Three starting point objectives that help lead to a Firm's Objective

1. engage in specific activities that will perform a socially and economically useful function

2. develop an organization to carry on the business and implement its strategies

3. earn enough profit to survive

Mission Statement

sets out the organization's basic purpose for being

- should focus on a few key goals and not embrace

everything

- supply guidelines when managers face difficult decisions

Competitive environment

affects the number and types of competitors the marketing manager must face and how they may behave

- marketing managers can't control this environment, but should try hard to aviod head-on competition

- if inevitable, they can plan for it

Competitor Analysis

an organized approach for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of current or potential competitors' marketing strategies

- compare your strengths and weaknesses of your current/planned target market and marketing mix with what competitors are currently doing or are likely to do in response to your strategy

- initial step is to identify potential competitors

Competitive Rivals

firms that will be the closest competitors

- if they offer similar products they are usually easy to identify

- however, some rivals might be serving similar needs with a different type of product

Competitive Barriers

the conditions that may make it difficult, or even impossible, for a firm to compete in a market

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Economic and Technological Environment

affects the way firms, and the whole economy, use resources

- technological provides a base for the economic 

Technology

the application of science to convert an economy's resources to output.

- affects the market by making opportunities for new products and for new processes

- new technologies have created important industries (google)

Internet

a system for linking computers around the world

- has changed just about every aspect of marketing

Political Enviornment

the attitudes and reactions of people, social critics and governments all affect the political environment

- the political environment can also affect opportunities at a local or international level

Nationalism

an emphasis on a country's interests before everything else

- affect how macro-marketing systems work

- can affect how marketing managers work as well

NAFTA

lays out a plan to reshape the rules of trade among the United States, Canada, and Mexico

- it establishes a forum for resolving future trade disputes

Cultural and Socail Environment

affect how and why people live and behave as they do

- this affects customer buying behavior and eventually the economic, political, and legal environments

Metropolitan Statistical Area

an integrated economic and social unit with a large populaiton nucleus

- centers on one city or urbanized area of 50,000 or more inhabitants and includes bordering urban areas

Gross Domestic Product

the total market value of all good and services provided in a country's economy in a year by both residents and nonresidents of that country

- includes foreign income

- Gross National Income GNI does not include foreign income

Senior Citizen Group

people over 65

- this group will increase by 15% during this decade

Sustainability

the idea that it's important to meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

- leads to better ways of meeting needs

Strategic Business Unit

SBU

an organizational unit (within a larger company) that focuses on some product-markets and is treated as a separate profit center

- these formally acknowledge a firms very different activities