The Task Environment

The task environment is usually the environment that most organizations like to focus on. The task environment is very helpful to the organization because it helps them to specifically identify environmental factors that are important in the company’s success. This environment is made up of five parts. The first part are the competitors. Competitors compete mostly for customers dollars for example Nike, Adidas and Puma all compete for customers that are looking for athletic shoes, soccer cleats etc. Organizations also compete against one another but not only for customers money, but also for things like the right to buy a piece of real estate, or for a loan if the bank has limited funds they can lend. The second part is customers. Organizations have individual customers as well as wholesalers, retailers, and schools that are also customers to companies. For example hospitals buy food in bulk from McDonalds which makes the hospital a Micky Ds customers. The third part are suppliers, the ones who provide resources to other organizations. For example McDonalds buys soda from Coca Cola, and ketchup from Heinz. Most companies don’t buy ALL their supplies from just one supplier, because if that supplier goes bankrupt then so does the company that relied completely on them. The fourth part are strategic partners. This means that two companies work together in order to help each other. An example of this would be McDonalds will promote Disney toys in happy meals and Disney will build McDonalds in their parks. This can help companies get expertise from other companies that they tend to lack in. In this environment the manager will be able to see what companies or customers help them and who they need to focus their advertisement on.

In what other ways does the task environment help the manager?

Rise of the Numerati

After reading the article “Rise of the Numerati” I have become much more informed about how companies advertise to their customers through the internet. I came to realization of how much companies are able to track every move or transaction we make. Most Americans own cell phones, computers, and credit cards. Through just these three things these companies can know exactly where you are through GPS on cell phones. They can know what internet sites you have visited, and what advertisements you click on, which will reveal to them what products or other things you are interested in. Many Americans will use their debit or credit card for buying daily things like buying a few groceries at the store or filling up their car at the gas station. All these purchases are recorded on their bank accounts and the bank can know that you bought a 24 pack of beer at Market Basket at 8:22pm in Rindge, and that you bought $10 of gas at the CITGO station at 10:47pm in Keene. Also security cameras have time stamped pictures and videos at just about every convenient store, bank, gas station, and atm around the country. With all this access to everyone’s lives, statisticians are able to come up with inferential statistics to infer information about different types of people. Which means they are able to come up with relations for example that a high number of romantic movie fanatics, are one of the largest groups of customers for rent-a-car companies. Maybe because the movies they watch inspire them to travel to romantic areas. Now the rent-a-car companies know where to focus their advertisement for more business opportunity.

What other examples prove that statistics are used by a company so they can know where they can focus their business?