Forces and Trends Analysis
MBA/580
University of Phoenix
Introduction
Today’s global marketplace provides a competitive environment that requires companies to be strategically adaptable and agile to anticipate the forces and trends of change which are impacting many different industries. Strategic adaptability is very important to the success of companies. Trends and factors will always be an aspect that companies will have to adjust to in order to optimize their success. Strategic adaptability is defined as “a firm’s ability to adjust its business practices and competitive tactics in response to the perceived efficacy of its strategic actions, can be a strong determinant of organizational performance.” (The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, 2007) This encourages companies to scan the remote environment to create strategic plans that provide benchmarks, direction and forecast for the company in the next three to five years. Consequently, “many CEOs are talking about strategic adaptability and agility, partnerships and alliances and how to exploit their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses. For the most part, these foci are unlikely to change” in the future and are heightened by the current economic downturn. (Perla, 2003) Strategic adaptability compels a firm to not only scan the environment but ensure the strategic direction remains flexible, politically, socially, ecologically, economically, and technologically sensitive to issues that could dramatically change a company’s performance, profitability, market share and wealth maximization.
Every industry is facing the winds of change, progress of time, and the trends of the future. This is relevant to each company in this paper since the impact of these f ...