Conduct a comprehensive external environmental scan of your business unit, including a five forces analysis, to identify the relevant trends that pose opportunities or threats to your business.

A comprehensive external environmental scan of my business unit would include a five forces analysis to identify the relevant trends which could pose opportunities or threats. This would involve assessing the competitive rivalry, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of customers, bargaining power of suppliers and potential for new entrants into the market. For example, understanding the level of competition within our industry could provide us with insight on how to differentiate ourselves from other players in order to stay ahead.

Furthermore, analyzing the potential for substitutes can help us identify alternative solutions that may be more suited to customer needs; this is especially important when it comes to maintaining a strong market presence in such a crowded space. Similarly, examining both customer and supplier bargaining powers provides an understanding of where we might need to focus more attention as well as any leverage we may have when it comes time for negotiations.

Finally, looking at the likelihood of new entrants into our sector allows us to gauge how safe our position is; if barriers to entry are low then there’s always a risk that someone else may try and enter our space which could disrupt current operations or even lead to direct competition.