1. How can the topic be defined succinctly and accurately for someone unfamiliar?

2. In what ways is the topic worth knowing about?

3. What examples or cases demonstrate the topic worth knowing about?

Please answer in around 100 words each.
 
 
 
 
 

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A changing environment can help as well as hurt a company. Many pioneering companies have gone out of business because of their failure to adapt to competitive and environmental change or, even worse, because of their failure to create change. For example, Baldwin Locomotive, the major manufacturer of steam locomotives, was very slow in making the switch to diesel locomotives. General Electric and General Motors soon dominated the diesel locomotive business and Baldwin went out of business. The dominant manufacturers of vacuum tubes failed to make the change to transistors and consequently lost this market. Eastman Kodak, the pioneer and market leader of chemical-based film photography, has been in a long decline as it struggles to find its place in the post-film world. Failure to adapt is, however, only one side of the coin. A changing environment usually creates new opportunities at the same time it destroys old ones. The lesson is simple: To be successful over time, an organization needs to be in tune with its external environment. There must be a strategic fit between what the environment wants and what the corporation has to offer, as well as between what the corporation needs and what the environment can provide. Current predictions are that the environment for all organizations will become even more uncertain with every passing year. What is environmental uncertainty 90? It is the degree of complexity plus the degree of change that exists in an organization's external environment. As more and more markets become global, the number of factors a company must consider in any decision increases in size and difficulty. With new technologies being discovered every year, markets change and products must change with them. On the one hand, environmental uncertainty is a threat to strategic managers because it hampers their ability to develop long-range plans and to make strategic decisions to keep the corporation in equilibrium with its external environment. On the other hand, environmental uncertainty is an opportunity because it creates a new playing field in which creativity and innovation can play a major part in strategic decisions. A changing environment can help as well as hurt a company. Many pioneering companies have gone out of business because of their failure to adapt to competitive and environmental change or, even worse, because of their failure to create change. For example, Baldwin Locomotive, the major manufacturer of steam locomotives, was very slow in making the switch to diesel locomotives. General Electric and General Motors soon dominated the diesel locomotive business and Baldwin went out of business. The dominant manufacturers of vacuum tubes failed to make the change to transistors and consequently lost this market. Eastman Kodak, the pioneer and market leader of chemical-based film photography, has been in a long decline as it struggles to find its place in the post-film world. Failure to adapt is, however, only one side of the coin. A changing environment usually creates new opportunities at the same time it destroys old ones. The lesson is simple: To be successful over time, an organization needs to be in tune with its external environment. There must be a strategic fit between what the environment wants and what the corporation has to offer, as well as between what the corporation needs and what the environment can provide. Current predictions are that the environment for all organizations will become even more uncertain with every passing year. What is environmental uncertainty 90? It is the degree of complexity plus the degree of change that exists in an organization's external environment. As more and more markets become global, the number of factors a company must consider in any decision increases in size and difficulty. With new technologies being discovered every year, markets change and products must change with them. On the one hand, environmental uncertainty is a threat to strategic managers because it hampers their ability to develop long-range plans and to make strategic decisions to keep the corporation in equilibrium with its external environment. On the other hand, environmental uncertainty is an opportunity because it creates a new playing field in which creativity and innovation can play a major part in strategic decisions.