What is business environment?

Sum total of all individuals, institutions and other forces that are outside the control of a business enterprise

The term ‘business environment’ means the sum total of all individuals, institutions and other forces that are outside the control of a business enterprise but that may affect its performance. As one writer has put it– “Just take the universe, subtract from it the subset that represents the organisation, and the remainder is environment”. Thus, the economic, social, political, technological and other forces which operate outside a business enterprise are part of its environment. So also, the individual consumers or competing enterprises as well as the governments, consumer groups, competitors, courts, media and other institutions working outside an enterprise constitute its environment. The important point is that these individuals, institutions and forces are likely to influence the performance of a business enterprise although they happen to exist outside its boundaries.