The document provides an overview of key macroenvironmental forces that shape opportunities and pose threats for companies. It discusses several components of the macroenvironment including the natural environment, technological environment, political/legal environment, economic environment, demographic environment, and cultural environment. It also covers trends related to the rise of the informal sector in South Africa such as the growth of spazas and stokvels.
2. Macro Environment
Demographics Economic
Technology Political/Legal
Natural The Cultural
Environment
company
3. Natural Environment
• Natural resources that are needed as inputs by marketers or
that are affected by marketing activities
• water, forests, oil, coal, minerals
• As resources become more scarce, costs increase
4. Natural Environment
Changes in response to environment:
biodegradable packs, charges for packets, Wellness Warehouse,
Backsberg wine/carbon-neutral, PET bottle
Major drivers that affect Marketing
Consumer driven e.g. lobby groups, blogs, esp overseas
Formal media, e,g, Carte Blanche, newspapers, Al Gore’s
“Inconvenient Truth”
Government intervention e.g. pollution laws, legislation for
environmental reviews for new developments
Note : Corporations CAN be proactive, but tend to be reactive;
change is costly
5. Technological environment
• Forces that create new technologies, create new product
and marketing opportunities
• And change the way we market and communicate with customers
6. Internet changes the way consumers…
• …engage with each other and brands
• Facebook, twitter
• ... communicate
• Led by consumers, not marketers!
• …make purchasing decisions
• Research
• Peer reviews
7. Technological environment: issues
Rapid pace of change
High R&D cost/High Risk
Invest in human resources or fall behind
Invest in infrastructure or massive repercussions
▪ SA and internet
Marketing often partnered with R&D to ensure commercial value
(flying pigs, space colonies)
Not always needs-driven
Often create the need – iphone, ipad
Government regulation? (privacy?)
Well managed, technology can offer huge competitive
advantage – SCM, POS
Focus increasingly on on-going adaptation rather than
macro change .. Apple iphone/ipad
9. Political Environment
• Laws, governments, agencies and pressure groups that
influence and limit various organisations and individuals in
a given society.
10. Political environment
• South Africa has stable political environment
• Rule of law is respected and upheld
• Many countries do not have this benefit
• Corruption may drive marketing successes/failures
11. Political- Legal environment
Public policy to guide commerce - sets of laws and
regulations that limit business for the good of society at
large
Increasing legislation
Protect firms
▪ Competition Act
▪ Occupational Health and Safety
Protect consumers
▪ National Gambling Act Legislation
▪ New Credit Act affects strategy
▪ Tobacco Products Control Act
Protect the interests of society
▪ Lotteries Act
12. Legal environment
• Not all laws are written
• Social codes and professional ethics
• Socially Responsible Behaviour
• Do the right thing
• Cause related marketing
• Corporate Social Responsibility CSR
• Doing well by doing good
13. Legal Environment
• Advertising Standards
• The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (also
known as the ASA) is an independent body to ensure that its
system of self-regulation works in the public interest.
• Protect children from certain forms of advertising
• Protect companies from unfair competition
• Body to maintain fair business
15. Economic Environment
GDP growth (6.0% in 2006; now 3.5%),
GINI coefficient
ESKOM!!
increasing costs for everyone, declining productivity
Increase in fuel price
Disposable income, Currency strength, cost of imported
goods vs local manufacture; impact of oil price:
food, airfares, car usage, car sales, taxi industry, food inflation
variations
Recession
16. Demographic environment
• Demography
• The study of human populations in terms of size, density, location,
age, gender, race, occupation and other statistics
17. Demographic Environmental Factors
• South Africa COMPLEX! Characterised by
• Young age profile (pyramid) but note the importance of Prime
Timers (over 40’s)
• Prevalence of single-parent households/ extended families
• High mortality rates
• HIV
• Rural Urban
• Income diversity (Gini Coefficient)
18. Changing Demographics
• On the subject of Marriage
• Divorcing or separating
• Choosing not to marry
• Choosing to marrying later
• Marrying without intending to have children
• Having children and not marrying
19. Cultural environment
• Consists of institutions and other forces that affect a
society’s basic values, perceptions and behaviours
• Culture of working, getting married, abiding by the rule of law,
being a good person, caring about others
• Arabic, Indian, China, Europe, Africa
• Marriage (who?when?how?multiple?roles?)
• RSA is a multi cultural country
• often segmentation also coincides with cultural differences
• Language/religion/age/gender
• Culture is hard to define
• Kalk Bay versus Seapoint vs Durbanville vs Blouberg
• Soccer fans vs Rugby fans
• Teenagers versus over 35’s
20. How do we incorporate Macro issues into
marketing strategy?
We need to know and understand them and appreciate
their immediate and long term impact
recession and buyer behaviour
We need to use them to our advantage
refocusing on needs and character of new Black Middle Class
We need to find ways of turning changes to our
advantage
Dubai world Crisis – rise of Second hand sales
We need to identify trends which are Macro
environmentally driven
consumer attitudes towards ecology as Woolworths has done.
21. Examples of Macro trends
Faith Popcorn http://www.faithpopcorn.com/
99 Lives – wearing different hats/taking on lots of roles
Anchoring
Atmosfear
Being alive
Cashing out –opting for simpler more meaningful lives
Clanning
Cocooning: creating a safe environment at home/preferring home than
going out
Downaging
Egonomics – crave recognition as individuals
Eve-olution –more relational society
Fanatsy adventure
Icon toppling
Pleasure revenge
Small indulgences – wanting to reward ourselves
Vigilante consumer
SOS (Save our Society)
23. Rise of the informal sector in RSA
Macro Factors
Exclusive, discriminatory laws e.g. Group Areas Act, Job
Reservation Act, Education policies
Political Reaction .. Unrest in 1986; stayaways, boycott of white-
owned businesses, withdrawal of traditional retailers from”black
areas”, disenchantment with white owned businesses (no
opportunities) Lot of red tape to start a formal business
Limited access to capital and credit
High unemployment
Massive urbanisation as influx laws are scrapped
Limited education opportunities
24. Growth of informal sector
• Consumer needs
• Societal support
• Evolution of unique structure
• Stokvels/burial societies/investment clubs, shebeens, spaza’s
25. What is a spaza?
It’s an informal retail outlet, usually selling essential,
often perishable groceries
Stay open for long, appropriate hours, staffed by
owner’s family
Located in townships
Usually offer informal credit
Typically sell top-up, replenishments
Strong child customer base
Sell top brands, often in small packs
Now under pressure .. Having to compete with formal
retailers who are now moving into townships, but still
are relevant, particularly in very poor areas
26. What is a stokvel?
A group of people – usually 12… Who come together to
save, invest for common purpose
Requires commitment.. Monthly.. Which is then
redistributed
Either on a full payout monthly rotation
Or split at end of year (or biannually)
Have a strong social context
Types
Investment cartels
▪ Often increase savings by 30% by loaning out stokvel funds
Saving schemes
▪ Burial societies
▪ Christmas, back-to-school savings schemes