MARKETING SCANNING OF MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

INTRODUCTION

Marketing managers are confronted with many environmental concerns, such as those posed by technology, customers and competitors, ethics and law, the economy, politics, demographics, and social trends. All organizations should continuously appraise their situation and adjust their strategy to adapt to the environment.

The commercialization of the Internet has rattled many industries.

One technique used by organizations to monitor the environment is known as environmental scanning. This term refers to activities directed toward obtaining information about events and trends that occur outside the organization and that can influence the organization's decision making.

In a sense, such data collection scanning acts as an early warning system for the organization. It allows marketers to understand the current state of the environment, so that the organization can predict trends.

Issues are often forerunners of trend breaks. A trend break could be a value shift in society, a technological innovation that might be permanent, or a paradigm change. Issues are less deep-seated and can be "a temporary short-lived reaction to a social phenomenon. " A trend can be defined as an "environmental phenomenon that has adopted a structural character. "

A formal but simple strategic information scanning system can enhance the effectiveness of the organization's environmental scanning efforts. An information system (part of marketing research) organizes the scanning effort so that information related to specific situations can be more readily obtained and used.

The Macro Environment

There are a number of common approaches for how the external factors, which describe the macro environment, can be identified and examined. These factors indirectly affect the organization but cannot be controlled by it. One approach is the PEST analysis.

PEST stands for political, economic, social and technological. Of the four categories explored in the PEST analysis, the company has the least control over economic factors.

Two more factors, the environmental and legal factor, are defined within the PESTEL analysis (or PESTLE analysis).

The segmentation of the macro environment according to the six presented factors of the PESTEL analysis is the starting point of the global environmental analysis.

PESTEL Analysis

The six environmental factors of the PESTEL analysis are the following:

Political factors

Taxation policy;

Trade regulations;

Governmental stability;

Unemployment policy.

Economical factors

Inflation rate;

Growth in spending power;

Rate of people in a pensionable age;

Recession or boom;

Customer liquidations.

Socio-cultural

Age distribution;

Education levels;

Income level;

Consumerism.

Diet and nutrition;

Population growth;

Life expectancies;

Religion;

Social class;

Expectations of society about the business.

Technological factors

Internet;

E-commerce;

Social media.

Level of Automation

Environmental factors

Competitive advantage;

Waste disposal;

Energy consumption;

Pollution monitoring.

Legal factors

Unemployment law;

Health and safety;

Product safety;

Advertising regulations;

Product labeling labor laws.

Ecology

Affects customer's buying habits;

Affects the production process of the firm.

Potential supplies

Labor supply;

Quantity of labor available;

Quality of labor available;

Material suppliers;

Delivery delay;

Level of competition to suppliers;

Service provider;

Special requirements.

RM WRITING THE REVIEW

Writing the review
You first need to decide what you need to read. In many cases you will be given a booklist or directed towards areas of useful published work. Make sure you use this help. With dissertations, and particularly theses, it will be more down to you to decide. It is important, therefore, to try and decide on the parameters of your research. What exactly are your objectives and what do you need to find out? In your review, are you looking at issues of theory, methodology, policy, quantitive research, or what? Before you start reading it may be useful to compile a list of the main areas and questions involved, and then read with the purpose of finding out about or answering these. Unless something comes up which is particularly important, stick to this list, as it is very easy to get sidetracked, particularly on the internet.
A good literature review needs a clear line of argument. You therefore need to use the critical notes and comments you made whilst doing your reading to express an academic opinion. Make sure that:
• you include a clear, short introduction which gives an outline of the review, including the main topics covered and the order of the arguments, with a brief rationale for this.
• there is always a clear link between your own arguments and the evidence uncovered in your reading. Include a short summary at the end of each section.
Use quotations if appropriate.
• you always acknowledge opinions which do not agree with your thesis. If you ignore opposing viewpoints, your argument will in fact be weaker.

