Marketing Management Assignment
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2022, July 14
Marketing Management Assignment
Question One: Environmental Scanning in Marketing
Contemporary businesses operate in an information economy, where success depends more on knowledge and access to actionable information than company resources. In recent decades, market performances and scientific studies have highlighted that an organization’s competitiveness relies on its business strategy. However, to design an impactful business strategy, one must comprehensively understand what makes the firm competitive. The organization must know the environment it operates, meaning the actuation of internal and external environment analysis. Environmental scanning is one of the key activities encompassing an external assessment. Companies systematically scan global markets to identify the new, the unexpected, minor and major transformations. The information is crucial in warning managers of changing market conditions to consider in formulating the business strategy. While environmental scanning is essential in guiding the relationship between external factors and strategic behaviour, screening has to be done using distinct models based on a company’s intrusiveness and the nature of the target environment.
Environmental scanning is presented as the first phase of the process of connecting a company’s business strategy with its external environment. Crumpton (2015) states that scanning is a tool that enables the enterprise to identify and learn about market opportunities it should be taking advantage of. Moreover, scanning also highlights the events and developments that threaten a company’s performance. Organizations have to identify all scientific, economic, technical, social and political happenings that influence their operations. For instance, Kenya’s parliament recently passed the Information, Communication Technology (ICT) Practitioners Bill 2020. The statute requires individuals who use technology to collect, analyse, present, use and share information on behalf of others for a service fee to have at least undergraduate certification (Genga, 2022). Such a development has significant implications for local programmers and system developers. IT businesses in Kenya must consider the new law and revise their personnel selection and recruitment practices. The enactment of the ICT bill shows how managers can better understand the implications of change and aid in forecasting through effective environmental scanning.
Marketers must push change expectations to pressure decision makers into revising the organizational strategy to achieve maximum performance. The goal of environmental scanning is to raise awareness among decision-makers about potential external changes for them to have sufficient time and lead for better responses (Crumpton, 2015). Retort comes in the form of the business strategy, which is a combination of product, core processes and markets. Marketers can effectively scan the three aspects to prevent the company from becoming stagnant. The collected information facilitates proper adjustments within the company’s internal structure. Miles and Snow (1978) suggested that companies can respond in three ways; the definition of the core product/market domain (1), the administrative bureaucracy (2) and the production process or choice of technical systems (3). The outcomes of the environmental scan help companies determine the suitable type of responses required for occurring market transformations. Growth not only stems from looking further into the markets but also from the continuous improvement of products and processes.
Remaining competitive entails scanning your business model to improve or reinvent it. According to Cancellier et al. (2015), business models are not established inside vacuums. Instead, they are built in an environment influenced by external forces. Environment scanning involves evaluating internal business practices to determine if they mirror the most recent scientific evidence or comply with applicable regulations. For instance, business strategies for healthcare organizations must assess regulatory changes in the technology, food and entertainment industries to avoid disruption. Companies cannot rely on other businesses’ forecasting capabilities for continued growth. Individual firms must build internal resources to map out future opportunities and threats (Cancellier et al., 2015). There are several tools marketers in these firms can use to generate a vivid picture of the business environment, including SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis and the marketing matrix, among many others. The choice of mapping tool depends on the nature of the firm’s operations, objectives and prevailing market conditions.
The Applicability of SWOT Analysis
The SWOT analysis is one of the most common environmental scanning tools applied in contemporary marketing. The tool assesses the internal and external factors that influence organizational planning. Benzaghta et al. (2021) performed a metadata analysis of scientific literature on the tool to identify three key applications of SWOT analysis: strategic planning, decision making and brainstorming. The tool will help management decide whether they should take advantage of a newly identified business opportunity, respond to novel market trends, adopt new technology or deal with transformations in competitor operations (Benzaghta et al., 2021). Marketers and managers use the tool to build on internal strengths to maintain the company’s competitive advantage. In addition, the tool is also applied to minimize corporate weaknesses. SWOT identifies areas where the firm is not performing well, providing information on how to best address them.
