Company or Marketing Organization

Marketing plans ought to accommodate the needs of other functional areas of firm to coordinate product/service delivery effectively.

Suppliers - are the firms and persons that provide resources needed by company and competitors to produce services and goods.

Marketing Intermediaries - include many middlemen and distribution firms as well as marketing service agencies and financial institutions.

Customers -typically consist of industrial, consumer, government, reseller and international markets.

Competitors - are typically considered those companies also serving target market with similar services and products, although broader definitions can apply.

Publics - can consist of any group that perceives it having an interest in the actions of the firm. Publics may have positive as well as negative influences on the company's objectives.

Other than factors above there are definite macro environmental factors that may have impact or that may affect marketing process. These forces and environmental factors shall be explained in more detail in coming Lessons. As described in a figure: significant connections with customers, connections along with marketing partners, and associates with World around us are to be made to perform the marketing process. Main connections required in this regard are connecting with marketing partners: (These connections take place by (a) connecting with the other marketing departments, (b) connecting with the distributors and suppliers, and (c) connecting through strategic alliances). The marketing companies do not operate in a vacuum. They must interact with intermediaries that have ideas to explore, information to share and experiences that are precious. New technologies may bring this information to the decision maker in new rapid ways. At last companies need to have information regarding the competitors and other environmental factors and are need to have updated knowledge because for success, change adoption with change occurrence is required or else company will not able to stay in this completive era.

What type of image comes to mind when you hear the word "marketing"? Some people think of brochures and advertisements, whereas others think of public relations (for example, arranging for clients to appear on TV talk shows). Truth is, all of these-and many more things-make up the field of marketing because as we have discussed in our last Lesson that marketing is more than only promotion or advertisement. The Knowledge Exchange Business Encyclopaedia defines marketing as "planning and executing strategy involved in moving a service or good from producer to consumer."