Your review must be written in a formal, academic style. Keep your writing clear and concise, avoiding colloquialisms and personal language. You should always aim to be objective and respectful of others' opinions; this is not the place for emotive language or strong personal opinions. If you thought something was rubbish, use words such as "inconsistent", "lacking in certain areas" or "based on false assumptions"!
When introducing someone's opinion, don't use "says", but instead an appropriate verb which more accurately reflects this viewpoint, such as "argues", "claims" or "states". Use the present tense for general opinions and theories, or the past when referring to specific research or experiments:
Although Trescothick (2001) argues that attack is the best form of defence, Boycott (1969) claims that ...
In a field study carried out amongst the homeless of Sydney, Warne (1999) found that ...
And remember at all times to avoid plagiarising your sources. Always separate your source opinions from your own hypothesis. making sure you consistently reference the literature you are referring to. When you are doing your reading and making notes, it might be an idea to use different colours to distinguish between your ideas and those of others. 

Final checklist

Selection of Sources

 Have you indicated the purpose of the review?
 Are the parameters of the review reasonable?
 Why did you include some of the literature and exclude others?
 Which years did you exclude?
 Have you emphasised recent developments?
 Have you focussed on primary sources with only selective use of secondary sources?
 Is the literature you have selected relevant?
 Is your bibliographic data complete?

Critical Evaluation of the Literature

 Have you organised your material according to issues?
 Is there a logic to the way you organised the material?
 Does the amount of detail included on an issue relate to its importance?
 Have you been sufficiently critical of design and methodological issues?
 Have you indicated when results were conflicting or inconclusive and discussed possible reasons?
 Have you indicated the relevance of each reference to your research?

Interpretation

 Has your summary of the current literature contributed to the reader's understanding of the problems?
 Does the design of your research reflect the methodological implications of the literature review?

Note

 The literature review will be judged in the context of your completed research.
 The review needs to further the reader's understanding of the problem and whether it provides a rationale for your research.

RM TYPES OF LITERATURE SOURCES OR SOURCES OF LITERATURE

Types of Literature

Different types of publications have different characteristics.

Primary Literature
Primary sources means original studies, based on direct observation, use of statistical records, interviews, or experimental methods, of actual practices or the actual impact of practices or policies. They are authored by researchers, contains original research data, and are usually published in a peer-reviewed journal. Primary literature may also include conference papers, pre-prints, or preliminary reports. Also called empirical research.

Secondary Literature
Secondary literature consists of interpretations and evaluations that are derived from or refer to the primary source literature. Examples include review articles (such as meta-analysis and systematic reviews) and reference works. Professionals within each discipline take the primary literature and synthesize, generalize, and integrate new research.

Tertiary Literature
Tertiary literature consists of a distillation and collection of primary and secondary sources such as textbooks, encyclopedia articles, and guidebooks or handbooks. The purpose of tertiary literature is to provide an overview of key research findings and an introduction to principles and practices within the discipline.

Adapted from the Information Services Department of the Library of the Health Sciences-Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Primary Literature Original research results in journals, dissertations, conference proceedings, correspondence	Secondary Literature Abstracting and indexing services, review articles, systematic reviews,meta-analysis, practice guidelines	Tertiary Literature Text books, encyclopedias, handbooks, newspapers
Sources: NEJM, JAMA	Sources: PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Web of Science	Sources:  Goodman & Gilman's, Williams Obstetrics

RM TYPES OF LITERATURE REVIEW

Types of Literature Reviews

Argumentative Review
This form examines literature selectively in order to support or refute an argument, deeply imbedded assumption, or philosophical problem already established in the literature. The purpose is to develop a body of literature that establishes a contrarian viewpoint. Given the value-laden nature of some social science research [e.g., educational reform; immigration control], argumentative approaches to analyzing the literature can be a legitimate and important form of discourse. However, note that they can also introduce problems of bias when they are used to make summary claims of the sort found in systematic reviews [see below].

