"List of Current External Circumstances" that would apply to the majority of the companies in Soft Drink Manufacturing: 312111. LIST THE FAVORABLE ITEMS BEFORE THE UNFAVORABLE ITEMS.All list items will ALWAYS meet the following criteria:

1. They represent phenomena or trends that CURRENTLY exist and are not past or hypothetical future problems unless there is strong and sufficient evidence that suggests that the phenomena will PROBABLY exist (and your evidence must be clear and strong, in the present tense, with solid sources to back it up).
2. They represent current circumstances (including trends), NOT ACTIONS that a competitor or the industry might do about them (again, this is an automatic show-stopper). Read each one aloud and ask yourself if you are describing an action by the industry or a competitor(s). If yes, then it is incorrect and you won't get a company assignment until it is corrected.
3. They apply to the EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT in which the industry CURRENTLY operates, not just to one or a few companies in the industry. Remember, your focus is on the environment in which the industry operates, not on the industry competitors themselves.
4. They are not under the control or direct substantial influence of the competitors.
5. They do NOT describe things that are ALWAYS true (i.e., "Companies must follow government regulations", or "When unemployment goes up, people have less money to spend"). Technically, this is referred to as the "Present Continuous" voice in English grammar. In short, you're your work such that something IS DOING something, not something DOES something.
6. They are written in complete and grammatically correct sentences.
7. They are written in the present tense (not past or future tense). Again, this is the "Present Continuous" voice.

Note: If you list a circumstance that is worded to include something a competitor or the industry can do, your answer is completely incorrect and you will just have to do it over. You might be tempted to look a company's 10K or other annual filings to see what they say for their SWOT factors. This is unwise. In short, just because a company says something does not make it correct. Many companies often get this incorrect.

Note: Don't use the terms "opportunity" or "threat" to describe an external circumstance. These are different. You are looking for CURRENT EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES ONLY.

1. Add an index number to the far left of each list item. For the favorable items, list them "F1", "F2", etc. and for the unfavorable items, index them as "U1", "U2", etc. Again, you should have at least 11 "F" factors and 11 "U" factors (but you can have more if you wish).

1. Make sure that each item in the list has a valid citation. That is, the items in the list cannot be just dreamed up from your imagination. Each listed circumstance must actually exist in the current environment, and you need a citation to support your statement.

Because this is something under the control of the competitors in the industry, or because it applies to only one or a few competitors, it must fit the definition of a Current External Circumstance. Remember, you are writing about the CURRENT EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT in which the industry operates, not the industry itself nor its competitors.

Don't talk about the past or the future. The lists should contain phenomena about CURRENT circumstances only. To be clear, don't write about what "can" happen in the future or what "has" happened in the past. Rather, about what "is" happening now. To be clear, while you can talk about the lingering PRESENT TENSE effects of past actions, you can't just talk about the past actions as the subject of what you are stating in the list item.