Marketing is the process by which companies determine what

products or services may be of interest to customers, and the

strategy to use in sales, communications and business
development. It is an integrated process through which
companies create value for customers and build strong customer
relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.

Marketing is used to identify the customer, to keep the customer,

and to satisfy the customer. With the customer as the focus of its
activities, it can be concluded that marketing management is
one of the major components of business management. The
evolution of marketing was caused due to mature
markets and overcapacities in the last 2-3 centuries. Companies
then shifted the focus from production to the customer in order to
stay profitable.

The term marketing concept holds that achieving organizational

goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets
and delivering the desired satisfactions. It proposes that in order
to satisfy its organizational objectives, an organization should
anticipate the needs and wants of consumers and satisfy these
more effectively than competitors.

Important Definitions

Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association

(AMA) as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for
creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings
that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at
large. The term developed from the original meaning which
referred literally to going to a market to buy or sell goods or
services. Seen from a systems point of view, Sales Process
Engineering views marketing as "a set of processes that are
interconnected and interdependent with other functions, whose
methods can be improved using a variety of relatively new
approaches."

The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as "the

management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and
satisfying customer requirements profitably. A different concept is
the value-based marketing which states the role of marketing to
contribute to increasing shareholder value. In this context,
marketing is defined as "the management process that seeks to
maximize returns to shareholders by developing relationships
with valued customers and creating a competitive advantage.

Marketers and Market

Marketers are focused on stimulating exchanges with customers

who make up markets – B2C or B2B.

The market is comprised of people who play a series of roles:

decision makers, consumers, purchasers, and influencers.

It is absolutely essential that marketers have a detailed

understanding of consumers, their needs and wants.
Much happens before and after the sale to affect customer
satisfaction

History Of marketing

The history of marketing thought deals with the evolution of

theories in the field of marketing, from the ancient world.
Marketing historians agree that the discipline branched out of at
the turn of the twentieth century, though some argue that
scholars in the ancient and medieval ages had already studied
marketing ideas.

Development of Marketing: Timeline of innovation

 1450: Gutenberg's metal movable type, leading eventually

to mass-production of flyers and brochures
 1730s: emergence of magazines.
 1836: first paid advertising in a newspaper. (in France)
 1839: Posters on private property banned in London
 1864: earliest recorded use of the telegraph for mass
unsolicited spam
 1867: earliest recorded billboards rentals
 1880s: early examples of trademarks as branding.
 1905: the University of Pennsylvania offered a course in "The
Marketing of Products"
 1908: Harvard business school opens.
 1922: Radio advertising commences.
  1940s: Electronic computers developed
 1941: first recorded use of Television Advertising.
 1950s: systematization of telemarketing.
 1970s: E-Commerce invented.
 1980s: development of Database Marketing as precursor to
CRM
 1980s: emergence of Relationship marketing.
 1980s: emergence of computer-oriented Spam
 1984: introduction of Guerilla Marketing
 1985: Desktop publishing democratizes the production of
print-advertising
 1991: Integrated Marketing Communication gains academic
status.
 1990s CRM and IMC (in various guises and names) gain
dominance in promotions and marketing planning
 1995-2001: the Dot Com temporarily re-defines the future of
marketing
 1996: identification of viral marketing.
 2000s: Integrated Marketing gains acceptance and in 2002
its first dedicated academic research centre

Fundamentals of Marketing

 Business model
 Consumer
 Core
 Core competency
 Customer
 Customer lifetime value (CLV)
 Customer relationship management (CRM)
 Economies of scope
 End-user
 Experience curve effects
 Market
 Market segment
 Market share
 Marketing
 Business Marketing
 Marketing Effectiveness
 Marketing mix
 Marketing myopia
 Marketing orientation, also called customer
focus or marketing concept
 Situational Analysis
 Target market
 Sales
 Salesman
 Sustainable competitive advantage
 Value
 Value chain
  Value migration

Core Marketing Concepts

Need, wants and demands.

