Haase and Franco define environmental scanning as a methodology that deals strategically with issues from outside the firm (2011). Although external issues may be difficult to observe or diagnose, they cannot be ignored. Therefore, environmental scanning is an important management tool that uses outside information for strategic decision-making. Recognizing external forces allows an organization to quickly adjust its resources. Companies that do not perform environmental scanning expose themselves to unforeseen threats and fail to take advantage of temporal opportunities. In fact, Haase and Franco note that industry literature shows a strong correlation between organizational performance and the use of environmental scanning.
Organizations
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Smaller firms do not perform SWOT analyses as frequently or extensively as larger firms. In addition, smaller firms do not take advantage of the outside information sources most important for competitiveness awareness. Nevertheless, I considered the SWOT case study for a small family owned business operating for a few years at the time of the study. The company specialized in special event catering, such as weddings, holiday parties, and business conferences. This company relied on four social media applications to grow their customer base: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and a company blog. The SWOT analysis revealed that the strengths of this company included reputation and positive customer feedback. The analysis also revealed that the main weakness concerned the lack of an employee with social media skills to monitor and advance business opportunities via social media. As expected, the biggest threat was the use of social media by its …show more content…
The services provided included facilities, utilities, architectural and engineering services, project management and construction services. Perhaps due to the wide sweep of their market presence, the environmental scan performed for this organization did not fit any traditional model. Instead, utilizing an electronically distributed questionnaire which focused only on priority needs and quality of service, employees answered in-depth questions and filled out Likert scales. The overall results were then assembled as required, either separately or combined into narratives, tables and/or graphics. As a result, the findings were highly specific and could not be generalized to similar organizations or competitors. In my view, the lack of a familiar model for environmental scanning severely limits the validity of this scan, rendering the results dubious, and delivering to the decision makers what they wanted to hear instead of what they needed to know.
A better tool for this organization may be the SAP-LAP model. Charan describes the methodology as consisting of two steps (2012). The SAP analysis comprises the first step where the dynamic parameters of situations (S), actors (A), and processes (P) are highlighted. The next step, LAP synthesis, consists of learning issues (L), actions recommended (A), and anticipated improvement in performance (P). Actors constantly assess the
With forward movement in society, it is important to consider not just what will propel most toward success, but also what will help to sustain the environment along the way. What may have been considered appropriate decades ago, may no longer be socially acceptable due to the changes observed in both the business world and the environment (Fiske, 2010). Therefore, it is important for organizations thriving in today?s economy to consider how they may capitalize most effectively from their product or service of choice while minimizing or eliminating any damages along the way (Knoke, 2012).
After a thorough examination into BP’s numerous strategies, further analysis into the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) provides an overall performance level regarding the outcomes of their CSR and sustainability goals. Drag and Zimnol (2014) stipulated a SWOT analysis can provide structure to the internal and external factors affecting the company’s current and future outlooks. Additionally, a SWOT analysis can generate context regarding the company’s current relationship with the environment, which can portray the ways to both reduce environmental impact and regenerate damaged communities (Drag & Zimnol, 2014). Therefore, evidence suggests that although BP displays admirable strengths capable of maintaining
Nair (2011) states, social media can be described as online tools where content, opinions, perspectives, insights, and media can be shared. Some people create content, while others lurk, observe, or disseminate content. At its core, social media is about relationships and connections between people and organizations.(p. 45) Due to so much information being shared through social media it has changed the way businesses interact with their business partners or vendors, businesses have also started to create new product because of the information that is available to them through social media, thus attaining higher profits. At the same time, because of social media and the amount of information that is shared through these services, businesses have been put in a position where they must be careful how they operate to keep their reputation and na...
Dynamic strategic management encompasses the approaches, tools and activities organizations utilize to determine direction, increasing the likelihood of organizational goal attainment. It is an approach that suggests organizations operating in uncertain environments require a flexible plan to minimize risk and take advantage of opportunity As a tool developed to analyze a firm’s position within its operating environment, a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis provides insight into how internal and external factors are inhibiting or facilitating advancement toward reaching organizational objectives within a dynamic environment. This paper aims to understand how a SWOT analysis assisted the Calgary International Airport Authority create a competitive business plan for their future in an uncertain environment.
A SWOT analysis is an examination of an organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses, its opportunities for growth and improvement, and the threats the external environment presents to its survival (Harrison, 2010). Generally, the information gathered for the analysis is organized into matrix form, howe...
