Relevance and content analysis of the environment

Before turning to the analysis of the environment, it is necessary to define the essence of the term "external environment". Usually, the external environment to understand the set of actors and forces outside the organization, and exerting any influence on its activities. In the literature there are many points of view about the structure of the environment. But the most widely used approach, under which the external environment of any organization distinguish two levels: micro - and macro-[1]. Initial external environment of the organization was seen as the specified conditions of activity, beyond the control of management. The priority is the view that in order to survive and grow in today's conditions, any organization must not only adapt to the environment by adapting its internal structure and behavior in the market, but also actively create the external conditions of its activity is constantly identifying the external environment and the potential threat. This provision became the basis for the strategic management of used cutting-edge firms in conditions of high uncertainty environment. Initial stage and the information basis of strategic management is to study the environment of the firm, there is a systematic collection and analysis of information about it. Analysis of the environment is generally considered the original process of strategic management as it provides the basis for determining how the mission and goals of the company and to develop behavioral strategies that enable us to fulfill the mission and achieve its objectives. It is a process by which developers of the strategic plan control external to the organization of factors to determine possible threats to the firm. Analysis of the external environment helps to obtain important results. It gives the organization time to anticipate opportunities, time to plan for unforeseen circumstances, the time to develop an early warning system against possible threats and the time to develop strategies that can turn the old threats in a variety of attractive features [2]. From the point of view of the threats and opportunities analysis of the role of environment in the strategic planning process is essentially a response to three specific questions: Where is now the organization? Where, according to senior management, the organization must be in the future? What should the leadership that the organization has moved from the position in which she is now in the position where it wants to see leadership in the future? In order to assess the need for careful analysis of the external environment organization should also consider the characteristics of the environment that have a direct impact on the complexity of its implementation. First, one of these characteristics is the interrelatedness of environmental factors. Beneath it is understood the level of force with which a change in one factor affects the other factors. The fact that coherence is significant not only for markets in the country or region, but also for the global market. This interdependence has transformed the environment of modern organizations in rapidly changing. Managers can no longer be considered the external factors alone, in isolation from each other. Experts even not so long ago introduced the concept of "chaotic changes" to describe the external environment, which is characterized by an even faster pace of change and stronger interconnectivity. Second, it may be noted as a characteristic of the complexity of the environment. This number of factors that organizations must respond, and the level of variance of each factor. If we talk about the number of external factors over which the company responds, if it pressed government regulations, and frequent renegotiation of contracts with labor unions, several interest groups influence many competitors and rapid technological change, one could argue that this organization is in a more complex environment, than, say, organization, concerned with the actions of a few suppliers, few competitors in the absence of trade unions and the slow-changing technology. Organisations working in a simple environment, have one advantage: they have to deal with only a few categories of data needed for management decisions. Because of this, in less complex environment and need less complex organizational structure, but because different organizations operate in different environments, situational approach determines that there is and the best organizational structure [3]. Third, we must distinguish the mobility of the medium. It is understood by the speed with which changes occur in the environment of the organization. Many researchers have noted a trend that the environment of modern organizations change with increasing speed all the time. However, despite the fact that this dynamic is common, there are organizations around the external environment which is particularly mobile. For example, studies found that the rate of change of technology and the parameters of competition in the pharmaceutical, chemical and electronics industries is higher than in other industries. Rapid changes occur in the aerospace industry, production of computers, biotechnology and telecommunications. Less noticeable changes affect the relative construction, food processing, production of packaging and packaging materials. In addition, the mobility of the external environment may be higher for some parts of the organization and lower for others. For example, many firms R & D department is faced with a high mobility environment, since it must keep track of all the technological innovations. On the other hand, the production department can be immersed in a relatively slowly changing environment, characterized by a stable movement of materials and labor. At the same time, if the capacities are scattered in different countries of the world or regions of the country or background resources come from abroad, the manufacturing process can be highly mobile in the environment. Given the complexity of the operation in a highly mobile external environment, the organization or its units must rely on a variety of information to make effective management decisions concerning its internal variables. This makes decision making more difficult the process [4]. Fourth, there is a characteristic of the environment as uncertainty. It is a function of the amount of information available to the organization (or person) on the specific factor, as well as a function of confidence in the information. If little information or have any doubts about its accuracy, the environment becomes more uncertain than in a situation where there is adequate information and there is reason to consider it highly reliable. As business becomes increasingly global activity, it takes more and more information, but confidence in its accuracy decreases significantly. Dependence on the opinions of foreign experts or analysis, outlined in a foreign language, exacerbates uncertainty. What is uncertain external environment, the harder it is to take effective management solution. All these characteristics of the environment groups say the high dynamics and the variant nature of the changes occurring in it, which imposes on the management of the problem as soon as possible more precise forecasting, assessment and analysis of the external environment the company in order to pre-determine the nature and effect of possible threats, which will develop and adjust adequately to the situation chosen strategy. As a result of the evolution of management have changed and improved methods of strategic planning and management. Under present conditions the most effective preventative is the need to respond to projected changes in the environment, because only through this can not only survive, adapt, and the best use of available reserves of the organization, as well as opportunities arising from the changes taking place. All this creates conditions for further development. This kind of management requires early detection of "weak signals" of any changes, both inside and outside the enterprise and rapid response. In this case, should be established a permanent surveillance (monitoring) for any events and phenomena occurring in the environment of the enterprise. The basic principles that must be considered when organizing the study of the environment are the principles of objectivity, systematicity, development, regularity, flexibility and relevance. Methods that can be used for this analysis can be grouped into two main groups: methods for collecting data about the environment and methods of analysis and prediction of its factors. The latter include the extrapolation methods, structural analysis and expert methods. References. 1. Agapov, SF Macroeconomics: Tutorial / SF Agapov. - M.: DIS, 2007 .- 789s. 2. Ananiev, AP Marketing / AP Ananiev .- M.: The Economist, 2008 .- 167s. 3. Andreev, BF Systemic rate of economic theory / BF Andreev .- Moscow: Delo, 2007 .- 378s. 4. Gilyarovsky LT, Economic Analysis / LT Gilyarovsky .- M: Publishing House of UNITY, 2006. - 890s.