Target market, Positioning and Segmentation

Offerings and Brands

Value and Satisfaction

Marketing channels

Supply chain

Competition

Marketing environment

Marketing Triangle
Marketing Management

Marketing management is a business discipline which is

focused on the practical application of marketing techniques and
the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities.
Rapidly emerging forces of globalization have compelled firms to
market beyond the borders of their home country
making International marketing highly significant and an integral
part of a firm's marketing strategy. Marketing managers are often
responsible for influencing the level, timing, and composition of
customer demand accepted definition of the term. In part, this is
because the role of a marketing manager can vary significantly
based on a business' size, corporate culture, and industry context.
For example, in a large consumer products company, the
marketing manager may act as the overall general manager of his
or her assigned product. To create an effective, cost-
efficient Marketing management strategy, firms must possess a
detailed, objective understanding of their own business and
the market in which they operate. In analyzing these issues, the
discipline of marketing management often overlaps with the
related discipline of strategic planning.

Marketing management Tasks

Developing market strategies and plans

Capturing market insights

Connecting with customers

Building strong brands

Shaping the market offerings

Delivering value

Communicating value

Creating long-term growth

Market Research

Market research is any organized effort to gather information

about markets or customers. It is a very important component
of business strategy. The term is commonly interchanged
with marketing research; however, expert practitioners may
wish to draw a distinction, in that marketing research is
concerned specifically about marketing processes,
while market research is concerned specifically with markets.

Market research, as defined by the ICC/ESOMAR International

Code on Market and Social Research, includes social and opinion
research, [and] is the systematic gathering and interpretation of
information about individuals or organizations using statistical
and analytical methods and techniques of the applied social
sciences to gain insight or support decision making.
Structure of Marketing Management

Traditionally, marketing analysis was structured into three

areas: Customer analysis, Company analysis, and Competitor
analysis (so-called "3Cs" analysis). More recently, it has become
fashionable in some marketing circles to divide these further into
certain five "Cs": Customer analysis, Company analysis,
Collaborator (Supplier) analysis, Competitor analysis, and Industry
Analysis, this process is collectively known as Situational
Analysis.

The Marketing Mix

The conventional view of the marketing mix consisted of four

components (4 Ps): Product, Price, Place/ distribution and
Promotion.

Generally acknowledged that this is too narrow today; now

includes, Processes, Productivity [technology] People
[employees], Physical evidence

Marketers today are focused on virtually all aspects of the firm’s

operations that have the potential to affect the relationship with
customers.
What Changed In marketing
Old Economy New Economy
• Organize by product units • Organize by customer segments
• Focus on profitable • Focus on customer lifetime value
transactions • Look also at marketing scorecard
• Look primarily at financial • Focus on stakeholders
scorecard • Everyone does the marketing
• Focus on shareholders • Build brands through performance
• Marketing does the • Focus on customer retention
marketing • Measure customer satisfaction
• Build brands through and retention rate
advertising • Under-promise, over-deliver
• Focus on customer
acquisition
• No customer satisfaction
measurement
• Over-promise, under-deliver

The Give and Get of marketing

Great Words on Marketing

1. “The purpose of a company is ‘to create a customer…The

only profit center is the customer.’”
2. “A business has two—and only two—basic functions:
marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation
produce results: all the rest are costs.”
3. “The aim of marketing is to make selling unnecessary.”
4. “While great devices are invented in the Laboratory, great
products are invented in the Marketing department.”
5. “Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing
department.

Situational Analysis: Important Definitions

Systematic collection and evaluation of past and

present economical, political, social, and technological data, It is
aimed at (1) identification of internal and
external forces thatmayinfluence the organizations performance a
nd choice of strategies, and (2) assessment of the
organization's current and future strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and strengths. See also PESTEL
analysis and SWOT analysis.

Examination of the internal strengths (S), weaknesses (W),

external opportunities (O), and threats (T) affecting an
organization. Also called SWOT Analysis, a situational analysis is a
basic element of the marketing plan and is used to make
projections for the proposed marketing activities. Typically the
analysis seeks to answer two general questions: Where is the
organization now? And, in what direction is the organization
headed? Factors studied in order to answer these questions are
the social and political developments impacting on marketing
strategy, competitors, technological advances, and other industry
developments that may affect the marketing plan.

An intense self-examination that starts out the marketing

planning [Link] situation analysis involves answering the
question “Where are we?” by asking a series of questions about
an organization and the world in which it functions. The process of
answering these questions helps the organization narrow down its
problem and the potential solutions to that problem. The situation
analysis should lead the organization to its best short and long
term solutions. There are three stages to a situation analysis: the
Environmental Analysis, the Competitive Analysis and the Internal
Analysis.
In order to profitably satisfy customer needs, the firm first must
understand its external and internal situation, including the
customer, the market environment, and the firm's own
capabilities. Furthermore, it needs to forecast trends in the
dynamic environment in which it operates.

