Abstract In response to increasing environmental change many corporations have developed specialized environmental scanning units. Previous research reveals conflicting findings regarding the viability of these units for introducing environmentally relevant information into strategic decision processes. A field study was conducted on 10 ‘leading‐edge’ corporations. The results show continuing experimentation with alternative administrative structures and the vulnerability of units that are not tightly linked with strategic planning processes.

Abstract It is suggested that senior‐level executives and corporate staff are under mounting pressure to develop better means for assessing organizational environments. This comes at a time when there is little agreement about the concept of environment, relevant perspectives from which it should be viewed, and how to organize for its evaluation. Alternative ‘models’ for environmental analysis are examined, and theoretical issues and their administrative implications are discussed.

Results of a cross-cultural, repeated measures study of advertising attitudes among subscribers toward product test magazines are presented. The subscribers, seen as an important group of purchasers and trend setters, are found to have less favorable attitudes to all aspects of advertising studied in 1976 than in 1970, both in the U.S and West Germany. Differences in attitudes among age groups are much more clearly structured in 1976, with younger subscribers showing consistently lower attitudes. Differences are found between countries, particularly in varied views of economic and social dimensions. Implications are discussed and future research suggested.