DMA001: Unit 3: The internet macro-environment

The digital macro-environment

In the previous study unit, we looked at the micro-environment. In this study unit, we take a
look at the macro-environment (external environment) which we have little or no control
over. These factors include political, economic, social, legal and technological environments
which can directly influence our operations. This study unit describes these factors and their
influence on the digital marketing strategy.

OUTCOMES

Study Unit 3: Specific Outcomes

Study Unit 3: Assessment Criteria

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Glossary of Terms

STUDY UNIT 3

Relevance

THE DIGITAL MACRO-ENVIRONMENT

 The Rate of Environmental Change

TECHNOLOGICAL FORCES

Some Internet Jargon

Cyber Security

Blockchain Technology

TECHNOLOGY AND FORCES

Emerging Technologies

Legal Forces

Social Forces

Economic Forces

Political Forces

UNIT 3: CONCLUDE

Conclusion

Progress Check and Downloads

Lesson 1 of 15

Study Unit 3: Specific Outcomes

Study Unit 3:
Specific Outcomes

0:08

Voice over: Specific outcomes

Study Unit Outcomes

After completing this study unit, you should be able to:

Explain the nature of the macro-environment and how it

affects an organisation’s digital marketing strategy,
planning, implementation and performance.

Explain marketing technology and its impact on a

business.

Explain, in practical terms, the legal, moral and ethical

constraints of digital marketing.

Discuss the impact of social forces on the digital

environment and how they should be considered in
digital planning.

Explain how economic forces influences the level of

success of business.

Practically describe the purpose of the political

environment as an element of the macro-environment.

CO N T I N U E
Lesson 2 of 15

Study Unit 3: Assessment Criteria

Study Unit 3:
Assessment Criteria

0:14

Voice over: Assessment criteria

Assessment Criteria

Macro-environmental forces are explained in terms of

their impact on an organisation’s digital strategy,
planning, implementation and performance.
Technology is explained and how it assists in developing
secure systems for an organisation operating online.

The Gartner Hype Cycle explains the maturity, adoption

and business application of specific technologies.

Laws pertaining to digital marketing are explained in

terms of how they control digital marketing.

Data protection and privacy are explained in terms of

regulatory laws that affect digital marketing practices.

Social exclusion and cultural differences are explained in

terms of how they impact digital planning for any
organisation.

Market growth and employment, and the impact on

supply and demand for an organisation are described.

Globalisation, as a form of economic impact on an

organisation, is clearly described.

The roles and purpose of government agencies, public

opinion and consumer pressure groups, and industry-
backed organisations are described in terms of their
impact on digital marketing.

Internet governance is developed in terms of controlling

the operation and use of the Internet.
CO N T I N U E
Lesson 3 of 15

Glossary of Terms

Glossary of Terms

0:08

Voice over: Glossary of terms

These terms are used in this unit.

Blockchain technology
Blockchain technology is most simply defined as a distributed record of
digital assets. The data on a blockchain is unable to be modified, which
makes it a legitimate disruptor for industries like payments, cybersecurity
and healthcare. A well-known example of blockchain technology is Bitcoin.
Everyone is allowed to connect to the blockchain and transact with Bitcoin.

Customer conversion

This is when we convert the visitor into a customer.

Integrated communication channels

this is when organisations integrate their communications, i.e., they ensure

that they are communicating the same message online and offline.

Macro-environment

this is the environment that the organisation has little or no control over.
These include factors like the technological legal, economic, political, legal,
social and cultural environment.

Objectives
an organisation needs to set objectives and goals relating to what they want
to achieve.

CO N T I N U E
Lesson 4 of 15

Relevance

Today, brands cannot afford to ignore online

channels

0:20

Voice over: Relevance

Relevance
 “ Monitoring our external environment is vital to our success.”