A useful framework for performing a situation analysis is the 5 C

Analysis. The 5C analysis is an environmental scan on five key
areas especially applicable to marketing decisions. It covers the
internal, the micro-environmental, and the macro-environmental
situation. The 5 C analysis is an extension of the 3 C analysis
(company, customers, and competitors), to which some
marketers added the 4th C of collaborators. The further addition
of a macro-environmental analysis (climate) results in a 5 C
analysis, some aspects of which are outlined below.

Company

Product line

Image in the market

Technology and experience

Culture

Goals
Collaborators

Distributors

Suppliers

Alliances

Customers

Market size and growth

Market segments

Benefits that consumer is seeking, tangible and intangible.

Motivation behind purchase; value drivers, benefits vs. costs

Decision maker or decision-making unit

Retail channel - where does the consumer actually purchase the

product?

Consumer information sources - where does the customer obtain

information about the product?

Buying process; e.g. impulse or careful comparison

Frequency of purchase, seasonal factors

Quantity purchased at a time

Trends - how consumer needs and preferences change over time

Competitors

Actual or potential

Direct or indirect

Products

Positioning

Market shares

Strengths and weaknesses of competitors

Industry/Climate (or context)

The climate or macro-environmental factors are:

Political & regulatory environment - governmental policies and

regulations that affect the market

Economic environment - business cycle, inflation rate, interest

rates, and other macroeconomic issues

Social/Cultural environment - society's trends and fashions

Technological environment- new knowledge that makes possible

new ways of satisfying needs; the impact of technology on the
demand for existing products

The analysis of these four external "climate" factors often is

referred to as a PEST analysis.
Information Sources

Customer and competitor information specifically oriented toward

marketing decisions can be found in market research reports,
which provide a market analysis for a particular industry. For
foreign markets, country reports can be used as a general
information source for the macro-environment. By combining the
regional and market analysis with knowledge of the firm's own
capabilities and partnerships, the firm can identify and select the
more favorable opportunities to provide value to the customer.

Company Analysis: An Overview

 Once we’ve completed the economic forecast and industry

analysis, we can focus on choosing the best positioned
company in our chosen industry

 Selecting a company will involve an analysis of:

 The company’s management
 The company’s financial statements
 Key drivers for future growth
 Obviously, we are looking for companies with the best
management, strong financials, great prospects, and that
are undervalued by the market.
 Always remember that the past is irrelevant, what you are
buying is future results.
Evaluating Management

 Strong management is vital for companies to perform in

accord with the highest expectations of investors
 Unfortunately, evaluating the quality of a company’s
management team is very difficult, especially for individual
investors
 Professionals have the advantage in that they have many
contacts within the industry who are familiar with the
management team, and they can visit the company and talk
with the team personally
 As an individual, there are several things you can do:
 Read the 10k – it has information on the background of
executives and board members. Information includes age,
pay, stock ownership, etc
 Read the business press – There are often stories which
provide insights into the character and abilities of senior
management
 Call investor relations – They can answer any reasonable
questions that you may have
 Study the financial statements – Good management leads to
solid financials Despite your best efforts at judging
management’s ability, things can go wrong
  History is replete with examples of formerly great managers
running their new companies into the ground
 Here are a few examples that come to mind:
 AT&T – C. Michael Armstrong
 Sunbeam – “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap
 Apple Computer – John Scully
 Long-term Capital Management – John Meriwether, Robert
Merton, and Myron Scholes (the latter two were Nobel Prize
winners in economics)

Financial Statement Analysis

 There are three statements to watch:

 Income statement
 Balance sheet
 Statement of cash flows
 Two major tools:
 Ratios
 Growth rates

The Income Statement

  The income statement provides us with information about
the firms revenues and expenses over some previous time
period (usually quarterly, semiannually, and annually)
 The key variables to watch are revenues, gross profit
margins, operating profit margins, net profit margins
 We especially want to evaluate the quality of the firm’s
earnings

The Balance Sheet

 The balance sheet describes the assets, liabilities, and equity

of the firm at a point in time
 Key variables to watch on the balance sheet are cash,
accounts receivable, inventories, and long-term debt
 Always remember what Benjamin Graham said in Security
Analysis, “liabilities are real but the assets are of
questionable value.”

