External analysis:
11 May 2009 - 19:57
Nowadays, due to the constant changes that occur, it is of extreme importance of paying attention not only to the internal aspects of a company (marketing, finances, production, personnel, etc.), but also, to the aspects or external factors.
An external analysis consists of detecting and evaluating events and tendencies that happen in the surroundings of a company, which they are beyond his control and which they could benefit or harm it significantly.
The reason of making an analysis external is the one to detect opportunities and threats, so that strategies can be formulated to take the opportunities, and strategies to elude the threats or in any case, to reduce its consequences.
An external analysis can be realized of different ways; a formal form to realize it, is through following process:
1. To define forces keys of the surroundings
It consists of determining the forces or factors that could have negative or positive influence or in the company.
These forces or external factors can be:
Economic forces
It makes reference to the forces that affect the macroeconomic situation of the country, that is to say, to the general state of the economy.
The main economic forces are the rate of growth of the gross national product, the rate of inflation, the interest rate, entrance per capita, tendencies of unemployment, devaluation of the currency, trade balance, balance of payments, fiscal deficit, etc.
Social, cultural, demographic and environmental forces
Between the main ones of these forces they are the rates of fecundity, rates of mortality, aging of the population, structure of ages, migrations, styles of life, attitudes before the work, control of the contamination, social responsibility, etc.
Political, governmental and legal forces
These forces must especially be taken into account when it depends on contracts and subsidies of the government. They also must be taken into account before entering operations in other countries, and the same when it is going away abrir a business, for example, is due to find out on the granting of leave or license before to decide the definitive location of the business.
Between the main ones of these forces they are the governmental regulations, fiscal laws of patents, laws on monopolies, tariffs, increase of the minimum wage, legal stability, tributary stability, prospectuses of laws, etc.
Technological forces
The technological forces could be the most serious threats, is enough with remembering the number of companies that worked years ago and that have stopped working by the appearance of new technologies.
These forces include the new machineries, new equipment, new procedures of production, new systems of communication, technological level, technologies of information, etc.
Forces of the surroundings of direct action
Which are conformed as well by:
- Forces of the competition: competitors, their competitive strategies, strengths, weaknesses, advantages, capacities, resources, objectives, strategies, volume of sales, participation in the market; entrance to the market of new competing companies or products of the foreigner, etc.
- Products substitutes: product existence or appearance that could replace to the type of product of our company.
- Suppliers: amount, quality of consumptions, policies of sales, entrance of new suppliers, etc.
- Clients: profile, preferences, tastes, habits of consumption, behaviors of purchase, etc.
2. To determine sources of intelligence
In this point we determined which will be the outsourcing through which we will obtain the data that we required, we can classify which them in:
- Primary sources: investigation of markets, surveys, interviews, public generally, clients, members of the company, experts, consultants, etc.
- Secondary sources: publications, press, magazines, information, statistics, documents of government, books, manuals, Internet, etc.
3. Harvesting of information
Once selected the sources of intelligence, we happened to the task of collecting or of collecting the data, task that would have to be carried out by all the members of the company.
4. Evaluation of information
In this stage the information is evaluated, doing prognoses or projections in case are necessary.
We must remember that the objective to evaluate this information is the one to look for opportunities and threats, some simple examples of how to realize this evaluation or analysis they are:
- if, for example, we observed the sectors that a greater growth has (for example, the mining or the construction), then to penetrate in these industries could be a good opportunity of business.
- if, for example, we have detected the entrance of new suppliers with consumptions of better quality and to smaller prices, then it could be an opportunity.
- if we detected the entrance of new technologies, for example, information technologies, it could be an opportunity, we acquired if it in time, or could be a threat if we did not update ours, and we left competition it does yes it.
- if, for example, the government sets out to sign a Free Trade Agreement with some foreign country, it could be an opportunity to export our products to this country, or could be a threat by the product entrance coming from this country that does competition to us.
Once we have evaluated the different opportunities and threats that we could have, we in sequence make a list of importance.
5. To make decisions or to design strategies
And, finally, once analyzed the information, we happened to make the decisions or to design the strategies that allow us to take the opportunities, and to face up or to elude the threats, or, in any case to mitigate its consequences; beginning with the opportunities or more important threats.
For example, in case the government is about to sign a Free Trade Agreement with some foreign country, and it is going to facilitate the product entrance with smaller prices than they compete with ours, then the form to resist this threat, could be to take advantage of our competitive advantages and increase the quality of our products.
Labels: Concepts, Management of businesses, Step by step
Compártelo
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