Before looking at how the internal and external environments affect an organisation such as IBM. It is important to distinguish between each environment.

 The external environment can be broken down into two categories,

Mega: technological, economic, legal/political/sociocultural, international elements

Task: Governments and regulators, competitors, customers/clients, suppliers, public pressure groups, the employment market

The external environment is one in which the organisation (IBM) has no degree of control over: Included in the external environment are the opportunities and threats for the organisation and against the organisation (of the SWOT analysis).

 The internal environment is primarily made up of cultural aspects of the organisation, in its structure and the way in which it conducts business and views itself in the external environment.

The internal environment is one in which the organisation has control over making it very important to understand as to remain viable...