Environmental scanning in organizational strategy

Environmental Scanning and organizational Culture (Saxby, Parker, Nitse, Dishman, et.al.) the authors progress through a series of discussions regarding frameworks for scanning, assimilating data from, and interpreting environmental factors impacting an organization. The authors draw references to the Deshpande organizational cultural model using it as a framework for defining their own Enhanced Model of Culture, Strategy and Scanning Modes (Saxby, Parker, Nitse, Dishman, 33). The article uses this augmented framework to be prescriptive regarding the strategies for completing environmental scanning. The authors draw references to competitive strategy theories including the determinants of competitive advantage from Dr. Micheal Porter of Harvard University on the one hand while discussing how the various approaches corporate cultures have in making decisions dictates the effectiveness of environmental scanning. These potentially conflicting approaches are brought together in the Enhanced Model of culture, strategy and scanning modes the author propose.

Key Learning Points

The following are lessons learned from reading this article. First, the variation in organic vs. mechanistic processes relative to internal maintenance vs. external positioning brings an added dimension to the existing series of frameworks and theories regarding competitive strategy. The axes of the Deshpande model expanded upon by the authors bring cultural sensitivity of organizations including their core strengths into the analysis. Second, the strategies necessary for navigating the Deshpande Model are provided in the context of the author's recommended framework. This is useful from defining which type of environmental scanning is completed within each type of given industry or company competitive arena. Third, the use of active vs. passive scanning and its implication on the strategies chosen is insightful and can be used readily within the defining of scanning as a service to strategists and senior managers in companies. Fourth, the research propositions attempt to integrate observations to the actual quadrants themselves. This is useful from the standpoint of bringing in insights of how the specific analytical frameworks can be used to better define an environmental scanning strategy. Further, the differences between Clan, Market, Adhocracy and Hierarchy cultures provides guidance in how to define the specific goals and objectives of a given environmental scanning strategy. In capturing the differences between these four different quadrants, the authors successfully accomplish the goal of the article, which is to associate cultural conditions or constraints on environmental scanning.

Statement Analysis

The statement "Environmental scanning allows managers in the organization to become instantly aware of the environmental factors that could significantly influence the organization and its strategic direction," is exemplified in the many examples shown throughout the paper and also in the proposed framework the authors have created in this article. Second, the statement "They further state that companies that achieve superior customer value require competence in multiple market intelligence strategies" is also supported through the many references in this article. There are numerous other supporting factors within this paper that provide support for differentiation to the market level, further supporting this statement. The one statement disagreed with within the enhanced model section is "Therefore, it is clear that an organization cannot engage in marketing without being aware of its environment" is false. Many organizations participate in marketing and have no idea what they are doing or how to accomplish it. This statement is therefore false and debatable.

Critical Analysis

The reliance on one specific model (Deshpande) for the definition of Organic vs. Mechanistic processes is enough of a foundation onto which the authors can arguably create more useful quadrants. The authors however stop short of being able to create a useful scalable framework that can be used across the entire lifecycle of a product or a service for example. The framework is also static; it does not take into account gradations or changes over time in each of the quadrants. There is no maturity model component to the analysis either, further making it difficult to fully scale over time.

Applying this Knowledge to the UAE

The use of environmental scanning in the UAE has immediate uses in the development of partnerships and alliances throughout the petroleum industry, specifically focusing on packaging and promotion based on gaps in the global market. Relying on environmental scanning would give UAE petroleum producers the ability to quickly define packaging and partnership strategies globally and then get consensus to create aftermarket products in those areas of the world where the greatest opportunity is. The use of these models as defined in the paper could be used as the impetus for creating entirely new alliance, development and selling partnerships.