Nike’s Market Audit Essay

The marketing audit is a fundamental part of the marketing planning process. It is conducted not only at the beginning of the process, but also at a series of points during the implementation of the plan. The marketing audit considers both internal and external influences on marketing planning, as well as a review of the plan itself. Marketing Audit considers the basics of the marketing audit, and introduces a marketing audit checklist. The checklist is designed to answer the question, what is the current marketing situation? Marketing audit could be considered under three key headings: * The Internal Marketing Environment. * The External Marketing Environment. * A Review of the Current Marketing Plan. â€Å"Where is the business now? † is a core marketing question as it is concerned with how the business is performing in its marketplace. To answer this question one of the primary activities of the marketing function in a business is to undertake an audit of the market for the business. Once this question has been answered then the business can take decisions over setting and implementing their strategies to overcome the anticipated challenges. Now lets have a look at the way the companies, that had been selected previously to illustrate the Marketing mix, are conducting the Market Audit to achieve their goals†¦ Nike Nike operates its business within the sports footwear and apparel market. Originally designing and producing running shoes, their portfolio has broadened to include a wide range of sports and leisure wear. This is all endorsed by top sporting personalities and has gained a faithful reputation among them. Mission statement of Nike†¦ In its mission statement Nike expresses that it requires doing business in a responsible way, leading to sustainable financial growth. With the advances in technology, HR practices, the well informed and trained work force, there is very little left to differentiate organizations. Being seen to go further than the minimum required on social issues can attract and retain customers. This green cleansing attracts attention to the organization; they are viewed as caring and social responsible (Mullins, L. 2005). In a marketing research done by the company the following blemishes could be revealed. A report, on the business practices of Nike through its supply chain accused the organization of being involved in poor working conditions, violations of labor rights, low wages and harassment of its workforce. Nike takes these reports seriously. On the basis of the research findings the company has intensified the monitoring of its suppliers and right away did take actions and implemented to rectify the flaws. This is the importance of an Audit to a company to maintain its standards and the good reputation. * Internal Marketing Audit * Value chain Nike’s supply chain provides a clear view of the extent of the global nature of the company. Nike’s headquarters are in America; however, virtually all of its production takes place outside of the United States. Nike’s supply chain upstream begins with the materials used in the production of its products. Many of these materials used in production are available in the locations which the manufacturing takes place, but some specialized materials have to be imported to the manufacturing company. Now lets take a look at how they’ve overcome their challenges by getting the aid of an internal marketing audit considering two instances. Past options| Outsourcing of all production| Rationale| Reduced costs| Future Options| Outsource with stronger control| Rationale| Speed up reporting of any problems in production, the supply chain, the greater the distance the slower the reporting of problems| Critical Success Factor| Reduce problems associated with distance, i. e. quality, consistency and value| Change of Focus| Although still outsourcing, they would gain more control over production. | Past options| Target USA| Rationale| Demand and growth for footwear in the US was rapid. Future Options| Future option is to enter EU markets| Rationale| To expand into growing markets as US is near saturation. | Critical Success Factor| organic growth as well as by acquisition, also brand name, goodwill- therefore there is a match is CSF to succeed| Change of Focus| Maybe have to target marketing in a different way| * Portfolio analysis in current product (BCG Matrix) The BCG matrix method is based on the product life cycle theory that can be used to determine what priorities should be given in the product portfolio of a business unit. To ensure long-term value creation, a company should have a portfolio of products that contains both high-growth products in need of cash inputs and low-growth products that generate a lot of cash. It has 2 dimensions: market share and market growth. The basic idea behind it is that the bigger the market share a product has or the faster the product’s market grows the better it is for the company. Placing products in the BCG matrix results in 4 categories in a portfolio of a company: 1. Stars (high growth, high market share) use large amounts of cash and are leaders in the business so they should also generate large amounts of cash. * frequently roughly in balance on net cash flow. Through the BCG analysis for Nike, what has been revealed is that Nike is established within its markets, benefiting from economies of scale. And this places them in the Cash Cows category on the Matrix. Where the Cash cows market growth has slowed, and the products hold a fairly stable market share. * External Marketing Audit * Macro Environment PESTEL This will consider the influences of about six factors on the organization, both in the past and with future strategic plans. Following information could be gathered about Nike through a PESTEL analysis†¦ I. Political ) Striking dock workers b) Political unrest in the production countries.