Abstract The fact that a company's orientation toword the outside environment and the requirements of the socio - economic environment, have to syncronize writh the company's acturty in accordance writh this environment, has become a necessity. Companies must be in a permanent supervision and in a continuous adaptation to the environment changes.The external environment writh which a company establishes a relationship is imposed by the necessity of accomphishing its own goals and it forms the company's micro - environment while the factors that act on a long term form its macro - environment.The environment components conditions the company's acturty and the company in its turn influences the environment. 1. General issues Within the general concept of marketing, the environment the companies, organizations or institutes function in detains a central position. Thus, the new approach, specific to marketing, stresses upon the relationships of a company with the market much more intense, even more intense when they refer to the assembly of factors that make up the company's environment. The company's orientation toward the outside environment, its alignment to the requirements of the socio - economic environment, the permanent synchronization of its activity in accordance with this environment have become, from the marketing perspective, a necessity. Ph. Kotler believed that successful companies have a general view of their activity, oriented from the outside toward the inside. Such companies understand that the environment they function in experiences both favorable opportunities but also threats, thus emerging the vital importance the companies need to pay to the permanent supervision and to continuous adaptation to the environment changes. Given the context in which one of the main objectives has to do with the permanent adaptation to the external environment requirements, the company needs to possess a synergy of its internal environment, which means that the company needs to possess sufficient resources ( human, material, financial ) and the capacity of putting them into action and coordinate them operatively and in an efficient manner. On the background of contemporary economy, within which the organizations function throughout an environment characterized by a strong dynamism ( a discontinuous one for the past years ), the study of interaction between the external environment and the internal one, and also the formulation of most adequate means of maximizing the positive effects and minimizing the negative ones represents one of the most important objectives of marketing. Accordingly, understanding and, more important, practical application of marketing consists of good knowledge of external environment concepts, internal environment, the interaction between them, and also the definition of their impact upon markets, and, naturally, upon the company's activity. Companies, just like people, are the direct consequence of the environment they share, they taking part to its processes, sometimes beyond their will. Companies also spend a lot of time of their existence trying to learn how to adapt to realities generated by environment: complexity, hostility, sudden traumas, and opportunities. The environment agents do not manifest themselves with similar intensity and equally upon the company. The company has direct connections with some of them, these connections being imposed by the necessity of accomplishing its goals, such influences being, generally, reciprocal; in other cases, the relationships are remoter, even weaker, their influence being, in most cases, indirect. Within this context, the external environment components with which a company establishes direct, permanent and strong relationships are imposed by the necessity of accomplishing its own goals ( current and future ) form the company's micro - environment, while the factors which act on a long term and with a diminished intensity form its macro-environment. 2. The company's micro-environment Among the agents present in the proximity of a company and which determine the marketing micro-environment, the most representative are: c, customers, intermediaries, competitors, interest groups which influence the company's capacity of satisfying its customers, a.s.o. In reality, in order to accomplish the settled goals, any company combines three categories of production factors, establishing relationships with as many environment components, namely: material resources suppliers or service suppliers, financial suppliers (banks ), labor suppliers. By combining the three mentioned categories either products or services for the customers result. Similarly, the company's competitors, within the environment, do the same. Apart from these, there come other different agents, generically named public bodies, which influence the company's activity in a similar manner. Trying to define and describe the constitutive elements of the company micro - environment, one can appreciate that suppliers are represented by various companies, institutes or private persons that, based on certain selling - purchasing relationships, provide the material resources ( raw materials, energy, equipments etc. ) and utility services ( financial consultancy, advertising etc. necessary for the good functioning of the company activities ). The knowledge of offer-possibilities of these environment agents is extremely important. The information a company needs in case of such agents includes the dimensions and quality of the offer, prices practiced, commercial policies in use, localization etc. In the same time, ensuring that certain market relationships develop adequately imposes knowledge of such aspects belonging to the internal climate of the supplying company ( strikes, condition of discipline etc. ) and of other elements which could, later on, turn into unpredicted factors, ready to perturb a good supply. Breaking of contractual terms by suppliers can lead to interruptions of the production process and to the dissatisfaction of company's customers. Therefore, all companies are interested in finding trustworthy suppliers, with whom to