Firms must monitor six major forces in the broad environment: demographic, economic, social cultural,
natural, technological, and political-legal. We’ll describe them separately, but remember
that their interactions will lead to new opportunities and threats. For example, explosive population
growth (demographic) leads to more resource depletion and pollution (natural), which leads
consumers to call for more laws (political-legal), which stimulate new technological solutions and
products (technological) that, if they are affordable (economic), may actually change attitudes and
behavior (social-cultural).