The Connection of contingency factors with the external environmental scanning of the organization and an empirical application among the food producing firms within the Ankara province

Organizations are social systems which have mutual relations with their environments. An organization's external environment includes everything which is out of the boundaries of it. The environment is the source of both opportunities and threats for the organization. Events which are considered as opportunities for some of the organizations may be considered as threats for the others. Organizations must try to harmonize with their environments to be successful and survive. An organization's challenge with the environment which is changing continuously with a dynamic nature is the most decisive indicator of its success or failure. General changes and changes in the task environment features should be regarded in the strategic decision making process of the organization as they include both the opportunities and risks. Environmental scanning helps the organization to be aware of the environmental changes that it faces by providing information from the external environment and helps receiving early warning signals. The organization collects the information required to make a strategic formulation by environmental scanning. The first stage of the strategic management period is the environmental analysis. Environmental scanning is at the same time a kind of environmental analysis technique and an indispensable element of strategic planning and decision making. Continuous increase in the environmental complexity and uncertainty affects the organizations in making correct strategic decisions. Uncertainties are decreased to some extent as more related and correct data is obtained from the environment. Having updated data is of an important issue also. The environmental scanning is a vital activity with this regard. This thesis on dissertation covers the explanations on meaning and importance of environmental scanning, scanning styles, scanning models and descriptions and introduction of sources of data collection. The reasons which lead the managers to make environmental scanning are discussed and the relationships with strategic planning is handled.270 The relationships of the contingency factors such as environmental change, organizational size, inflexibility of technology, low-cost orientation; with the scanning scope, scanning frequency and the inclination of the managers to undertake the responsibility of scanning is put forward in this thesis. These relationships are analyzed and commented on by using statistical techniques handling them as sub-problems. The inquiry part of the research were carried out with the managers of the food industry organizations in Ankara. It was observed that the organizations perform environmental scanning at a primitive level, irregularly and without a solid research goal. Managers prefer informal data sources in general. In order for the environmental scanning to be effective, it must be performed at a proactive level, continuously and formally. It is advised for this reason that the environmental scanning should be organized within an organization as a strategic business unit.