| Environmental monitoring | The process of gathering information regarding a company's external environment, analyzing it, and forecasting the impact of whatever trends the analysis suggests. Same as environmental scanning.
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| Demographics | The characteristics of human populations, including such factors as size, distribution, and growth.
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| Baby boomers | Americans born during the 20 years following World War II.
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| Generation X | Those people in the U.S. who were born between approximately 1966 and 1976. Also called baby busters, twenty-somethings, or boomerangers.
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| Generation Y | Those people in the U.S. who were born between 1977 and 1994. Also called echo boomers, or millennium generation.
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| Economic environment | A set of factors, including the business cycle, inflation, and interest rates, that affect the marketing activities of an organization.
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| Business cycle | The four recurring stages in an economy, typically prosperity, recession, depression, and recovery.
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| Inflation | A rise in the prices of goods and services.
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| Interest rates | The percentage amounts either charged to lend money or paid to acquire money.
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| Differential advantage | Any feature of an organization or brand perceived by customers to be desirable and different from those of the competition.
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| Social and cultural forces | A set of factors, including lifestyles, social values, and beliefs, that affect the marketing activities of an organization.
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| Political and legal forces | A set of factors, including monetary and fiscal policies, legislation, and regulations, that affect the marketing activities of an organization.
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| Technology | Applications of science for industrial and commercial purposes.
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| Market | People or organizations with needs to satisfy, money to spend, and the willingness to spend the money. Alternatively, any person or group with whom an individual or organization has an existing or potential exchange relationship.
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| Suppliers | The people or firms that supply the goods or services that an organization needs to produce what it sells.
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| Marketing intermediary | An independent business organization that directly aids in the flow of products between a marketing organization and its markets.
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| Value chain | The combination of a company, its suppliers, and intermediaries, performing their own activities, to add value to a product.
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