How Macro-Environmental Factors Affect Your Business
By Chris Largent, Marist College Intern
Staying Ahead
There are so many factors to keep track of but try not to get overwhelmed. Focus on what your customers like and value the most. It is important to keep track of growing movements within your company’s niche. Do this by monitoring your social media accounts frequently to see what your customers have to say about incoming and outgoing trends. Get involved in these conversations. Find out what they would like to see evolve within your company.
Monitor what your competitors are doing as well. Just like in the case of AOL, useful advice and tactics can be found from the people and companies in your industry. Take them and make it your own. Being able to predict where these trends is a skill not easily mastered, especially in today’s trend filled world. However, doing so can make the difference in a business’s success.
What Are Macro-Environmental Factors?
Macro-Environmental Factors are factors that affect a business but are uncontrollable. These factors could be a shift in political ideology, an increase in population, a change in the values of their customers, growth of a certain technology, or even trends within the culture of a nation. All of these factors should hold weight in the decisions made by a company, because not being ahead of the game means being left behind.
A Healthy Alternative
Coca-Cola is one of the leading producers of soft drinks in the world. With one of the strongest international brands out there, it is a common sight to see a Coke paired with any meal. However, with the recent surge of healthy eating, one has to wonder if the Coca-Cola company is making any moves to hit this trend or if they are simply staying stagnant.
A study from a few years ago explained that the beverage industry has been moving toward teas, coffees, bottled water, and sports drinks (Deichert, Ellenbecker, Klehr, Pesarchick, & Ziegler, 2006). Seeing these growing trends, Coca-Cola released several new brands and products including Dasani water in 2001 and Fuze Tea nationally in 2005, both of which have gained a lot of success.
A more recent movement has been seen in the healthy snack alternatives. Greek yogurt company Chobani has been on top of this one, releasing its new “Flip” yogurt-granola combination. Not long ago, Coca-Cola started up a deal to buy up a lump sum of Chobani’s stock (Golbert, 2015). Although the plans fell through, this acquisition could prove to be a good start for Coca-Cola to move into the snack industry, a place where the company could easily expand.
The Technological Beast
Technology is growing and changing faster than it ever has before and will continue to grow this way if all goes well. If acted upon correctly, the use of technology can be a huge benefit for companies and set them far above their competitors who they have left far behind.
One example of this innovative expansion into the field of technology comes from AOL and its acquisition of a live streaming service called Kanvas. The company made this move in response to the development of similar services within rival companies. The difference for AOL, however is that it is launching this new service coupled with an event hosted by clothing brand Guess. Guess and AOL both hope to stand out with this online streaming service by giving the consumer “a unique platform where users are able to customize and animate their livestreams with a broad range of animation options in real time” said a spokesman of the brand (Peterson, 2015).
It is motions such as this one, using technology to get a step above, in ways that stand out from the rest, that allow businesses to excel in today’s market.
To learn more about Macro-Environmental Factors visit our website: husdonvalleypublicrelations.com or give us a call at 845.202.7087
Sources:
Deichert, M., Ellenbecker, M., Klehr, E., Pesarchick, L., Ziegler, K., (February 22, 2006). Industry Analysis: Soft Drinks. Retrieved from: https://www.csbsju. edu/Documents/libraries/zeigler_paper.pdf
Peterson, T. (Dec. 1, 2015). AOL’s Periscope Rival Signs First Moneymaking Brand Deal. Ad Age. Retrieved from: http://adage.com/article/digital/aol-s-periscope-rival-signs-money-making-brand-deal/301532/
