...Environmental Scanning and Higher Education By Pat Artz Prepared for Professor Sue Sampson CIS 620 Management Information Systems Fall Term 2002 October 10, 2002 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Definitions 4 Strategic Planning 4 Environmental Scanning 4 Environmental Scanning in the Business World 5 Four Scanning Strategies 5 Perceived Uncertainty 5 Competitive Intelligence 6 Environmental Scanning in the Academic World 7 Why Scan? 7 Learning Organizations 7 Scanning as a Four-Step Process 8 Trends to Scan 9 Environmental Scanning at the University of Missouri System 9 Environmental Scanning at Ole Miss 10 Environmental Scanning at the Center for Information Technology, Bellevue University 11 General Attitudes Toward Scanning 11 Sources Being Scanned 11 Interview with Director Creagan 12 Conclusions and Recommendations 14 Conclusions 14 Recommendations 15 Bibliography 16 Introduction Environmental scanning is a tool used by strategic planners in the business and academic worlds. However, these terms often meet with a blank stare when presented to people outside of senior management. What is strategic planning? What is environmental scanning? How do businesses and universities use these tools? Is environmental scanning a tool that can be used more effectively at universities? These questions will be investigated, with specific attention on the role of environmental scanning at the...
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...Strategic Management Process Mgt/498 November 10, 2015 UOP Strategic Management Process In this summary I will describe the primary components of the strategic management process, and indicate why a strategic management process is needed for a company. The primary components consist of environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation. Lastly, I will talk about my previous job as a Marine and describe the strategic management process that was used. First environmental scanning from my thoughts is the similar to using a swot analysis. As an organization, you want to know where your strength lie so you can maximize it. Same goes for your weakness once it is identified the organization could figure out how to deal with the problem. Environmental scanning also allows the organization to detect early signs of opportunities that could have a great impact on future endeavors. Threats very similar to opportunities are also seen by scanning. Secondly is Strategy formulation, in a nutshell, this is deciding what is the best course of action your organization to take to accomplish its goals and or objectives. So after the environmental scanning this second phase is to put a plan in place to handle what has been uncovered by the scanning. Then the implementation of the strategy that is acting on the strategy that was formulated. According to MSG (2015),”Strategy implementation includes designing the organization's structure, distributing...
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...business strategic plan is usually on a product or service”. Without a realistic plan and obtainable goals an organization has no direction. Market opportunity is a factor in shaping a company’s strategic plan, which is why the advantage and disadvantage evaluation process is important. Team C discussions validate that the following week two course objectives are easily understood and are clear to the team: • Objective 2.1 - Measure an organization’s internal and external environments using environmental scanning. • Objective 2.2 - Determine relevant business competitive strategies. Objective 2.1 is easily understood as it relates to environmental scanning, which is the possession and utilization of information about trends within an organizations internal and external environment. Environmental scanning is similar to the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, which is the first stage of planning, and helps marketers to focus on key issues (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010). Additionally, preparing for a potential threat is a competitive advantage over the competition. When organizations utilize the environmental scanning method to watch for trends this allows speedy adjustments, collaboration, and planning. The environmental scanning method can also help an...
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...January 26, 2012 MGT/230 1. What is management? Why is management necessary? How do you think management has evolved? * Management in business and organization is to get people and other desired machines or systems together to achieve a certain goal. * Management is necessary in order to maintain order with in an establishment. * Management has evolved because of technology. There are so many ways that you can use technology to track your company, employees and inventory. The size of companies has become globalized. 2. What are the four functions of management? What do the four functions of management have in common? How do managers at different levels apply the four functions of management? * The four functions of management are planning, organizing, leading and controlling. * These management functions are common to all managers at different levels in organizational hierarchy. However, the importance and of each of these function and the effort managers need to put in, is influenced significantly by the hierarchical level of managers * Top-management: This refers to the top one or two hierarchical levels in the organization structure. Managers at these levels have responsibilities for the total organizational performance covering multiple business activities. * Middle-management: These are the managers between the top- and first-level management. They generally do not have the responsibility for more than one type of business activity...
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...1/2012 24 - 34 Strategic Environmental Scanning and Organization Performance in a Competitive Business Environment Bayode O. Babatunde*, Adebola O. Adebisi** * Department of Business Administration, College of Management and Social Sciences, Osun State University, P.M.B 2008, Okuku Campus , Osun State, Nigeria e-mail: bayoogoga@yahoo.com ** Department of Business Administration, Federal Polytechnic Ado -Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria e-mail: adebisiadebola@yahoo.com Abstract This work justified “the impacts of Strategic Environmental Scanning on Organization performance in a competitive business environment” by studying Nestle Nigeria Plc and Cadbury Nigeria Plc. The opinions of the selected respondents were sought by the use of structured questionnaire; the collected data were analyzed and interpreted with regression and coefficient of correlation method of analysis. Hypothesis one revealed that there is significant relationship between strategic environmental scanning and organization performance, the coefficient of determination (R2) is 0.297. It shows that 30% of the variation or change in effective organization performance is caused by variation in strategic environmental scanning. Hypothesis two also shows that the coefficient of determination (R2) is 0.301. It means that 30% of the variation or change in organization productivity is caused by variation in external environmental factors, which connotes that the external environmental forces have positive impact on...
