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Business Environment AnalysisMethods » Business environment analysis
Developing a shared map of the world outside the organisationAll our projects have in them elements of business environment analysis.
In the past, many large organisations typically had a department with the task of following changes in the operating environment. The work in these departments was linked to the strategic planning processes, but was rarely in close touch with the business realities. Today, few organisations feel they can devote large staff resources to these tasks.
This does not mean that the need for continuous analysis of the world around the organisation has lessened. On the contrary. Strategy development cannot take place without proper knowledge of wider trends and developments. We all carry such feelings in us, in our opinions on what is going on. What is crucial for an organisation is that wide agreement is reached. It is no good for a crew on a ship to have different maps on which to navigate. The business environment analysis process should therefore aim at giving the organisation a common map.
Of course, this is nothing new. Rather, it is the way this work is carried out that has changed. In the past, this analysis was typically carried out as a separate process. Increasingly, organisations see the need to integrate this process more clearly into the other strategic and operative business processes. Therefore, the business environment analysis process becomes an activity where the knowledge and information that is possessed in different parts of the organisation must be channeled into the process and form the base of the analysis.
What are then the key components in a business environment analysis process in an organisation?
An outside-in approach is necessary. All too often, an organisation is