How Will Trick-Or-Treating Be Affected By The Economy?

Let’s hope not!

Actually, there is a lesson here for us, though, and it deals with environmental forces.

The best laid strategies and the highest hopes can often be dashed by a change in one or more of the forces that constantly impact what we plan to do as strategic planners. Organizations do not exist in a vacuum, but instead in a very dynamic environment. What makes the environment dynamic is the existence of many environmental forces that are constantly in flux. Different authors label them differently, but my favorite has always been the acronym, PEST.

Political/Legal Forces

Economic Forces

Socio-Demographic Forces

Technological Forces.

These are largely beyond our control, but they are exactly what we need to constantly monitor and plan around.