ABSTRACT
In Chapter 3, marketing was described as being concerned with satisfying customer needs, trying to do so more effectively than the competition and making appropriate use of the organisation’s own resources and capabilities in this process. Accordingly, one of the fi rst stages in any marketing process is to understand the environment in which an organisation operates. Indeed, the concept of being ‘market orientated’ originally championed by Kohli and Jaworski ( 1990 ) and Narver and Slater ( 1990 ) has, at its heart, the ideas of gathering, sharing and responding to information relating to both customers and competitors. Like many other organisations, providers of fi nancial services operate in a rapidly changing environment. Globalisation and developments in information and communications technology (ICT) combined with changing customer needs and changing government policies create increasing degrees of complexity and uncertainty. Marketing forces organisations to look outside and to develop an awareness and understanding of the environment in which they operate. An organisation that understands and responds to its operating environment should be able to deliver superior performance through its ability to satisfy customers more effectively than the competition and its ability to anticipate changes and developments in its key markets. However, an analysis of the external environment must be accompanied by a good understanding of the internal environment to enable an organisation to deploy its resources and capabilities most effectively in meeting the challenges posed by the changing marketplace.
