Developing an "environmental set"

What is a corporate "environmental set"?

The organisations that make-up a firm’s micro-environment are referred to as the “environmental set”. Most fundamentally, the environmental set of a customer-oriented firm is truly dynamic since membership and relationships between them change over time, hence the need for continuous environmental scanning and effective use of marketing intelligence.
In this sense, marketing intelligence practices (e.g. adoption and implementation of Customer Relationship Management ) becomes essential for sound marketing practices for all existing and potential "customers".

We should not forget, that all existing and potential organizations within our environmental set are prospective customers. For example, the adoption and implementation of sound CRM systems assists Marketing management in optimizing profitability, revenue and customer satisfaction by organizing the enterprise around customer segments, fostering customer-centric behaviors and implementing customer-centric processes (Gartner, 2004).

In view of the evolving and dynamic business relationships, Marketing management of a customer-centric firm serves more than the direct consumer market - as a selected market of choice. A firm equally serves business markets, reseller markets (e.g. distribution channels management) and even Government influence markets.