As a professional in the public legal domain, SWOT analysis helps county government services to achieve their goals. The county government has to interact, negotiate and enforce policies when dealing with private entities. Without a comprehensive understanding of county capabilities, performance and reputation, the county government cannot effectively negotiate to maximize public interest. SWOT analysis is often used to separate attainable opportunities from unattainable ones. Distinguishing successful ventures from unsuccessful ones positively affects an institution’s brand image (Benzaghta et al., 2021). The subsequent outcome is more business from existing clientele and a growing pool of new customers.
Conclusion
Environmental scanning is key to understanding what is happening outside and inside an enterprise with the intent to improve strategic planning. The global business environment is highly dynamic, with political, technical and social transformations constantly inducing disruptive changes. As a result, international markets are always in a state of flux. Businesses have to keep pace with these changes. Environmental scanning will help ensure an organization benefits from the best use of resources, long-term planning, and avoiding risky business opportunities. Marketers that are able to use environmental analysis can bridge the corporate strategy and market developments. Scanning tools such as SWOT analysis have both individual and organizational level utility. Marketers need to be proactive in identifying the latest trends and practices in environmental scanning for the enhanced anticipation of future scenarios.
Question Two: Need for Marketing Skills for Non-Profit Organizations
There has been an influx of non-profit organizations in the global economy since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The diversification of scenarios of suffering and discomfort across the globe has spurred a surge in charities and other forms of non-profit associations for medical research and disaster relief. Non-profits succeed best with high visibility, reach and engagement (Grau, 2014). However, the organizations have a lot to do, from managing volunteers to maintaining a balanced budget. The range of activities underpins why such companies must focus on areas that matter the most to ensure continuous growth. Having a strong marketing strategy is key to enhancing awareness, increasing support and influencing public policy (Grau, 2014). Non-profits should invest in marketing to help the company remain at the top of the mind of donors and constituents. Marketing also offers value to the communities being served, enhancing collaboration and fostering long-term local relationships.
Investing in marketing skills is strategic in the development of clear brand messaging. For example, a disaster relief non-profit relies on content marketing to convey personal stories. Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies ran a social media campaign informing on how the coronavirus led to the laying-off of 1.6 million workers to encourage fundraising for low-income households in the United States (John Hopkins, 2021). The firm used content marketing, focusing on social media, podcasts and blog posts to address the governance issue. John Hopkin’s campaign is an example of how a solid digital marketing strategy helps non-profits tailor their narratives to be more meaningful and impactful, drawing reader empathy and sympathy. The amalgamation of structured purpose and meaningful stories allows marketers to come up with content that is relevant to people’s lives and that is inspirational (Grau, 2014). A solid understanding of conventional marketing is as important to non-profit organizations as it is for for-profit businesses. Such companies can leverage many inexpensive marketing platforms to design effective marketing mixes.
References
Benzaghta, M. A., Elwalda, A., Mousa, M., Erkan, I., & Rahman, M. (March 01, 2021). SWOT analysis applications: An integrative literature review. Journal of Global Business Insights, 6(1), 55-73.
Cancellier, E., Blageski, E. & Rossetto, C. (2014). Environmental scanning, strategic behaviour and performance in small companies. Journal of Information Systems, Technology and Management, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.4301/S1807-17752014000300006
Crumpton, M. (2015). The strategic planning process. Strategic Human Resource Planning for Academic Libraries, 117, 13-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-84334-764-4.00002-2
Genga, A. (2022, June 14). Kenya dispatched controversial bill regulating IT professionals, awaiting President’s signature. The Jurist, https://www.jurist.org/news/2022/06/kenya-dispatch-controversial-bill-regulating-it-professionals-awaits-presidents-signature/
Grau, S. L. (2014). Marketing for non-profit organizations. Oxford UP.
John Hopkins. (2021, June 23). John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health honored for COVID-19 communication efforts. John Hopkins, https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/johns-hopkins-bloomberg-school-of-public-health-honored-for-covid-19-communications-efforts
Miles, R. & Snow, C. (1978). Organizational strategy, structure and process. McGraw Hill Education.