Chapter 2 Flashcards
surveillance of a firm’s external environment to predict environmental changes and detect changes already under way
environmental scanning
a firm’s analysis of the external environment that tracks the evolution of environmental trends, sequence of events, or streams of activities
environmental monitoring
projection based on measurable facts, events, or objects - something that will happen
hard trend
probibility that something that might happen
soft trend
firm’s activities of collecting and interpreting data on competitors, defining and understanding the industry, and identifying competitors’ strengths and weaknesses
competitive intelligence
the development of plausible projections about the direction, scope, speed, and intensity of environmental change
environmental forecasting
a framework for analyzing a company’s internal and external environment
SWOT analysis
factors external to an industry, and usually beyond a firm’s control, that affect a firm’s strategy
demographic, sociocultural, political/legal, technological, economic, and global
general environment
practice wherein the internet is used to tap a broad rang of individuals and groups to generate ideas and solve problems
crowdsourcing
a tool used for examining the industry-level competitive environment, especially the ability of firms in that industry to set prices and minimize costs
Porter’s 5 forces
decreases in cost per unit as absolute output per period increases
economies of scale
the degree that a product has strong brand loyalty or customer loyalty
product differentiation
one time costs that a buyer/supplier faces when switching from one supplier/buyer to another
switching cost
a situation in which multiple players interact, and winners win only by taking from other players
zero-sum game
clusters of firms that share similar strategies
strategic groups
