D
Internal and external. The environmental factors that businesses consider when conducting a situational
analysis may be internal as well as external. Internal factors are those within the business itself that have
an impact on the businesss marketing effort, such as the distribution system or the pricing strategy.
External factors are those that exist outside the business and over which the business may have no
control, such as the state of the economy or the number of competitors. Businesses examine both types
of environmental factors in order to adapt to change and make effective marketing decisions. For
example, a business might decide to adjust its prices to remain competitive if the economy is slowing
down. Physical and personal, ethical and legal, and formal and informal are not types of environmental
factors that businesses consider when conducting a situational analysis.