Jeffery David Whippo Explains What Environmental Scanning For an Organization Entails

1. Jeffery David Whippo Explains What Environmental Scanning For an Organization Entails Well-known professional businessman and educator, Jeffery David Whippo says that personnel that are assigned to provide environmental scanning for organizations are tasked with providing an increased awareness and understanding of long-term environments helping to improve the strategic planning capabilities of the organization. The information collected during environmental scanning is critical in product design, formulation of marketing strategies, determination of marketing mix, and research and development strategies. One of the key outcomes of environmental scanning is that it motivates managers to become sensitive to environmental trends while inspiring them to focus on strategy instead of tactics. This allows them to better understand the strategic problems that a business may be facing rather than just focusing on short-term tactics. Jeffery David Whippo describes six main tasks that must be accomplished by those that are in charge of environmental scanning. 1.Trend Monitoring - Trend monitoring is the continuous and systematic monitoring of trends in the external environments of the company and studying their impact on both their company and its constituencies. 2.Forecast Preparation - As part of forecast preparation the development of alternative scenarios, forecasts and other analyses that serve as inputs to various types of planning and issue management functions within the company are critical. 3.Internal Consulting - A consulting resource has to be established to provide information on long-term environmental matters as well as conducting

2. research studies as needed to support the company’s decision making and planning activities. 4.Development Of An Information Center - This is basically an intelligence center developed for collecting intelligence and forecasts about the external environment. Information collected from all over the organization can be sent to the information center for interpretation, analysis and storage creating a library of environmental intelligence. 5.Communications - Jeff Whipposays that the communications task is focused on communicating the collected information on the external environment to decision makers through many different facets of media which could include newsletters, reports, lectures, presentations, and periodic analyses of the environment. 6.Process Improvement - The continuous development of new tools and techniques, the design of improved forecasting systems, understanding and being able to apply methodologies developed outside of the organization and ensuring that the company is constantly following a process of self- evaluation followed by self-correction is critical to the continued success of environmental scanning.