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon

The macro-environment basically includes forces that are

outside the organisation’s control – in other words, we
cannot really influence them. These forces (sometimes
referred to as factors) include political, economic, social,
technological, legal and environmental forces (PESTLE).
CO N T I N U E
Lesson 5 of 15

The Rate of Environmental Change

Changes in social culture tend to be rapid

and new technologies and changes in their
popularity occur often

1:08

Voice over: The rate of environmental change

The Rate of Environmental Change

Changes in social culture tend to be rapid, and new
technologies and changes in their popularity occur often.
While on the other hand, Government and legal changes can
take a bit longer. Digital marketers must monitor what is
important to their organisation and should develop the
capacity to respond to changes. Therefore, a process is
required to review marketplace opportunities and threats to
constantly monitor them to respond effectively and create a
competitive advantage.

Strategic agility is a concept associated with knowledge

management theory whereby marketers can review
marketplace opportunities and threats and respond by
changing their strategy on the fly.

Strategic agility requires digital marketers to consider how to

ensure:

Collection, dissemination and evaluation of different

information sources from the micro-and macro-
environment.

Processes for generating and reviewing the relevance

of new strategies based on creating new value for
customers.

Research into potential customer value against the

business value generated.
Implementation of prototypes of new functionality to
deliver customer value.

Measurement and review of results from prototypes

to revise further to improve the proposition or to end a
trial.

CO N T I N U E
Lesson 6 of 15

Some Internet Jargon

The Internet has existed for some time, but

do you know how it actually works?

0:07

Voice over: Some internet jargon

Some Internet Jargon

The Internet has existed for some time, but do you know
how it actually works?
 YOUTUBE

How the Internet Works in 5 Min…

Min…

How the Internet Works in 5 Minutes

Check out my new book, How to Prepare for Everything: www.howtoprepare.com!The
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Be aware that the different web addresses can represent

different types of companies. This is important to
understand when choosing a URL for an online business.

Here are some examples:

.com international or American company

 .org not-for-profit company

.mobi sites configured for mobile phones (2006)

.net a network provider site

.co.uk a company in the UK

.au, .ca,
.de, .es, .fi, these endings represent other countries
.it, .nl

.ac.za a higher education institution

.org.za an organisation focused on a specific country

.gov.za a government entity

There are also a few technical terms you need to get your
head around. This will help you to understand “Internet
speak” in meetings:

HTML Hypertext Mark-up Language (an

international coding language for web page
 development)

Cascading Templates for standard fonts, spacing and

style sheets colours to be used on a website

A term that is a metaphor for shared

computing resources, which require minimal
Cloud
management input and can be accessed via
computing
the internet. It relies on sharing of computing
resources.

Let's look at cybersecurity, blockchain and digital currencies.

CYBER SECURITY B LO C K C H A I N T E C H N O LO G Y

Security is a key technology factor for marketers to consider as it is a major

concern for Internet users everywhere. Digital marketers need to understand
security issues and the risks they might encounter in order to manage their
online operations effectively. From a consumer or merchant point of view,
these are the main security risks involved in an e-commerce transaction:

customer’s credit card details stolen from the merchant’s server

customer’s details accessed by company staff (or through a hacker who is

in the building and has used ‘social engineering techniques to find
information merchants or customers are not who they claim to be, and
the innocent party can be drawn into a fraudulent trading situation.

YOUTUBE

What Is Cyber Security | …

Cyber Security In 7 Minutes | What Is Cyber Security:

How It Works? | Cyber Security | Simplilearn
🔥 Enroll for FREE Cyber Security Course & Get your Completion Certificate:
https://www.simplilearn.com/learn-cyber-security-basics-skillup?utm_campaign=Ski...
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CYBER SECURITY B LO C K C H A I N T E C H N O LO G Y
Blockchain technology is an example of how it can be difficult to assess the
relevance of major technology innovation. In the guide to blockchain, Finley
and Barber (2019) state:

Some people will say that blockchains are the most important
technological innovation since the internet or a solution looking for a
problem and others will argue this statement.

Certainly, from a marketing communications perspective, it is not as relevant

to most companies compared to artificial intelligence and the predictive
analytics techniques discussed in Study Unit 6, although it may be used to
support programmatic media buying.

