Environment Scanning

It is very essential to acquire information and analyze the trend emerging in the environment and for this we have one suitable techniques or method i.e. environmental scanning.  The top management of a firm has to scan the environment to develop corporate strategy. Scanning helps them to understand and define current environmental realities and predict future changes. The top management can observe the changes taking in the external environment through sources like journals, reports, colleagues, employees, personal experience, meeting and conferences. Similarly, change in the internal environment of the organization can be observed through reports, committee meetings, memoranda, subordinate managers, employees and outsiders. Once the top management receives this information about changes taking place in the environment, they then assess, correlate, extrapolate, and interpret the events or signals to develop their corporate strategy. Through the internal scanning exercise, the business firm tries to size up its competitive strength. It takes stock of the competitive advantages available to it. Also it assesses its weakness. Putting all these dimensions together, the business firm develops it competitive profile.