Requirements Criteria for Applicable Environmental Scanning Systems : Model Development and First Demonstration

Especially in turbulent times, environmental scanning systems are an important instrument for supporting managerial decision making. The 2008/2009 economic crisis provided a sustainable impulse for focusing earlier on emerging threats and opportunities. Although a rich body of knowledge exists, concepts remain unused in practice. Most often they lack applicability. This article provides a list of requirements criteria specifying the applicability of environmental scanning systems. It is based on the principle of economic efficiency, uses findings from the absorptive capacity theory and can be applied to both evaluate existing environmental scanning systems and develop a new, more applicable generation than those we researched. We end with evaluating an environmental scanning system of a large, international company.