The broad environment is the sub-category of marketing environments that contains certain forces that have severe effects on the organizations. These forces are known as the forces of broad environments.
Forces of Broad Environments
- Controllable Forces
- Uncontrollable Forces
Marketing decisions are greatly influenced by these factors or forces of broad environments.
Controllable Forces
Top management & marketers direct these forces from top to bottom. All decision that is taken by the top management but there are certain decisions that influence the markets directly. These decisions are as follow:
- Line of Business: It includes the category of goods & services, type of ownership, geographic coverage functioning, and specific business of the organization.
- Overall Objectives: It contains the overall objectives of the organization like numerical goals etc.
- Role of Marketing: The significance & integration of services.
- Corporate Culture: It includes the environment of the inside organization.
Uncontrollable Forces
These Forces of Broad Environments are related to the external environment. Following are included in this category.
- Customers: Certain characteristics are included in this portion like income, education, race, and status, etc.
- Competition: The plans & activities of the competitors are focused on including their policies, strategies & research, etc.
- Government: It contains the laws, policies, controls, rules, international laws, and framework, etc.
- Economy: It includes sectoral factors, rate of growth, trends & many other elements.
- Technology: It contains elements like machines, equipment, research, and methods, etc.
- Media: It includes forces related to media like public opinion, the interdependence of media and the information mode, etc.
The marketing decisions of the organization are influenced directly or indirectly by all of the above-mentioned broad environmental factors. The policies & plans need to be adjusted in the light of any of the above factors.
Handling Broad Environment
The broad environment is handled through the following steps.
- Monitoring:
There should be closed monitoring & scanning of the broad environment so that proper adjustment can be made in the marketing decisions of the organization. When there emerges change, the organization should immediately respond by taking certain corrective actions so that the opportunity of the change can be availed.
- Flexibility:
There should be inherent flexibility linked with marketing decisions in order to bring change in the broad environment. The change needs to be properly managed & implemented. In the light of the changes taking place in the broad environment, the organization should have the flexibility to alter its actions.
- Information & Research:
In order to make access to information & research, a close & systematic mechanism should be developed. Either change occurs by itself like in the legal system etc, or it needs to be broadcasted. But there are certain changes that should be forecasted. Trends should be observed continuously so that the information mechanism is built properly in advance.
- Adoption:
There should be full & careful monitoring of the marketing decisions. The environment must be taken into account before change & alterations are made. As the change occurs, the organization should properly adapt itself according to that change by adjusting its working conditions so that maximum benefit will be availed from that change.
This approach is specifically called as Marketing-Environment Fit (MEF). There are not many associations of activities related to the broad environment so the marketing decisions are concentrated in this regard and certain changes & alteration is made to make them fit in the light of changing broad environment. When marketing decisions are taken in time in the light of a broad environment the following two advantages can be availed.
- Losses are reduced or erosion of business profits is minimized.
- There is some opportunity that should be cashed.
Hello everyone! This is Richard Daniels, a full-time passionate researcher & blogger. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics. He loves to write about economics, e-commerce, and business-related topics for students to assist them in their studies. That's the sole purpose of Business Study Notes.
Love my efforts? Don't forget to share this blog.