establish long - term relationships and to optimize their suppliers' portfolio. The labor suppliers constitute themselves into environment agents, having considerable influences in the company's activity, due to the importance and role of human factor in the labor process. Among these suppliers one can include schools, labor bureaus, and also people looking for employment. Intermediaries are represented by individuals, other companies, organizations helping the company with delivery, promoting and selling its products. Their great variety can be delimited within such categories: traders, physical distribution companies, marketing service companies and financial intermediaries. Traders can be grouped into intermediary agents ( who negotiate contracts but do not trade, in exchange for a commission) and trading companies (en - grosser and retailers who buy and re-sell products ). Physical distribution companies are specialized in storing and transportation of goods. The marketing service companies offer the companies marketing research, specialized consultancy, advertising etc. Financial intermediaries are the banks, insurance companies, investment funds, stock exchanges etc. that finance the companies or provide them with the business risk. The companies' performance can be influenced a lot by the financial intermediaries' policies. Customers are represented by companies, institutes and individuals to whom the services of a company are addressed. Representing the most important component of the micro-environment of a company, customers occupy a central position for the contents of marketing studies, these studies being focused on knowing the needs, the demand, and the purchase and consumption behavior. A main feature of the market economy is competition, reason for its being known as competitive economy. The very existence and development of competition are proof for free initiative manifestation, so that it is not a wonder that business people develop only those activities which they consider that are profitable. Competitors constitute a separate category of the company micro-environment, never missing within the competitive environment, which is also part of market economy. As competitors there can appear companies or individuals who fight for the same category of customers, and in numerous cases, the same suppliers or service suppliers. Competitors can be differentiated through the role they play in their relationships with customers, their attitude toward novelty, their forms of communication with customers, their style in intervening on the market etc. As for the Romanian economy, currently experiencing a strong transition, numerous companies from different field of activities detaining monopoly positions found themselves in difficulty, especially due to the appearance of competitors. Thus, the national television lost ground in its competition with private televisions such as PRO TV, REALITATEA, ANTENA I, B1 TV etc., as well as detergents and cosmetics producers were invaded and practically, annihilated by powerful world companies such as: Procter&Gamble, Colgate - Palmolive. The result proves that the study of competition represents, together with market investigation, one of the main objectives of marketing researches. Accordingly, the assembly of interaction relationships with which economic agents are confronted in their struggle for ensuring the supplying source and markets forms the system of competitive relationships. With all their variety, the means and instruments used in competition relationships can be delimited into four poles of the marketing policy: product, price, promotion and distribution. In accordance with their settled goals and with the given conditions of the market, competitors make use either of only one of these elements or of a combination of them. Within the competition, companies can aim the same consumption needs or different needs. The forms of competition, as they are known in the specialized literature, can vary from perfect competition to monopoly, but the real conditions in which the contemporary world economy functions show an imperfect competition state. Monopoly situations are reduced or restricted by laws in most of the countries, while perfect competition is ideal, but in reality never occurs. The participation of a company in the competitive "business game" requires an analytical observation, consisting of several steps, such as:
The instruments and means used within competition consist mainly of continuous improvement of involved companies. Aiming a better knowledge and need satisfaction and, based on this, attracting customers, such competition proves to be useful for both customers as well as for the general needs of society, thus ensuring its progress. In current practice, it is developed both within law regulations, being not only accepted but also stimulated by various means, and illegally. In the former case one can observe a loyal competition, while the latter case deals with illegal competition. Each company, no matter its size, develops, implicitly or explicitly, on the targeted market, its own competitive strategy which consists of running certain offensive or defensive campaigns in order to create an advantageous position in a specific field of activity. Strategic planning of competitive type is imperative in the current world context. Mainly, a strategy of competitive type results from market analysis, respectively from the demand - offer relationship. The competition study focuses upon the strategic options of the players but also on the impact which these options have upon the competitors' profits and the market structure, as well. The goals of the competitive struggle are represented by: profit, market share, sale, innovation, social responsibility etc. they have to be clearly formulated, precisely measured, and logically positioned in hierarchies. The means of the competitive struggle are found in all internal sectors of the company and are made of: target markets, marketing, sales, distribution, technology, labor qualification, supplying, research and development, finances, product variety etc. All market