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...1) What is management? Why is management necessary? How do you think management has evolved? Management is the sole initiative of running a business. It institutes certain priorities of organization that will determine the success or failure of any business, organization, team function, or anything that requires multiple individuals working together. Good Management is necessary for the success of any business. It also is necessary because it implements rules and regulations to keep the workplace flowing in an orderly fashion. Without it there would be chaos and production would be compromised. Management has evolved through implementing the use of the advancement in modern technology to make job performance more efficient while increasing production at the same time. 2) What are the four functions of management? What do the four functions of management have in common? How do managers at different levels apply the four functions of management? The four primary functions include planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The four listed functions work together for effectiveness of management. The management functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling are widely considered to be the best means of description of a manager’s job. Thus requiring managers to implement these functions in order to reach company goals and maintain a competitive advantage. Managers at different levels use these four functions to manage a business successfully; whether the business...
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...Strategic Management Process Paper Strategic management refers to a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation (Wheelen & Hunger, 2008, p. 3). It includes environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and evaluation and control. The content of this paper will describe the components of a strategic management process and indicate why strategic management is needed in a company, furthermore, a description of how General Electric (GE) uses strategic management process in their company. Components of a Strategic Management Process The first component is environmental scanning, which is basically gathering information from external and internal environments to key people within the corporation. Its purpose is to identify strategic factors that will establish the future of a corporation. An easy way of predicting the future of a corporation is through a SWOT Analysis. SWOT is used to describe the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for a specific company. The external environment consists of opportunities and threats (Wheelen & Hunger, 2008, p. 11). These variables happen outside the organization, which management has no control over. For instance, one company does not have the right to prevent another company of marketing the same product or service. Company A must strive to become better than other competitors. On the other hand, the internal environment consists of strengths...
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...Question: How do you understand environmental scanning, why is it important and what are the potential problems of implementing it in a Sri Lankan Context? Successful Businesses depend upon the ability of the senior leaders to adapt to rapidly changing external environment. Unfortunately, the lead time once enjoyed by decision makers to analyze and respond to these and other changes is decreasing. Traditional long-range planning models, with their inward focus and reliance on historical data, do not encourage decision makers to anticipate environmental changes and assess their impact on the organization (Cope, 1981). The underlying assumption of such models is that any future change is a continuation of the direction and rate of present trends among a limited number of social, technological, economic, and political variables. Thus, the future for the institution is assumed to reflect the past and present or, in essence, to be "surprise-free." However, we know that this is not true, and the further we plan into the future, the less it will be true. What is needed is a method that enables decision makers both to understand the external environment and the interconnections of its various sectors and to translate this understanding into the institution's planning and decision-making processes. Environmental scanning is a method of accomplishing this. Brown and Weiner (1985) define environmental scanning as "a kind of radar to scan the world systematically and signal the new, the...
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...decisions and actions that management makes. These decision and actions include internal environmental scanning, external environmental scanning, strategic formulation, strategic implementation, evaluation, and control (University of Phoenix, 2015). These elements are relatable to the strategic management process. An example of Wal-Mart's strategy process will be covered in this reading as well. The strategic management process and why it is necessary for a company will be the covering elements of this paper (University of Phoenix, 2015). Environment Scanning Environmental scanning is a systematic process that interprets and surveys critical information to identify threats and external opportunities. An organization collects data internally, its competitors and the outer world. A company should then take the collection of data and readjust its strategies when the need is suitable. Gathering information about the world in which the business operates, focusing on competitors, and internally scan the organization is the key steps to conducting an environmental scan (Society for Human Resource Management, 2015). Strategy Formulation Strategy is a roadmap to business success and within that strategy, is strategy formulation. Strategy formulation is the process of developing the actual plan. A series of sequential executable steps have to be in organizing order. The reason that it is important, the steps be in order, is because the steps progress upon one another. The two process...
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...Douglas Brownlie Department of Stirling, UK Organizing for Environmental Scanning: Reformations Enmrontnental scanning is one of the cornerstones of strategic marketing. A plethora of normative literature argues that it plays u key role in bringing information about the external environment to the attention of decision-makers in order that they can make better informed decisions. This literature also provides a rich source of ideas about how to go about environmental scanning, particularly dealing with the collection of data and the various techniques that can be used to analyse that data. Yet, empirical findings point strongly to the view that the low deeds of environmental scanning practice, diverge in some important respects from the high-minded prescriptions of the normative literature. Various explanations can be put forward for this. This paper considers those explanations. Specifically ii explores the assumptions and premises about the constructs of organization and environment which inform the strategic marketing literature. It argues the case for alternative images of organization and environment. And on the basis of this, proposes the concept of Marketing, University of O r t h o c l o x i e S a n d writerly environment scanning, embedding environmental scanning in broader political and cultural processes both within and Tvithaut the organization. Introduction Although environmental scanning has its origins as a methodology in thefieldof strategic management...
