The external marketing environment (Socio-cultural) - By Mitchell Formica

Socio-cultural and the environment it encompasses involves a number of different factors such as the beliefs, customs, practices and behaviour within a population. We perceive forces in society and culture as influences on our thoughts, feelings and behaviour. For some people drinking beer is an activity that encourages good feelings and it is their belief that they it must be a part of their everyday life.

The link between the socio-cultural environment and the consumption of beer is a part of our every day’s lives. ‘The pub and bar have been geographically widespread social settings in many societies, symbolically as well as physically and socially central to popular culture, and yet in many ways they are unique leisure locations, warranting more attention than the sparse research to date’, (Northcote, J, 2011). Nowadays more and more places are accepting BYO beer and allowing consumers a wider range of beer products available for purchase. This change in society is due to a demand for the product, as more and more people are starting to drink socially the businesses that don’t cater for this are at a disadvantage and may even lose customers.

In today’s society there are many festivals and public activities like markets that involve beer in their social circle. It is becoming a part of our culture to incorporate whatever we are doing with alcohol. Opportunities such as these will envelope the beer products within our society as not a bad health risk but a more of a social pleasure that can be consumed without risk.

However in future there may be more opportunities for beer as technology changes and through automation and robotics we could see the beer industry redevelop itself in-terms of producing the overall product.

There have always been threats for the beer industry as they are seen as a bad health risk for consumers. Ad campaigns for beer have recently moved away from promoting their product with perfect videos of the beer just sitting there, to a different setting that involves younger diverse groups sipping away on a nice beach somewhere with the sunset in the background. This change is due to negative influences on beer and the ad campaigns are trying to move away from promoting the beer to instead promoting a place that you would rather be in with a beer.  

References

Northcote, J, 2011, ‘Young adults’ decision making surrounding heavy drinking: A multi-staged model of planned behaviour’, Vol.72 (12), pp.2020-2025.

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The Changing Face of Organisations - by Mitchell Formica

In recent years the culture of organisations have moved from a well-structured and ridged layout to a widely diverse and open environment. These changes are due to the ever changing environment in which we live in. We are bound by nature, but we also are bound by society and with that comes certain responsibilities and obligations for organisations. Firstly we look at the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and its impacts on the culture of a business and whether or not an economic crisis would affect the workplace balance and conditions. The answer is yes. When the financial crisis hit in July 2007, there was a quick turn of action by business’s to cut back on costs where possible. This meant tightening the belt for most if not all affected economies and cutting loose jobs that were not as important to stay afloat. In Australia alone it is estimated that 223,900 jobs have been lost due to the financial crisis (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014).

The stresses of retrenchment have evidently lowered morale across the board and made it hard for the everyday working citizen to feel comfortable and stable in their position in the business. The change in culture toward a more fluid, diverse and flexible setting in most large organisations today have alleviated some stresses however, there is still the uncertainty of the business’s decisions. Today, companies like to see them-selves as big families that take care of their employees and give them opportunities to put forth ideas and excel in their work environment. The concentration of wealth and profit is still a top priority for all businesses however, public image and culture are regarded among the top ten priorities for a sustainable organisation and are seen as the life and blood of an organisation. Without the workers there wouldn’t be an organisation.

Recently work culture has seen a total re-vamp since IBM owned the largest proportion of market share for computers. Since then companies have totally re-structured their business to fit a more employee friendly layout. Instead of the autocratic manager we recognise as our boss and not our mentor we see different styles of managers like persuasive and consultative bringing forth new improvements like giving the employees a chance to have their say and opinions on things, leading to higher levels of motivation.  

(Tuesday, 20 May 2014).