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Environmental Scan of Two Companies:

The first step towards an organization’s strategic management is environmental canning, which involves collecting information for the internal and external of the company. Generally, environmental scan is described as the watchful evaluation and monitoring of the internal and external environments of the company to identify early indications of opportunities and threats that may affect the firm’s current and future plans. Through this process, the organization can understand factors needed to achieve its short-term and long-term objectives. In light of its essence on organizational strategic management, this article focuses on examining environmental scanning in two successful American Companies i.e. McDonalds Corporation and Apple Inc. This analysis focuses on internal and external environments of these companies to understand their competitive advantages and strategies.

Internal and External Environments:

The entire process of environmental scanning is geared towards providing managers with knowledge for enhancing the long-term efficiency and creates strategic plans for the business. An organization’s business environment is divided into internal and external environments with the internal environment being described as factors or components directly involved within the organization. Some of these factors include employees, managers, stakeholders, and particularly the corporate culture of the organization. On the contrary, the external environment include factors that are out of the organization’s control such as the economic, technological, political, sociological, legal, and ecological factors.

As a result, an internal environmental scan helps in differentiating the organization’s...

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...endy products that are attractive and can be obtained easily. The needs and expectations of customers are used as measurements for strategic effectiveness. These measurements have been effective because of increased consumer demand for new, innovative products.

In conclusion, environmental scanning is an important part of strategic management because it helps in understanding the internal and external environments the organization operates in. The essence of this process is attributed to the fact that is demonstrates the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It’s important for companies to conduct this process to determine their competitive advantages, business strategies, and value creation. The ultimate goal of environmental scanning is to determine the strategic effectiveness of the organization’s business strategy and processes.