The internal marketing environment refers to INSIDE the organization itself, to help design an appropriate marketing strategy based upon the position and resources of the firm.

When analyzing the internal marketing environment, we would consider: resources, capabilities, corporate culture, management style and leadership, track record of success, current strategy, and so on.

However, it is often common that firms neglect an internal marketing environmental analysis and instead focus on the micro environment almost exclusively.

The micro environment consists of: consumers, competitors, suppliers, distributors - the players that make up the industry in which the firm competes. Marketing strategies tend to be built around consumer needs and competitors - but is this the right approach???

In your opinion, to what extent does the firm's marketing strategy need to be based upon the firm's internal environment?

Why do you think firms tend to focus more heavily on the micro environment to structure and design their marketing strategy?

If firms rely solely upon the micro environment for their marketing strategy development, would this mean that all firms would end up with very similar marketing strategies?

Think about the components of a SWOT analysis. Where would the internal environment most likely be represented in the SWOT?