ABSTRACT
The changing business environment (or the emergence of a newmarketing reality) If there is a single issue or theme which now links all types and sizes of organization, it is that of the far faster pace of environmental change and the consequential greater degree of environmental uncertainty than was typically the case even a few years ago. This change and uncertainty has been manifested in a wide variety of ways, and has led to a series of environmental pressures and challenges with which managers need to come to terms: a number of these are illustrated in Figure 5.1 . Although the 12 points identifi ed in Figure 5.1 are not intended either as a complete or a defi nitive list of the sorts of challenges that managers now face, they go some way towards illustrating the nature of the ways in which organizational environments are changing and how the pressures upon managers
When you have read this chapter you should be able to understand:
(a) why a regular and detailed analysis of the organization’s environment is important;
(b) the key elements of the environment;
(c) how fi rms go about analysing the environment;
(d) how environmental factors are changing;
(e) the dimensions of environmental scanning systems.