Blockchain technology is a form of cryptography that uses a secure database

of groups of transactions that is accessed by different participants to help
facilitate different transactions and provide an audit trail.

The original and best-known is Bitcoin, which was launched in 2008. Bitcoin
is a decentralised digital currency or cryptocurrency without a central
provider such as a bank or other intermediaries. Each transaction is
cryptographically signed to prove that the person transferring virtual coins is
the actual owner of those coins. This involves a process called bitcoin mining
to create a new bitcoin and maintain the transaction ledger. Bitcoin miners
earn a fee for each coin mined, but the cost of high-end technology and
electricity needed to mine a single bitcoin means that this is a niche activity
(Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2022).

YOUTUBE
 Cryptocurrency In 5 Min…
Min…

Cryptocurrency In 5 Minutes | Cryptocurrency Explained |

What Is Cryptocurrency? | Simplilearn
This video on Cryptocurrency covers all the important concepts from basics to advanced.
Also it covers all the information about Cryptocurrency like what Cry...

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CO N T I N U E
Lesson 7 of 15

Cyber Security

Security is a key technology factor for

marketers to consider as it is a major
concern for Internet users everywhere

0:37

Voice over: Cyber security

Cyber Security
Security is a key technology factor for marketers to consider
as it is a major concern for Internet users everywhere. Digital
marketers need to understand security issues and the risks
they might encounter to manage their online operations
effectively. From a consumer or merchant point of view,
these are the main security risks involved in an e-commerce
transaction:

Customer’s credit card details were stolen from the

merchant’s server.

Customer’s details accessed by company staff (or

through a hacker who is in the building and has used
‘social engineering techniques to find information
merchants or customers are not who they claim to be,
and the innocent party can be drawn into a fraudulent
trading situation.

YOUTUBE
 What Is Cyber Security | How It …

Cyber Security In 7 Minutes | What Is Cyber Security:

How It Works? | Cyber Security | Simplilearn
🔥 Enroll for FREE Cyber Security Course & Get your Completion Certificate:
https://www.simplilearn.com/learn-cyber-security-basics-skillup?utm_campaign=Ski...
VIEW ON YOUTUBE 

CO N T I N U E
Lesson 8 of 15

Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology is an example of

how it can be difficult to assess the
relevance of major technology innovation

1:25

Voice over: Blockchain and cryptocurrencies

Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology is an example of how it can be
difficult to assess the relevance of major technology
innovation. In the guide to blockchain, Finley and Barber
(2019) state:
 Some people will say that blockchains are the most
important technological innovation since the internet or a
solution looking for a problem, and others will argue this
statement.

Certainly, from a marketing communications perspective, it

is not as relevant to most companies compared to artificial
intelligence and the predictive analytics techniques
discussed in Study Unit 6, although it may be used to
support programmatic media buying.

Blockchain technology is a form of cryptography that uses a

secure database of groups of transactions that is accessed
by different participants to help facilitate different
transactions and provide an audit trail.

The original and best-known is Bitcoin, which was launched

in 2008. Bitcoin is a decentralised digital currency or
cryptocurrency without a central provider such as a bank or
other intermediaries. Each transaction is cryptographically
signed to prove that the person transferring virtual coins is
the actual owner of those coins. This involves a bitcoin
mining process to create a new bitcoin and maintain the
transaction ledger. Bitcoin miners earn a fee for each coin
mined, but the cost of high-end technology and electricity
needed to mine a single bitcoin means that this is a niche
activity (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2022).

YOUTUBE

Cryptocurrency In 5 Minutes | Cr…

Cr…

Cryptocurrency In 5 Minutes | Cryptocurrency Explained |

What Is Cryptocurrency? | Simplilearn
This video on Cryptocurrency covers all the important concepts from basics to advanced.
Also it covers all the information about Cryptocurrency like what Cry...
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CO N T I N U E
Lesson 9 of 15

Emerging Technologies

A hype cycle is a graphic representation of

the maturity, adoption and business
application of specific technologies

1:26

Voice over: Emerging technologies

Emerging Technologies
A hype cycle is a graphic representation of the maturity,
adoption and business application of specific technologies.
Gartner (2011) recognises the following stages in the hype
cycle. Click on the buttons to reveal more information.


