The marketing environment

The term "marketing environment" relates to all of the factors (whether internal, external, direct or indirect) that affects a firm's marketing decision-making/planning. A firm's marketing environment consists of three main areas, which are:

• The macro-environment, over which a firm holds little control
• The micro-environment, over which a firm holds a greater amount (though not necessarily total) control
• The internal environment

The macro-environment

A firm's marketing macro-environment consists of factors that manifest on a large or macro scale. These are typically economic, social or political phenomena. A common means of assessing a firm's macro-environment is via a PEST (,i.e. Political, Economic, Social and Technological) analysis. Within a PEST analysis, a firm would analyse national political issues, culture and climate, key macroeconomic conditions, health and indicators (such as economic growth, inflation, unemployment, etc.), social trends/attitudes, and the nature of technology's impact on its society and the business processes within the society.