Nowadays, any company that seeks to be competitive must be aware of everything that happens inside and outside the company. Analyze strengths and weaknesses in both internal and external environments and thus be able to create a competitive improvement strategy to stand out among the rest.
In the following article we will review how the organization and the environment that surrounds it is related, focusing on the external environment of organizations and how it can be analyzed to create a competitive advantage.
We will start by analyzing some basic concepts in order to better understand the subject.
Organization:
According to the "Systems Theory" an organization is considered an open system, for this we can start by defining what an open system is.
"System is a set of dynamically related elements that develop an activity to achieve a certain objective or purpose." (Chiavenato, 2007)
"An open system describes the actions and interactions of a living organism within the environment that surrounds it." (Chiavenato, 2007)
"An organization is a system of consciously coordinated activities of two or more people." (Chiavenato, 2007)
“An organization is a system designed to achieve certain goals and objectives. These systems can, in turn, be made up of other related subsystems that fulfill specific functions. " (Definition, nd)
"The entity made up of capital and labor, as factors of production, and dedicated to industrial, commercial or service provision activities, with profit-making purposes and the consequent responsibility" (Arriaga, 1992)
Organizations and the environment:
Organizations are not alone in the world, they do not have a vacuum around them, they operate in the middle of an environment and this environment encompasses everything that surrounds the organization. The environment can be divided into two: the macro environment, which is the general environment, and the micro environment that encompasses the work environment or work environment.
Macro environment:
It can also be called the general environment. In this you will find all the economic, technological, social, political, legal, demographic, cultural factors, etc. That occur in society and the world in general. Its effect covers all organizations and it is generic .
Macroenvironment
- Economic factor: it is of interest to all types of organizations and covers some topics such as capital, labor, price levels, fiscal and tax policy of the government. Technological factor: this refers to inventions, techniques and the extensive archive of organized knowledge. However, its main influence is in the ways of doing things, in how goods and services are designed, produced, distributed and sold. Technological change has a great scope such as an increase in time control, an increase in the possibilities of generating, storing, transporting and distributing energy, physical processes can be automated, mechanization of certain mental processes, an increase in the understanding of behavior individual or group Sociocultural factor:Forces of the general external environment where demographic and cultural aspects are mainly included. The demographic aspects are all those elements (Age, Educational Level, Geographic Distribution and Population Density) that describe the composition of the population while the cultural aspects are all the norms, customs and values of the population in general. legal: “Political media (attitudes and actions of political and governmental leaders and legislators) change with the emergence and development of social demands and beliefs. The government affects almost every business and every aspect of life. With respect to an organization, it acts in two essential functions: it promotes and limits business.Finally, the government is the main customer that buys goods and services. " (Contreras, nd) The legal means: the government must regulate organizations and therefore laws and regulations must necessarily be stipulated.
There are some forces that affect the general environment or macro environment such as:
- Economic variables Technological variables Social variables Political variables Legal variables Cultural variables Demographic variables.
Microenvironment:
Also known as a work environment. This refers to the most immediate and closest to the organization, that is, the specific environment of each organization. Within this system are the inputs and outputs of the system; In other words, the providers of:
- Material Resources Financial Resources Technical Resources Human Resources Services Resources
And on the other hand the clients and competitors
Clients: covers both current and potential clients. Today, organizations transform their processes to adapt to customer needs.
Competitors: organizations have to seek to keep up with their competitors or better yet to be above them by knowing very well the strategies of consumers. Among competitors, foreigners, newly created companies, and from other sectors (the product of some diversification strategy) must be included.
Suppliers: since these require inputs, suppliers are a very important factor as they determine the quality and final price of the organization's product. Suppliers can also represent a threat when they are unique or their customer is not significant to them and may even become a future competitor.
The microenvironment has two particular characteristics which are constant change and complexity. From the aforementioned characteristics a third is derived, which is the uncertainty that the organization has regarding what happens in the macro environment.
Microenvironment
Conclusions:
The development of an organization depends on multiple elements that are in its environment around it. These elements are considered within two classifications micro environment and macro environment, both equally important.
The organization must take into account all these elements and define them for itself so that through them it can achieve a competitive advantage over other competitors and thus be able to obtain more customers.
Bibliography
- Arriaga, HN (1992). Administration 1. Xalapa Veracruz: SEC.Chiavenato, I. (2007). Human resources administration: the human capital of organizations. MEXICO: McGraw-Hill.Contreras, AB (nd). Monographs. Obtained from Monographs: http: //www.monografias.comDefinicion. (sf). Definition. of. Obtained from Definition. from:
