FEATURES OF BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

(i) Totality of external forces: Business environment is the sum total of all things external to business firms and, as such, is aggregative in nature.

(ii) Specific and general forces: Business environment includes both specific and general forces. Specific forces (such as investors, customers, competitors and suppliers) affect individual enterprises directly and immediately in their day-to-day working.

(iii) Inter-relatedness: Different elements or parts of business environment are closely interrelated. For example, increased life expectancy of people and increased awareness for health care have increased the demand for many health products and services like soft drinks, fat-free cooking oil, and health resorts.

(iv) Dynamic nature: Business environment is dynamic in that it keeps on changing whether in terms of technological improvement, shifts in consumer preferences or entry of new competition in the market.

(v) Uncertainty: Business environment is largely uncertain as it is very difficult to predict future happenings, especially when environment changes are taking place too frequently as in the case of information technology or fashion industries.

(v i ) Complexity: Since business environment consists of numerous interrelated and dynamic conditions or forces which arise from different sources, it becomes difficult to comprehend at once what exactly constitutes a given environment. In other words, environment is a complex phenomenon that is relatively easier to understand in parts but difficult to grasp in its totality.

(vii) Relativity: Business environment is a relative concept since it differs from country to country and even region to region.