THE SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC ENVIRONMENT

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THE SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC ENVIRONMENT

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• To understand
• the processes by which individuals develop
  distinct social and cultural values
• the concepts of social class, lifestyles,
  reference groups, family structure and culture
• the effects of changing social and cultural
  values on consumers' purchase decisions
• the impact of demographic change on the marketing
  of goods and services

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SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON BEHAVIOUR

• Individuals learn norms of behaviour from
• The dominant cultural values of the society in
  which they live.
• The social class to which they belong.
• Important reference groups, in particular the
  family.

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THE CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT

• A culture's values are expressed in a complex set
  of beliefs, customs and symbols which help to
  identify individuals as members of one particular
  culture rather than another
• Distinguish between "core" and "secondary"
  cultural values
• Increasing importance of sub-cultures

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EFFECTS OF CULTURE ON BUSINESSES

• Cultural sensitivity affects many aspects of
  business planning and operations, e.g.
• Understanding processes of buyer behaviour
• Distribution channel decisions are partly a
  reflection of cultural attitudes
• Advertising messages do not always translate
  easily between different cultures
• Methods of procuring resources can vary between
  cultures

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SOCIAL CLASS

• In most societies, divisions exist between groups
  of people in terms of their access to privileges
  and status
• As the size of each class changes, so market
  segments, which are made up of people who are
  similar in some important respects, also change

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THE FAMILY

• A further layer in the socialisation process
• Changing composition of families - smaller
  families
• Changing roles of family members
• Growth of nuclear and cellular families
• What are the implications for businesses?

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REFERENCE GROUPS

• Groups that influence individuals attitudes and
  behaviour
• Primary reference groups
• Based on personal contact, e.g. school friends
• Secondary reference groups
• No direct contact, but can influence behaviour
  (e.g. pop star idols)

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ATTITUDES AND LIFESTYLES

• Attitudes are a state of mind
• May eventually be translated into behaviour - a
  lifestyle
• Attitudes and lifestyle may say more about a
  person's consumption patterns than class, status
  etc.

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IDENTIFYING AND MEASURING SOCIAL GROUPS

• Three theoretical approaches to measuring social
  groupings
• By self-measurement
• By objective approaches
• By asking third parties

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OBJECTIVE BASES

• IPA Classification system
• UK Census

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GEODEMOGRAPHIC BASES

• An individuals residential location correlates
  with many purchase decisions
• Relatively easy to collect data (e.g. ACORN /
  MOSAIC

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DEMOGRAPHY

• Reasons why businesses should study changing
  demographic structures
• Helps to predict the size of the market that a
  product is likely to face
• Demographic trends have supply side implications
• Implications for public sector services.
• Demographic change can influence the nature of
  family life and communities

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CHANGES IN UK POPULATION

• Population change can be attributed to three main
  factors
• the birth rate
• the death rate
• the difference between inward and outward
  migration

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AGE STRUCTURE OF THE POPULATION

• Key trends
• Growing number of elderly people
• Very significant growth in very old
• Currently rising number of young people
• Issue for future Growing dependent population

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GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

• Drift from north to south-east
• Drift from towns to rural areas
• What are implications for
• patterns of demand?
• availability of workforce?