After segmenting markets so a firm can target particular customer groups, the next step
is to find out what customer groups want and expect.
To perform an external audit, a company first must gather competitive intelligence and
information about social, cultural, demographic, environmental, economic, political,
legal, governmental, and technological trends.
Qualitative forecasts are most appropriate when historical data are available and when
the relationships among key variables are expected to remain the same in the future.
Changing a strategy to fit an existing culture is not as effective as changing a firm’s
culture to fit a new strategy.