During its life, a company is affected by many elements. It is a mix of internal and external forces whose dynamic nature makes it necessary for the company to seek a way to adapt. These factors are commonly known as the marketing environment.

Understanding the marketing environments is one of the key elements to a protracted successful business. An organisation in possession of accurate information about the nature of its marketing environments can, in fact, make the most of the positive elements while limiting the impact of the negative ones.

The marketing environment can be divided into 3 environments: internal, external and performance. Each of them directly or indirectly impacts the company.

Let’s now take a closer look at each environment and how they can be analysed:

Internal Environment: these elements are part of the specific operation of the company and are known as the 5Ms (men, money, machinery, materials, markets); by understanding their capabilities and potentials, the company can control these elements directly.

Performance Environment (Microenvironment): made of three main groups (competitors, suppliers, indirect influencers such as communication agencies) but also includes employees and customers; controllable only to some extent through the business’ influence on the stakeholders.

External Environment (Macroenvironment): these external elements impact the microenvironment of the organisation and  they are divided into six sub-environments (political, economical, socio-cultural, technological, legal, ecological) over which the organisation has very little or no control.

Changes that occur within and around the company can have a great impact on the management and success of the company; by thoroughly understanding the marketing environments, the company has the information necessary to keep up with those changes and, therefore, adapt to the new business environment.