agents can benefit from the competition advantages, but mainly companies and consumers. Consumers must pay attention to these strategies; "competitive wars" are on long - terms, destructive even for the companies exclusively competition - oriented, because consumers are no longer an aim but they become a means of satisfying ambitions. The combination between the orientation toward consumer and that oriented toward competition confers the company the most rational and profitable market orientation. The public organisms constitute a component of the same micro-environment, given the condition in which, for a short time or permanently, they can influence the accomplishment of goals. The American Professor Philip Kottler identifies seven categories of organisms of this type, such as: - consumers associations, ecologist organizations, minority groups; the financial public ( banks, investing companies, share-holders ); - the local public administration; the central public administration; the company's personnel; mass media; - the large public. Within this component, a special position is held by the state organs, to which the company has a series of legal obligations, such as: financial institutes, the customs, judicial institutes etc. Any company needs to be aware of the fact that it functions among a large number of groups that have specific interests. The interest group is that community that keeps an interest, a real influence or a potential one over the accomplishment of the company's goals. It can or cannot facilitate the company's capacity of reaching the target. Therefore, a company functioning based on marketing philosophy needs to make up a public relations department, whose responsibility is to establish and maintain relationships with different public organisms. To make this possible, the company has to settle specific marketing plans, preserving a similar attitude toward the interest group as toward its other customers. The activity of any company is influenced by other environmental factors which act at a larger scale. There are factors of general consideration, with an exogenous character in relationship with agents making up its micro-environment. 3. The company's macro-environment The assembly of factors indirectly acting on a long-term basis and with a weaker intensity over the company's activity forms its macro-environment. The components of the company's macro-environment are of great diversity. Most specialists include the following elements within the company's macro-environment: - the demographic environment; the economic environment; - the technological environment; the political environment; - the cultural environment; the natural environment. These elements that define the macro-environment permanently generate uncertainties, threats and opportunities to the company, affecting its actions and results. It is obvious that a change at world economy level is reality and that the future is harder and harder to foretell, although the methods and procedures used for this scope have multiplied and perfected. In the context of more and more dynamic marketing environment, managers have to identify favorable market opportunities and the risk the company is subject to, starting from monitoring the changes within the company's macro-environment. In this respect, successful companies know how to recognize and respond in a profitable manner to certain trends and unsatisfied needs. Favorable occasions may appear as well as a result of identification of trends (predictable and long-lasting changes ) and mega-trends, specific to the contemporary world (which involve great changes at a slow pace ), which once produced, influence the environment for a longer period of time. The American company for marketing consultancy Brain Reserve has identified a number of 10 major trends in consumers' behavior, at the beginning of the third millennium: - change in lifestyle, the desire for a slower life rhythm, especially from those people who reach the conclusion that work in excess is stressful; search for individual universe, in an external environment that is too harsh and dangerous, in this respect, 'home' becomes a protective nest; - rejuvenation', which consists of people's wish to look, feel and behave more juvenilely than their real biological age. The 'heroes' of the beginning of millennium are elderly people who wear young-styled clothing; buy cars that make them look younger etc.; - ego-mania, respectively the wish for individualism from people, through the products they buy, their consumption behavior, their own experiences, the clubs they attend etc.; - escape into fantasies, in order to escape daily routines ( exotic trips, houses in the middle of nature, amusement parks-as eccentric as possible-, extreme sports etc. ); - '99 lives'; this represents the metaphoric meaning of people's mood, sometimes a desperate mood in case of people with many responsibilities, duties, workplaces etc.; - time seems insufficient, thus, people spend most of their time in the cars, they live between two e-mails, eat at Drive - thrus etc. Marketers have found a solution: - the big service - malls, which, apart from various shops, offer a multitude of services: laundry, dry-cleaners, tailors, copying and fax machines, internet, gyms and beauty saloons etc.; - "S.O.S - Society"; more and more people are preoccupied with making their society more sensitive toward three major factors: natural environment, education and ethics; - a greater relaxation and understanding toward the human little weaknesses; for example, after eating dietetically during the week time, some people allow,themselves to a'culinary feast'or other weaknesses during the week - end; - the desire for long and healthy lives; people wish to look after health, to consume rationally, to workout and to rest longer; - consumers become more and more sensitive to quality; they no longer accept poor quality products, they demand from companies to be responsible toward consumers and society. All these trends are as many market opportunities for companies, for marketing activity. The futurologist John Naisbitt also classified the main mega-trends of the environment, based on content analysis of articles issued by some American publications, referring to various topics, counting the frequency with which these topics were tackled with by media. In 1982, he forecast a series of mega-trends for the end of the second millennium, as follow:
