Marketing environment consists of forces that directly influence an organization’s acquisition of inputs and generation of outputs. That is, the marketing environment includes factors that can fundamentally affect all elements of the marketing mix.

The microenvironment is made up of factors that influence the organization, and generally consists of the elements such as the company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, competitors, publics, and customers.

In a company, top management sets the company’s mission, and all the objectives and strategies are set based on this mission. Therefore, in designing marketing plans, marketing management should consider top management.

Suppliers are the providers of the resources needed by the company to produce its goods and services.

Marketing intermediaries are firms that help companies to promote, sell and distribute their products to final customers.

Marketing intermediaries are resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing services agencies and financial intermediaries.

Physical distribution firms help companies to stock and move goods from their points of origin to their final destinations. By balancing cost, delivery, speed and safety factors, a company must determine the best ways to store and ship goods. They work with warehouses and transportation firms.

Any company that offers same or similar products is generally identified as a competitor of another company operating in the same sector.

A public is any group that has an actual or potential interest in or impact on an organization’s ability to achieve its objectives.

• Financial publics
• Media publics
• Government publics
• Citizen action publics
• Local publics
• General public
• Internal publics

Internal publics include company’s workers, managers, volunteers and board of directors.

Demographics is the study of the measurable aspects of population structures and profiles, including factors as age, size, gender, race, occupation, and location

Changes in the world demographic environment have significant implications for marketing. Thus, marketers ought to keep watch on demographic trends and demographic developments in their markets. Changing age and family structure, geographic shifts, changes in the workforce and more diverse markets are the examples of trends in the demographic environment.

Six pocket syndrome is defined as six people were spending money for one child as a consequence of the one-child policy in China which lasted 35 years.

Marketers think that lifestyles and social values of consumers are affected by generation (when you are born and lived). Generations are assumed to have as much influence on buying and purchasing as demographic factors like income, education, and gender do, perhaps even more. To succeed in generation marketing companies must understand how motivation of consumers correlates with underlying values of their generation.

Baby Boomers are the generation born between 1946 and 1964.34 They
were born between the end of the Second World War and 1964 when birth rates intensified. Baby boomers value individuality, self-expression, and optimism. They define themselves with careers in terms of their characteristics, lifestyles, and attitudes and many of them are workaholics. 

Baby boomers are an optimistic generation in terms of general attitudes. They believe in opportunities and often try to make a positive difference in the world in an idealistic way.

Kotler and Keller describe this generation as a generation born between 1979 and 2000. Consumers of this generation have met cables since their birth; they played computer games, surfed on the web, downloaded music, used instant messaging and connected with their friends via mobile phones. They are socially very conscious and sensitive to environmental issues. They are confident, selective and impatient.

Alpha Generation is the newest generation. Alpha Generation is defined as the generation born after 2010. McCrindle unveils the concept of Generation Alpha, states that it is the generation with the highest technological awareness, the most global, and influential generation up until now.

Countries are classified as industrial, subsistence and developing economies in terms of income levels and income’s distribution.

Green marketing is the effort of companies to choose packaging, design and other aspects of the product that are nature-friendly

• Line management
• Strategic planner
• Separate organizational unit
• Joint line/general management teams