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...Planning is an iterative activity. If the world did not change, we would only have to develop one plan and stick to it. However, we live in a turbulent world. David Brinkley, during the breakup of the former Soviet Union, stated that each day seems to bring the dawn of a new era. In such a world we need a planning model that allows us to anticipate the future and to use this anticipation in conjunction with an analysis of our organization--its culture, mission, strengths and weaknesses--to define strategic issues, to chart our direction by developing strategic vision and plans, to define how we will implement these plans and to specify how we will evaluate how well we are implementing these plans. The fact that the world is changing as we move forward in the future demands that the process be an iterative one. Strategic Management Strategic management is a technique you can use to create a favorable future and help your organization to prosper. To create this favorable future, you must involve your organization's stakeholders (i.e., anyone with a vested interest in achieving your organization's goals) in envisioning the most desirable future and then in working together to make this vision a reality. The key to strategic management is to understand that people communicating and working together will create this future, not some words written down on paper. Strategic management does not replace traditional management activities such as budgeting, planning, monitoring, marketing...
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...Kerin−Hartley−Berkowitz−Rudelius: Marketing, Eighth Edition I. Initiating the Marketing Process 3. Scanning the Marketing Environment © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2005 Kerin−Hartley−Berkowitz−Rudelius: Marketing, Eighth Edition I. Initiating the Marketing Process 3. Scanning the Marketing Environment © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2005 CHAPTER 3 SCANNING THE MARKETING ENVIRONMENT IT’S SHOW TIME! Don’t blink, because the world of entertainment is changing faster than anyone imagined possible. Online music, high-definition televisions, digital photography, computer-based media centers, and software for making movies are just some of the many products new to the entertainment industry. The revolution began with the combination of Apple’s iPod music player, which can store 10,000 songs in a device smaller than a deck of cards, and its iTunes Music Store, which sells more than 10,000,000 songs each month for just $.99 each. Other new forms of digital entertainment products include digital video recorders (DVRs), which record TV shows on hard drives instead of tape, and home entertainment “hubs,” which utilize wireless networks to link digital devices from around the home. Some experts even predict that there will probably be a version of iPod and iTunes for movies in the near future. Suddenly the music, television, photography, movie, and computer industries are converging. Musicians, recording companies, television networks, camera companies, movie studios...
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...the theory and then give practical examples of how customers perceive various brands and how this impacts on their behaviour. • Perceived value and its importance to consumers • Discuss theory • Choose 2 or 3 brands or companies and consumer’s attitude towards these • Min 2 to 3 articles on these brands 2. To evaluate an organization's Strategic Business Units (SBU), the Boston Consulting Group developed a portfolio performance framework. • Explain BCG and SBU’s • Take 2 to 3 companies and explain how these companies have been using this model • Min 2 to 3 articles 3. Segmentation, targeting and positioning are interrelated activities which are important to achieving a successful Marketing Mix. Discuss these concepts in theory and give practical examples of how they can be applied to one industry...
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...(2) 3. Components of operational plan (3) 4. Budgets (4) 5. Forecasts (5) 6. Environmental Scanning (6) 7. Key performance indicators (7) 8. Acquire Resources (8) 9. Monitor Operational Performance (9) 10. Monitor and review operational performance (10) 11. TOWs analysis on The Iconic (11) 12. Summary (12) 13. Reference list (13) Introduction (1) Planning means factoring in all aspects of what needs to happen in the future in order to ensure that it all gets done in the time available. In a business environment we use operational plans to ensure that targets are met within given timeframes and to satisfactory quality standard. There are three types of plan used at different levels within an organisation: * Strategic plan * Business plan * Operational plan The strategic plan is developed for long-term planning and covers a period of about five years. The strategic plan specifies the missions and goals of the organisation including decisions on how resources, both capital and human, will be allocated to meet organisational goals. A business plan sits between the highest-level plan (the strategic plan) and the operational plan. A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals and objectives that are to be achieved to meet the strategic objectives of the organisation. The business plan includes the reasons why the goals and objectives are believed to be attainable, the plan for reaching those goals...
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...strategic planning? a. List the reasons a company would have if it wants to operate internationally. b. List the seven steps in the strategic management process. 2. What is environmental scanning? What areas are most commonly focused in environmental scanning? a. What is the difference between environmental scanning at the multinational level and the regional level? b. Describe the various sources of information that are available to managers. 3. What is a SWOT analysis? How is it used in strategic planning? a. What are the two levels of strategic alternatives that a firm must consider when competing internationally? b. Compare and contrast globalization and regionalization. 4. Describe the strategies of globalization and regionalization. When can each strategy be used most effectively? Chapter 7 1. What is global alliance and why should a company seek a global alliance over other forms of market entry? a. What motivates a company to develop a cross-border alliance? . b. Briefly explain FIVE (5) challenges in implementing global alliances? 2. What is the "dual nature" of strategic alliances? a. What are the benefits of outsourcing abroad? What should firms do when implementing a global sourcing strategy? 3. What is international joint venture control? Why is it important? a. Describe the process of knowledge management in international joint ventures. b. What are some of the complexities of managing and implementing a global alliance...
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