Please provide a 300-400 word response for each of the below 3 discussion posts.
1. In the text, David, David, & David, state that “there are 10 external forces that can be divided into
5 broad categories: (1) economic forces; (2) social, cultural, demographic, and environment (SCDE)
forces; (4) technological forces; and (5) competitive forces” (2020). External factors can greatly affect
the success or failure of a firm. Therefore, “identifying and evaluating external opportunities and
threats enables organizations to revise their vision and mission if needed, to design strategies to
achieve long-term objectives, and to develop policies to achieve annual objectives” (David, David, &
David, 2020).
A couple weeks ago, I was having a discussion with my cousin about the farming industry, so it was the
first one to come to mind when reading this discussion question topic. Quite a few members of my
family and friends are involved in the agricultural (ag) industry, and over the past couple of decades it
has been greatly faced/influenced by external factors and will continue to do so for decades to come.
Each of those five broad categories mentioned above can be found throughout the ag industry.
Social, cultural, demographic, and environment (SCDE) is one that stands in both positive and negative
factors. Some SCDE variables David, David, & David mention are regional changes in tastes and
preferences, social responsibility, social-media pervasiveness, population changes by race, age, and
geographic area, and energy conservations (2020). Across the board there is increasing threatening
factors to the ag industry such as increasing temperatures, limited supplies of water, increasing
urbanization with disintegration of rural communities and family farms, topsoil depletion, air pollution,
and new threats to human health and safety. A large portion of these factors have pushed towards the
direction of sustainable farming. “Agricultural sustainability rests on the principle that we must meet
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs. Therefore, long-term stewardship of both natural and human resources is of equal importance
to short-term economic gain” (Brodt, Feenstra, Ingels, & Campell, 2011). Social media, interestingly,
has been a huge factor in the SCDE overhaul of agriculture. It provides a platform to bring people
closer to the food they consume and promote social/environmental responsibility.
This leads into another category that stood out to me: technology. Overall, agriculture industry has (or
had to) embraced the growing advances in technology, which has led to where the industry currently
functions. As the National Institute of Food and Agriculture share, “today’s agriculture routinely uses
sophisticated technologies such as robots, temperature and moisture sensors, aerial images, and GPS
technology. These advanced devices and precision agriculture and robotic systems allow businesses to
be more profitable, efficient, safer, and more environmentally friendly” (2021). This technology allows
for safe management of natural resources, safer growing conditions, less pollution run off, and keeping
produce prices at a more affordable rate. “Technology is improving volume of food per sq. ft, while
decreasing costs per sq. ft, and giving farms the tools to more responsible in the long run with inputs”
(S. Rolfe, personal communication, August 19, 2021). “One-third of America’s 3.4 million farmers are
over the age of 65, long regarded as retirement age, and nearly a million more of them are within a
decade of that milestone…[however] Some 27 percent of farmers are categorized as new and beginning
producers, with 10 years or less of experience in agriculture… Young producers — age 35 or younger —
account for 9 percent of farmers, but their operations and production are larger than the U.S. average”
(Abbott, 2019). Younger people are starting to come back to farms and/or start new farms, as well as
starting to have more control/influence over larger farms. Along with public interest and wants, I think
this beginning shift in age will be a significant factor in the continual overhaul of the agriculture
industry. It will be interesting to watch how the newer generations will respond to the five external
factors categories and shape the agriculture future.
References:
Abbott, C. (2019, April 11). On average, U.S. farmers are aging, but a quarter of them are
newcomers. Food & environment reporting network: AG insider. https://thefern.org/ag_insider/onaverage-u-s-farmers-are-aging-but-a-quarter-of-them-are-newcomers/
Brodt, S., Six, J., Feenstra, G., Ingels, C. & Campbell, D. (2011). Sustainable agriculture. Nature
Education Knowledge 3(10):1. https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/sustainableagriculture-23562787/
David, F. R., David, F. R., & David, M. E. (2020). Strategic management concepts and cases: A
competitive advantage approach (17th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education. ISBN-13:
9780135203699
National Institute of Food and Agriculture. (2021). Agriculture
technology. https://nifa.usda.gov/topic/agriculture-technology
2. Businesses are anticipating robust economic growth by the end of the year. However, roadblocks
such as the new Delta variant may interfere with progress. As the country continues to implement
provisions, increase the availability of the Covid-19 vaccine, and decrease the unemployment rate,
other poorer nations are struggling to improve economic activity and performance. While other
countries are trying to tame the first wave of Covid-19, the second wave emerges. Once again,
businesses across the globe are uncertain as to whether the new strain will interfere with improving
the global economy. If the Covid-19 cases continue to spike, companies will have to prepare for the
possibility of supply chain disruption, government policies/restrictions, interest rate changes, and a
recession (Global Economic Outlook, 2021). Once again, businesses across the globe are uncertain as to
whether the new strain will interfere with improving the global economy.
Our chosen company for our CLC project is Southwest Airlines. The airline industry was at a standstill
when Covid-19 first emerged. The industry struggled to combat multiple environmental forces, which
lead them to a complete halt. Each airline company resulted in a loss of traffic and revenue.
Unfortunately, closed borders, government restrictions, flight suspension, and feared customers made
it even more difficult for the industry to turn around. Southwest Airlines did not discontinue flights to
domestic services points (Kim, 2021). The number of incoming flights scheduled was limited, but the
company continued to provide air transport service. Additionally, the airline did not lay off or furlough
its employees (Kim, 2021). As restrictions lifted and borders reopen, the airline industry strived to
recover from losses, and respond to domestic and international traffic surges.
References:
Airport Council International (ACI). (2021). The impact of Covid-19 on the airport businesses and the
path to recovery. Retrieved from https://aci.aero/news/2021/03/25/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-theairport-business-and-the-path-to-recovery/
Global Economic Outlook. (2021). Retrieved from https://conference-board.org/topics/globaleconomic-outlook
Kim. B. (2021). Gary Kelly on how comms was key to Southwest Airlines emergence from the
pandemic. Retrieved from https://www.prweek.com/article/1720745/gary-kelly-comms-keysouthwest-airlines-emergence-pandemic
3. I currently see two sides to businesses globally. Right now we are in a crisis and many businesses
have been doing whatever they can to stay afloat. People have been losing their jobs, getting hours
cut, and not knowing day to day if they will have a job the next day. People are losing their houses,
they cannot afford their bills, and many people have filed for unemployment and other benefits to help
them live every day. This would be the bad side of things globally because everyone is going through
this together and all or most countries are experiencing hardship due to the pandemic. What has
changed is how people are shopping and doing business and that is online. According to one article,
“The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards a more digital world. The changes we make
now will have lasting effects as the world economy begins to recover,” said UNCTAD Secretary-General
Mukhisa Kituyi” (UNCTAD, 2020).
Businesses are still making money and have figured out other ways on how to stay open, but online
retailers are seeing that many people prefer to shop online because they do not have to get out of
their house, and things will be delivered right to their home. We picked Amazon for our company, and
many of the types of business like ours (online shopping) have remained open, or also have very strict
access to keep things up and running in their in-person stores. While things are slowly beginning to
open up again, but many people are not ready to be around others at grocery stores, convenience
stores, etc. Most places now requiring mask mandates or vaccination proof are still driving orders to be
pursued online.
UNCTAD. (2020). COVID-19 has changed online shopping forever, survey shows. Retrieved from
https://unctad.org/news/covid-19-has-changed-online-shopping-forever-survey-shows
Purchase answer to see full
attachment