INTRODUCTION

Running a business is never easy. There always seems to be something happening that means you need to fit more into your day than you think you can handle. But somehow you do handle it. You keep going.

Not only that, but a large proportion of the things you have to handle seem to be things that you can’t control – you have to react to the situation.

If this is you, than you have both my sympathy and my admiration.

That doesn’t mean that it has to carry on though. It’s absolutely true that some things to do with running a business are outside our control – we have to respond to external events. But some things we do have complete control over. And some things we have some influence over.

This series of blogs is designed to help you to come to terms with these realities. Also, you are not alone. Others have thought about this as well, including some of the most respected and well informed business leaders and business academics.

Don’t worry. This is not a course and there are no exams. Don’t let the word academic frighten you. The models and ways of thinking I’m going to introduce are not there for their own sake. They are there to help you think about ways of planning, organising and carrying out the activities of the business in order to be more effective and more efficient.

By effective I mean better at achieving the goals of the business more often. By efficient I mean doing this with the minimum of time, effort and money.

So it doesn’t matter if you can’t remember the names of this stuff. So long as the ways of thinking that I’m going to introduce help you to think about your business more rationally, and hopefully, successfully. Ultimately, this series of blogs is about being more informed when you construct or review your Business Plan.

Remember I said that some things are outside your control, some things are under your control and some things you can influence?

We can call that the 3 Environments Model of Business.

Every business, every organisation, operates in these 3 environments, all at the same time. All the time, they are influencing the way you do business, and influencing the success of the business.

So it makes sense that if we can understand these 3 Environments, we might have a better chance at being successful as a business.

The Far External Environment is the one we have No Control Over. We can only Respond to developments in the Far External Environment.

The Near External Environment is the one we can Influence. It exerts pressure on our business, but we can push back. (Sometimes more easily than others).

The Internal Environment is the one we can Control. This is our business itself. This includes our goals, how we aim to achieve these goals, and the way we set up the business – how we operate.

For each of these, there is a handy dandy way of analysing what’s happening.

In the following blogs, I will be going through each of these 3 Environments, and looking to see if we can find a way to understand them, and so be more able to do business within them.

The important thing is to understand that every business is subject to influencing factors in its success. The more successful companies handle these influences better than others.

So whether you are looking to start up a business or are in the early years, if you are a manager interested in Management Training or a Director interested in Leadership Training, or indeed just looking for some business advice, I hope you find this series of blogs useful.

Click here to see the next blog.

Or alternatively, click here to download the entire series of blogs in one article.