文档介绍：The External Assessment
Chapter 3
Business Policy and Strategy (BADM 482)
The External Assessment
“The opportunities and threats existing in any situation always exceed the resources needed to exploit the opportunities or avoid the threats3>. If strategy is to be essful, it must allocate superior resources against a decisive opportunity.”
-- William Cohen
Introduction
An external audit focuses on identifying and evaluating trends and events beyond the control of a single firm. Examples include:
increased petition
population shifts
an aging society
stock market volatility
terrorism.
An external audit reveals key opportunities and threats confronting anization so that managers can formulate strategies to
take advantage of the opportunities and
avoid or reduce the impact of threats.
The Nature of an External Audit
The purpose of an external audit is to develop a finite list of opportunities that could benefit a firm and threats that should be avoided.
Firms should be able to respond either offensively or defensively to the factors by formulating strategies that take advantage of external opportunities or that minimize the impact of potential threats.
Key External Forces
External forces can be divided into five broad categories:
economic forces
social, cultural, demographic, and environmental forces (., sociocultural forces)
political, governmental, and legal forces
technological forces
competitive forces.
The Process of Performing an External Audit
Involve as many managers and employees as possible.
First, petitive intelligence and information about economic, social, cultural, demographic, environmental, political, governmental, legal, and technological trends.
Assimilate and evaluate the information.
Meet to collectively identify the most important opportunities and threats.
The Process of Performing an External Audit
Key internal factors vary over time and vary by industry.
Key variables include:
supplier or distributor relati