Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
0 INTRODUCTION
Global Consulting Engineers is a South African based consulting engineering firm that was
formed in 2005. The organisation is a family business and has interests in civil engineering
consulting and project management. The organisation has strong teams which are led by a
company director in each discipline. It boasts of 3 chartered professional engineers, one
registered land surveyor and a professional project manager among its stuff compliment.
Global Consultings globalisation strategy focuses on establishing a presence in locations in
Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and other countries where there is a rise in the middle class and in
light of this, the organisation has opened an office in Zimbabwe. The organisations business
model is underpinned on private public partnerships (PPP) in order to foster its presence and
their business model targets regions where their services would be relevant.
Global Consulting specialises in civil and structural consulting and its clientele includes but
not limited to local municipalities, private developers, government and individuals who are
building their private properties. .
The instruments which can be used to analyse the business operating environment are SWOT
analysis, PESTEL analysis, Porters Five Forces Model and the StructureConductPerformance Model. However this paper examines the business operating environment of
Global Consulting using the SWOT and PESTEL analysis.
Weaknesses
Lack of managerial skills, scientist
without managerial skills are poor
leaders
Lack of funding as the government is
financially unsound
Red tape in procurement as GLOBAL
CONSULTING goes through State
Procurement Board
Poor organisational culture and
structure
Opportunities
Has got Government support
Exemption from duty
Does not declare dividends to
shareholders
Potential to do research
collaborations with English-speaking
countries
Threats
Poor corporate governance
Political interference
Sanctions
Brain drainage
Legal changes to labour laws
Withdrawal of Zimbabwe from
Commonwealth
3.0 Discussion
Some pertinent questions are:
Is environmental scanning necessary to scientific research organisations?
What are the best analysis instruments used to assess the business operating
environment?
Why is environmental uncertainty an important concept in strategic management?
Why is it necessary to frequently assess the business environment?
Environmental scanning is important to any organisations as it provides intelligence decisionmakers and ensures that all issues of every stakeholder are addressed. The best analysis
instruments of any organisations are subject to debate but it depends on the sector of the
organisations. For instance, the writer finds SWOT and PESTEL models as the best two
instruments to assess GLOBAL CONSULTING as a research institution. Environmental
uncertainty encourages calculated risks over hunches and is more likely to result in strategic
management instead of reactive. Yesteryear success breeds hubris. Hubris begets
complacency and complacency breeds normalisation of arrogance and arrogance brings
failure. This is the reason why business environment should be assessed regularly.
3 of 3. OPERATING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT OF GLOBAL CONSULTING BY ISAAC
GUNDHLA R952741H