Strategically planning your company's decisions requires conducting an environmental analysis that allows you to understand the complexities of the scenarios that surround it, in order to detect threats and opportunities before the competition, especially when implementing your marketing strategies.
In this article we are going to teach youEverything you need to know about analyzing a company's environmentand how this strategic planning tool is put into practice. But first, let's start by explaining some key concepts to get into context with the methodology.
Throughout our history, many types of planning have emerged to respond to conflicts and social problems from their multiple dimensions. Strategic planning could be said to be the second type of planning identified throughout history, followed by normative planning and preceded by strategic-situational planning.
Strategic planning dates back to war and the tactics used on the battlefield to defeat an opponent. This type of planning considers an adversary and a goal to be met in the short, medium or long term. Therefore, it is defined as a systematic process where plans are developed and implemented to achieve objectives within changing and competitive environments.
Why is strategic planning important?
Strategic planning is important because it allows you to establish the tasks and path that your company or organization must follow to achieve its objectives and goals, always taking into account the changes and demands imposed by its environment, which becomes essential for decision-making. This is where the environment and its analysis play a key role in strategic planning.
Basics of environmental analysis
To understand what environmental analysis is , you must first understand the following key concepts:
The environment
The environment is everything that is outside the boundaries of your company, that is, that you cannot control but can influence. It is characterized by being dynamic, that is, very changeable, complex, since multiple actors and scenarios are involved, and uncertain, because it cannot be controlled and is very unpredictable.
There are two ways to classify the environment, by its context and by its location. According to its context, we have that there are:
Stable environments
They are characterized by being simple, static and low uncertainty.
Intermediate environment
It could be:
Simple, dynamic and of intermediate uncertainty.
Complex, static and of intermediate uncertainty.
Turbulent environment
Characterized by being complex, dynamic and highly uncertain.
According to its location, the environment is divided into:
Macro environment, general or generic
It refers to a more global framework of the environment, for example: the set of political, economic and social factors that can affect all companies located in a specific geographic area in the same way.
Micro environment, specific-competitive
They are considered to be the closest factors that influence a group of companies that have common characteristics or are in the same sector. The factors that stand out in this type of environment are:
Customers.
Suppliers.
Competitors.
Intermediaries.
How to analyze your company's environment?
To analyze a company's environment , you must first identify whether your company is in a turbulent, stable, or intermediate environment.
For example, companies operating in a country like Venezuela where there is hyperinflation and political instability may consider their environment to be turbulent due to the levels of uncertainty and complexity that exist within the country.
This first step is important to move on to the next one, because the perspective with which you will identify the multiple elements that intervene in your environment will depend on this.
Secondly, you must use other strategic planning tools in conjunction with each other that allow you to analyse both environments separately, both the external one (through a PESTEL matrix) and the internal one (creating a SWOT matrix or identifying Porter's Five Forces).
Tools to analyze the environment
As we have already mentioned, to analyze your company's environment , taiwan cp number you must use multiple tools. Here are the most commonly used ones:
Pestel matrix
To analyse the macro environment, a Pestel Matrix is usually used. Its initials come from the acronym of the words:
Political.
Economic.
Sociocultural.
Technological.
Ecological.
Legal.
This tool allows you to perform an analysis that responds to the current context in which your company or organization operates.
This way, you can examine the impact of each factor on your business and the relationship between them. In this matrix, you should:
Identify the external factors to your organization corresponding to each letter of the acronym
Describe how that factor impacts your business.
Establish your level of impact (positive or negative)
Indicate the time of incidence or impact that each factor will have on your company. For example: 3 months, 6 months or a year.
We show you an example:
pestel-matrix-environmental-analysis
It should be noted that those factors that generate a positive impact are considered an opportunity, while those that are negative automatically represent a threat.
In this sense, one of the objectives of the Pestel Matrix is to precisely detect these opportunities and threats, which can then be included in the SWOT matrix when carrying out the internal analysis; and to anticipate scenarios in the environment that your company can take advantage of to optimize the business model or increase sales.
For example, by making a Pestel Matrix, one can identify among the economic factors:
The financial policies of the country in which your company operates.
The banking conditions that exist regarding loans and financing.
Interest rates.
The levels of inflation.
All of this, of course, with the intention of detecting how beneficial or not the environment is for investment and how one can take advantage of this scenario.
Porter's Five Forces Analysis