Core Concepts of Marketing

CHAPTER5

EXTERNAL CONSIDERATIONS

IN MARKETING

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

A syoureadthroughthi s c hapter,you shoulddevelopanunderstand-

ingoft h e externa lconsiderati;)nsinmarketingp lanning.Specifically,

youshou l d :

• Understan dthe importanceofanalyzing theorganization'sexter-
  nale n vironm e n t an dthe impactthatthee xternalenvironment
  haso n strategicm a r k e t ingplanning.

• ReaIize t h a t ma rketi n g 0 r g a nizati 0 nsoftenworkwithexterna I

a genciest hatperformsomeofthesemarketingactivities.These

agenci e sincl uded i stributors,retailers,marketresearch suppli-

e rs , ad vertisinga g e n cie s , an dmat eriaIssu p plie;-s.

• A ppreci atet h ee x t e rnalf actors thathav eanimpactonmarketing
  activities,inclu d i n g externalagencies, competitors,legal/ethical
  issues, econo m i c/polit ical issues,technol~gy,andsocialtrends.

• RelatetheseexternalfactorsiotheMarketingplanningprocess.

THECARINDUSTRYANDTECHNOLOGY

TheEV1is anelectriccarbuilt byGeneralMotors,marketedundertheSaturn

brand. TheEVIwas i ntroduced to CaliforniaandArizona in 1996withanestimated $25

million marketing campaign.

In 1997 , a cleanair mandatewent into effectinthreestates-California, Massa-

chusetts,and New York.The mandate requiresthat eac h year,a certainpercentageof

vehiclessold must be zero-emissionvehi cles. California hassincepushedits deadlineto

theyear 2003 , butrequires thatten percentof allvehiclessold bezero-emission. General

Motors stayedwith the origi naldate andwonacclaimforthezero-emissiontec hnology.

GeneralMotorsis nottheonlyco mpanywithaninterest in developingelectric-powered

vehicles. Here areseveralothereleci.ricprojectsth atareunde rway:

• Honda EVPlus,introducedin 1997 and marketedtofamiliesoffour


• Chrysler EPIC


• NissanPrairie Jayminivan


• FordRanger EV


• Chevy S-lOpickups


• ToyotaRAV4- EVsport-utilityvehicle

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