Environmental analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Environmental analysis - Essay Example Taking into consideration the facts, stated above this article seeks to discuss the business environment and will focus more on environmental analysis and its importance to every business organization. Several experts and scholars have come up with various definitions of environmental analysis. Environmental analysis, according to Marketing Intelligence (nd), involves studying the organization’s environment with an aim of pinpointing the environmental factors that impact the operations of the organization significantly. While some scholars prefer to divide the business environment into three major categories (operating, internal, and general environment), most experts prefer to categorize the business environment into two; the internal and external environments. Environmental factors may work for or against the business and hence they must be accorded due consideration if the business must remain in business according to Armstrong (1996). There have been developed quite a number of business environmental analysis techniques by several different scholars and organizations. Some of these techniques include PESTLE, SWOT, MOST, CATWOE, Five Whys, De Bono 6Hat, MoSCoW, and VPEC-T among others. However, the most common techniques commonly used include SWOT analysis and PESTLE analysis. During a SWOT analysis, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organization are considered according to Hill and Westbrook (1997). The strengths of the organization include its competitive advantages, while its weaknesses are those aspects that it needs to improve on. Opportunities are those openings that the organization has for potential growth while the threats are those obstacles that it faces. A PESTLE analysis on the other hand involves the consideration of political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and environmental factors that impact the organization’s performance (Marketing Intelligence, nd). The