Download bubuya surname : dube reg-number : r11250z level : 2.1 mode

MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERISTY
FACULTY OF COMMERCE
DEPARTMENT OF MARKERTING MANAGEMENT
NAME
:
BUBUYA
SURNAME
:
DUBE
REG-NUMBER
:
R11250Z
LEVEL
:
2.1
MODE
:
VISITING
LECTURER
:
NGWENYA
MODULE
:
MM202
With the aid of examples discuss how the micro and macro environment factors have affected
sales force management from 2000 to date in Zimbabwe (40).
The Micro environment consists of the forces close to the company that affect its ability to serve
its customer-the company, supplies ,marketing, channel firms, customer markets, competitors
and publics.(Kotler/ Armstrong 1999)This environment influences the organization directly. It
includes suppliers that deal directly or indirectly, consumers and customers, and other local
stakeholders. Micro tends to suggest small, but this can be misleading. In this context, micro
describes the relationship between firms and the driving forces that control this relationship. It is
a more local relationship, and the firm may exercise a degree of influence.2marks
In analyzing the macro-environment, they are factors which affect a number of vital variables
that influence the organizations growth in sales and market share. It is important to identify the
factors that might in turn affect a number of vital variables that are likely to influence the
organizations growth in sales and market share. Macro environment consists of the PESTEL
which are the external factors which affect the organization in achieving its set
objectives.PESTEL is a framework that categorises environmental influences such as political,
economic, social, technological, environmental and legal. These factors have a great impact in
the saleforce because they disrupt the strategic sales plan of the sales management.1 mark
Economic factors are of concern to marketing firms because they are likely to influence, among
other things, demand, costs, prices and profits. As can be seen, changes in world economic forces
are potentially highly significant to marketing firms, particularly those engaged in international
marketing. However, an understanding of economic changes and forces in the domestic economy
is also of vital importance as such forces have the most immediate impact. One such factor is a
high level of unemployment, which decreases the effective demand for many luxury consumer
goods, adversely affecting the demand for the industrial machinery required to produce such
goods.1mark Other domestic economic variables are the rate of inflation and the level of
domestic interest rates, which affect the potential return from new investments and can inhibit
the adoption and diffusion of new technologies. In addition to these more indirect factors,
competitive firms e.g can also pose a threat to the marketing company so their activities should
be closely monitored.
It is therefore vital that companies continually monitor the economic environment at both
domestic and world levels. Economic changes pose a set of opportunities and threats, and by
understanding and carefully monitoring the economic environment, firms should be in a position
to guard against potential threats and to capitalize on opportunities.
Zimbabwe is one of the countries which have faced the impact of these environmental factors.
Zimbabwe's economy has consistently declined since 2000, in an atmosphere of political turmoil,
capital flight and mismanagement. Inflation has spiraled out of control and the underpinnings of
the economy in agriculture and industry have been dissipated. The Zimbabwean situation has
been compounded by shortages of basic commodities such as cooking oil, flour, fuel, sugar, thus
result in pent-up upward pressure in the overall prices which resulted in sales force being de
motivated as they could not keep the promises they would have made about the availability of
the products.
Sales force also faced a big challenge during the shortage goods such that some sale people had
to lose their jobs since they were nothing on the shelves to sell due to shortage. This was due to
political factors such as sanctions, which were disrupting the smooth running of the companies in
Zimbabwe. In 2008 Zimbabwe was faced with hyper inflation which made it difficult for the
sales force to prospect for business because the time they would look for customers with a
different price1mark. The time they would want to close the sale the price of the product would
have changed, as a result it was really difficult to convince a customer to buy the product. During
that time the set sales target for the sales force were difficult to be achieved.
Zimbabwe’s economic conditions in year 2008 were not profitable for the business as it was
difficult for a company to be successful and profitable because they affected both capital
availability and cost, demand 1mark. If demand is buyout, for example, and the cost of capital is
low it will be attractive for firms to invest and grow with expectations of being profitable.
However in opposite circumstances firms like in Zimbabwe during the economic hardship in
2007 firms profitability were low which made it difficult even for the sales force to set sales
forecast for the future sales and for also for the management to invest in business as the
economic climate was unpredictable whether it will grow or die a natural death.
The micro and macro environment has a huge impact in managing the sales force. Sales force
management itself involves a number of key areas including motivational methods, selection and
training of salespeople, and performance measurement. Kotler (1999:843) defines sales force
management as “the analysis, planning, implementation and control of sales force activities. It
includes setting sales force objectives, designing sales force strategy and recruiting, selecting,
training, supervising and evaluating the firm's salespeople.”1mark
Zimbabwe’s case has been one of changing influence as a result of the unstable macro
environment factors particularly in the spheres of the economy, political arena and their
subsequent impact on other environmental variables on the socio cultural front and general
population structure. Sales force management include the following main steps; establishing the
sales force objectives, designing sales force strategy, structure, size and compensation, recruiting
and selecting salespeople, training, supervising and evaluating of salespeople. repetition
The everchanging macro and micro environment in Zimbabwe made it difficult for the sales
force to achieve the objectives of the company during the political and economic era in 2007. For
example if had an organization had set to increase a market share by 30% during that year it was
not possible because of the economic hardship they were facing especially in the clothing
industry customers were only able to buy food and could not afford to buy clothes1mark lacks
e.g. This had a great impact on the sales force in the clothing industry as they failed to meet the
objectives set by the organization.
