Marketing Audit
Order Instructions:
As you will notice for this paper, it is a continues paper that will be written for 3 weeks. This week we will
be taking on one part of the paper and it is critical that the writer follow strictly the instructions as every
instruction matters in this paper. As you will realized that the writer will have to chose an organization to
use for this paper, I will be critical to chose an organization that the writer feel comfortable written about
and can get as much information as possible about the company. Every question must be properly
address and clearly indicated when written the paper. If instructions are not clear please contact me I and
I will clarify them. In this first part , they are 6 major questions to respond to in the 3 page minimum paper
, the writer must clearly respond to all the 6 questions detail. resources are also included at the bottom to
be used for this paper.
� Application: Praxis Paper
Marketing Audit
Over the next 4 weeks, you will apply the knowledge you have gained from your study and research in
order to develop a modified marketing audit for your own organization or another organization of your
choice. You must conduct at least one first-person interview, so choose an organization for which this will
be possible. You should arrange this interview as soon as possible. Remember, this should be someone
in the marketing department who has an understanding of the overall marketing picture, but it does not
necessarily need to be a high-level marketing executive.
A marketing audit is a comprehensive, systematic, independent, and periodic assessment of a company’s
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marketing environment, objectives, strategies, and activities with the goal of identifying potential
opportunities and problem areas. The eventual objective of a marketing audit is to recommend a plan of
action to improve the company’s marketing performance.
Marketing Audit
This paper provides a macro-environment audit of a selected company, which is Nike,
Inc. The external influences that affect Nike including the demographic, economic,
environmental, political, as well as cultural factors are described in an in-depth and
comprehensive manner in this paper. These factors cannot be controlled by firm and at times
they present threats. Nonetheless, changes within the external environment of a firm also create
new opportunities (Kotler & Keller, 2012). The person whom I intend to interview is Davide
Grasso, the Vice President, Global Marketing at Nike.
- Demographic Factors
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MARKETING AUDIT
Nike makes its products not only for women and men, but also to children of all ages.
The target market for Nike’s products comprises females and males who are between the age of
18 years and 35. This age-group continues to increase every year, which presents a major
opportunity for Nike’s products. People of all ages today are more health conscious than they
used to be in previous years. As such, increasingly more people are actually choosing to join
fitness clubs. Consequently, there is an accompanying growth for demands of fitness products
particularly exercise equipment, shoes and apparel (Nike, 2014). Nike can position itself to
exploit the opportunity brought about by this increase in demand as more younger and older
people are looking for sports equipment, apparels and shoes. Moreover, the female’s athletic
market is also on the increase as the number of collegiate athletes have risen considerably from
just a few thousands 5 decades ago to nearly 1 million at present (Nike, 2014).
- Economic Factors
In response to the recent economic developments and trends characterized by a slowing
economy which has caused consumer purchases to reduce, Nike has been greatly affected.
Material prices and labor costs increased. The economic recession, which was the company’s
biggest threat resulted in weak sales for Nike (Nike, 2014). The actions that Nike is taking in
response to the recent economic recession include increasing sales in China which experiences
robust economic growth. In essence, sales in the Chinese market and in other parts of the globe
were used by Nike to make up for weak sales in Europe, Australia, Japan and North America.
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MARKETING AUDIT
Not only did Nike use the Chinese market to fight recession, but it also cut a total of 1,750 jobs.
Nike also cut its marketing during the recession (Rogoway, 2009).
- Environmental Factors
To make its products, Nike is presently reliant on the availability of natural resources
including energy, water and raw materials. The cost of competition for these resources would
rise as these resources become more and more scarce (Nike, 2014). Greenpeace reported that
Nike had relationships with 2 Chinese textile processing factories that were producing dangerous
chemicals and polluting 2 of China’s major rivers with chemicals that were hazardous (Hunt,
2011). With regard to the steps taken by Nike on the subject of pollution and conservation, Nike
is committed to delivering innovative new products in ways that are more sustainable. To
properly manage scarce resources, Nike develops and uses more sustainable and more recycled
materials, as well as leaner manufacturing processes (Nike, 2014). - Technological Factors
Product innovation is essentially a continuing process and is of major importance to
staying ahead of the competition (Oliva, 2006). In this industry, corporations invest considerably
in Research and Development so as to sustain the new demands of today’s contemporary athlete.
Nike has employed a lot of specialists who include athletes, industrial designers, engineers, as
well as biomechanics to collaborate in the design process (Nike, 2014). Product technology
generally has to evolve as fitness also evolves so as to gain an advantage. It is of note that Nike
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MARKETING AUDIT
introduced into the market Nike Shox, a product that greatly revolutionized the cushioning foam
utilized in shoes. In addition, Nike also worked together with Apple in launching new footwear
and apparel that would easily carry the iPod of the consumer (Nike, 2014).
- Political Factors
There are several changes in regulations and laws that may affect marketing strategy and
tactics used by Nike. Several states such as Ohio have established Environmental Pollution
Agencies (EPA) pollution control laws that are designed to prevent environmental pollution and
generally to protect the environment (Esworthy, 2013). Such federal and state laws on pollution
greatly affect Nike’s marketing tactics and strategy. The United States Government has also put
in place price controls on prices which could be charged for services and good within the
marketplace. Such price controls are mainly aimed at maintaining the affordability of products,
and to slow inflation. Moreover, the Consumer Product Safety Act gives the Consumer Product
Safety Commission the mandate to formulate safety standards and pursue recalls for goods
which present significant or unreasonable risks of death or injury to consumers (Esworthy,
2013). The laws on Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) forbid specific kinds of work
discrimination in some workplaces. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission
regulates and oversees marketing and advertising law. These laws could possibly impact many of
Nike’s areas of business, for instance how the company labels its products, how it carries out
telemarketing and email campaigns, and how Nike advertises to children (The U.S. Small
Business Administration, 2014). Laws on advertising protect consumers by demanding that
advertisers should be truthful regarding their products and be able to validate their claims. - Cultural Factors
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MARKETING AUDIT
Nike’s brand is one of the most recognizable worldwide. The public’ attitude towards
Nike’s products is that they are expensive, particularly the sneakers, and are of high quality.
They are also durable products. However, a new reasonably priced series of Nike products for
consumers in Asia made Asian consumers to think of Nike’s products as affordable. Changes in
customer lifestyles such as doing more exercise to keep fit might affect Nike since there might be
an increase in demand for the company’s sports shoes, apparel and equipment.
References
Esworthy, R. (2013). Federal Pollution Control Laws: How are they Enforced? Federation of
American Scientists.
Hunt, K. (2011). Greenpeace Links Big Brands to Chinese River Pollution. BBC News.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2012). Marketing management. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
Pearson Prentice Hall.
