Everything that happens in the community, country and world has an influence on how
an organization operates. Examples include...

-- Changing Mores and Laws. More than half all American babies are now born out of
wedlock making it necessary for organizations to accommodate child-care issues and all
forms of harassment are now illegal and aggressively enforced.

-- Demographic Changes: More than half all new American workers are female or
minority making it necessary to accommodate their different needs and cultures.

-- Economic Cycles: The economy expands and contracts making it necessary for
organizations to identify ways to thrive during both types of environments

-- Environmental Concerns: Recognition of the fact that our environment is fragile and
must be protected dictate where and how products can be produced, waste disposal, and
the ability of workers to drive to and from work.

-- Health Care Cost: American health care insurance is tied to full-time employment,
the costs are escalating much faster than inflation and now total up to one-half of an
organization's personnel budget making it increasingly hard to offer this benefit to
employees.

-- Global Competitors: Emergence of nations like China that pay very low wages as
major industrial power makes it necessary for American businesses to become
increasingly productive.

-- Limited Market Life Span: Emergence of mass communication makes it possible for
potential customers to quickly seek new products and services making it mandatory for
each organization to continually improve or die.

-- Federal, State and Local Laws: Each year local, state and federal law makers enact
new laws that seriously impact production cost and decision-making processes.

-- War: International terrorism and war limits travel, changes the ways in which people
relate to each other and make some businesses unprofitable.