EXTERNALFACTORSTHATAFFECTPLANNING 103
Social
trends
Product
line
Financial Technology
resources
Technical Competition
resources
Competitive Economic/
situation political
Human Ethical/
resources legal
FIGURE5.1 Environmentalfactorsaffectingtheorganization
A goodstrategicplanrequirescarefulmonitoringofthemarketingorganization'sexter-
nalenvironment.Theexternalenvironmentrepresentssourcesofopportunitiesandthreats.
Ifthemarketingorganizationistoalignitscapabilitiesandresourceswithopportunities
andthreats,it mustknowwhatthosethreatsare.Itisimportantthatmarketingorganiza-
tionshavea strategytouncoverrelevantstrategicopportunitiesandthreats early.Asthreats
andopportunitiesappear,marketingorganizationsshoulddevelopstrategiestodealwith
them.
Anotherproblemis thatatanyonetime, theremayappeartobea greatmanyoppor-
tunitiesandthreatslooming.Marketersmustbeabletoprioritizetheseopportunities and
threatsaccordingtosuchfactorsastheirrelevancetotheorganization,thecosteffective-
nessofstrategiestodealwiththethreatsandopportunities,andtheurgencyofthethreat
oropportunity. Organizationsareinundatedwithinformationandmustthereforehavean
effectivemechanismforsortingoutthatinformationwhichisrelevanttotheorganization.
Onlyafterthemarketingenvironmentis thoroughlyunderstoodcananorganization
spottrendsanddeterminewhethertheyrepresentmarketopportunitiesormarketthreats.
ExternalFactorsthatAffectPlanning
Therearemanymarketplacechangesoccurringthatmarketerscannotcontrolbutaffectwhat
marketersdo.Facedwiththeseenvironmentaluncertainties,successfulmarketerswillbe
thosewhorecognizethechangesthat areoccurringandwhomakeeffectiveadjustments.
Therearea numberofexternalfactors thatconstitutetheexternalenvironment.Our
approachis toattempttopresentanall-encompassingviewoftheelementsoftheexternal
