Environmental Scan: The Gap and Urban Outfitters

An environmental scan refers to the process of carefully monitoring both the internal and external environments of a particular company to determine if there are an nascent signs of threats or opportunities which might impact its present or future plans or intentions.

For example, if one were to examine the retailer Gap, Inc., this is a company which has undergone a great deal of stress and challenges in the last fifteen years. The 1990s was the company's heyday, when it was at the height of its popularity. This was when the company was able to garner strong success in all their stores, capitalizing on the 90s culture of simple designs and grunge appeal. The next 15 years showed a tremendous amount of challenge to the company, largely through external and internal threats. Consider the external threats: massively successful companies like H&M and Forever...
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