Advantage of Environment Scanning

Tools and Techniques

SWOT Analysis

Environment scanning as part of your strategic planning processes is advantageous in several regards as it helps:

1. identify your strengths as an institution; areas it might make sense to build upon and develop further

2. ensure that your high level strategic planning is grounded in fact and is realistic and achievable

3. ensure that what you are striving to achieve is marketable and will add value to the institution once completed

4. provide the opportunity for managers to see beyond the confines of their own often specific areas of responsibility and help foster a more informed strategic overview

5. identify any weaknesses within the institution which you hope to address through your strategic activity, or which represent a potential obstacle to the successful realisation of your activities (for example a lack of staff with certain key skills); and

6. identify and predict forthcoming developments within society, culture, the economy and technology which may have a bearing (for good or ill) on the outcomes of your activities

All managers will be familiar with SWOT analysis as a tried and tested technique for structuring and summarising an analysis of the status quo within the institution and as such it has much to recommend it. But, as illustrated in the previous section, how the institution is now represents only one of at least four views of your 'environment' that are required for a comprehensive picture to emerge. Inevitably, such a wide range of factors cannot be addressed through one single process or by adopting just one technique - hence the reason for our outlining several different methodologies throughout this stage.

Finally, it is inevitable that the potential use and benefits of the type of information that you are likely to accrue by adopting some or all of the techniques suggested will not just be limited to planning and implementing your strategic activity. They will undoubtedly be of use in informing decision-making at all levels across the institution, as well as providing the source data for many future initiatives.