Using environmental scanning to collect strategic information: A South African survey

•Environmental scanning is difficult because there are numerous variables involved and the information available is considerable, unorganised, fragmented and unchecked.•Competitive situation in South Africa is intense.•Respondents cope above average with changes in the business environment.•Few respondents have a formal environmental scanning system.

This article investigates the extent of environmental scanning activities at South African enterprises. The literature review discusses environmental scanning variables and steps in the environmental scanning process. In the empirical survey a questionnaire was e-mailed to the CEOs of 1000 South African enterprises, on 20 March 2015 asking them to return the questionnaire before 30 April and a response rate of 32.5% was achieved. Ninety five per cent of the respondents indicated that they regarded the competitive situation in South Africa as intense or very intense and most respondents were convinced that they coped above average with changes in the business environment. Only 30% of respondents had a separate environmental scanning department and only 27% had a formal environmental scanning system. Annual reports, market research reports, newspapers and trade journals were the most important secondary information sources, while customers, sales staff and suppliers were the most important primary information sources. All entities responding used competitor analysis, industry macro-environmental analysis and SWOT analysis to analyse environmental information.