The Statement of Cash Flows

 Ultimately, cash is king and the statement of cash flows tells

us exactly why a firm’s cash balance changed
  The statement of cash flows is far more difficult to
manipulate than the income statement, and can help to
gauge the quality of earnings
 The Cash Flows from Operations section is the most
important as it measures the cash provided by the day to
day operation of the business
 A company could, for example, show steadily rising revenues
and net income, but negative cash flows from operations.
How? If accounts receivable is rising. This can only go on
for so long before the company has grown its revenues right
into bankruptcy because it isn’t collecting on those sales.
Positive earnings must always be confirmed by positive cash
flows.
 This statement is as important, if not more so, than the
income statement. Always examine it to find out what
management is doing with the shareholder’s money

Analyzing Financial Ratios

 Financial ratios are the microscope that allows us to see

behind the raw numbers and find out what’s really going on
 Financial ratios fall into five categories:
 Liquidity
 Efficiency
 Leverage
 Coverage
  Profitability
 When analyzing ratios always remember that no one ratio
provides the whole story, and that the standards for each
ratio are different for every industry.

Growth Rates

 Growth rates of various variables are important as well

 Key variables to calculate growth rates are revenues,
operating profits, and free cash flow.

Collaborator analysis

Questions to be asked:

What is their product or service?

What are its special features?

What are its strengths?

What are its weaknesses?

What do you have that would link your businesses (a shared
theme, local to each other, type of person, etc)?

How could our businesses work together?

For collaborative activity to work it is important that all
contributors play a part and How could our businesses work
together?

For collaborative activity to work it is important that all

contributors play a part and that each business gains a
benefit.

SWOT analysis of the collaborator

Working successfully with others takes trust, time and effort to

set up and run effectively. Other businesses may not be at the
same stage as we are, so we may need to be flexible if we are
thinking of setting up a new group or joining an established one.

Customer analysis

Customer Analysis shows the current state of sales activities.

The analysis includes total number of customers, total number of
active customers and top 10 customers and their sales in dollars
and percentage, as well as dollars and percentage of profit
margin. The same information is listed for the top three
customers. Further information can be broken out by individual
customer, such as sales by product type. Look for patterns among
your top customers.

• Asking customers directly, either through phone calls,

customer visits or using surveys sent with product
• Examining your track record or historical dealings with
customers
• Enlisting employees who have frequent contact with
customers for their help in passing along information
• Collecting information from vendors or competitors
• Networking at trade shows, through associations or local
groups
• Analyzing industry and market data

Customer Analysis: STP

• Segmentation is the concept that recognizes diversity in the
marketplace. The process of segmenting the market
produces clusters of people who are similar
• Targeting a segment involves the identification of segments
to which marketing effort will be directed. Marketers must
select targets for which their product will meet a need.
• Positioning requires designing a company and product image
and developing a marketing mix to promote the image to the
target segment(s)
Segmentation:
• Market Segmentation is the Process of Identifying
Homogeneous Groups of Buyers Requiring Different
Marketing Strategies to Influence their Consumption
• Organizations have Limited Resources
• Consumers may be too Numerous, Widely Scattered and
Varied in their Needs
• Competing Organizations may be Better able to Attract
Certain Groups of Customers (Segments) in the Market
• Each Organization Should, Therefore Identify the Most
Attractive Parts of the Market that it could Effectively Serve
(Target Market).

Steps in segmentation
• Survey stage
-Gathering data on a random sample of consumers for
several different bases and descriptor variables
• Analysis stage
-Cluster analysis
• Profiling stage

Targeting:
Positioning:
• Now that we have segmented the market and picked out the
segments we want to target with our offering, the next
question is, how can we convince consumers in the target
segment to choose our offering?
• To do this, we have to convince this segment that our
product / service / firm:
• Meets (or exceeds) their needs
• Does it better than competitive offerings
• This is the role of Positioning in a firm’s marketing strategy

Questions to ask when positioning:

