Marketing decisions and planning:

SOSTAC:
- Situation
- Objectives
- Strategy
- Tactics
- Actions
- Controls

Marketing environment: everything that influences an organisation’s ability to transact

business effectively with its target market.

Marketing environment consists of:

- Macro environment
- Micro environment
- Internal environment

PESTEL:
Used to analyse the macro environment
Five Forces Analysis of the Competitive Environment:
Competitors (Micro) - used to estimate future industry attractiveness (profitability)

7Ss:
To analyse the Internal Environment:
Marketing Audit:

Types of Competition in markets:

● Monopoly → single supplier controls the market
● Duopoly → 2 suppliers controls market
● Oligopoly → a few suppliers that control the market between them
● Monopolistic competition → one company excises strong influence on the market
but other companies still enter the market and complete effectively
● Perfect competition → where everyone has perfect knowledge and no one
buyer/seller can influence

Market positions:
● Market leader (largest market share)
● Market challenger
● Market followers
● Niche players
Any business in a marketplace is likely to be in competition with other firms → offering
similar products.
Successful products are generally the ones which meet customer needs better than rival
offerings.
Markets are dynamic → businesses must be aware of market trends, evolving customer
requirements → caused by new fashions/changing economic conditions

Environmental scanning: process of gathering info about events and their relationships
within an organisation’s internal & external environments. → to help management determine
the future direction of the organisation.
Benefits:
- Enables opportunities to be capitalised upon
- Provide objective info
- Increase sensitivity to changing needs
- Provide intellectual stimulation for strategists
- Improves public image
- Provide contributing broad based education for executives
May include:
- Direct implications of new tech
- Changes in the law relevant to your product/service
- Changes in finance structure concerning your industry (how money works)
- Likely entry of new competitors
- Availability of trained staff
- Changes in the law relevant to employment in your industry
- General health of local/global economy

Marketing Plan (SOSTAC)

The Marketing Mix (7Ps):