 

Innovation trigger

The product launch stage.

 

Peak of inflated expectations

Where publicity of the technology generates overenthusiasm.

 

Through of disillusionment

At this point technologies fail to meet expectations and become unfashionable.

 

Slope of enlightenment

At this stage, some businesses push through and continue to experiment with the
technology.
 

Plateau of productivity

Finally, the benefits of the technology become widely demonstrated and accepted.

Here is a breakdown of the behaviour you can expect from

consumers at each stage of the hype cycle:

1. Innovators: Makeup about 2.5% of adopters over time.

They are more risk-taking, information n seeking, and
very experimental, enjoying the degree of early challenge
or even uncertainty involved.

2. Early adopters: Makeup about 13.5% of adopters over

time. They are often respected opinion leaders within
 their social groups, seen often as role models for others.

3. Early majority: Makeup about 34% of adopters over

time. They are more deliberate before adopting new
ideas; interact frequently with peers and trendsetters.
They like to merely stay ahead within the curve from that
more informed decision-making.

4. Late majority: Also makeup about 34% of adopters over

time. They tend to be cautious to adopt but ‘feel’
pressure from peers to adopt, tend to need intervention
strategies to overcome barriers and see their ‘needs’
resolved by the innovation.

5. Laggards: Makeup about 16% of adopters over time.

They are more traditional, are last in the social system,
often they pay little attention to the opinions of others,
have a clearer point of reference in the past to overcome,
and are often suspicious of new innovations and their
decision process is often lengthy.
 Different stages of a Gartner hype cycle / Source: Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick (2022)

An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI):

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is technology that enables

computers and machines to simulate human intelligence
and problem-solving capabilities.

On its own or combined with other technologies (e.g.,

sensors, geolocation, robotics) AI can perform tasks that
would otherwise require human intelligence or intervention.
Digital assistants, GPS guidance, autonomous vehicles, and
generative AI tools (such as Open AI's Chat GPT) are a few
examples of AI in our daily lives.

Artificial intelligence encompasses (and is often mentioned

together with) machine learning and deep learning. These
disciplines involve the development of AI algorithms,
modeled after the decision-making processes of the human
brain, that can ‘learn’ from available data and make
increasingly more accurate classifications or predictions over
time.

Machine learning is a form of artificial intelligence (AI) that

enables software applications to become more accurate at
predicting outcomes without being explicitly programmed.
Marketers use ML to understand customer behaviour and
identify trends in large datasets, allowing them to create
more efficient marketing campaigns and improve marketing
ROI. Example, machine learning is used by Netflix to
enhance its recommendations algorithm, forecast demand,
and increase customer engagement.

Artificial intelligence has gone through many cycles of hype,

but even to skeptics, the release of ChatGPT seems to mark
a turning point. Today, generative AI can learn and
synthesise not just human language but other data types
including images and video. Applications for AI are growing
every day. But as the hype around the use of AI tools in
business takes off, conversations around AI ethics and
responsible AI become critically important. This is especially
important for marketers and businesses who have jumped
onto the trajectory of using AI in their everyday tasks.

For marketers, there are many uses of AI. Marketers

can use AI to:

Personalise content.

Analyse data.

Generate content.

Buy media.

Create chatbots.

Automate email marketing campaigns.

Forecast sales.
 Improve customer experience.

But with the increase in the development and use of AI,

marketers must take into account the disadvantages at hand
not only the advantages and take a deep dive into the ethical
and responsible behaviour of using AI.

Read the following article interesting article on How

generative AI can boost consumer marketing.