Integrative Review
Considered a form of research that reviews, critiques, and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated. The body of literature includes all studies that address related or identical hypotheses or research problems. A well-done integrative review meets the same standards as primary research in regard to clarity, rigor, and replication. This is the most common form of review in the social sciences.

Historical Review
Few things rest in isolation from historical precedent. Historical literature reviews focus on examining research throughout a period of time, often starting with the first time an issue, concept, theory, phenomena emerged in the literature, then tracing its evolution within the scholarship of a discipline. The purpose is to place research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-the-art developments and to identify the likely directions for future research.

Methodological Review
A review does not always focus on what someone said [findings], but how they came about saying what they say [method of analysis]. Reviewing methods of analysis provides a framework of understanding at different levels [i.e. those of theory, substantive fields, research approaches, and data collection and analysis techniques], how researchers draw upon a wide variety of knowledge ranging from the conceptual level to practical documents for use in fieldwork in the areas of ontological and epistemological consideration, quantitative and qualitative integration, sampling, interviewing, data collection, and data analysis. This approach helps highlight ethical issues which you should be aware of and consider as you go through your own study.

Systematic Review
This form consists of an overview of existing evidence pertinent to a clearly formulated research question, which uses pre-specified and standardized methods to identify and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect, report, and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review. Typically it focuses on a very specific empirical question, often posed in a cause-and-effect form, such as "To what extent does A contribute to B?"

Theoretical Review
The purpose of this form is to examine the corpus of theory that has accumulated in regard to an issue, concept, theory, phenomena. The theoretical literature review helps to establish what theories already exist, the relationships between them, to what degree the existing theories have been investigated, and to develop new hypotheses to be tested. Often this form is used to help establish a lack of appropriate theories or reveal that current theories are inadequate for explaining new or emerging research problems. The unit of analysis can focus on a theoretical concept or a whole theory or framework.

RM GOAL OF LITERATURE REVIEW

The purpose of a literature review is to:

• Place each work in the context of its contribution to understanding the research problem being studied.
• Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration.
• Identify new ways to interpret prior research.
• Reveal any gaps that exist in the literature.
• Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies.
• Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort.
• Point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research.
• Locate your own research within the context of existing literature [very important]

RM GOAL OF LITERATURE REVIEW

The objectives of literature review in a research project include the following.

• To gain background knowledge of the research topic.
• Find out problems in the area of interest to the researcher that have already been investigated in the past.
• Know what other have found out about the subject and haw they have done so.
• To find out various concepts relating to it and the potential relationship between them.
• To identify potential areas and hypothesis for research.
• To get some support for design of research methodology and techniques of analysis.
• To identify potential sources of information for conducting the detailed research.

RM GOALS OF A LITERATURE REVIEW

GOALS OF A LITERATURE REVIEW

The goals of review are:

1. To demonstrate a familiarity with a body of knowledge and establish credibility. A review tells the reader that the researcher knows the research in an area and knows the major issues. A good review increases a reader’s confidence in the researcher’s professional competence, ability, and background. 

2. To know the path of prior research and how a current research project is linked to it. A review outlines the direction, ability, and background of research on a question and shows the development of knowledge. A good review places a research project in a context and demonstrates its relevance by making connections to a body of knowledge.

3. To integrate and summarize what is known in an area. A review pulls together and synthesizes different results. A good review points out areas where prior studies agree, where they disagree, and where major questions remain. It collects what is known to a point in time and indicates the direction for future research. No reinventing the wheel. No wastage of effort.

4. To learn from others and stimulate new ideas. A review tells what others have found so that a researcher can benefit from the efforts of others. A good review identifies blind alleys and suggests hypotheses for replication. It divulges procedures, techniques, and research designs worth copying so that a researcher can better focus hypotheses and gain new insights.

5. Identification of variables. Important variables that are likely to influence the problem situation are not left out of the study.

6. Helps in developing theoretical framework.