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MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF COMMERCE DEPARTMENT OF MARKETING Name Ethel Surname Mathonsi Student Number R11 534V Programme B.Com Marketing Course Sales and Marketing Forecasting Course code MM 202 Lecturer Mrs Ngwenya Type Visiting Year 2.1 Question With the aid of examples, discuss how the micro and macro environmental factors have affected salesforce management from 200 to date in Zimbabwe. (40 marks). The market environment refers to factors and forces that affect a firm’s ability to build and maintain successful relationships with customers. Three levels of the environment are: Micro (internal) environment is the forces within the company that affect its ability to serve its customers. environment is the industry in which a company operates and the industry’s market(s). Macro (national) environment is the larger societal forces that affect the microenvironment. The sales force management system? are the information systems used in customer relationship management marketing and management that help automate some sales and sales force management functions. The economy of Zimbabwe has shrunk significantly after 2000, resulting in a desperate situation for the country and widespread poverty from among others 94% unemployment. The participation from 1998 to 2002 in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo set the stage for this deterioration by draining the country for hundreds of millions of dollars. Hyperinflation has been a major problem from about 2003 to April 2009, when the country suspended its own currency. The economy deteriorated from one of Africa's strongest economies to the world's worst. Microenvironment According to Kolter & Armstrong year the microenvironment refers to the forces that are close to the company and affect its ability to serve its customers, the company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer markets, competitors, and publics. The company aspect of microenvironment refers to the internal environment of the company. The suppliers of a company are also an important aspect of the microenvironment because even the slightest delay in receiving supplies can result in customer dissatisfaction.1 ½ marks Macro environment The macro environment refers to all forces that are part of the larger society and affect the microenvironment. The macro-environment, 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 categorizes environmental influences such as political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal. These factors have a great impact in the sale force because they disrupt the strategic sales plan of the sales management.1mark The political factors include all laws, government agencies, and groups that influence or limit other organizations and individuals within a society. It is important for marketers to be aware of these restrictions as they can be complex. Some products are regulated by both state and federal laws. There are even restrictions for some products as to who the target market may be, for example, cigarettes should not be marketed to younger children. There are also many restrictions on subliminal messages and monopolies.As laws and regulations change often, this is a very important aspect for a marketer to monitor.1mark Since 2000 the Zimbabwean government has taken most of the farmland previously used by commercial farmers (mostly white) and reallocated it.Due to bad publicity claiming that most of this land reform happened in a corrupt way and land went to politicians from ZANU-PF, military leaders or leaders in the police forces who account to less than 1,000 individuals, actually more than 100,000 blacks were resettled on land which was previously owned by few whites.1mark The economic factors are the purchasing power of potential customers and the ways in which people spend their money. Within this area are two different economies, subsistence and industrialized. Subsistence economies are based more in agriculture and consume their own industrial output. Industrial economies have markets that are diverse and carry many different types of goods. Each is important to the marketer because each has a highly different spending pattern as well as different distribution of wealth. The country has reserves of metallurgicalgrade chromite. Other commercial mineral deposits include coal, asbestos, copper, nickel, gold, platinum and iron ore. According to the (http://www.wikipedia.org)the country had farming and tourism as its other main industries. maintain the intensive, industrialized farming of the previous owners. Short term gains were often made by selling the farms equipment. The loss of agricultural expertise also triggered a loss of agricultural financing and market confidence which made recovery almost impossible. A considerable amount of this land has however gone to local people who use it mainly for subsistence farming. Therefore production of staple food, such as maize has not suffered as much as typical export crops, such as tobacco or coffee. The previously large exports of tobacco, cotton, soya and horticultural produce have consequently reduced dramatically and the income derived from them lost to the national economy. 1markGovernment spending is 97.8% of GDP. It has partly been financed by printing money, which has led to hyperinflation. State enterprises are strongly subsidized, taxes and tariffs are high. State regulation is costly to companies, starting or closing a business is slow and costly. Labor market is highly regulated, hiring a worker is cumbersome, firing a worker is difficult and unemployment has risen to 94% (at the end of 2008; the figure was 80% in 2005) 1mark 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. 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 can also pose a threat to the marketing company so their activities should be closely monitored e.g. In the year 2008 businesses were not profitable in the Zimbabwe for it was difficult time, since there was a hyper inflation. The technological environment is one of the fastest changing factors in the macro environment. This includes all developments from antibiotics and surgery to nuclear missiles??? and chemical weapons to automobiles and credit cards. As these markets develop it can create new markets and new uses for products. It also requires a company to stay ahead of others and update their own technology as it becomes outdated. They must stay informed of trends so they can be part of the next big thing, rather than becoming outdated and suffering the consequences financially. The technology has played the important role, for instance technology has changed and affected technological change has affected sales force 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 analyze sales and re-order stock, as well as giving customers a printed readout of what they have purchased and the price charged. Manufacturers of fast-moving consumer goods have been forced to respond to these technological innovations by incorporating bar codes on their product labels or packaging. In a change in the technological environment has affected the products and services that firms produce and the way in which firms carry out the sales force carry to their operations they need to go for training to be able to operate these machines.2marks The final aspect of the macro environment is the cultural environment, which consists of institutions and basic values and beliefs of a group of people. The values can also be further categorized into core beliefs, which passed on from generation to generation and very difficult to change, and secondary beliefs, which tend to be easier to influence. As a marketer, it is important to know the difference between the two and to focus your marketing campaign to reflect the values of a target audience. 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. 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.1mark Micro and macro environmental analysis focus at the internal and external environment as a appropriate strategic tool for understanding the sales force management environment in which business operates, enabling the company to take advantage of the opportunities and turn the threats into strengths, faced by the businesses. When strategic planning is done correctly, it provides a solid plan for an organization 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 focusing 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. The business then will be able to grow and expand, increases the sales volumes.2marks References http://www.wikipedia.org accessed on the 20 -01-2012 Dibb, Simkin and William (1997) Marketing concepts and strategies 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. Kotler, 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 1mark 12/30