Market audit and analysis

by: Nicole Lorat

Table of Contents

1 Introduction / Purpose 3

2 Marketing Environments 3

2.1 Micro Environment  4
2.2 Macro Environment 5

3 The role of marketing information and research  5

4 Critical assessments of analytical tools 6

4.1 PESTEL Analysis 6
4.2 Porter’s five force analysis 7
4.3 SWOT analysis  9
4.4 Boston Matrix  10

5 Appendices  13

1 Introduction / Purpose

Company X¹ is one of the world′s biggest Power & Control component specialists with three international brands: A, B, C². X is in the process of conducting a complex marketing audit to provide information for corporate planning³, identifying external factors influencing its commercial performance⁴ and ensuring the use of effective strategies to promote its products, markets and distribution channels in a complex and diversified market place. This report is to help the organisation evaluate the most appropriate analysis tools.

2 Marketing Environment

The marketing environment is a key factor when planning a company’s direction, with three key inward and outward looking perspectives as illustrated⁵, namely

Macro-environment
Micro-environment
Internal environment

[figure only in downloadfile]

2.1 Micro Environment

This includes direct and indirect suppliers, consumers, customers, other local stakeholders and the internal environment over which the company exercises a degree of control. Company X has to carefully identify all stakeholders; i.e. target audiences such as OEM’s, system integrators and end-users, with their differing needs and requirements. The internal environment is audited by applying the ′Five Ms′:

• Men
• Money
• Machinery
• Materials
• Markets

2.2 Macro Environment

Macro-environmental factors cannot be directly controlled by management actions⁶, but impact on the organisations performance. It is important to be aware of the current situation and development to be able to adapt.⁷ It is typically analysed using PESTEL analysis (see 4.1) and comprises external market influences as well as customers, competitors and suppliers markets, i.e. changing legislation in the market of a refuse management company might require an adapted type of sensors being provided by company X.

3 The role of marketing information and research

[...]

1 Confidential

2 Confidential

3 Professional Diploma in Marketing, Paper 6: Marketing Planning, Study Text, BPP, ISBN: 0-7517-1590-5, page 51

4 The Marketing Book, 4th Edition, Michael J. Baker, Butterworth Heinemann, ISBN: 0-7506-4114-2, page 52

5 http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_marketing_environment.htm

6 Professional Diploma in Marketing, Paper 6: Marketing Planning, Study Text, BPP, ISBN: 0-7517-1590-5, page 56

7 Professional Diploma in Marketing, Paper 6: Marketing Planning, Study Text, BPP, ISBN: 0-7517-1590-5, page 52