Introduction
JC Penney Corporation faced many problems in the late 1990s. The corporation deals with merchandise and services to its consumers through department stores and catalogs and through the Internet. These environmental problems led the company to adopt many changes in the year 2000.JC Penny used to be a leading retailer in the U.S.This company moved from a decentralized merchandising to a centralized merchandising system.
Due to the problems this company faced, it led the company to improve on its environmental forces, which affected its growth. The company is planning to improve on its growth, and it’s planning to achieve this by maximizing sales and accruing profits in the existing retailers. It’s also intending to improve international profitability and adding new systems. The company has been in a position to grow, and it achieved this by properly applying the environmental forces to improve its growth. The environmental forces are divided into two, external environmental forces and internal environmental forces.
Internal environmental forces are the forces inside the organization which, when properly utilized, leading to the good performance of the company like companies management, technology, social and ethical forces. The external forces include political forces, competition, legal forces, among others. JC Penny Corporation has grown from a decentralized retail system into a centralized retail system by properly employed these forces. (Brooks and Weatherston, 1997).
Social and ethical forces
These are the forces that define the workers’ relationship and interaction. In any organization, the company has its rules and regulations which define the workers’ behavior. The workers’ code of conduct is properly structured like in the JC penny corporation. This company has grown because the workers relate with each other as per the rules set by the organization. When a company has these rules, then you find that issues like bullying in the workplace do not occur. Eventually, workers work towards achieving the company’s goals and objectives. Proper interaction by the workers means that workers work towards achieving a common goal, and this is improved production in the company. (Brooks and Weatherston, 1997).
Technological forces
The modern world involves the use of new technology. It is this technology that has led to improved production since most organizations rely on the new technology in most of their activities. JC Corporation uses the new technology in its production. It is the introduction of the new technology which has led the company to grow. This company effectively utilizes this technology. For instance, it properly makes use of the Internet whereby it gets information on how to improve its production. It also makes use of performance consultancies to get this information on proper management as a tool of success. The corporation sells most of its products online. (Brooks and Weatherston, 1997).
Political forces
Political factors involve security to the company. Political stability within a country and the neighboring countries, as well as trade partner’s countries, can influence the performance of a company. When there are conflicts within a country or the neighboring countries arising either from socio-cultural differences, there is the possibility of a high level of immigration and delocalization. This will obviously affect the suppliers, demand, and customers within those particular areas. So, with the political forces, it’s the role of the government to ensure stability in that country so that the economy of that country can grow. (Routledge, 1998).
Economic forces
This involves making use of the available resources. In JC Penny Corporation, it makes effective use of its resources. It is due to this that it records a huge profit compared to its competitors. It also sells cheap products and high-quality products compared to its competitors. It also has good infrastructure which has made transport easy hence many customers visit the industry often. It also makes use of the locally produced products in the United States as per the taste of its customers. Its due to this, the company has improved drastically. (Routledge, 1998).
Conclusion
Environmental forces affect the growth of a company. When these forces are properly incorporated into the company’s goals and objectives, the company grows drastically, for instance, in the case of JC Penny Corporation.
Reference
Brooks, I. and Weatherston, J. (1997). The Business Environment, Challenges and Changes, Prentice Hall.
Routledge, J. (1998). An Explanatory Empirical analysis of Pt 5.3A of the corporations Law. Companies and Securities law Journal.