Consists of the broad economic, socio-cultural, political-legal, demographic, technological, and global forces.

Managers usually cannot impact or control these.

Forces have profound impact on the firm.

Modeste & Partners monitor the broad environment to identify opportunities and threats that can be leveraged by your company for competitive advantage. Specific forces we evaluate for your competitive advantage include:

Economic forces that affect the national economy and the organization

• Interest rate changes, unemployment rates, and economic growth.
• In an expanding economy, buyers have more money to spend on goods and services.

Socio-cultural forces that promote changes in the social or national culture of a society

• Social structure refers to the relationships among people and groups.
• Varies from society to society.
• There are both national and regional cultural peculiarities that shape the values which characterize a society.
• Values and norms vary over time, from country to country, and between cultures.

Political-legal forces that arise in the political arena

• They can result in changes to competitive conditions through legislation that may influence the cost of doing business in a given jurisdiction.
• Changes in this area may produce new economic opportunities or threats.
• Include decisions by governments to tax or subsidize specific industries.

Demographic forces that result from changes in the nature, composition, and diversity of a population.

• These include aspects such as gender, age, and ethnic origin.
• Immigration gives rise to new consumer tastes in a broad spectrum of areas.
• Opportunities to cater to changing demands will allow for company growth.
• New market segments in areas such as ethnic food and targeted services will need to be satisfied.

Technological forces that encompass skills and equipment used to design, produce, and distribute goods and services.

• Often impact in combination with socio-cultural forces. For example, Facebook and Twitter as facilitators of social movements.
• Fast rate of change makes products obsolete very quickly
• Can change how we engage our chosen markets. For example, individualized marketing is expanding while mass marketing is waning.

Global forces that surface from changes in international relationships between countries.

• Increasing economic integration through supranational organizations such as WTO, IMF, IMF, EU, ASEAN, etc.
• Free-trade agreements (GATT, CEFTA, NAFTA, MERCOSUR, etc.) reduce barriers to trade, thereby creating new economic opportunities and threats in various markets.