Influence of External Environment on The MaNet Project

Strategic planning requires ‘broad-scale yet effective information gathering’ which is followed by clarification of the vision and mission, development of strategic alternatives, and an emphasis on implementation of decisions in the future. Since MaNet is a long-term perspective project, it is crucial to identify trends in different sectors and to gain advantage of the potential changes. The next step after assessing trends in the external macroenvironment is monitoring crucial stakeholders like customers, funders, and relevant policy bodies. It is indispensable for the Mastorochoria Network to attend not only to competitors and competitive forces, but also to potential collaborators and sources of collaborative advantage. In addition, a benchmarking is conducted in order to identify best practices and apply them in accordance with the guidelines and frameworks of the project (Grant 2010; Kotler 2008; Angwin, Cummings & Smith 2007; Bryson 2004:6).