Analysis of Literature: Environmental Scanning and Conflict Management Styles

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Analysis of Literature
1. Environmental Scanning
In the current competitive world, corporations compete with each other with the aim of
being among the top in the market (Rowe Wright & Derbyshire, 2017). This calls for
environments scanning in order to get the perspective of the market’s potentialities, threats and
change strategies accordingly to counteract the forces. Environmental scanning is the process of
carrying out environmental analysis using analytical tools to get the patterns, trends,
relationships and occasions within the environment for making informed choices. As per
Samsami, Hosseini, Kordnaeij & Azar (2015), the environment under which an organization
operates is made up of both external as well as internal factors. The first step is to examine the
internal environment which includes the employees, management strategies, stakeholders,
business’s operational potential and the available products (Aboramadan & Borgonovi, 2016).
Through this, the organization is able to know the strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats
for proper planning and strategy formulation. The external environment, on the other hand,
comprises the competitors, political factors, social factors, environmental factors, legal factors
and other forces that impact on the daily business of the firm. As the environment becomes
competitive, the organization also must be competitive and therefore must create measures to
counteract these forces (Srivastava & BarNir, 2016).
As per Spicer (2018), the airline industry is driven by stiff competition whereby
companies are striving all possible ways to provide the best services and products to the
passengers. The biggest airlines are competing with each other every day. The competition is
also augmented by the emergence of low cost-small airlines all in the same competitive
environment. Spicer (2018) pointed out that airline rivalry has intensified with the presentation

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of new varied selection that customers select from when traveling from one location to the other
(Spicer, 2018) This competition is healthy for clients since there is the provision of varied
choices and fares are kept fixed. This, therefore, shows that the market is functioning. When
companies are doing business in a competitive environment, the customers are benefitting,
because investors are investments in new amenities, and technology. Also, the state of the airport
get enhanced (Rowe Wright & Derbyshire, 2017).
Irrespective of the positive nature of competition occasioned by many players in the
market, Qantas is experiencing challenges maintaining its leading role in the regional market
(Toivonen & Viitanen). The issue that Qantas is facing relates to pricing. This has resulted due to
the battle seen in the Pacific route among competitors and is an issue hurting Qantas. This is
augmented with soaring fuel prices in the market, reduction in business travels due financial
crisis experienced globally (traveler, 2019). These variations in prices owing to stiff competition
forced the company to withdraw from some routes. Despite the federal government’s initiative to
support the aviation sector as a result of the economic recovery, Qantas still has not solaced
because the industry experiences stiff competition. As a way of strengthening the business and
securing future assets, Qantas sold the Melbourne terminal (travelweekly, 2019).
The Key Findings
As per Owen (2019), Apple Inc. through the use of environmental scanning identified
needs of the customers in the uses of technology. In order to meet these needs, Apple Inc.
developed HomePod. It is an audio system that is smart. It is reported that the system is able to
adjust to different stereos based on different listeners as well as switching off by itself if the
listener walks out of the room. This idea of exploring into the audio environment begun earlier
and was thought as a good idea. This is now coming as a reality with the immense urge to

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meeting customers’ needs. As per Dennis (2019), it is forecasted that the market for technology
products including the HomePod audio system is going to increase. It is because there is an
increased consumption of technology products by the present generation. This, therefore,
position Apple Inc. in a better place to develop these products in large quantities in order to meet
this large market. Environmental scanning paved the way for Apple Inc. for strategizing on
market demand (Dennis, 2019).
In this respect, as competition becomes stiff Qantas must ensure that there are rapid
changes in the organization so that they continue to keep the market dominance. The
organization has to undertake environmental scanning to identify crucial elements for long-term
planning and to ensure effectiveness in business. Moreover, Qantas has to identify the
competitors, their strengths, threats, and weakness so as to create strategies to capitalize on a
competitor’s weaknesses (Lau, Liao, Wong & Chiu, 2012). Additionally, Qantas must enhance
its major competencies and internal factors in line with the external environment.
Even though it is established that environmental factors are endless, Qantas have to
remain agile to consent and to change as per the changes in the external environment. Qantas
ought to be monitoring the environment to check if there are changes in prices of inputs involved
in the creation of a product so that they can undertake a more forecast scanning, analysis, and
prediction in order to come up with trustworthy selections of input costs. In the same way, there
might be alterations in competitors, technology change, taste as well as preferences of the clients.
Qantas, forecasting of possible actions is necessary so as to meet these changes (Babatunde &
Adebisi, 2012).
Additionally, scanning the airline business is essential in order to understand the
competitive structure of Qantas as a competitor in the market. The competitive position of