Environmental Scan Paper
Environmental Scan Paper
MGT/498
Environmental Scan Paper
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.
Internal and External Environments Environmental scanning of the internal organizational environment focuses on company culture, employee-employee, manager-employee, and manager-manager, manager-shareholder interactions, in addition to organizational structure, natural resources’ access and brand awareness, among others (Schneider, 1995, p.70). Environmental scanning of the external organizational environment focuses on the analysis of the industry/immediate environment, national, and macro-environments. Analysis of the industry environment appraises the competitive stance of an organization and its key rivals, although, the national environment assesses the influence of the national framework in enabling an organization achieve competitive advantage globally. The macro-environment relates to identifying the social, legal, technological, economic, and political influences on an organization’s operations (Schneider, 1995, p.73). In relation to McDonald’s internal environment, the company encourages respectful relations between managers and employees, in addition to hiring the most suitable applicants who demonstrate effectiveness and commitment to ensuring customer satisfaction (McDonald’s, 2012, p. 1). In relation to McDonald’s external environment, the company has had to make some process changes to adapt to the unique preferences of customers in other countries to enter the global market successfully.
MGT/498
Environmental Scan Paper
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.
Internal and External Environments Environmental scanning of the internal organizational environment focuses on company culture, employee-employee, manager-employee, and manager-manager, manager-shareholder interactions, in addition to organizational structure, natural resources’ access and brand awareness, among others (Schneider, 1995, p.70). Environmental scanning of the external organizational environment focuses on the analysis of the industry/immediate environment, national, and macro-environments. Analysis of the industry environment appraises the competitive stance of an organization and its key rivals, although, the national environment assesses the influence of the national framework in enabling an organization achieve competitive advantage globally. The macro-environment relates to identifying the social, legal, technological, economic, and political influences on an organization’s operations (Schneider, 1995, p.73). In relation to McDonald’s internal environment, the company encourages respectful relations between managers and employees, in addition to hiring the most suitable applicants who demonstrate effectiveness and commitment to ensuring customer satisfaction (McDonald’s, 2012, p. 1). In relation to McDonald’s external environment, the company has had to make some process changes to adapt to the unique preferences of customers in other countries to enter the global market successfully.
References: Apple Inc. (2012). Apple. Retrieved May 6, 2012 from http://www.apple.com Kotler, P. (2003). Marketing Management. (11th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall McDonald’s. (2012). McDonald’s. Retrieved May 6, 2012 from http://www.mcdonalds.com/ Schneier, C., Shaw, D., Beatty, R., and Baird, L. (1995). Performance Measurement, Management, and Appraisal Sourcebook. Amherst, MA: HRD Products