Also, in 1990, J. Naisbitt forecast the following mega - trends for the beginning of 2000's, such as: - explosion of global economy; revival of arts; appearance of socialism on market; - global life styles and national cultures; privatization of state public services; - continuation of Far East development; ascent of women in superior managing positions; - appearance of a biological era; rebirth of religion; triumph of individuality. Although the trends and mega - trends mentioned above refer to the American business environment, most of them appear to be valid throughout Western Europe and Japan and anticipations can be made that they will become soon valid for both Central and Eastern Europe. Consequently, the whole activity of a company must be permanently and operatively connected to the physiognomy and demands of a changing environment, as well as to its evolution tendencies. 3.1. The demographic environment It represents an exogenous provocative factor for the company's micro - environment. The main demographic trends of interest for marketers are: trends in population number evolution, at global, continental, regional and national levels; structuring of population on age groups; family restructuring; geographical spread of population; ethno-cultural variety; passage from mass markets to micro-markets etc. The demographic environment represents a point of interest for companies of all profiles, at least as a source of their supply with necessary labor force, and referring to the population existing in the area. Within companies having mass-consumption ( services ) profiles, the demographic environment is also one of the formative factors of goods demand, the ground for economic activity finalization. Thus, there results the great importance some of these indicators, specific to demographic environment, hold. Among them: population number, structure on sexes and age categories, families number and the medium dimension of a family, territorial and environmental ( urban and rural ) spread of population; birth rate etc. 3.1.1. Trends in population number evolution The number of population is an important indicator for the potential of a market. The world demographic phenomena have become more and more important under the conditions of market globalization. The globe's population is around 6.2 billion inhabitants. While the medium annual growth pace of the globe's population was of almost 2%, in the 90's of the twentieth century, in Europe the growth was of only 0.6%. The most rapid demographic evolution happened in less developed countries. The increase of the globe population does not equal a similar growth in markets. Europe, the U.S.A and Japan have populations of only one billion, smaller than China's population. Less developed countries, which hold 75% of the globe population, do not have the economic power in order to support their demographic increase. The market does not only mean people, but also their power of purchasing. In Romania, in the last 15 years, the population decreased constantly due to a low birth rate and due to emigration, trends that will still occur in the future. In the XXI century, if agricultural technologies do not evolve or the population increases uncontrollably, the world can face a serious food crisis, thus confirming the theory of Malthus. More and more researches recommend generalization, at world level, of world planning policies. If the population growth exerts pressure upon food resources, costs will increase and profits will decrease. 3.1.2. Trends in population structure on age groups The most important long-term demographic phenomenon from Europe, the U.S.A. and Asian developed countries seems to be the population's ageing. The origins of this phenomenon include two main reasons: birth rate crisis and the increase in people's life-expectation. Birth rate crisis represents a long-term severe decrease of birth - giving, which leads to an increase in adult and old-aged population segments, to the disadvantage of younger ones. This crisis exists mainly due to women's wish of having an equal social status with that of men's and also due to efficient methods of birth control. The increase in people's life - expectation is possible due to sciences development and of medical and pharmaceutical techniques, medical assistance services and people's wish to have a healthier lifestyle. Europe, the U.S.A. and Asian developed countries "come to old age without being able to ever rejuvenate". A closer analysis of this trend is of great importance for marketers, since they are interested in market segments more and more reduced from the age 's point of view: - the segment 0 - 9 years old is continuously decreasing. Specialized shops selling children products are fewer and fewer. This situation is a threat for the companies offering products for newly born babies, toys, foods for children etc., entertainment for children etc. and represents an opportunity for those companies addressing childless families or families with grown-up children; - the segment 10 - 19 years old makes a target market for clothing producers, especially those producing jeans and sportswear or shoes ( colleges, universities ); - the segment 20 - 34 years old is still well represented within Romania's population, and this is due to the so-called 'baby-boom' of the late 70's of the XX century. People from this segment are clients on markets such as :small residences, or cheap furniture , household items, sports items, entertainment etc.; - the segment 35 - 49 years old is well represented in the population structure in Europe, the U.S.A. and can be met on such markets as houses ad luxury villas, brand cars, luxury clothing, entertainment, investment, banks, etc.; - the segment 50 - 75 years old registers the most powerful growth and sensitively influences businesses in travels, air-companies, restaurants, hotels, sports facilities, fitness, tourism etc. It is forecast for Europe to have 40% of population exceeding the age of 50, in the year of 2031. The British center Henley warns against the appearance of a new category of people aged between 50 and 75 who will form the first main class of free time people, who will possess large amounts of money and will have higher expectations than the previous generation, since they have been educated in competition spirit and self - accomplishment. In this category there will be people who now are aged 40 or 50. They left schools in the 60's or 70's, which is during the economic and individualism booms, they being different from their predecessors, who had been educated in the spirit of modesty and simplicity. "The free - time people" are already in the attention of U.S.A. and E.U. marketers, especially of those involve in leisure-activities industry. People from this new class are dynamic consumers, eager, to a greater extent than the young people, to spend short holidays, to take trips, visits to museums and amusement parks etc. catching up with their children, in what sports or cinema attendance are concerned. In this respect, the segment over 75 years old becomes a target market for producers of light foods, catering companies, medical services, medicines, light entertainment, but also unadventurous journeys providers. 3.1.3. Trends in family structure The main changes in family structure with which a family meets are the following: - a decrease in the medium sized family; people get married at older ages and they bring up fewer and fewer children; many families decide not to have children at all; - an increase in the number of women who are 'in-vitro' fertilized and of mono - parental families; - an increase in the number of adopted children; - an increase in the number of couples who do not make their relationship official and of bachelors. Families of this type have known the most accelerated dynamics. In Sweden, families formed by single parents represented, back in 1994, 40% of the number of existent families, and in the U.S.A., they came to reach 47%. It is obvious that such families have special needs ( smaller apartments, 1 - 2 person portions, cheaper furniture etc. ), an observation which should not be ignored by marketers. In some countries, such as Holland, Germany there have been adopted specific laws that allow marriages between people of same sex: the rapid growth of the number of active women, fact that greatly influences the familial consumption ( cooking occurs more and more seldom, ready - cooked products are preferred, there is an increase in demand for microwaves ovens and similar household items ) and modifies the traditional roles of husbands and wives. Women no longer cook, but they are customers for auto - show rooms, of banks, of car - service workshops, while men are performing more and more housework activities do the shopping, look after children etc. In the context of changes of these types, within the family structure, the family - time resources are more and more reduced, fact that led to an explosive development of direct marketing ( telephone or mail or internet sales etc. ). 3.1.4. Trends in geographical spread of population At world level, in the 90's, we witnessed massive movements of populations between countries. In Europe, this phenomenon was determined by the fall of the communist regime in countries of the Central and Eastern Europe. The phenomenon is still visible nowadays, but most of the countries take protective steps in front of immigrants' waves. In Romania, due to great differences between life in the city and life in the countryside, there still continues the population migration to the cities. But at the same time, there occurs the reverse of this phenomenon: within cities there a migration of superior classes toward the residential suburbs, while the most crowded areas remain inhabited by the popular classes. Also in Romania, we observe a migration of the population from historical less developed regions toward the more developed ones, but especially a great migration to the Western part of Europe ( Italy, Spain, Holland, Germany, Swede, Ireland ) and the U.S.A. 3.1.5. Trends in the education level of population In Romania, investments in educational system will increase, fact that will make possible that population become better and better educated. This fact will determine an increase in demand for high-quality products, books, magazines, but also for colleges, universities, social and medical services etc. At the same time, Romania's integration within the European educational background attracts major changes in the young geneation's education and mobility. 3.1.6. Trends in ethno-cultural diversity Romania will be integrated in the European Union. Although many specialists strongly support the idea of an Euro-consumer, as a result of the formation of a unique European market, this market must be looked at in its European ethno - cultural diversity and at world level. Consumers' needs, values, beliefs, habits and lifestyles differ from country to country. Equally, their power of purchasing and the volume of consumption are different. Marketing managers need to identify these ethnic and cultural differences and to apply the proper marketing strategy to each of the situations. The ethnic diversity manifests itself within each country, in different proportions. At one extreme there is Japan, in which inhabitants are 100% Japanese while at the other extreme is the U.S.A., which is compared to a melting pot for different nations and cultures of the world. In this context, the "salad bowl" theory came out, in which nations and races may have mixed, but they still preserve their particularities or cultures. The U.S.A. market is a heterogeneous one. In Romania, given the ethnic diversity of the population - Romanians, Hungarians, RRoms, Germans etc. we can mention ethnically-based markets. For example, in the counties in which the Hungarian population is major or detains over 20%, there is a Hungarian market for