The expansion of the population growth is under consideration for the marketers, especially for two reasons. The first is the reason that the resources that needed to support human life like food, fuel, etc., are limited and are likely to run out in the future. The second reason that is under consideration is that the population growth is highest in countries and communities that have difficulties to afford it. The population in the less developed countries is growing faster compare to the most developed countries in the world that the population mostly is remaining stable.
The population growth has major implications for businesses. The population growth in real life means that the needs of the people are growing, but these is not means that the markets will be grow in countries of the third world where the people have not the purchasing power like the mostly developed countries.
Organizations are giving attention into the population age mix in national level separately. Some countries like Mexico have very young population are needed products mostly to consume from young people and some countries like Greece have old population and they needed products mostly to consume from older people.
The economic environment is a factor that has a greater affect in the life’s of the people. The development of a successful market requires that the people have the purchasing power to buy the products that the companies offer them. The purchasing power depends on the income of the people, the prices of the products and services, the savings and the credit ability.
Of course all the factors differ from country to country and region to region. The income distributions attract the attention of the marketers for the creation of specific target markets. The top upper class customers are not affected from minor economic events and changes but they are affected from major changes like the world trade disaster, they have the ability to consume luxury products and services. The middle class people are spending with more care their income but they still can afford at some point a good quality life. The working class is finding difficulties to see improvements in their quality of life and mainly they have money just for the basics of food, clothes, their bills and their rent. The under class people are finding difficulties to survive and seems that governments and organizations does not even understand their problems.
The natural environment involves natural resources that are needed for use by the marketers of the organizations and are affected by the marketing activities. The natural resources have been damaged because of the industrial activities of the supposed developed and modern countries of our planet. The pollution is expanding very fast in the lakes, the rivers, the sea, the earth, and the atmosphere because organizations supported by governments have as an only target the profit without to consider the environmental changes and the public opinion. The damage of the environment of the earth can lead in the future in changes that can be disaster of any kind of life in the planet. At the last 10 years we can see more polluted environment, catastrophic cyclones like El Ninio, more earthquakes, and more volcanic eruption than in the past and there is a fear that all these will be increase in the future. Many governments today start to consider these changes but not all of them (USA).
The changes in major economic variables like the income, the cost of living, the interest rates, and the savings have a greater impact on the marketplace as a whole. In the future organizations should expect strongest controls from governmental and environmental organizations (like Green Peace). They should find solutions in the environmental problems, to change the regulations, and to develop solutions to the energy problems that facing the earth.
The fast technological improvement has a great affect in our lives with new technology responsible for the creation new products, market opportunities with sophisticated services. The new technology all the time replaces the older one and depends on the human being if this technology will be in use for good reasons for the improvement of the human life or will be the cause of a disaster from the use of nuclear bombs or wars between countries.
Many people can see the technological change as a threat to the nature, the private life of the people, the simple way of living, and the human race as a whole. Many people around the world are against of the construction of nuclear plants, the very high buildings, and the leisure facilities within the natural environment. The marketers must understand that the technological improvement is helpful for the civilization with respect of the natural and cultural characteristics of each specific region.
In organizational terms, the high cost from the introduce new technological materials and products is a reason that many companies have no the money to invest into the best technological achievements and are making minor products improvements. Many companies are putting their money to copy the products of their competitors, to make minor characteristic and style improvements, and are creating small extensions of their current brands with the lower possible cost.
The developments in the political environment have a greater affect in the marketing decisions of the organizations. The political environment includes the government departments, the laws, and other political and social organizations that have great influence in organizations and most of the people in every society and country. The governments introduce legislation for the regulation of businesses in almost every country for a number of reasons. One reason is the protection of businesses from each other and to try to avoid unfair competition. The government regulations are also trying to protect the customers from companies that creating poor or bad quality products. They also try to stop fake advertisements that offering products in a fixed price and when customers are going to consume these products realize that everything was a lie and the real price is totally different.
The interest of the society many times has been damaged from organizational activities that put the profit of a company above the quality of their products and the human needs. The marketers need to watch closely the political developments and changes, to consider the local and national laws of a region and country before the start of the organizational and business activities. They must know everything about the laws that protect the competition, the customers, and the society as a whole. Is very important to know the local laws and characteristics before they expand their businesses in an other part of the world totally different from where they actually act.
The cultural environment and characteristics have a very great affect in organizational activity and marketing decisions. The cultural environment includes the basic values, the perceptions, the preferences, and the behaviors of the people. The people are growing up in different societies or regions around the world. Every individual is different than the others but every society shares its own beliefs, values, religions and characteristics. All these are passed from the oldest generation into the next for centuries and centuries ago and are mainly supported even today from the schools, the churches, many organizations and the local and national governments.
Organizations and marketers should consider the human needs in terms of the technological, the demographical, the cultural, the political, the economical, and the natural forces. Marketers must consider the environmental changes and the people’s views about what will be happened in the future. Organizations and governments must act with common interest for the improvement of the quality of life of the people with total respect on the beliefs and values in every particular society.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. WILSON M.S. Richard and GILLIGAN Colin (STRATEGIC MARKETING MANAGEMENT, 1997)
2. BAKER J. MICHAEL (THE MARKETING BOOK, 4TH EDITION, 1999)
3. BAGOZZI P. R. AND OTHERS (MARKETING MANAGEMENT, 1998)
4. BRASSINGTON F. AND PETTIT S. (PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING, 1997)
5. CATEORA AND GRAHAM (INTERNATIONAL MARKETING, 1999)
6. K0TLER P. (MARKETING MANAGEMENT, 1997)
7. BOYD, WALKER AND LARRECHE (MARKETING MANAGEMENT, 1998)
