The External Environment ( Strategic Management)

As for external factors one of the external factors would be perhaps a new law that is given and affects directly or indirectly the business and that business needs to make some changes.

When manipulating a business’s strategy, it is important to focus on the external factors in the environment. An external analysis is where a business conducts environmental scanning that present a company with the key external forces influencing the organization. The facets of external forces examined are the business environment, remote environment, or the competitive environment. A business environment is all of the external factors in the general environment that a firm cannot control, but can affect their strategy. The remote environment is the forces that affect most firms. Lastly, a competitive environment is the firm’s specific industry and its entirety. The external analysis is pertinent to a company called Dick’s Drive- In; without it, Dick’s would not be a thriving popular business today.

An organization’s external environment is terribly important and must be studied and understood for the organization to truly succeed. Through such study and understanding, a manager would be able “mitigate threats and leverage opportunities” that are caused by the six segments identified as macro-level external forces: (1) political, (2) economic, (3) sociocultural, (4) technological, (5) ecological, and (6) legal (Rothaermel, 2013, pp. 56-57). Since the manager’s decisions, or firm effects, have a greater impact than those external forces mentioned only when the manager accounts for them and builds a strategy around them, the manager must be aware of and understand these forces to be

But Firstly, we will start this part by talking about the importance of a deep analysis of the industry’s structure. A deep knowledge of the industry the company is in, is extremely important. The industry structure is unique and varies from industry to industry of course. It will determine the level of competitiveness and attraction of the industry. With the Five Forces model (Porter) and PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal) analysis, the organization will get a better understanding of the market will allow you to know the requirements for the possible creation of sustainable competitive advantages and take the right strategic decisions. According to Porter, to create an efficient competitive strategy, it is important to understand the rules of competition that determine market attractiveness.

To better understand a firm and its placement of its strategies, we must conduct an analysis of factors that might affect its selection of strategies.

I think it is important to assess the environment opportunities associating them to the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation resources.

The competitive environment of a business is the part of a company's external environment that consists of other firms trying to win customers in the same market. It is the segment of the industry that includes all immediate rivals. These are factors that are out of the company’s control, such as when state regulations change and they have to adjust to meet those requirements. To ensure Macy’s Inc. understands the environment they will conduct an external environmental analysis. This would include identifying any opportunities and threats to the firm (Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, 2013). One of the opportunities that Macy’s could

“Competition is not only the basis of protection to the consumer, but is the incentive to progress” – Herbert Hoover. The environments that today’s firms operate in are not static. The competitive environment they are operating in is constantly changing due to the entry or exit of competitors, changing technology and the demands of consumers. In order to maintain their market share and profitability, firms must continually assess and evaluate their competitive environment. Evaluating the various market forces firms’ face, and their effect on the competitive market ensures that an organization retains a proactive stance to the competitive environment. Instead of just accepting the status quo, organizations that actively examine and analyze their environment can then make choices and develop strategies that take advantage of the competitive situation or affect it to the firm’s benefit. This proactive stance to the market allows organizations to create value and position themselves for long term success. Firms that do not remain proactive and continually scan the competitive environment run the risk of being blindsided by innovation in the environment or significant changes undertaken by the competition.

It is defined as all the forces or conditions that are available within an environment that affects an organization and business. It is also known as controllable factors because business can control them. The internal environment deals with the management of resources like human resources, physical resources, technology, monetary resources and others that constitute the organization in order to implement or execute a strategy. Internal environment also includes culture and other intangible aspects like teamwork, coordination, efficiency level of employees, employee’s salaries and monitoring costs. The strategy for competition should also be in sync with the internal resources especially the internal environment.

To remain competitive a company must consider who their biggest competitors are while considering its own size and position in the industry. The company should develop a strategic advantage over their competitors’

Industry and sector are two inter changeable and often used to describe a group of companies that operate in the same segment. The differences pertain to their scope.

Competitive advantage is explained by Mahoney and Pandian (1992) as the function of industry analysis, organizational governance and the firm’s effects in the form of resource advantages and strategies. In order for a firm to be competitive it must adapt to the volatile business environment and through strategic management decisions establish a competitive advantage that will ultimately produce superior performance relative to its competitors (Akimova 2000).

An analysis of the external environment includes the factors in a business’s external environment about a business's industry, competition, and political and social environments, and affects the firm’s strategy (Aaker, 2001).

In today's world, no business operates in isolation without interacting with the environment where it operates. Irrespective of the nature of business whether public or private organization; manufacturing; service industry; local or international firm, its operations are inhibited by the environment in which it operates.

Factors that happen in the external environment are known as external factors or influences. These will affect the main internal functions of the business and possibly the objectives of the business and its strategies. The main factor that affects most business is the degree of competition - how fiercely other businesses compete with the products that another business makes. The other factors that can affect the business are: