Mgt498 - Environmental Scan Apple & Coca-Cola

Environmental Scan

MGT/498

November 12, 2012

Environmental Scan

Environmental scanning is the vigilant monitoring and evaluation of a firm’s external and internal environments for detecting early signs of opportunities and threats that may influence planning (Deresky, 2010). In strategic planning, an environmental scan can help an organization increase understanding of the internal and external environmental factors required to reach the long-term goals of the company. This paper’s purpose is recognizing and exploring the external and internal situations of two successful organizations, Apple and Coca Cola. In addition, to examine the competitive advantages and strategies used by these organizations as well as sustaining value in an increasingly competitive market through creative strategic business plans. Another area explored is the measurement guidelines used to substantiate the strategic effectiveness for these organizations and the effectiveness of these measurement guidelines.

Internal and External Environments

The whole process can be seen as beneficial knowledge for managers wishing to increase the long-term efficiency and develop strategic plans for the business. An organization’s environment can be broken into two separate divisions. First, the internal environment, which is generally compiled of the factors or elements directly involved within the company. This would include the managers, employees, stakeholders, and especially the corporate culture of an organization. The external environment includes factors out of the organizations control. Some of these factors include political, economic, sociological, technological, ecological, and legal factors. In fact, other outside factors like slander and negative publicity interferes as well.

Environmental Scanning

An internal environmental scan can help distinguish the company’s internal assets and requirements. The external scan can help to determine the environmental issues that the...