MCKINSEY & COMPANY

How generative AI can boost consumer marketing

We look at how generative AI is unlocking a new age of marketing capabilities with
automated processes, hyperpersonalization, and new forms of idea generation.
READ MORE MCKINSEY & COMPANY 

CO N T I N U E
Lesson 10 of 15

Legal Forces

Laws are put in place to provide a

framework of control and regulations

0:22

Voice over: Legal forces

Legal Forces
Laws are put in place to provide a framework of control and
regulations.
 Legal forces - South African laws

In this section, we will look at several Acts that digital

marketers need to take into consideration when operating
online in South Africa:

Electronic Communications and Transactions Act

This Act is in place to allow consumers to opt-out of future communications

with a company. Consumers may also request where their contact
information was obtained. Consumers can refuse to receive unsolicited
communications (unsought information) (South African Government, 2020).

WWW

Page 1 of 41

Page 1 / 41
 VIEW ON WWW 

Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI)

This Act aims to ensure that all companies act responsibly when collecting,
processing, storing and sharing personal information of another entity.
Basically, consumers need to give consent for an organisation to utilise or
share any of their personal information (POPIA, 2021).

POPIA

Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI Act) -

POPIA
Welcome to the Protection of Personal Information Act (often called the POPI Act or
POPIA) in the form of a website so everyone can access it quickly on all devices. It is so
much better than a POPI Act pdf. You can also link to (or share) a specific section.
READ MORE POPIA 

Consumer Protection Act (CPA)

This Act is in place to protect the rights of the consumer. When looking at
digital marketing, the CPA affects us for the following reasons: all subscribers
must have opted-in to receive marketing messages, businesses must be able
to prove that customers opted-in if a sale has occurred online the consumer
is allowed five days to reconsider the purchase, competition rules must be
laid out before the competition begins and consumers must be able to
unsubscribe at any time (South African Government, 2014).

WWW

Page 1 of 94

Government Gazette

Page 1 / 94
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

VIEW ON WWW 

The Use of Cookies

Web cookies are small text files stored on the end user's
computer (consumer), which enables websites to identify the
 user. This is placed under legal forces because some
consumers find this quite invasive as it can be used to
promote specific items to them.

EXAMPLE:

When you log into a page and let the page save
your login information, the cookie will be used to
remember this information and perhaps greet you
using your name the next time you log in.

Other Laws

Other laws that digital marketers need to be aware of

include:

Brand and trademark protection

this includes protection of the use of brand names within domain names and
the use of trademarks within other websites. It is also unethical and, in some
countries, illegal to use a competitor’s brand name in pay-per-click
marketing.

Intellectual property rights

this refers to the protection of designs, ideas and inventions which includes
any content and services developed for e-commerce sites.

Online advertising law

This includes all advertising standards that you need to adhere to when
advertising online. It is important to be familiar with global standards.

Disability and discrimination law

These are laws relating to discriminating against disabled users. It is

important to ensure that our websites are accessible for all users that may
interact with it regardless of the disabilities they may have i.e., visually
impaired.

The main information types used by the digital marketer that

are governed by ethics and legislation are:

This is the name, postal address, email

Contact
address and, for B2B companies, website
information
address.
 This is information about a customer’s
Profile
characteristics that can be used for
information
segmentation.

Through web analytics systems it is possible

Platform
to collect information on the type of
usage
computer, browser and screen resolution
information
used by site users.

Behavioural
information This is purchasing history and the whole of
(on a single the buying process.
site)

Behavioural
information This can potentially show how a user
(across accesses multiple sites and responds to
multiple adverts across sites.
sites)

Can you answer the following question?

Match the main laws in South Africa to the affect of digital market behaviour.
 Promote a fair, accessible and
1 Consumer Protection Act (CPA) sustainable marketplace for
consumer products and service

Provide for the rights of persons

Protection of Personal
2 regarding unsolicited electronic
Information Act (POPI)
communications

Prevent abuse of information

Electronic Communications and
3 systems, to encourage the use
Transactions Act
of e-government services

SUBMIT

Read the article where Dischem was found guilty of breaching the POPI
Act:

TAKE ME THERE

Dis-Chem must take action after 3.6m clients were hacked – or face
millions in fines, warns watchdog:
TAKE ME THERE

CO N T I N U E
Lesson 11 of 15

Social Forces

Social forces have significant implications

for digital marketing

0:34

Voice over: Social forces

Social Forces
Social forces have significant implications for digital
marketing. People constantly change how they behave
online, and a lot of these changes have to do with their
demographics (i.e., their age, gender etc.). Social forces are
closely linked with culture and have significant implications
for digital marketing.

