Scanning Business Environment for Information

|Information Research, Vol. 2 No. 4, April 1997 |

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Scanning the business environment for information: a grounded theory approach

Introduction

This paper summarizes the principal findings of research that sought to provide a comprehensive understanding of the environmental scanning process. The methodology used was of major importance in obtaining data that are grounded largely in the personal experience of managers, but also in documentary evidence and in direct observation by the researcher. The purpose of the study was to investigate how managers in the Portuguese chemical industry scan their environment for information, what are the contextual factors that affect this activity, and also how managers' perceptions of environmental change affect the strategic change they implement.

Methodology and research design

Methodology

In the context of this research, the case study was considered appropriate for providing a holistic approach to the study of environmental scanning in industrial organizations operating in the chemical industry. In creating the case study, several types of data and information were collected, including general data about the industry and specific information about the companies that agreed to participate.

The data about the companies included:

• formal data concerning the character of the company (official designation, address, telephone and fax number, name of the managing director, SIC code of the main industry, sales volume, number of workers, social capital and distribution, type of ownership) obtained through the two business databases consulted, Dun & Bradstreet and MOPE (Informação para Gestão de Empresas);

• publicly available data provided by the annual reports of the companies,...