I. Current Situation
A. Current Performance
How did the corporation perform the past year overall in terms of return on investment, market share, and profitability?
B. Strategic Posture
What are the corporation’s current mission, objectives, strategies, and policies?
1. Are they clearly stated, or are they merely implied from performance?
2. Mission: What business(es) is the corporation in? Why?
3. Objectives: What are the corporate, business, and functional objectives? Are they consistent with each other, with the mission, and with the internal and external environments?
4. Strategies: What strategy or mix of strategies is the corporation following? Are they consistent with each other, with the mission and objectives, and with the internal and external environments?
5. Policies: What are the corporation’s policies? Are they consistent with each other, with the mission, objectives, and strategies, and with the internal and external environments?
6. Do the current mission, objectives, strategies, and policies reflect the corporation’s international operations, whether global or multidomestic?
II. Corporate Governance
A. Board of Directors
1. Who is on the board? Are they internal (employees) or external members?
2. Do they own significant shares of stock?
3. Is the stock privately held or publicly traded? Are there different classes of stock with different voting rights?
4. What do the board members contribute to the corporation in terms of knowledge, skills, background, and connections? If the corporation has international operations, do board members have international experience? Are board members concerned with environmental sustainability?
5. How long have the board members served on the board?
6. What is their level of involvement in strategic management? Do they merely rubber-stamp top management’s proposals or do they actively participate and suggest future directions?
1. Do they evaluate management’s proposals in terms of environmental sustainability?
B. Top Management
1. What person or group constitutes top management?
2. What are top management’s chief characteristics in terms of knowledge, skills, background, and style? If the corporation has international operations, does top management have international experience? Are executives from acquired companies considered part of the top management team?
3. Has top management been responsible for the corporation’s performance over the past few years? How many managers have been in their current position for less than three years? Were they promoted internally or externally hired?
4. Has top management established a systematic approach to strategic management?
5. What is top management’s level of involvement in the strategic management process?
6. How well does top management interact with lower-level managers and with the board of directors?
7. Are strategic decisions made ethically in a socially responsible manner?
8. Are strategic decisions made in an environmentally sustainable manner?
9. Do top executives own significant amounts of stock in the corporation?
10. Is top management sufficiently skilled to cope with likely future challenges?
III. External Environment:
Opportunities and Threats (SWOT)
A. Natural Physical Environment: Sustainability Issues
1. What forces from the natural physical environmental are currently affecting the corporation and the industries in which it competes? Which present current or future threats?
2. Opportunities?
a. Climate, including global temperature, sea level, and fresh water availability
b. Weather-related events, such as severe storms, floods, and droughts
c. Solar phenomena, such as sun spots and solar wind
3. Do these forces have different effects in other regions of the world?
B. Societal Environment
1. What general environmental forces are currently affecting both the corporation and the industries in which it competes? Which present current or future threats? Opportunities?
a. Economic
b. Technological
c. Political–legal
d. Sociocultural
2. Are these forces different in other regions of the world?
C. Task Environment
1. What forces drive industry competition? Are these forces the same globally or do they vary from country to country? Rate each force as high, medium, or low.
a. Threat of new entrants
b. Bargaining power of buyers
c. Threat of substitute products or services
d. Bargaining power of suppliers
e. Rivalry among competing firms
f. Relative power of unions, governments, special interest groups, etc.
2. What key factors in the immediate environment (that is, customers, competitors, suppliers, creditors, labor unions, governments, trade associations, interest groups, local communities, and shareholders) are currently affecting the corporation? Which are current or future Threats? Opportunities?
D. Summary of External Factors
(List in the EFAS Table 4–5, p. 126)
Which of these forces and factors are the most important to the corporation and to the industries in which it competes at the present time? Which will be important in the future?
