how ethical factors relates to legal forces as they may beat different stages in development. Something may be ethical but not protected by law, whereas other activities may not be ethical, but are legal. A PESTLE analysis should feed into a SWOT analysis as it helps to determine the threats andopportunities represented by macro-environment forces that the organization usually cannot control. On an international basis, it is best to perform the analysis on a country-by-country basis becausefactors can differ greatly between countries (or even regions).Marketing Environment Micro Marketing Environment Micro The micro marketing environment consists of certain forces that are part of an organizations marketing process, but remain external to the organization. This micro marketing environment that surrounds organizations can be complex by nature however the company has an element of control over how it operates within this environment. Marketing helps you to ma nage and make sense of this complexity. The illustration above summarizes the order of the immediate external marketing environment that businesses operate in.Current and Potential Customers Your customers are vital to the growth and sustainability of your company. In order to grow you must locate customers, understand their needs and then satisfy those needs both efficiently and profitably. Competitors Your competitors however have the same remit as you when it comes to sourcing and satisfying the needs of the customer. They will make it difficult to liaise with customer groups, as by definition they are largely pursuing the same sets of customers as you.As a marketer, you must therefore not only monitor what competitors are doing in the external marketing environment today, but to also anticipate their likely response to your campaigns and to predict what they will do tomorrow. Intermediaries (Distributors/Wholesalers/Retailers) Your business may require a network of wholesalers, distributors and/or retailer. These intermediaries provide an invaluable service in getting your products to the customer. You must therefore think carefully about how best to distribute your goods and build relationships.This area can be fierce in competition as not everyone can get access to the channels of distribution that they want. Suppliers One other important area to consider in the external marketing environment is your suppliers. A key supplier can be an important part of your business and may even attribute to your competitive advantage. Losing important suppliers can interrupt production flow or your competitive edge and prevent you from getting your product to your customers. Choice of suppliers, negotiation of terms and relationship building all become important tasks of the marketer.The wider marketing environment, discussed in a separate knowledge sheet, covers all other influences that might provide opportunities or threats to the organization. These include technol ogical development, legal constraints, the economic environment and sociocultural changes. This brief overview of the world in which companies operate in demonstrates that there are many relationships that matter. These need to be managed if the company is to conduct its business successfully. The main responsibility for managing these relationships lies within the marketing department.Using a SWOT SWOT is an important tool in auditing the external and internal environment of the organization. A SWOT Analysis should be more than a basic listing of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Most organizations have the same, common-sense type of threats, such as competitors, technological changes, regulation and deregulation, or weaknesses such as high price, but these are all very general, hard to control elements meaning the utility can be quite limited. As Cranfields Professor Malcolm McDonald puts it, real SWOTs should be more concise and specific.STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPP ORTUNITIES, AND THREATS Strengths, in the SWOT analysis, are a companys capabilities and resources that allow it to engage in activities to generate economic value and perhaps competitive advantage. A companys strengths may be in its ability to create unique products, to provide high-level customer service, or to have a presence in multiple retail markets. Strengths may also be things such as the companys culture, its staffing and training, or the quality of its managers. Whatever capability a company has can be regarded as strength.A companys weaknesses are a lack of resources or capabilities that can prevent it from generating economic value or gaining a competitive advantage if used to enact the companys strategy. There are many examples of organizational weaknesses. For example, a firm may have a large, bureaucratic structure that limits its ability to compete with smaller, more dynamic companies. Another weakness may occur if a company has higher labor costs than a competitor w ho can have similar productivity from a lower labor cost.The characteristics of an organization that can be strength, as listed above, can also be a weakness if the company does not do them well. Opportunities provide the organization with a chance to improve its performance and its competitive advantage. Some opportunities may be anticipated, others arise unexpectedly. Opportunities may arise when there are niches for new products or services, or when these products and services can be offered at different times and in different locations. For instance, the increased use of the Internet has provided numerous opportunities for companies to expand their product sales.Threats can be an individual, group, or organization outside the company that aims to reduce the level of the companys performance. Every company faces threats in its environment. Often the more successful companies have stronger threats, because there is a desire on the part of other companies to take some of that succe ss for their own. Threats may come from new products or services from other companies that aim to take away a companys competitive advantage. Threats may also come from government regulation or even consumer groups.A strong company strategy that shows how to gain competitive advantage should address all four elements of the SWOT analysis. It should help the organization determine how to use its strengths to take advantage of opportunities and neutralize threats. Finally, a strong strategy should help an organization avoid or fix its weaknesses. If a company can develop a strategy that makes use of the information from SWOT analysis, it is more likely to have high levels of performance. Nearly every company can benefit from SWOT analysis.Larger organizations may have strategic-planning procedures in place that incorporate SWOT analysis, but smaller firms, particularly entrepreneurial firms may have to start the analysis from scratch. Additionally, depending on the size or the degree of diversification of the company, it may be necessary to conduct more than one SWOT analysis. If the company has a wide variety of products and services, particularly if it operates in different markets, one SWOT analysis will not capture all of the relevant strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist across the span of the companys operations.LIMITATIONS OF SWOT ANALYSIS One major problem with the SWOT analysis is that while it emphasizes the importance of the four elements associated with the organizational and environmental