Abstract
Managing organizations is a difficult task as the world is becoming increasingly complex. The environment is constantly changing and organizations must have certain strategies for survival and to withstand threats.
Firms are affected by different types of environments with several aspects: The macro-environment, the industrial sector in which the company is operating, and more directly, the competitors, markets and stakeholders surrounding the firm.
Moreover, GA Cole explained in "Strategic Management: Theory and Practice" (1994) that the forces and influences created by the business environment can affect organizational strategies. He claimed that the strategy of firms "involves thinking and actions are focused on the long-term basis of the whole organization that are conducted in conditions of considerable unpredictability" (Cole, 1994). Thus, strategic management can be seen as a circle of decisions which can be affected at any time and at various levels by the business environment. Johnson & Scholes explained in "Exploring strategic management: Text and Cases" (1998) that "strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long term: ideally, which matches its resources to its changing environment and in particular, its markets, customers ans clients so as to meet stakeholders' expectations" (Johnson & Scholes, 2005). These definitions suggest that the companies and the managers have to consider an adaptive approach to strategic management, and have to make adequate changes when and where it is necessary. Environmental instability can be fatal for a firm, that is why managers have to be careful at different levels.
In order to have a better approach to these environmental influences, it is preferable for managers and stakeholders to know what forces can be particularly influential for their firms' strategy and therefore how to anticipate future threats and opportunities.
The general environment of a company is much more complex to anticipate and to control as change can appear suddenly from anywhere and because the nature of that change can be hard to understand.
The PESTEL framework can be a solution for organizations as it helps them to analyze the potential forces and factors that can have an impact on their strategies.