 • What position do we own?
• Find the answer in the marketplace
• What position do we want?
• Select one that does not become obsolete
• Who must we out-gun?
• Do we have enough money?
• Spend enough to accomplish objective
• Can we stick it out?
• Expect internal pressures for change
• Do ads match our position?
• Don’t let creativity get in the way

STP Process

Competitor Analysis:
Competitor Analysis Framework
Michael Porter presented a framework for analyzing competitors.
This framework is based on the following four key aspects of a
competitor:

Competitor's objectives
Competitor's assumptions
Competitor's strategy
Competitor's capabilities

Competitor Analysis Components

Industry Analysis:
Seven Questions for Industry Analysis-
1. What are the industry dominant economic traits?
2. What competitive forces are at work in the industry and how
strong are they?
3. What are the forces of change in the industry and what impact
will they have?
4. Which companies are in the strongest/weakest competitive
position?
5. who’s likely to make what competitive moves next?
6. What key factors will determine success or failure?
7. How attractive is the industry in terms of its prospects for
above average profitability?

Q1. What are the industry dominant economic traits?

• Market size (Small markets don’t attract big fish)
• Scope of competitive rivalry
• Market/industry growth rate (life cycle)
o Fast growth breeds new entry; slowdowns lead to
increased competition.
• Number of rivals and their size
• Number of buyers and their size
• Level of backward and forward integration
• Technological change (rate and scope)
• Level of differentiation between firms’ products
• Opportunities for economies of scale
• Ease of entry and exit
• Capital requirements
 • Market

o Size

o Scope

o Growth rate

o Growth cycle

o # & size of competitors

o Distribution channels

o Structure

o Forward Integration

o Backward Integration

• Product

o Differentiation

o Potential for economies of scale

o Learning effects

o Entry / exit costs

o Technological change

Q2. What competitive forces are at work in the industry

and how strong are they?
• Porter’s Five Forces. Forces influencing industry and
competitive advantage:
o Competitive Intensity (Rivalry Among Sellers)
o Barriers to Entry (Potential for New Entrants)
o Bargaining Power of Suppliers
o Bargaining Power of Customers
o Threat of Substitute Products
• The rivalry among sellers
o Greater the rivalry, lower the avg. profitability
o What causes rivalry to be strong or weak?
 # of competitors
 Size / capability of competitors
 Financial status of competitors
 Slow growth
 Cost of exit barriers
 Switching costs for customers
 Variability in demand
• Potential new entrants
o Barriers to entry
 Economies of scale
 Learning curve effects
 Customer loyalty / brand preferences
 Resource / investment
 Access to distribution
 Regulation
  Patents, proprietary technology
o Level of industry profits
• The relative power of suppliers
o Importance of component
o Switching costs
o Backward integration threats
o Substitutes
• The relative power of buyers
o Switching costs
o % market share / size
o # of suppliers
o Product standardization
o Potential for backward integration
• Substitute products
o Place a ceiling on prices and profits of industry
o Invite comparison shopping
o E.g., eyeglasses vs. contact lenses
o E.g., sugar vs. artificial sweeteners

Q4. Which companies are in the strongest/weakest

competitive position?
• Using the strategic group mapping: two dimensional
representation according to the competitive characteristics
of the competitors in the industry

• Axes should not be correlated

 • Size of circles proportional to combined sales
• The closer the circles, the stronger the rivalry

Q5. Who’s likely to make what competitive moves next?

• In order to outmaneuver your competition you have to
evaluate the competitors’ future moves.
• Identify competitors strategies
• Evaluate who are the major players-- now
• Who will be the major players
• Evaluate what the major players are going to do

Q6. What key factors will determine success or failure?

• Key success factors (KSF) are crucial elements that lead to
success.
• What are they now? What will they be?
• In beer production KSF can be brewing skills
• In retail apparel KSF can be low cost, superior service,
superior design
• In your industry, KSF=????