analysis, it does not address how the company can identify the elements for their own company. Many organizational executives may not be able to determine what these elements are, and the SWOT framework provides no guidance. For example, what if a strength identified by the company is not truly strength?While a company might believe its customer service is strong, they may be unaware of problems with employees or the capabilities of other com panies to provide a higher level of customer service. Weaknesses are often easier to determine, but typically after it is too late to create a new strategy to offset them. A company may also have difficulty identifying opportunities. Depending on the organization, what may seem like an opportunity to some may appear to be a threat to others. Opportunities may be easy to overlook or may be identified long after they can be exploited.Similarly, a company may have difficulty anticipating possible threats in order to effectively avoid them. While the SWOT framework does not provide managers with the guidance to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, it does tell managers what questions to ask during the strategy development process, even if it does not provide the answers. Managers know to ask and to determine a strategy that will take advantage of a companys strengths, minimize its weaknesses, exploit opportunities, or neutralize threats.Some experts argue that mak ing strategic choices for the firm is less important than asking the right questions in choosing the strategy. A company may mistakenly solve a problem by providing the correct answer to the wrong question. USING SWOT ANALYSIS TO DEVELOP ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY SWOT analysis is just the first step in developing and implementing an effective organizational strategy. After a thorough SWOT analysis, the next step is to rank the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and to document the criteria for ranking.The company must then determine its strategic fit given its internal capabilities and external environment in a two-by-two grid (see Figure 1). This fit, as determined in the grid, will indicate what strategic changes need to be made. The quadrants in this grid are as follows * Quadrant 1 internal strengths matched with external opportunities * Quadrant 2 internal weaknesses relative to external opportunities * Quadrant 3 internal strengths matched with external threats an d * Quadrant 4 internal weaknesses relative to external threats.Quadrant 1 lists the strategies associated with a match between the companys strengths and its perceived external opportunities. It represents the best fit between the companys resources and the options available in the external market. A strategy from this quadrant would be to protect the companys strengths by shoring up resources and extending competitive advantage. If a strategy in this quadrant can additionally bolster weaknesses in other areas, such as in Quadrant 2, this would be advantageous. Quadrant 2 lists the strategies associated with a match between the companys weaknesses with external opportunities.Strategies in this quadrant would address the choice of either improving upon weaknesses to turn them into strengths, or allowing competitors to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace. Quadrant 3 matches the companys strengths and external threats. Strategies in this quadrant may aim to transform ex ternal threats into opportunities by changing the companys competitive position through use of its resources or strengths. Another strategic option in this quadrant is for the company to maintain a defensive strategy to focus on more promising opportunities in other quadrants.Quadrant 4 matches a companys weaknesses and the threats in the environment. These are the worst possible scenarios for an organization. However, because of the competitive nature of the marketplace, any company is likely to have information in this quadrant. Strategies in this quadrant may involve using resources in other quadrants to exploit opportunities to the point that other threats are minimized. Additionally, some issues may be moved out of this quadrant by otherwise neutralizing the threat or by bolstering a perceived weakness.Once a strategy is decided on in each quadrant for the issues facing the company, these strategies require frequent monitoring and periodic updates. An organization is best serve d by proactively determining strategies to address issues before they become crises. An example of how a firm can develop strategies using these quadrants is as follows. Generic Corporation produces high-quality high-priced specialty kitchen items in a catalog and in stores and is known for their excellent customer service. This strength has been able to offset its major weaknesses, which are having few stores and no current capabilities for Internet sales.Its major opportunities come from the explosion of Internet shopping, and its threats are other more high-profile competitors, operating primarily on the Internet, and the concerns of identity theft in Internet sales that many customers ha ve. Matching Generics strengths to its opportunities (Quadrant 1), the firm may choose to enhance its Internet site to allow online purchases, still providing its excellent 24-hour telephone customer service. Ideally, this strategy will offset the weakness of not having an Internet presence, whi ch addresses the concerns of Quadrant 2.Additionally, by bolstering the strength of excellent customer service by applying it to the online shopping site, the company may be able to alleviate customer concerns about identity theft (Quadrant 3). A strategy for Quadrant 4, which matches the companys weaknesses and threats, is that Generic may consider selling its online business to a competitor. Certainly, the Quadrant 4 strategy is the least preferred, but a proactive strategy that plans for managing such a situation is favored over a crisis situation in which the company is forced to sell with no planning.A SWOT analysis is a first, but critical, step in developing an organizational strategy. By examining the companys internal capabilitiesits strengths and weaknesses and its external environmentopportunities and threats, it helps to create strategies that can proactively contend with organizational challenges. The changing and uncertain marketing environment deeply affects the organ ization, instead of changing slowly and predictably, the environment can produce major surprises and shocks, how many managers at Heinz foresaw that the baby-boom numbers would fall so rapidly?How many were able to predict that the Internet will enable not only real-time personal communication but that will also provide a way for business process improvement and new industries would be formed. How many were able to predict that mobile phone SMS and MMS services would add significant value for the customers, some said who would want to type text on the phone or even snap pictures , telephone are only for talkingTo conclude I would say that Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information these information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions monitor marketing performance and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing researc h specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the methods for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes, and communicates the findings and their implications.