Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

        All businesses are affected by national and global economic factors. The climate of the economy dictates how consumers, suppliers and other organisational stakeholders such as suppliers and creditors behave within society.
As the economy is in a recession due to the financial crisis right now, it has the impact on the potential customers that they generally have less money to spend. Due to that fact, people might tend to keep the money in their pockets and cut down on expenses in their everyday life. One consequence may be that they reduce or cut down on restaurant visits. That can be seen as an advantage that they reduce visits to more expensive restaurants and instead visit less expensive fast food chains. In that an opportunity would arise for fast food chains like Subway. People do not want to renounce totally to go out for lunch or dinner and therefore they might choose more affordable places. Besides that, compared to other nationalities, Malays earn quite a lot. As a result they are not so affected by the crisis and do not have to cut down so much in their everyday life.
Population changes also have a direct impact on organisations. Changes in the structure of a population will affect the supply and demand of goods and services within an economy. Therefore, people have more money to spend. As a result, there are more potential customers for visiting fast food chains.

Subway Restaurant - Globe Locations

        Subway sandwich chain beats out McDonald’s Corp. as the world’s largest restaurant chain, in terms of units according to the Wall Street Journal.  At the end of 2010, Subway had 33,749 restaurants worldwide, versus McDonald’s 32,737.  As more restaurant chains look to grab market share in a trying economic environment, Subway may be offering more value as a healthier alternative as their slogan suggests “Eat Fresh”
Could Subway’s new fame globally usher in a new era of fresh alternatives at the drive through window? Already, McDonald’s has changed their menu and Burger King as well as other fast food restaurants are offering healthy alternatives to keep customers coming back.  Look for fast food chains to continue to offer healthy food and work harder to market the fresh, tasty -new offerings.  Subway’s Jared definitely helped the marketing for the restaurants and he is still popular as a cultural icon.

Heart Health & Childhood Obesity
Coronary artery disease is the most common form of heart disease and is a leading cause of death worldwide. Every year about 870,000 Americans die from cardiovascular diseases and stroke. A major factor is poor lifestyle habits prevalent among American adults and children.
Subway is particularly passionate about heart health and doing our part to fight childhood obesity by encouraging healthy eating habits and living active lifestyles.