ABSTRACT
This unit introduces the marketing environment, considers the nature and importance of
environmental change and identifies some implications for marketing strategy and planning.
The micro-environment may be defined as including the groups and organizations that have a
two-way operational relationship with the business, and which are controlled and influenced by
it to some degree. This environment is the work-a-day operational context for the organization.
We saw in Unit 1 that the organization is an open system with boundaries to its immediate
environment. Relationships must be established across these boundaries if supplies or credit,
for example, are to be obtained. Similarly, the organization must have effective linkages,
through intermediaries, to the marketplace, or directly to the final customers themselves.
Competitors also inhabit this environment and the marketer must understand the significance
of relationships that prevail within the industry setting. These are examined more fully in the
following unit.