Q7. How attractive is the industry in terms of its

prospects for above average profitability?
• Growth potential
• Driving forces
• Entry/exit
• Stability of demand
 • Competitive forces
• Risk and uncertainty
• Competition and its impact on the industry’s future

Article 1
Conceptualizing the dynamics of organizations:
foundations for situational analysis

Author: Emanuel Todeva

Introduction:

Complexity of the organizations has created an immense diversity

of approaches for research and consultancy. Based on a review of
previous work, proposes a new theoretical model for
organizational analysis which examines three levels of
organizational consultancy. The first level is the level of business
organization. The second level focuses on the internal
management and organization of resources. The third level
examines the individuals and the human behavior at work.
Presents the situational analysis in organization as an evaluation
procedure allowing in-depth analysis of problems in work
situations. The ultimate goal of this procedure is to enable
consultants to map out the key elements for evaluation in work
situations and to test existing relationships between different
factors considered in organizational re-design. The proposed
methodology has been developed as part of a consultancy project
based on participant observation and conducted by the author in
Bulgaria in 1988.

Article 2
Impacts of situational factors on buying decisions in
shopping malls: An empirical study with multinational
data

Author(s): Guijun Zhuang, Alex S.L. Tsang, Nan Zhou, Fuan Li,
J.A.F. Nicholls

Introduction:

Purpose – To investigate the impact of situational factors on mall

shoppers' buying decisions
Design/methodology/approach – Based on Belk's framework
on situational factors in a sales situation, the study employed a
dataset of mall shoppers in the USA, China and Hong Kong and
logistic regression for analysis.
Findings – It is found that, whether in the combined sample or in
the individual samples, nine of the 13 situational factors
considered significantly affected shoppers' purchases of food or
non-food products. However, situational influences on purchases
varied according to the types of products bought. More
importantly, the findings on the impact of some factors were
consistent across three or two samples, suggesting that their
external validity may be extended to certain conditions.
Research limitations/implications – The study had a limitation
in the selection of the malls where the interviews were conducted,
so some of the findings may be mall-specific rather than
representative of the general population of shoppers in the
nations or regions.

Practical implications – The information disclosed here may

help the practitioners to better understand shoppers' (especially
Chinese shoppers') behavior in malls and, as a consequence, to
undertake more efficient marketing strategies in malls (especially
in the malls in China).
Originality/value – The distinguished feature of this paper is
that it simultaneously examined the impacts of 13 situational
factors on mall shoppers' purchase decisions with multinational
data. This allowed researchers to check both the internal validity
and the external validity of the observed impacts of the
situational factors.

Article 3
Situation Analysis of Abercrombie and Fitch UK
Source: [Link]

Introduction:

Abercrombie and Fitch is one of the oldest clothing and retail

organizations in the world today. It was started in 1892 by its
founder David Abercrombie in the United States. Eight years later,
this company’s owner then joined with Ezra Fitch to become
Abercrombie and Fitch. It continued its operations throughout the
first half of the twentieth century. However, in the nineteen
sixties, the company underwent financial challenges thus
necessitating a change in strategy. It was purchased by “The
Limited” and repositioned itself as a provider of youth apparel.
The company began specializing in the provision of outdoor
clothing. In 1988, the company decided to change its image to
that of a Luxury lifestyle brand.
The company began expanding into other parts of the world such
as Canada and the United Kingdom. (A&F, 2006) This also
coincided with the launch of several brands within a decade. In
the United Kingdom, the company began its operations in 2007
with its store being located in London specifically 7 Burlington
Gardens. The latter location is one of the flagship stores for this
company. The paper shall examine the external and internal
issues facing it together with its weaknesses and strengths.

Article 4
Situation Analysis of the Beekeeping Industry
Author: Unknown author
Introduction:
Following a market study of the honey industry in Southern Africa
(South
Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia, Lesotho,
Mozambique), it was established that
(a) The region has vast potential for Honey production which
currently is under-exploited,
(b) All the countries in the region (except Zambia) is net honey
importers,
(c) Despite the potential most of the honey is exported from
outside Africa with South Africa Importing and exporting to the
other countries in the region,
(d) The Organization of beekeepers is weak and has to be
strengthened.

Article 5
Popper's situational analysis and contemporary sociology
Author(s): swedberg, Richard, Hedstrom, Peter, Udehn, Lars

Introduction:

The utility of Karl Popper's situational analysis in contemporary

sociology has been assessed. Situational analysis came out of his
1963 essay 'Models, Instruments, and Truth.' The investigation
examines whether Popper was knowledgeable in sociology to be
able to criticize it competently. Results show that situational
analysis has several handicaps that limits it usefulness as a
sociological tool. It cannot explain for the possibility of multiple
equilibria and the idea of interest is absent. Several key concepts
of the theory are also vaguely explained.