Social exclusion is when part of society is excluded from the

facilities available to the remainder. In South Africa, 63% of
the population has access to the Internet, whilst the
remainder does not have access at all. Therefore,
campaigns, deals or competitions only marketed through
the internet will exclude 37% of South Africa’s population
(Fin24, 2017).

CO N T I N U E
Lesson 12 of 15

Economic Forces

Economic forces have the ability to

influence the success of any business

2:20

Voice over: Economic forces

Economic Forces
Economic forces have the ability to influence the success of
any business. Factors like market growth and
unemployment, interest and exchange rates, etc., in
particular, can influence business activities.
When we talk about market growth and unemployment from
an organisation’s perspective, we are concerned with
demand and the growth potential. If we look at the
unemployment rate in South Africa, which is at an all-time
high of 32.6% (Statistics SA, 2021), we will notice that this
would influence consumers directly and could influence the
demand for certain products. We also need to consider how
the market is growing and consider the fact that
demographic variables (i.e., age, birth rates, education levels,
gender etc.) are constantly changing, which could influence
which products and services customers buy or have access
to.

Economic Disruption and the COVID-19 Pandemic

This section has identified key economic factors and

considered their potential impact on digital marketers and
the online trading environment. But nothing could have
prepared the world for the events of early 2020 when the
COVID-19 virus spread from Asia around the world, causing
a major social and economic impact with which you will be
familiar. As populations adapted to their new lives, working
at home became mainstream, this created opportunities for
many digital companies.

In the workplace space, Zoom and Microsoft Teams saw

massive growth in the use of their online video
communication platforms. Slack, which provides a secure
way to communicate using channels rather than email,
saw a significant increase in use.

Online gaming provided an escape and form of

entertainment, with Nintendo Switch proving very
popular, as did live-streaming video series and movies.

Adoption of e-commerce increased significantly as many

bought from home during the lockdown, creating a ‘new
normal’ where digital preferences were increased.

In B2B markets, online webinars increased at the

expense of traditional events.

Netflix attracted over 16 million new subscribers.

But for other digital companies, the pandemic was not

positive:
 Uber cut thousands of jobs as no one was allowed to ride
any-where;

Airbnb and booking.com found that social distancing

and other restrictions on travel effectively shut their
businesses down, as travellers were not making bookings
and were cancelling those they had already made (BBC,
2020). The online advertising industry, which had
previously been enjoying significant growth, saw a fall in
revenue of nearly 15 per cent in 2020 and recovery is
forecast to be slow (Hillier, 2021).

McKinsey and Company share an interesting article relating

to the economic effects that COVID-19 has on businesses.
Read the article below.

MCKINSEY & COMPANY

COVID-19: Implications for business
As COVID-19 becomes endemic in much of the world, we turn our focus to sustainable
and inclusive growth. On March 2, 2020, just over a week before a global pandemic was
declared, we published COVID-19: Briefing note #1. Our plan was to publish an update on
the virus's implications for business for as many weeks as the news felt urgent.
READ MORE MCKINSEY & COMPANY 

CO N T I N U E
Lesson 13 of 15

Political Forces

The political environment is made up of

government agencies, public opinion,
consumer pressure groups and industry-
backed organisations

2:51

Voice over: Political forces

Political Forces
The political environment is made up of government
agencies, public opinion, consumer pressure groups and
industry-backed organisations. There are various factors in
the political environment that digital marketers should
consider such as taxation, investment and management of
the business and public affairs. Digital marketers should be
aware of all of the implications involved in the political
environment (i.e., the management of the online portal and
the different legislation about what businesses can do
online).

