The Forces of Change From new technologies and industry shifts to internal problems that force businesses to reorganize, companies face many pressures to change. The first step for managers in dealing with such pressures is to understand whether they are coming from outside the company or from inside. External forces include classics like competition, shifting consumer demand, and technological progress and relatively new ones like globalization and the rapid spread of information technology. A common internal force is one that most companies seek: growth. The additional complexity that comes with growth results in imprecise roles and responsibilities, infrastructure gaps, the need for better coordination across groups, and other headachesall demanding organizational change. But even mature businesseslarge but no longer growing that muchare not immune from pressure to change. And precisely because they are large and complex, they are less willing and less able to adapt quickly, which means they can end up in big trouble and forced to make dramaticoften painfulchanges, such as layoffs and divestitures. Describe two external and two internal forces that have affected your company over the past yearpreferably ones that have forced your team to change the way it does business. How has your group responded to these forces? Has that response been good or bad