Gathering Information and

Scanning the Environment

Marketing Management, 13th ed

 Chapter Questions
• What are the components of a modern
marketing information system?
• What are useful internal records?
• What is involved in a marketing intelligence
system?
• What are the key methods for tracking and
identifying opportunities in the macro
environment?
• What are some important macro environment
developments?

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 3-2

 What is a
Marketing Information System (MIS)?
A marketing information system
consists of people, equipment, and
procedures to gather, sort, analyze,
evaluate, and distribute needed, timely,
and accurate information to
marketing decision makers.

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 Table 3.1 Information Needs Probes
• What decisions do you regularly make?
• What information do you need to make
these decisions?
• What information do you regularly get?
• What special studies do you periodically request?
• What information would you want that you are not
getting now?
• What are the four most helpful improvements that
could be made in the present marketing
information system?

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 3-4

 Internal Records and
Marketing Intelligence
• Order-to-payment cycle
• Sales information system
• Databases, warehousing, data mining
• Marketing intelligence system

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 Steps to Improve Marketing
Intelligence
• Train sales force to scan for new
developments
• Motivate channel members to share
intelligence
• Network externally
• Utilize a customer advisory panel
• Utilize government data sources
• Collect customer feedback online
• Purchase information
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 3-6
 Table 3.2
Secondary Commercial Data Sources

• Nielsen
• MRCA
• Information Resources
• SAMI/Burke
• Simmons
• Arbitron

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 Sources of Competitive Information
• Independent customer goods and service
review forums
• Distributor or sales agent feedback sites
• Combination sites offering customer reviews
and expert opinions
• Customer complaint sites
• Public blogs

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 Needs and Trends

• Fads
• Trends
• Megatrends

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 Trends Shaping the
Business Landscape
• Profound shifts in • Increase in demand for
centers of economic natural resources
activity • Emergence of new
• Increases in public- global industry
sector activity structures
• Change in consumer • Ubiquitous access to
landscape information
• Technological • Management shifts
connectivity from art to science
• Scarcity of well-trained • Increase in scrutiny of
talent big business practices

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 Environmental Forces

• Demographic
• Economic
• Socio-cultural
• Natural
• Technological
• Political-legal

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 Population and Demographics

• Population growth • Educational groups

• Population age mix • Household patterns
• Ethnic markets • Geographical shifts

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 Economic Environment

• Income Distribution
• Savings, Debt, and Credit

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 Social-Cultural Environment

• Views of themselves
• Views of others
• Views of organizations
• Views of society
• Views of nature
• Views of the universe

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 Table 3.3 Most Popular
American Leisure Activities
• Reading • Computer activities
• TV Watching • Gardening
• Spending time with • Renting movies
family • Walking
• Going to movies • Exercise
• Fishing • Listening to music

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 Natural Environment

• Shortage of raw materials

• Increased energy costs
• Anti-pollution pressures
• Governmental protections

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 Keys to Avoiding
Green Marketing Myopia
• Consumer Value Positioning
• Calibration of Consumer Knowledge
• Credibility of Product Claims

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 Technological Environment
• Pace of change
• Opportunities for innovation
• Varying R&D budgets
• Increased regulation of change

Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 3-18