Environmental – External environmental factors are forces or trends that can affect a business whether it is an opportunity, threat, or constraint. They can be divided into three interrelated subcategories of remote, industry, and operating environments. The remote environment includes factors beyond a company’s operating situation such as the economic, social, political, technological, and ecological factors. The industry environment includes factors that have more of a direct influence on a company’s business such as entry barriers, competitor rivalry, the availability of substitutes, and the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers.
Environmental analysis is integral to understanding how the organization operates within the organization itself, within the industry and within the macroeconomic environment. For this analysis, the subject organization will be IKEA. “IKEA Group is one of the world’s largest privately owned companies, engaged in the retail of flat-packed home furniture and other house wares. Operating over 150 large-scale stores in over 30 countries, and with a mail order division, IKEA sells a range of furniture, which is made by over 2,000 suppliers in more than 55 countries. The company is headquartered in Helsingborg, Sweden”.
Environment is another significant factor that affects the strategic plan. When a major environmental disaster occurs, such as a hurricane, it can affect a company’s production facilities, their sales facilities and the community that the company serves.
In analyzing the macro-environment, it is important to identify the factors that might in turn affect a number of vital variables that are likely to influence the organization's supply and demand levels and its costs (Kotter and Schlesinger, 1991; Johnson and Scholes, 1993). The "radical and ongoing changes occurring in society create an uncertain environment and have an impact on the function of the whole organization" (Tsiakkiros, 2002). A number of checklists have been developed as ways of cataloguing the vast number of possible issues that might affect an industry. A PEST analysis is one of them that is merely a framework that categorizes environmental influences as political, economic, social and technological forces. Sometimes two additional factors, environmental and legal, will be added to make a PESTEL analysis, but these themes can easily be subsumed in the others. The analysis examines the impact of each of these factors (and their interplay with each other) on the business. The results can then be used to take advantage of opportunities and to make contingency plans for threats when preparing business and strategic plans (Byars, 1991; Cooper, 2000).
Environmental scanning "is the acquisition and use of information about events, trends, and relationships in an organization's external environment, the knowledge of which would assist management in planning the organization's future course of action." Choo (2001) As explained by Gazzale (2007) all businesses external environment are made up of three facets ": 1) the remote environment (macroeconomic factors including inflation, GDP, interest rates, etc.), 2) the industry environment (barriers to entry, the level of competition within the industry, etc.), and 3) the operating environment (the business's customers, suppliers, and workforce, etc.).
The purpose of this Project Management Plan (PMP) is to define the approach to be taken by the AMP Canada case study implementing SAP in 1 year time with the vendor – SAP business partner. The issues identified were: The team implementing the new system were required to meet both functional and systematic requirements thus affecting the implementation of the new system. - The staff were not well trained in the new system. - The user requirements were not taken into consideration thus affecting the purchasing orders, poor management of inventory, the manufacturing and finance department were not integrated.
Environmental scanning is the process of gathering information about events and their relationships within an organization's internal and external environments. The basic purpose of environmental scanning is to help management determine the future direction of the organization (Barnat, 2004). For a business to succeed, it is important to study the business environment of the firm that consists external and internal influences that affect the firm’s decisions and performance (Grant, 2010). Environmental scanning includes the assessment of Macro and Micro environmental analysis.
This is a crucial part of a strategic analysis because ‘…organisations do not exist in a vacuum, they are part of a complex world’ (Bowman 1987:61) and many factors can influence operations, beneficially and unfavourably. However, these can be difficult to comprehend due to their complexity, diversity and fast changing nature. Necessarily a number of techniques have been developed to facilitate the process and to ‘…contribute to answering the key managerial question…’of what ‘…opportunities and threats might arise in the future’ (Johnson & Scholes 2002:99).
The writer finds social media is important in her current organization, Modern Business Concepts, Incorporated (MBC). With small business organizations such as hers, social media is important in spreading information on who the company is and what they do. Also as a business-to-business sales and marketing company, spreading the word is important in gaining customers and potential employees. Ucok (2014) uses research and experiments to prove how social media is essential to marketing. These platforms were essential in Ucok’s research, resulting in higher response with marketing campaigns proving “the importance of social media in marketing strategy and communication” (Ucock, 2014, p. 95).
SAP implementation is a huge undertaking for any company, big or small. The one thing that every company wants to see during and after this implementation is benefits to their business. The biggest result they are looking for is a tangible or measurable benefit as these are easily identifiable and make the task of proving the reason for the hefty investment in SAP much easier. The question becomes how does a company go about seizing the benefits of SAP? There are several keys to seizing this benefit and those include discovering the hard dollar benefits, avoiding common pitfalls in a SAP implantation, and finding the intangible benefits.