MGT 409 Study Guide - Comprehensive Midterm Guide: Human Resource Management, Product Differentiation, Zero-Sum Game
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Chapter 2: analyzing the external environment of the firm. External analysis toolkit: forecasting, general environments, strategic group analysis, porter"s fi(cid:448)e for(cid:272)es, swot analysis. Definition sur(cid:448)eilla(cid:374)(cid:272)e of a fir(cid:373)"s e(cid:454)ter(cid:374)al e(cid:374)(cid:448)iro(cid:374)(cid:373)e(cid:374)t to predict environmental changes and detect changes already under way. Important in highly volatile environments: alerts the firm to critical trends. Function: before they happen before competitors realize it. Definition: a fir(cid:373)"s a(cid:374)al(cid:455)sis of the e(cid:454)ter(cid:374)al e(cid:374)(cid:448)iro(cid:374)(cid:373)e(cid:374)t that tra(cid:272)ks e(cid:448)olutio(cid:374) of e(cid:374)(cid:448)iro(cid:374)(cid:373)e(cid:374)tal trends, sequences of events, or streams of activities. More definitive, data-driven: observe environmental changes to see if an important trend or idea is emerging from the data collected while scanning, e. g. consumer confidence index, percentage, of gross domestic product spent on, health care, etc. Definition: a fir(cid:373)"s a(cid:272)ti(cid:448)ities of (cid:272)olle(cid:272)ti(cid:374)g a(cid:374)d i(cid:374)terpreti(cid:374)g data on competitors, defining and u(cid:374)dersta(cid:374)di(cid:374)g the i(cid:374)dustr(cid:455), a(cid:374)d ide(cid:374)tif(cid:455)i(cid:374)g (cid:272)o(cid:373)petitors" stre(cid:374)gths a(cid:374)d (cid:449)eak(cid:374)esses. Develop feasible predictions of direction, scope, speed, and intensity of environment change.
