General External Environment Analysis
THE GENERAL EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
- Laka Muralidharan
General external environment is composed of dimensions in the broader society that influence an industry and the firms within it. These dimensions can be can be grouped into the following six environmental segments: demographic, economic, political/legal, sociocultural, technological and global segments.
1) Demographic segment
China and India account for 1/3rd of the population and experts believe that they will remain the top two populous countries at least until 2050. China and India would contribute 65 million and 142 million new workers respectively to the global workforce by the year 2020. Both countries offer large, educated, relatively low-cost workforces, and as worldwide quest for talent continues, China and India have become the key elements in global workforce strategies.
China’s workforce brings a variety of strengths to the table beyond sheer size. The country’s excellence in producing technical and engineering talent is well known, as is its relatively low-cost manufacturing workforce and 90% literacy rate.
On the other hand two traits characterize India’s workforce: skill and experience. In the last few years, India’s workforce has become known around the world through the country’s offshore call-centre activities—but this is just one aspect of India’s talent pool. Today, companies looking to India for talent are finding much broader opportunities than they did just a few years ago. India offers a large number of educated, skilled, English-speaking workers. Increasingly, companies have been drawing on the Indian workforce for quality and innovation, as well as for lower costs.
Many large scale companies now have workforce in China or India either directly or indirectly. As this trend continues in the future, the quality of jobs and the cost of labor in China and India will rise. This situation will breed a culture of innovation and development and soon new organizations will
- Laka Muralidharan
General external environment is composed of dimensions in the broader society that influence an industry and the firms within it. These dimensions can be can be grouped into the following six environmental segments: demographic, economic, political/legal, sociocultural, technological and global segments.
1) Demographic segment
China and India account for 1/3rd of the population and experts believe that they will remain the top two populous countries at least until 2050. China and India would contribute 65 million and 142 million new workers respectively to the global workforce by the year 2020. Both countries offer large, educated, relatively low-cost workforces, and as worldwide quest for talent continues, China and India have become the key elements in global workforce strategies.
China’s workforce brings a variety of strengths to the table beyond sheer size. The country’s excellence in producing technical and engineering talent is well known, as is its relatively low-cost manufacturing workforce and 90% literacy rate.
On the other hand two traits characterize India’s workforce: skill and experience. In the last few years, India’s workforce has become known around the world through the country’s offshore call-centre activities—but this is just one aspect of India’s talent pool. Today, companies looking to India for talent are finding much broader opportunities than they did just a few years ago. India offers a large number of educated, skilled, English-speaking workers. Increasingly, companies have been drawing on the Indian workforce for quality and innovation, as well as for lower costs.
Many large scale companies now have workforce in China or India either directly or indirectly. As this trend continues in the future, the quality of jobs and the cost of labor in China and India will rise. This situation will breed a culture of innovation and development and soon new organizations will