Cultural environment:

Small local Business the food a way to be successful during the Pandemic!
1. I live in Maine, so the “Small Local Business” needs to be from MAINE!!
2. We are living in times of huge environmental change for businesses. In a sense, businesses have been impacted first by a Natural environmental event – the pandemic, which in turn caused an Economic environmental event. No business could have foreseen this when the pandemic began. There are some types of businesses that have been hurt enormously like restaurants and others that have benefited like Amazon. Some businesses were positioned to be successful based on the product type or delivery mechanism while others successfully “pivoted” to alter either product or delivery mechanism. The big multinational companies are easier to find but I would like you to find a more local relatively small company that has found a way to be successful and one that has not and give some reasons why.
3. Need to use a COUPLE (2-3) different terms from the list below!
List of Terms/Theories:
Chapter 3:
Key terms/theories
-Marketing environment:
A company’s marketing environment consists of the actors and forces outside marketing that affect marketing management’s ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers.
-Micro-environment:
The microenvironment consists of the actors close to the company that affect its ability to engage and serve its customers—the company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer markets, competitors, and publics.
-Macro-environment:
The macroenvironment consists of the larger societal forces that affect the microenvironment—demographic, economic, natural, technological, political, and cultural forces. We look first at the company’s microenvironment.
-Marketing intermediaries:
Marketing intermediaries help the company promote, sell, and distribute its products to final buyers. They include resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing services agencies, and financial intermediaries.
-Public:
A public is any group that has an actual or potential interest in or impact on an organization’s ability to achieve its objectives. We can identify seven types of publics:
* Financial publics. This group influences the company’s ability to obtain funds. Banks, investment analysts, and stockholders are the major financial publics.
* Media publics. This group carries news, features, editorial opinions, and other content. It includes television stations, newspapers, magazines, and blogs and other social media.
* Government publics. Management must take government developments into account. Marketers must often consult the company’s lawyers on issues of product safety, truth in advertising, and other matters.
* Citizen-action publics. A company’s marketing decisions may be questioned by consumer organizations, environmental groups, minority groups, and others. Its public relations department can help it stay in touch with consumer and citizen groups.
* Internal publics. This group includes workers, managers, volunteers, and the board of directors. Large companies use newsletters and other means to inform and motivate their internal publics. When employees feel good about the companies they work for, this positive attitude spills over to the external publics.
* General public. A company needs to be concerned about the general public’s attitude toward its products and activities. The public’s image of the company affects its buying behavior.
* Local publics. This group includes local community residents and organizations. Large companies usually work to become responsible members of the local communities in which they operate.
-Customers:
Customers are the most important actors in the company’s microenvironment. The aim of the entire value delivery network is to engage target customers and create strong relationships with them. The company might target any or all of five types of customer markets.
-Demography:
Demography is the study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, gender, race, occupation, and other statistics. The demographic environment is of major interest to marketers because it involves people, and people make up markets.
-Economic environment:
The economic environment consists of economic factors that affect consumer purchasing power and spending patterns. Economic factors can have a dramatic effect on consumer spending and buying behavior. For example, the Great Recession of 2008 to 2009 and its aftermath hit American consumers hard.
-Natural environment:
The natural environment involves the physical environment and the natural resources that are needed as inputs by marketers or that are affected by marketing activities. At the most basic level, unexpected happenings in the physical environment—anything from weather to natural disasters—can affect companies and their marketing strategies.
-Environmental sustainability:
Today, enlightened companies go beyond what government regulations dictate. They are developing strategies and practices that create a world economy that the planet can support indefinitely. Environmental sustainability means meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
-Technological environment:
The technological environment is perhaps the most dramatic force now shaping our world. Technology has released such wonders as antibiotics, air travel, the internet, smartphones, artificial intelligence, and driverless cars. It also has released such horrors as nuclear missiles and assault rifles. Our attitude toward technology depends on whether we are more impressed with its wonders or its blunders.
-Political environment:
The political environment consists of laws, government agencies, and pressure groups that influence or limit various organizations and individuals in a given society.
-Cultural environment:
The cultural environment consists of institutions and other forces that affect a society’s basic values, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors. People grow up in a particular society that shapes their basic beliefs and values. They absorb a worldview that defines their relationships with others. The following cultural characteristics can affect marketing decision making.