Paper 1 · Business Objectives
State the collective term for the economic, political, social, technological and competitive forces that surround an enterprise and that it cannot control.
Model answer
external environment
Also accepted: the external environment, external business environment, macro environment
Explanation: The external environment is everything outside the firm's own boundary that affects it but cannot be changed by it, usually grouped as political, economic, social, technological and competitive forces. Culture, management style and staff skills lie inside the boundary and make up the internal environment.
Derived from ZIMSEC Business Enterprise Skills Paper 1, Specimen Paper (edition B), Q1