2.2.1 External environment
The external environment in which an organisation operates presents both threats and opportunities. Growth or decline in international trade, national protectionism and regional trading blocs are some examples of the political and economic environment, which have considerable impact on the marketing of the maritime industry.
There are different ways of classifying the types of external environment that usually just reflect the preferences of different authors, but there are some core types which are always identified.
Your Kotler et al. (2004) text provides a comprehensive classification of the external environments, which it refers to as the macro-environment, as listed below:
- demographic environment
- economic environment
- natural environment
- technological environment
- political environment
- cultural environment.
The Kotler et al. (2004) text deals at length with demography , or the study of the social statistics of populations because of its considerable impact on the marketing of consumer goods. Although this reflects changes in Australia , international students may note some similarities with demographic changes in your country of residence. It is obvious that a country with a rapidly growing population would not only require more consumer goods, but also greater access to maritime industry facilities for the delivery of those goods. Competition would occur between ports, even those not in close proximity, as much as it would between freight forwarders and shipping lines.
Social and cultural factors in the macro-environment impinge much more on consumer goods and services than they do on industrial services. However, the political and legal environment has certainly had great impact in both Australia and New Zealand on the maritime sector of the economy. Increasing encouragement and legislation of deregulation and privatisation have resulted in increased awareness of the necessity for strategic planning and marketing.
An important environment not dealt within the macroenvironment section of Chapter Five of your text is the competitive environment. Instead this is discussed in a separate chapter and will be covered in your next reading along with the other external environments. In addition we will return to Chapter One of Kotler et al. (2004) to examine a number of changes in the external environment affecting organisations in the 21 st century.
In your text
Kotler et al. (2004) Chapter 5, pp. 169-195, 'The marketing organisation's macroenvironment', Chapter 19, pp. 738-748, 'Sustainable competitive advantage', 'Competitive analysis', Chapter 13, pp. 488-489, 'Pricing in different types of markets', and Chapter 1, pp. 22-29, 'Marketing challenges in the 21 st century'.
Activity 2.1
Using Boone and Kurtz's (2005) classification of competitive structures, as shown in Table 2.2 below, describe what form of competition best characterises Australian and New Zealand ports.
Table 2.2 Characteristics of competitive market structures
|
Structure |
||||
|
pure competition |
monopolistic competition |
oligopoly |
monopoly |
|
number of competitors |
many |
few to many |
few |
No direct competitors |
|
size of competitors |
small |
varies |
large |
there are none |
|
nature of product |
homogeneous |
differentiated |
homogeneous or differentiated |
No direct competitors |
|
seller's control over price |
none |
some - but depends on degree of differentiation |
some - but be careful |
considerable |
|
entry into industry |
very easy |
somewhat difficult |
difficult |
regulated by government |
|
Source: adapted from Boone and Kurtz (2005, p. 389)
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