Market information is needed as the basis for the marketing management process. A marketing information system provides the framework for the day-to-day management and organization of information gathered on a regular basis from internal and external sources. The process of monitoring an FI's business environment includes the following:
a) Gathering
information about the external business environment and internal marketing;
b) Analyzing
the information gathered to assess the current situation and trends; and,
c) Forecasting the impact of current trends on the future of the FI.
Organizations
operate within an external environment that
is beyond their control. The external environment includes macro influences,
which affect all institutions, and micro influences, which affect individual
institutions. Macro influences can be divided into six broad variables:
- Demographic
conditions;
- Economic
conditions such as the business cycle, inflation and interest rates;
- Competition
and the competitive structure;
- Social
and cultural factors;
- Political and legal environments;
- Technology.
Micro
influences, while external, are closely related to a specific company and are
part of its total marketing system. Another set of environmental factors –
suppliers, marketing intermediaries and the market itself, are also external to
a company. These elements, however, can be influenced to a certain degree by
management decisions. Non-marketing factors within the firm such as production
facilities, personnel, finances, location, research and development, all
influence marketing. These variables can also be controlled by management.
Successful
marketing depends largely on a company's ability to manage their marketing
program within their business environment. To do this, marketing executives
must recognize environmental factors and trends, monitor them in a systematic,
ongoing fashion, and respond to them with resources under their control.