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Gathering Information and Scanning the Environment

Marketing Management, 13th ed

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Chapter Questions

• What are the components of a modern marketing information system?

• What are useful internal records?• What is involved in a marketing intelligence

system?• What are the key methods for tracking and

identifying opportunities in the macro environment?

• What are some important macro environment developments?

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What is a Marketing Information System (MIS)?

A marketing information system consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze,

evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to

marketing decision makers.

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Information Needs Probes

• What decisions do you regularly make?• What information do you need to make these

decisions?• What information do you regularly get?• What special studies do you periodically request?• What information would you want that you are not

getting now?• What are the four most helpful improvements that

could be made in the present marketing information system?

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Internal Records and Marketing Intelligence

• Order-to-payment cycle—send orders, prepares invoices, transmit copies to various departments, and back-orders out-of-stock items

• Sales information system—timely and accurate reports on current sales

• Databases, warehousing, data mining--customer, product, and salesperson and combine data from the different databases.

• Marketing intelligence system—a set of procedures and sources managers use to obtain everyday information about developments in the marketing environment.

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Steps to Improve Marketing Intelligence

• Train sales force to scan for new developments (make intelligence gathering important to salespeople)

• Motivate channel members to share intelligence (hire specialists to gather marketing intelligence—mystery shoppers)

• Network externally (purchase competitors’ products; attend open houses and trade shows; read competitors’ published reports; etc.)

• Utilize a customer advisory panel (representative customers or company’s largest customers)

• Utilize government data sources (U.S. Census data, etc.)• Collect customer feedback online (online customer

review boards, discussion forums, chat rooms, and blogs)• Purchase information (A.C. Nielsen Company and other

information sources)

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Secondary Commercial Data Sources

• Nielsen—data on products and brands sold through retail outlets, supermarket scanner data, television audiences.

• MRCA (Medium Resolution Coverage Area)—data on weekly family purchases of consumer products, and home food consumption.

• Information Resources—supermarket scanner data and data on the impact of supermarket promotions.

• SAMI/Burke—reports on warehouse withdrawals to food store in selected market areas and supermarket scan data.

• Simmons—annual reports covering television markets, television markets, sporting goods, and proprietary drugs with demographic data by sex, income, age, and brand preferences.

• Arbitron—selling data to subscribers.

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Sources of Competitive Information

• Independent customer goods and service review forums

• Distributor or sales agent feedback sites• Combination sites offering customer reviews

and expert opinions• Customer complaint sites• Public blogs

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Needs and Trends

• Fads—short-lived and without social, economic, and political significance.

• Trends—direction or sequence of events that has some momentum and durability.

• Megatrends—large social, economic, political, and technological changes

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Trends Shaping the Business Landscape

• Profound shifts in centers of economic activity (Asia (excluding Japan)—13% of World GDP; Western Europe > 30%)

• Increases in public-sector activity (aging of population new levels of efficiency and creativity from public sector)

• Change in consumer landscape (billion new consumers to enter global marketplace in next decade and U.S. Latinos 2015 spending power equivalent to 60% of Chinese consumers.

• Technological connectivity (change way people live)

• Scarcity of well-trained talent (33 mm university-educated young professionals in developing countries is more than double the number in developed ones

• Increase in demand for natural resources (Oil demand projected to grow by 50% in next two decades and water shortages may constraint growth in many countries)

• Emergence of new global industry structures (barbell-like structure—few large, narrow middle, lot of smaller companies)

• Ubiquitous access to information (open source approach)

• Management shifts from art to science (algorithmic decision-making techniques and sophisticated software)

• Increase in scrutiny of big business practices (be able to argue and demonstrate intellectual, social, and economic case for business)

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Environmental Forces

• Demographic

• Economic

• Socio-cultural

• Natural

• Technological

• Political-legal

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Population and Demographics

• Population growth• Population age mix• Ethnic markets

• Educational groups• Household patterns• Geographical shifts

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Economic Environment

• Income Distribution• Savings, Debt, and Credit

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Household Patterns

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Types of Industrial Structures

Industrialeconomies

Subsistenceeconomies

Raw-material-exporting

economies

Industrializingeconomies

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India – An Industrializing Economy

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Saudi Arabia – A Raw-Material Exporting Economy

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Social-Cultural Environment

• Views of themselves (pleasure seeker, self-realization, etc.)

• Views of others (concern about homeless, crime, victims, social surrogates—television, home video games, etc.)

• Views of organizations (company downsizing and corporate accounting scandals, etc.)

• Views of society (defend society—preservers; run it—makers; can get from—takers; change it—changers; looking for something deeper—seekers; leave it--escapers

• Views of nature (nature’s fragility and finiteness)• Views of the universe (religious, etc.)

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Most Popular American Leisure Activities

• Reading• TV Watching• Spending time with

family• Going to movies• Fishing

• Computer activities• Gardening• Renting movies• Walking• Exercise• Listening to music

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Natural Environment

Shortage of raw materials

Increasedenergy costs

Anti-pollutionpressures

Governmentalprotections

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Keys to Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia

• Consumer Value Positioning (design environmental to perform as well as alternatives; products that have health benefits; fixed price for renewable energy products)

• Calibration of Consumer Knowledge (connect environmental products attributes with desired consumer value—pesticide-free; solar powered); use of internet.

• Credibility of Product Claims (environmental product and consumer benefit claims)

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Technological Environment

Pace of change

Unlimited Opportunitiesfor innovation

Varying R&D budgets

Increased regulationof change

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Political-Legal Environment

Increase in business legislation

(e.g., unfair competition, protect society)

Growth of specialinterest groups

(e.g., consumerist movement)

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Unit Pricing on Store Shelves

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Study Question 1________ consists of people, equipment, and

procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and

distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to

Marketing decision makers.    

A.  A marketing information system

B.  A marketing research system

C.  A marketing intelligence system

D.  A promotional campaign

E.  A marketing database

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Study Question 2All of the following would be considered to be steps to

improve the quality of marketing intelligence in a

company EXCEPT ________.  

A.  training and motivating the sales force to spot and report new developments

B.  using guerrilla tactics such as going through a competitor’s trash

C.  motivating intermediaries to pass along important information

D.  networking externally

E.  purchasing information from outside suppliers

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Study Question 3A ________ is “unpredictable, short-lived, and without

social, economic, and political significance.”  

A.  fad

B.  fashion

C.  trend

D.  megatrend

E.  style

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Study Question 4________ have been described as “large social,

economic, political and technological changes [that] are

slow to form, and once in place, they influence us for

some time—between seven and ten years, or longer.  

A.  Fads

B.  Fashions

C.  Trends

D.  Megatrends

E.  Styles

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Study Question 5In which of the following economies would we expect to

find the fewest opportunities for marketers?  

A.  Industrializing economies

B.  Land-locked economies

C.  Raw-material-exporting economies

D.  Industrial economies

E.  Subsistence economies