books, newspapers, school - education etc. 3.1.7. Trends in passage from mass markets to micro-markets This represents the most significant trend which should not be neglected by marketing agents, since it is the result of a combination of all the other demographic trends previously presented. It is about the fact that the mass market divides itself into different small markets, differentiated by sex, age, education, ethnic groups, civil status etc., differences compulsory to be considered when establishing the marketing mix. 3.2. The economic environment The economic environment's factors reflect themselves, directly or indirectly, in the market situation and they influence both the companies' and the individual consumers' purchasing behavior. Among these factors, the most important are: the general condition of economy, people's purchasing power and their desire of spending and the structure of consume spending. In what concerns the general condition of economy, the general economic conditions are fluctuating in any country, related to the phase of economic cycle ( business ) in which that particular country is. There can be mentioned four classical phases: enthusiasm, crisis, depression and recovery. In the phase of enthusiasm, consumers detain their greatest power of purchasing and are eager to spend, unemployment is reduced, the inflation rate is low and businesses are prosperous. When the offer is bigger than the demand, the economy enters the overproduction crisis: unemployment and inflation increase, the purchasing power and the consume decrease. Within the structure of consume spending, the greatest part goes to products and basic services; people giving up expensive products. During the crisis, companies revisit their marketing strategies. They have to practice a marketing oriented toward value, in order to maintain their customers, who are now more careful with their money. In the 90's of the XX century, Romania found herself in a prolonged economic crisis - given the transition background to the market economy. The purchasing power of most Romanians decreased. 3.3. The technological environment The technological environment, within which the company functions, is made up of components able to explain "how" the products ( services ) are obtained and how society needs them at a certain moment. The company involves in the technological environment dynamics both as beneficiary and supplier, mainly through the market. This is possible because the mutations produced inside technologies lead to corresponding changes in the volume, dynamics and offer structure, and in demand and prices. Remarkably though, the technological environment represents today one of the most dynamic components of the company's macro-environment, with implications upon the quassi-totality of society's life aspects. The evolution of technological environment gains a definite status through some specific elements, such as: inventions and innovations, the size and orientation of funds destined for research and development, the 'explosion' of new products, the improvement of traditional ones, regulations with regard to polluting technology exclusion etc. The human civilization is a direct result of technologies. We cannot imagine our life without the surrounding products, as well as we cannot imagine what the technological environment will be like in 20 - 30 years' time. Generally, new technologies create new opportunities and new markets. That is why marketers must understand correctly the importance of environmental trends. Acceleration of technological changes pace can impose upon companies to follow the changes and to establish whether these changes will or will not affect their products' capacity of satisfying the consumers' needs. The increase in spending for research and development is higher and higher, especially in case of top industries, in order to counterattack competition. 3.4. The cultural environment The cultural environment consists of the assembly of elements related to the value system, traditions, beliefs and norms which govern people's status within a society. Based on these components, the purchasing and consume behavior sets up, and the company will have to take it into consideration. In the same manner, the cultural environment elements sometimes intervene in decisively delimitating segments on market, in designing of certain buyers' typology. The cultural environment equally contributes to the exigency manifestation on a specific market, which conditions, this way, the type and the manner of products distribution as well as the manner of company's communication with the market , of messages released on market. When evaluating the impact of cultural environment upon the company's activity, one must take into consideration the fact that it depends on a series of characteristics, as follows: cultural values are resistant in time; each culture is made up of secondary cultures as well; secondary cultural values change in time. In the same time one should mention the fact that the main cultural values of a society depend on people's conception toward themselves, toward people surrounding them, toward different organizations, society, nature and universe. 3.5. The political environment The political environment reflects, in a specific make-up of each country's, the society's structures, the social classes and their role in society, the political forces and the relationships among them, the degree of state involvement in economy, the stability degree of internal, regional and international political climate etc. these components are, depending on cases, stimulating or restrictive factors of some market activities. Their role increases in instability situations, due to a change of forces relationship in the political arena. Any business is run within a legal background and is under specific governmental agencies' influence and under specific pressure groups of public interest. The political environment still influences the business environment, and in certain countries it is powerful enough. Companies are interested in maintaining good relationships with political people and MPs for