Introduction
In their day to day activities, organizations encounter factors from both the internal and external environments and it is how well they handle each one of them that will determine their level of success. Managers have to anticipate the fluctuations in such factors and proceed to take appropriate measures to shield their organizations from being affected negatively. The following is an overview of both the internal and external environments that will equip managers with the knowledge necessary to manage the factors effectively.
Internal environment
The internal factors are those that operate within the business organization and are relatively determined by its policies and resources. The organization has some relatively degree of control over these factors and can customize them to suit the trends being witnessed in the market. The following are some of the factors.
Value systems
These are the strategic decisions that have been made by the top management and tend to determine how the operations of the organization will be undertaken. The value systems for Johnson & Johnson include its missions, goals, objectives, and business choices that it upholds in running its affairs.
Organizational structure
The organizational structure draws the relationships between the tasks and resources. The type of structure that has been implemented in an organization will show the chain of command implying how various hierarchies in the organization report to the others. Johnson & Johnson has a vertical structure that implies power is centered at the top.
Resources
Resources are the assets that are to be found in an organization. The levels of resources determine to a great extent the capacity of an organization and how it is able to undertake investments among other operations (Afarjanc, Serapinas, & Daugvilienė, 2008). They are also possible sources of competitive advantages and an organization has to consider the constituents in terms of how they complement one another and also how they are utilized. The major resources that are present at Johnson & Johnson include financial, information, raw materials, physical assets, and employees.
Brand equity and corporate image
Brand equity and corporate image refers to how the stakeholders in the market perceive the company as well as its output and tend to affect the manner in which they relate to the company (Mahnert & Torres, 2007). To the consumers it will determine how they make purchase decisions and to the investors and creditors, the manner in which they are willing to extend financial assistance to Johnson & Johnson to undertake ventures or purchase supplies on credit respectively.
External environment
The external environment refers to those factors that are to be found in the external environment of an organization. They are determined by the fluctuations in this environment and organizations have little control over them which creates the need to comply with them to avoid getting affected negatively (Ahmadi, 2010). These factors are divided into two; macro and micro factors.
Macro factors
Macro factors are those in the entire market or economy and affect all organizations irregardless of the industry in which they operate in and include political, economic, social, and technology.
The political factors refer to those aspects of a market involving the decisions that have been intentionally or unintentionally made by the authorities and affect how business is undertaken in the entire market. The economy factors on the other and refer to the conditions in the market that affect the level of demand supply. Social factors are those resulting from the profiles of the society and affect the trends and demand in the market. Finally, the technology factors refer to the advancements and innovations that have been made in a market and affect the way business is conducted.
Micro factors
Micro factors are those found in the external environment that impact only on individual companies. They are the various external stakeholders of an organization and include consumers, competitors, suppliers, and society.
The consumers are the most important of all these stakeholders as they affect the success of a company by the level of purchases that they make (Kloviene & Gimzauskiene, 2009). For Johnson & Johnson, they are those that purchase the various pharmaceutical products that the company sells in the market. The competitors are those organizations that deal in a similar market as an organization and target the same customers as well. They include companies such as GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer HealthCare. Suppliers provide raw materials among the other inputs that are utilized in the production of the final output. Farmers who produce medicinal herbs utilized which are processed into the manufactured drugs and oil vendors are among the major suppliers of Johnson & Johnson.
Johnson & Johnson strengths seem to be emanating from its multinational status. It has massive resources that it utilizes in undertaking various investments some of which are in different fields thus diversification. It also undertakes research and developments that provide quality goods which have managed to build loyalty in the market. In efforts to protect these quality innovations, it has taken patents to restrict their unauthorized use.
The weaknesses are mainly witnessed by the overspecialization in one segment implying that it has high investment risks. It has also attained maturity and stopped progressing due to its innovations being copied thus reducing its competitive edges.
The opportunities are mainly presented in the market due to the wide market in which it operates. Its large scale operations also reduce marginal product costs and have made the processes much effective.
However, threats for Johnson & Johnson mainly revolve around lose of market shares due to increased competition and have been worsened by the dented image that resulted from product recalls. Furthermore the overregulation of the drug industry also does not augur well with its efforts to increase profitability.
Appropriate strategy
From the SWOT Analysis, the major factor holding back Johnson & Johnson from success is its maturity stage. The company has to reinvent its ways and go back to its past ways of success. Therefore, it is important that it conducts product developments to differentiate its products that have already been matched by the competitors (Robinson & Lundstrom, 2003). In the event they are successful in doing so, they should embark on an aggressive marketing campaign to inform the consumers about these new developments. Banking on the loyalty they have so far managed to gain in the market, it would not be difficult to convince the consumers to make purchases.
References
Afarjanc, E., Serapinas, D., & Daugvilienė, D. (2008). Employees’ Impact to Quality Management System Effectiveness of Higher Education Organization. Economics & Management, 158-159. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Ahmadi, F. (2010). Survey Relationship between OCB and Internal & External Factors Impact on OCB. European Journal of Social Science, 16(3), 469-486. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Kloviene, L., & Gimzauskiene, E. (2009). Performance Measurement System Changes According to Organization’s External and Internal Environment. Economics & Management, 70-77. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Mahnert, K. E., & Torres, A. M. (2007). The Brand Inside: The Factors of Failure and Success in Internal Branding. Irish Marketing Review, 19(1/2), 54-63. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Robinson, G. J., & Lundstrom, W. J. (2003). Market expansion strategy: development of a conceptual market expansion decision scorecard. Strategic Change, 12(5), 259-272. doi:10.1002/jsc.642