When planning a vacation, you may do research on a variety of external factors that can impact the quality of your trip. Some of these factors, such as transportation costs and flight delays or road construction, will have a similar impact on the plans of a large number of travelers. Others, such as the expected weather conditions and location of attractions, are related to the specific area in which you plan to vacation.
Like travellers planning for a trip, organizations must carefully monitor the external environment in which they plan to operate. Organizations have a number of tools to aid them in doing this successfully. A General Forces Analysis encourages organizations to examine broad trends and forecasts that could potentially impact a broad range of organizations. Porter's Five Forces Analysis allows organizations to more closely examine external forces that may impact profitability, which are closer to the specific organization. Taken together, the results of these analyses provide a comprehensive picture of the external environment of a specific organization.
To prepare, review this week's Learning Resources. Begin searching for scholarly peer-reviewed resources on General Forces Analysis.
(Note: You will also use the General Forces Analysis and Porter's Five Forces Analysis in Part I of your SSP.)
General Forces and a Porter's Five Forces analysis of the industry of the organization you selected for your SSP. Your total response should be 3-4 paragraphs. Using General Forces analysis, identify trends and forecasts in each of the five categories of forces in the industry environment in which your organization exists. Explain the impact of these trends and forecasts on the industry. Next, using Porter's Five Forces analysis, identify external forces that might impact the organization's profitability and why. Identify potential opportunities or threats created by these five forces. Justify your response. Finally, evaluate the utility of General Forces Analysis and Porter's Five Forces analyses for developing organizational strategy. Identify 3-5 opportunities, and 3-5 limitations for each analysis tool.
Extend the conversation by identifying implications for practice or research, as well as for your own research agenda, where appropriate. Be sure to integrate one or two new related, and engaging, questions that will extend the discussion about your post in constructive ways. Try to think of a question that will engage your peers in critical analysis and thinking about your organization, which may provide insight for your use as you continue preparing your sections of the major Weeks 4 and 7 Sustainable Solutions Paper (SSP) due in this course.
Your response should have proper APA citations and adhere to all guidelines of APA style.