The situation review or analysis is best known as a marketing audit of the current effec-
tiveness of marketing activities within a company together with environmental factors
outside the company that should govern the way the strategy is developed. These princi-
ples can be readily applied to review online marketing effectiveness and internal
capabilities. Strategic analysisor situation analysis involves review of:
the internal capabilities, resources and processes of the company and a review of its
activity in the marketplace;
the immediate competitive environment (micro-environment) including customer
demand and behaviour, competitor activity, marketplace structure and relationships
with suppliers and partners. These micro-environment factors were reviewed in
Chapter 2 and are not considered in detail in this chapter;
the wider environment (macro-environment) in which a company operates, which
includes economic development and regulation by governments in the form of law
and taxes together with social and ethical constraints such as the demand for privacy.
These macro-environment factors including the social, legal, economic and political
factors were reviewed in Chapter 3 and are not considered further in this chapter.Now complete Activity 4.1, which illustrates the type of analysis that needs to be per-
formed for an Internet marketing situation analysis.Internal audit or analysis
The internal audit will review the existing contribution that the Internet marketing
channel is currently delivering in relation to other channels and in relation to the
resources used.CHAPTER 4· INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGY
Situation review
Strategic analysis
Collection and review of
information about an
organisation’s internal
processes and
resources and external
marketplace factors in
order to inform
strategy definition.
Activity 4.1 Situation analysis for an e-commerce operation
Purpose
To introduce the different types of Internet marketing analysis required as part of situation
review.Activity
You are a newly incumbent e-commerce manager in an organisation that has operated a B2B
e-commerce presence for two years in all the major European countries. The organisation sells
office equipment and has been an established mail-order catalogue operation for 25 years.
The UK, Germany, France and Italy each have their own localised content.
List the e-commerce-related questions you would ask of your new colleagues and research
you would commission under these headings:
internal analysis;
external analysis (micro-economic factors);
external analysis (macro-economic factors).