The government in South Africa are also turning to the

Internet to assist them with serving their customers (the
citizens). Channels like SARS e-Filing have allowed customers
to complete their tax returns online which offers a
convenient alternative to going into the SARS offices.
Political Action and Control

Government action that can have a significant impact on the

online marketplace is the control of intermediaries. This
depends on the amount of regulation in a given country and
in individual markets.

Internet Governance

Internet governance refers to the controls put in place to

manage the growth of the internet and its usage.
Governance is traditionally undertaken by the government,
but the global nature of the internet makes it less practical
for a government to control online. There is no central
governing body that runs the internet although there are
many individuals, businesses and organisations that have a
vested interest in ensuring the stability of the internet.

The Net Neutrality Principle

The net or network neutrality principle protects equal access

to the internet such that telecom providers do not
discriminate access to data or connectivity for different users
based on their type or amount of content and platforms. For
example, restricting access to streaming services for people
who cannot afford higher fees violates net neutrality.

The most common context for net neutrality is the desire by

some telecommunications companies and ISPs to offer
tiered access to particular internet services.

The second and less widely applied, but equally significant,

the concept of net neutrality is the wish by some
governments (or other bodies) to block access to certain
services or content.

Example

The government in China limits access to certain

types of content in what was glibly called ‘The
Great Firewall of China’. Google and the Chinese
authorities have continued to argue over free and
uncensored access to information.

Taxation

What about the tax implications for companies? Consumers’

purchasing patterns are changing and more consumers are
willing to make purchases over the Internet which means
that they could be buying products from foreign companies.

The tax revenue collected from platforms such as Amazon,

Facebook and Google has attracted much attention in many
countries, since because of their legal taxation
arrangements, tax may be paid at lower rates in other
countries, resulting in reduced tax in the country where
products or services are sold.

Deliberations on new digital or online sales taxes is an

aspect of the macro-environment that merchants will pay
close attention to since it will affect their profitability. For
example, the UK Government has proposed a 2% Digital
Services Tax on the revenues of search engines, social media
platforms and online marketplaces that derive value from
UK users. The European Union has proposed similar
measures.

Tax Jurisdiction

Tax jurisdiction determines which country gets the tax

income from a transaction. Under the current system of
international tax treaties, the right to tax is divided between
the country where the enterprise that receives the income is
resident (‘residence’ country) and that from which the
enterprise derives that income (‘source’ country). Laws on
taxation are rapidly evolving and vary dramatically between
countries.

CO N T I N U E
Lesson 14 of 15

Conclusion

Conclusion

0:31

Voice over: Conclusion

Conclusion
After working through this study unit, it should be clear that
marketers should be aware of the external environment and
the impact any changes in these factors or forces have on
our current and future digital initiatives. It is important to
remember that we have no influence on these forces, thus,
we are merely bystanders. However, we need to be aware
of the forces and the impact it can have on our business and
digital strategies. We also need to be aware of the impact
that the COVID-19 pandemic has enforced on many
businesses and consumers alike. This is a concern and
determinant for future digital planning.

CO N T I N U E
Lesson 15 of 15

Progress Check and Downloads

You have come to the end of this study unit. It is time to check if
you covered all the content and achieve the learning outcomes
of the unit

0:17

Voice over: Progress check

Progress Check
Tick the following boxes before moving on:
 You have covered all the sections in the
study unit.

You have attempted the revision exercises.

If you struggled to answer the questions in

the exercise, you've gone through the
content again.

Continuous Assessment Activities (CASS):

As you work through each study unit you will find mini assessment activities called CASS
activities (continuous assessment). The CASS activities help you to reflect on and engage with
the material that is being covered in an interactive way. Go ahead and complete each CASS
activity as you study and receive immediate feedback.

You've reached the end of unit 3.

Have a look at the CASS activity questions below. To see the
recommended or guided answers, click on the question mark ('?') at the
bottom-right of the activity. You can export your answers, together with
the guided answers, at the end of the activity by completing all of the
questions.
 What would you like to do?

View or print the unit 3 study guide?

DMA001B Study Unit 3.pdf

26.3 MB

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