the following reasons: - when political people are in favor or against certain fields of activity, they will issue stimulating laws or less stimulating ones, in accordance with their interest; - political people influence the governmental decisions with regard to various ministries' supply from one company to a different one; - certain companies can influence the political events by illegal and non-ethical financial support of political personalities during the elections. In Romania, during the last ten years, serious changes of the political environment have occurred, and they are mainly characterized by: - set - up of a legislative framework favorable to businesses through the adaptation of certain laws with regard to the legal manifestation of competition; - consumer's protection against immoral commercial procedures; - set - up of a legal framework related to products, prices, packages, commercials, sale etc. Governmental agencies and international bodies are dominated by certain bureaucracy, which does not understand the business mechanisms and thus discouraging new investment and competition. 3.6. The institutional environment The institutional environment consists of the assembly of regulations of judicial nature, through which the market activity of a company is directly or indirectly supervised. Under the same framework are the regulations adopted by internal and international bodies with a view to harmonization of trading practices, facilitation of market documents such as: technical norms, recommendations, insurance, customs facilities, merchandise classification etc. Among these, remarkable is the legislation that protects businesses. Thus, in most of the countries, inclusive of Romania, there have been adopted a series of normative bills which protect competition. These bills are intended to ensure a legal framework for the development of fair market activities. Similarly, there are regulations with regard to consumers' protection or regulations related to the protection of society's interests. In our country, the lack of some legal regulations is visible, so that we confront an "attack", under various aspects, of companies over consumers and society, in general. Serious are the breakings of the right of selection of merchandise, of the right of being informed, the attempts of some companies to import refuse or expired goods or of poor quality etc. 3.7. The natural environment The natural environment comes to attention more and more often nowadays, especially in designing and running of economic activities. In all cases, natural conditions (relief, climate ) determine the manner of placement, of space distribution of human activities. For the economic units in some departments ( agriculture, tourism, prospecting etc. ) natural conditions are part of the subject of activity itself. The increase in importance of component of macro - environment is determined by the reduction of un - regenerating raw materials, and by the accentuation of pollution etc. Deterioration of the natural environment or habitat is considered the greatest provocation of the last decades. It is associated to, on the one side, great threats, but, on the other side, to great business opportunities. One of the threats is the raw materials crisis, mainly of exhaustible resources such as minerals ( coal, metal, oil ) and of those hard to regenerate such as forests and food. In Romania this crisis is due to the exhaustible character of certain resources, to sub-production in extracting industry, in agriculture and due to irrational exploitation of forests. In fact, it is also a crisis of costs: prices of raw materials increase costs and costs increase prices for the finite products, which negatively influences sales of all products, while inflation amplifies this phenomenon. The energy crisis still manifests in costs, mainly for oil and natural gas. Industrialized economies of the world depend on these un-regenerating resources to a great extent, and such resources play a tremendously important role on the political scene of the world. The marketing opportunities generated by the energy crisis are infinite. For Romania, export of electric energy is a great opportunity, in conditions in which the installed power was three times bigger than the consumption of 2001. The most profitable businesses on long and medium-terms will be in the field of alternative sources of energy or in little - energy - consuming technologies and products. The ecological crisis is the direct result of pollution and it seriously affects the quality of people's lives, therefore the state' and specialized organizations' role in protecting the natural environment must increase and they have to fight for diminishing the negative effects of both economic and social world life. Within the natural environment, too, there are a series of trends, illustrated by numerous specialty studies, and which will inherently affect most companies' activity. Among the most significant are: the raw materials crisis, the increase in energy cost, the increase of polluting degree, the increase of the governments' role in ensuring the natural environment protection. A general insight over the elements of the company's external environment, as presented above, indicates its high complexity degree, as well as the multitude of links between the company and its environment. In general, all environment components described above condition the company's activity to a greater or smaller extent. And the environment, in turn, will be influenced by the company's activity. In case of powerful companies, their influence will be visible even upon the macro - environment. Bibliografy [1] Diaconescu, Mihai, "Marketing", University of Bucharest, Romania, 2005. [2] Draghici Dana - Mihaela, Marketing, Omnia Uni S.A.S.T., Brasov, Romania, 2005. [3] Kotler, Philip; Armstong, Gary; Saunders, John; "Principles of Marketing, Perentice Hall Inc. a Simon & Schuster Company, 2003. [4] Kotler, Philip, "Marketing,Management", Pearson Education - Inc., Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2003. |
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