Environmental Scan Paper

Environmental scanning involves an organization to look at any trend, opportunity or threat that could create issues for their company. Once any of these issues are identified, the organization should consider new strategies that react to these external factors. Issues should be examined that involve not only direct customers and suppliers, but also competitors, any changes in regulations and possible political involvement. External factors will be constantly changing so environmental scanning should occur frequently and regularly to ensure the current issues have been captured. Research and data analysis can help drive decisions regarding overall marketing changes that might be necessary.

Wal-Mart Corporation is one of the largest retail stores in the world. They serve customers in meeting their needs with low cost saving items. On October 31, 1962, Wal-Mart was founded and incorporated by Sam Walton in Bentonville, Arkansas. Mr. Walton went into business because he felt that items sold were too high for the average customer to afford. His focus was to sell products at low prices to get higher volume sales at a lower profit margin. He bought bulk products from different suppliers so he could incorporate savings into his pricing to lower cost for customers. Under the savings cost concept, Wal-Mart grew rapidly and surpassed its competitors in sales and generating profits.

Environmental scanning can be viewed as a way of acquiring information about outside events that can aid organizations in first identifying potential trends, then interpreting them

The Wal-Mart company was established on July 2, 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas (History Timeline). The company was based on the vision of Sam Walton, who believed in giving his customers the lowest prices, anytime, anywhere. By 1967 the Walton family owned 27 different stores, and in 1969 they officially incorporated, becoming Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Just a year later in 1970 Wal-Mart went National, proving the wide spread appeal of Sam Walton's beliefs (History). This same year Wal-Mart became a publicly traded company, with its first shares priced at 16.50. A short year later the company was listed in The New York Stock Exchange (History Timeline). The 80's were a major success for this company. In 1983 the first Sams Club opened, this was and still is a store that sells product in bulk to small businesses and individuals. In 1988 the first Wal-Mart Super center opened. The Super center combined a full scale supermarket with general merchandise to create one stop shopping convenience (History). In 1992 the company suffered a hard hit when Sam Walton passed away at the age of 74. Although they lost the man at the heart of the company they were determined to carry on with his vision, and so they did. In 1996 they opened their first stores in China (History Timeline). By 2002 they reach the top of the Fortune 500 ranking of Americas largest companies. In 2012 Wal-Mart celebrated 50 successful years of business. Today the company employs 2.2 million associates worldwide and serves

Walmart is a multinational corporation with 11,000 retail locations located in 27 countries and is the largest retailer in the world. With over 2.2 million employees, Walmart is the also largest employer in United States the world. The history of Walmart dates back to 1962 when founder Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas. By the late 1960s, total sales were over $12 million with 24 Walmart stores spread across Arkansas (Riffel, 2014). “By the end of the 1970s, Wal-Mart had expanded into a number of different services in its stores—selling pharmaceuticals, adding auto service centers, and introducing jewelry divisions.

In 1962, Wal-Mart opened their first store in Rogers, Arkansas. In 1970, Wal-Mart's first distribution center and home office in Bentonville, Ark. open and Wal-Mart went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Just nine years from that, Wal-Mart's annual sales exceeded one billion dollars. In 1988, Wal-Mart super centers opened across the country. In a merely three years from that, Wal-Mart opened their own store in Mexico City, Mexico; making Wal-Mart an international corporation. Not even sixty years has past, and yet, Wal-Mart is over-powering our country.

To stay tuned to the recent situation in order not to miss perspective opportunities, an organization should go on with continuous scanning of its environment. According to Jobber, environmental scanning is “the process of monitoring and analyzing the marketing environment of a company” (Jobber, 2010, p.93). Aguilar states (Aguilar, 1967, cited in Costa, 1995, pp.4-5) that environmental scanning serves the purpose of gathering information about the facts and events happening around the company in order to let the management lead the organization in the right direction. Most of the authors agree on the same main function of environmental scanning.

Environmental scan in essence analyzes and evaluates the internal as well as external data and factors that influence the organization. Environmental scan entails the acknowledgment of a company’s environment that has potential effect on the organization’s operations and consequently, is critical in devising and implementing successful strategies. Apple Inc. is a leading international company that specializes in the production of computer software, commercial servers and consumer electronics. Its key products include iPhones, iPad, iPod and Mackintosh computers. The company has been in operation for the past 36 years.

The business environment of an organization reveals much about its competitiveness and the possible influences on the success of its strategies. The focus of this paper will be an environmental scan of the internal and external environments of two real-world firms, their competitive advantages and company strategies for creating value and sustaining competitiveness, measurement guidelines for verifying strategic effectiveness and their evaluation.

Scanning of internal and external environment are key part for decision making and planning for achieving of organizational objectives. Internal and external environment are called SWOT Analysis.

Wal-Mart was first opened in 1962 by Sam Walter as a retail store. It started out a five and dime store in Rogers, Arkansas and was called Walton’s. He opened this store with one goal in mind, to sale at the lowest prices possible, quality leadership and great customer services. He thought that his idea could change the retail industrial. Wal-Mart was built on a solid foundation that remains stable even after the death of Mr. Walton. Wal-Mart became the largest multinational retail store in America, with a grocery store and a pharmacy. There is a Wal-Mart in all fifty states and seventeen international states and has more than 2.3 million employees. This store

The premier Wal-Mart location opened in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Walton and his wife Helen set up 95% of the cash for the endeavor. Only six years after the fact Wal-Mart started extending outside of Arkansas State. Wal-Mart stores opened in two more southern states, Missouri and Oklahoma. On October 31, 1969, Wal-Mart had become incorporated. In 1971, Wal-Mart stock had its first 100% part and was sold at a stock price of price of $47. By 1972, Wal-Mart was being traded on the New York Stock Exchange. By its 18th birthday, Wal-Mart turned into the speediest organization to reach $1 billion in sales. The chain included 276 stores, 21,000 partners, $1.248 billion in sales. All through the 1980s, Wal-Mart developed to have areas in 13 new states. By 1991, Wal-Mart proceeded onward to the international business sector, opening its first

To assure the success of a business over a long period of time the business must be able to conduct regular analysis of their success. They must be able to determine where they are today and have a goal of where they would like to see themselves 5-10 years down the road. In order to conduct a true analysis of the company, one must complete an environmental scan of their organization. Thus scanning for events, trends, issues and expectations that they may be faced with in the future. Furthermore, examining all internal and external environment challenges. Internal environmental challenges may be with employees, shareholders or board of directors or the overall culture of the organization. External environmental

Organizations need to be aware of what is going on in their environments that might concern them, and more so, during the planning process. Diverse but overlapping environments ought to be monitored; the macro environment, the industrial environment, the competitive environment, and the organization’s internal environment (Ginter, 2013; Pfeiffer, 1986). At Rapha AL, my chosen organization, the environmental scanning will include distinct internal and external factors that would enable Rapha gain excellent understanding of the current and emerging issues that might affect it, and inspire the setting of clear and achievable goals. In this paper, I will analyze and address the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT); discuss current and prospective customers and evaluate the impact of environmental factors on the organization’s effectiveness to achieve the established goals within the strategic plan. Furthermore, I will address evolving external issues that could influence the strategic plan, evaluate the benefits of competitive analysis and Rapha’s capacity to achieve the strategic goals and objectives in a 3-year strategic plan.

2. Environmental monitoring. Examining the macro, industrial, competitive, and internal environments will produce the reasoning and ongoing analysis as to why this plan will support the senior leaders and new employees achieve their best performance.