Chapter 6
LO6-2: Differentiate between the global task and global general environments.
The task environment is a set of forces and conditions that originate with suppliers, distributors, customers, and competitors and affect an organization’s ability to obtain inputs and dispose of its outputs because they influence managers daily. These forces have the most immediate and direct effect on managers because the pressure from them.
The general environment includes the wide-ranging global, economic, technological, sociocultural, demographic, political, and legal forces that affect an organization and its task environment. Opportunities and threats resulting from changes in the general environment are often more difficult to identity and respond to than are events in the task environment. Changes in these forces can have major impacts on managers and their organization.
LO6-3: Identify the main forces in the global task and general environments, and describe the challenges that each force presents to managers.
Task Environments: 1) Suppliers- the individuals and organization that provide an organization with the input resources it needs to produce goods and services 2) Distributors- Organizations that help other organizations sell their goods or services to customers. 3) Customers- Individuals and groups that buy the goods and services an organization produces. 4) Competitors- Organizations that produce goods and services that are similar to a particular organization’s goods and services.
General Environments: 1) Economic Forces- interest rates, inflation, unemployment, economic growth, and other factors that affect the general health and well-being of a nation or the regional economy of an organization. 2) Technological Forces- outcomes of changes in the technology managers use to design, produce, or distribute goods and services.