2. Marketing environment

I choose the company Skoda, because I think it is a very interesting company, and you can analyze the marketing environment from different points of view.

First I want to explain which two environments I want to look at.

The Marco Environment:
The Marco Environment is the environment, which shows the whole company in the whole world.

The Micro Environment:
The Micro Environment is the environment, which shwos the company in a smaller part e.g. one country. For that part I will choose Bielefeld.

The macro environment:
Skoda is since 1991 part of the VW-Group. That means that they have access to the market in the whole world.
To get a better overview about the macro environment I am going to explain it with the PESTLE analysis, which stands for "Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental analysis".






1. Political Factors:

Skoda is part of the VW-Group, which in Germany is partly owned by the state Niedersachsen. So the state has somehow something to say. But the most important factor is that the VW-Group is the “boss” for Skoda.
Of course, they have their own managers and can make their own decisions, but they have to go also through the VW-Group.
All in all it can be said, that they are independent on the one hand, but on the other, they are influenced by the VW-Group. To be part of that group offers them also a great competitive advantage, because they can act globally, use the VW technologic and the can save money for their own developements.


2. Economic Factors:



Since Skoda is part of the VW-Group its economic growth continuous grew. Especially in Germany there was a high growth last year, because of the “Abwrackprämie” (similar to the English cash-for-clunkers program). Skoda is also an “independent” company, which has to look after the market and do their own econmic programs.


3.Social Factors:



Skoda is one of the biggest entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic, because of that; the company has got a very high esteem for the workers there. Furthermore Skoda takes much responsibility for the workers. You can find on the homepage, the following statement for their social policy.

“The philosophy of Skoda Auto policy in the HR and social fields is based on the long-term role of the biggest employer in the region and places the human being at the core of attention and emphasizes the social responsibility of the company to its employees and the surroundings.”
HR= Human resource



4. Technological Factors:



In the beginning of the 90th Skoda was not very popular and they did not have a very good image.
But then the change came, Skoda became a member of the Volkswagen group, and a restructure of the brand began.
Skoda could use some of the technology from the Volkswagen group, which had following pros:

1. They must not spend so much money for their own development -> save costs
2. They can use the quality standard form VW -> better image/ higher quality
3. They have a high production level, because they must not spend as much
time/money on development -> can make more profit

Another thing which is very important, especially for the marketing, Skoda has nowadays a new and fresh design. This design was introduced in 2008 with the new Skoda Superb 2. There you can see that they have their own development, and want to become popular on the automobile market.
Those are the most important factors, for Skoda. There are also many others, but I think they must not be mentioned here.


5. Legal factors:

Skoda is a very large entrepreneur, so they have to cover several things on the law, but these factors are not very important for the consumer himself, so I will not describe them in detail. I will only say that they are covered by the company.


6. Environmental factors:



The company has a green production nowadays, as the most automobile companies. Furthermore Skoda as introduced some “Greenline” models, which are very environmental friendly and safe fuel.



SWOT analysis
To get a better overview about the micro environment I am going to explain it with the SWOT analysis, which stands for "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats".




For this part I will only concentrate on the micro environment around the area in Bielefeld, because I think there you have got the best possibilities to show what is meant by it.


1. Strengths:

In the area around the place where I live there are six Skoda partners. Which I think is a very large number. Furthermore these partners are mostly directly next to their competitors, which mean you can easily compare different brands.
I cannot tell something about each partner in detail, but I made the experience, that most of them have a really good service, when you go there you do not have to wait long time (for service as well as for advice in special problems).j
Strength for Skoda is that they use techniques from VW that means that you have tested techniques and if you have a problem and a Skoda is not near you, you can also go to VW.
What is also very mentionable is the price of the cars. If you for e.g. compare a Skoda (does not matter which car) to a similar car in the same league you will see, that for the same money as you buy another brand you will mostly get even more when you buy a Skoda. So it can be said, that they have a really good price performance ratio.


2.Weaknesses:

When you are interested in buying a Skoda there are also some weaknesses. On the one hand Skoda is also today not very popular, when you compare it to other brands. That is the reason, why it could be, that you have to drive a longer distance, when you have to go to the service or something else and you live not in a “big” city were you easily will find a Skoda partner.
Another weakness, which depends on the point of view, could be that Skoda has not such a large innovation program as other brands. They are in the Volkswagen Group, which means they are somehow addicted to it and cannot do directly what they want.
If you are really old fashioned, the image of Skoda is as well one of the weaknesses.


3.Opportunities:

Here you can surely add the connection to the Volkswagen Group. Skoda has access to their techniques and innovations, which means they could save money for innovations and so they can achieve their objective to sell as many cars as possible, to a good price and a good quality.



4.Threats:

As you can see in the opportunities, the connection to the Volkswagen Group can also be a threat. Because if Skoda wants to introduce a new car and they say no, it cannot be put on the market and the whole development might be without success.
Also a threat could be that there are many other brands on the market which might have other products which are more interesting for the costumer.



Competition




As on every market Skoda has as well many competitors. There are reams of other brands on the market, which all have their segments. And if there are several competitors, who offer cars in the same league, there is the competition. With that competition every brand has to live, and every brand then has to make something special so that get a larger market and become the market leader.
All in all it can be said that competition is very useful for the market, because if the costumer does not want to buy what him/her is offered the company has to think about, what is wrong and how they could make it better.
Skoda is settled, I think, in a market niche, because they offer the costumer very good products, which have a high quality to a very good price. So as I said before the price performance ratio is very good.