Over the next 4 weeks, you will apply the knowledge you have gained from your study and research in order to develop a modified marketing audit for your own organization or another organization of your choice. You must conduct at least one first-person interview, so choose an organization for which this will be possible. You should arrange this interview as soon as possible.

Remember, this should be someone in the marketing department who has an understanding of the overall marketing picture, but it does not necessarily need to be a high-level marketing executive.

A marketing audit is a comprehensive, systematic, independent, and periodic assessment of a company’s marketing environment, objectives, strategies, and activities with the goal of identifying potential opportunities and problem areas.

The eventual objective of a marketing audit is to recommend a plan of action to improve the company’s marketing performance.

Your marketing audit will have the following characteristics:
•It should cover all major marketing activities of a business, not just a few trouble spots. In other words, it should paint a complete picture of marketing at the company.

•The marketing audit should be an orderly examination of the company’s macro and microeconomic environments, marketing objectives and strategies, and marketing activities.
•The best marketing audits come from people who are objective and assess each issue with a critical eye.
•The marketing audit provides a long-term view of the company’s marketing strategies.

Your Praxis Paper, due in Week 4, will be 10-12 pages in length and include an executive summary, followed by a thorough discussion of the focus identified for each week. With each of the main topics, you should conduct a review of the scholarly literature in order to set a context for your conclusions. You are required to include research from at least one first-person interview and at least seven peer-reviewed practitioner or scholarly journals. For this paper, you will submit four assignments to your Instructor: •Due Week 1: details about the organization you have chosen,

the individual you intend to interview, and an analysis of the macro environment audit.
•Due Week 2: analysis of task environment audit.
•Due Week 3: analysis of marketing organization and strategy audit.
•Due Week 4: your completed Praxis Paper.

Identify an individual or individuals in your chosen organization whom you will interview for this Praxis Paper. She or he should be an individual who understands the organization’s strategic use of marketing activities to achieve competitive advantage in the marketplace and is willing to meet with you to discuss these initiatives.

This individual does not need to be the marketing director or other high-level individual; just someone who has an overall grasp of the company’s marketing activities. You should schedule an interview as soon as possible because you will need the information from the interview in order to complete the assignments in Weeks 2 and 3. For this week, you will need to complete the macro environment audit using information you gather through online research.

Macro Environment Audit

The macro environment audit allows you to gain an understanding of the market in which the firm is operating and outside influences that may have an impact on how business is done.

This work will also give you a foundation on which to build for your upcoming interview. Each of the following main areas must be addressed as part of this audit, but the questions listed are only guidelines as to the type of information you must gather in order to complete an analysis; they are listed to help you get started.

To describe and analyze the following elements, you will need to collect information on your chosen company or conduct outside research using online resources to assemble this data. You should cover each particular topic, but in a way that is most meaningful for the organization that you have selected.

1. Demographic

•What major demographic developments and trends pose opportunities for or threats to this company?
2. Economic •What actions is the company taking in response to economic developments and trends?
3. Environmental •What is the outlook for the cost and availability of natural resources and energy that are needed by the company?
•What concerns, if any, have been expressed about the company’s role in pollution and conservation, and what steps has the company taken?
4. Technological •What major changes are occurring in product and process technology?

•What is the company’s position in relation to these technologies?
5. Political •What changes in laws and regulations might affect marketing strategy and tactics?
•What is happening in the areas of pollution control, equal employment opportunity, product safety, advertising, price control, and so forth, that affects marketing strategy?
6. Cultural •What is the public’s attitude toward the company’s products?
•What changes in customer lifestyles and values might affect the company?

Write a summary (23 pages) describing the company for which you are completing the audit. Include the name and title of the individual you intend to interview, and write up your findings and analysis of the macro environment audit, using each numbered item as a heading for your paper. You should also review the scholarly literature so that you are able to include a description of the significance of the marketing audit in your completed Praxis Paper. You may also wish to review the scholarly literature to help you gain insights into any of the major issues you identify for your selected organization.