The enterprise environment
As you know, nobody is working alone within the economical activity. There is a great variety of elements that are combined and happen in an enterprise. We are talking about the environment in which the organization develops.
The enterprise environment can be defined as all the elements that influence daily enterprise operations in a significant manner, dividing them in two: Macro-environment and Micro-environment.
Macro-environment, it is formed by every background condition in the external environment of an organization. This part of the environment forms a general context for management decision making. Among the main aspects of the external environment we have the following:
- Economical Conditions: this refers to the actual state of the economy in relation to inflation, incomes, gross internal product, unemployment, etc.
- Social-cultural Conditions: it is the general state of the prevailing social values in aspects such as human rights and the natural environment, orientation in schooling and the social entities related to it, as well as demographic patterns, etc.
- Political-legal Conditions: this refers to the general state of philosophy and the dominant objectives of the political party in the government, as well as the established government laws and regulations.
- Technological Conditions: related to the general state of technological development and availability in the surroundings, including scientific breakthroughs.
- Ecological Conditions: referring to nature and the natural or physical environment, including the concerns for the environment.
Micro-environment, it is formed by real organizations and people with whom the enterprise is related. Among the main ones we have:
- Customers: constituted by the groups of people or institutions that buy the goods and/or use the services of an organization.
- Providers: are the specific suppliers of the enterprise, both for information and financing, as well as the raw material the enterprise needs to operate.
- Competition: specific enterprises that offer goods or services equal or similar to the same group of customers or clients.
- Regulators: they are the government agencies and representatives, which at a local, state, or nation wide level, uphold laws and policies that affect enterprise activities in a determined country.