They are also cultural factors which affect the sale force in Zimbabwe such that it is difficult to
make sales this is the most difficult element of the macro-environment to evaluate, manifesting
itself in changing tastes, purchasing behavior and changing priorities. The type of goods and
services demanded by consumers is a function of their social conditioning and their consequent
attitudes and beliefs.
Core cultural values are those firmly established within a society and are therefore difficult to
change. They are perpetuated through family, the church, education and the institutions of
society and act as relatively fixed parameters within which marketing firms are forced to operate.
Secondary cultural values, however, tend to be less strong and therefore more likely to undergo
change. Generally, social change is preceded by changes over time in a society’s secondary
cultural values, for example the change in social attitude towards credit. As recently as the
1960s, personal credit, or hire purchase as is sometimes known, was generally frowned upon and
people having such arrangements tended not to discuss it in public. Today, offering instant credit
has become an integral part of marketing, with many of us regularly using credit cards and store
accounts. Indeed, for many people it is often the availability and terms of credit offered that are
major factors in deciding to purchase a particular product. Another example will be sale people
who sell pork meat find it very difficult to market their products to people who are against eating
of pork due to religious beliefs there by as a salesperson you lose business because of such
beliefs 1mark. As a result it has a great impact on the organization in sales revenue.
Marketing firms have also had to respond to changes in attitude towards health, for example, in
the food industry people are now questioning the desirability of including artificial preservatives,
colourings and other chemicals in the food they eat. The decline in the popularity of smoking is a
classic example of how changes in social attitudes have posed a significant threat to an industry,
forcing tobacco manufacturers to diversify out of tobacco products and into new areas of growth.
Changes in attitudes towards working women have led to an increase in demand for convenience
foods, ‘one-stop’ shopping and the widespread adoption of such time-saving devices as
microwave cookers 1mark. Marketing firms have had to react to these changes. In addition,
changes in moral attitudes from the individualism of the ‘permissive society’ of the 1960s and
early 1970s to the present emphasis on health, economic security and more stable relationships,
are all contributory factors to a dynamically changing socio-cultural environment that must be
considered by companies when planning for the future.
Technology is a major macro-environmental variable which has influenced the development of
many of the products we take for granted today, for example, television, calculators, video
recorders and desk-top computers. Marketing firms themselves play a part in technological
progress, many having their own research department or sponsoring research through universities
and other institutions, thus playing a part in innovating new developments and new applications.
One example of how technological change has affected salesforce is in the development of
electronic point of sale (EPOS) data capture at the retail level. The ‘laser checkout’ reads a bar
code on the product being purchased and stores information that is used to analyse sales and reorder stock, as well as giving customers a printed readout of what they have purchased and the
price charged. Manufacturers of fast-moving consumer goods, particularly packaged grocery
products, have been forced to respond to these technological innovations by incorporating bar
codes on their product labels or packaging. In this way, a change in the technological
environment has affected the products and services that firms produce and the way in which
firms carry out the salesforce carry to their operations they need to go for training to be able to
operate these machines 2marks.
Micro and macro environmental analysis looks at the external and internal environment as a
appropriate strategic tool for understanding the "big picture" of the environment in which
business operates, enabling the company to take advantage of the opportunities and minimize the
threats faced by their business activities. When strategic planning is done correctly, it provides a
solid plan for an organisation to grow into the future. With a macro and micro analysis, the
company can see a longer horizon of time, and be able to clarify strategic opportunities and
threats that the organization faces. By looking to the outside environment to see the potential
forces of change looming on the horizon, firms can take the strategic planning process out of the
arena of today and into the horizon of tomorrow.2marks
References
Byars, L. (1991) Strategic Management, Formulation and Implementation – Concepts and Cases,
New York: HarperCollins.
Jan, Y. (2002) A three-step matrix method for strategic marketing management, Marketing
Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 20 Issue 5, pp.269-272.
Johnson, G. and Scholes, K. (1993) Exploring Corporate Strategy – Text and Cases, Hemel
Hempstead: Prentice-Hall.
Kotter, J. and Schlesinger, L. (1991) Choosing strategies for change, Harvard Business Review,
pp.24-29.
Capron, N. and Glazer, R. (1987) Marketing and technology: a strategic coalignment, Journal of
Marketing, Vol. 51 Issue 3, pp.10-21.
Cooper, L. (2000) Strategic marketing planning for radically new products, Journal of
Marketing, Vol. 64 Issue 1, pp.1-15.
Kotler, P. (1998) Marketing Management – Analysis, Planning, Implementation, and Control, 9th
Edition, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall. 2marks
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