Introduction (charts not available)The world has become increasingly complex, due to the greater interdependence between global economies (Thompson, 2002). The success of an organization is largely determined by how well it adjusts all its tangible and intangible properties to stay in tune with its environment (Armenakes & Bedeian, 1999). The strategy aimed to manage the company's activities and resources according to the environment in which it operates. This essay will analyze the micro and macro external environment during part five years (2000 to 2006) of IBM company using PESTEL and the five forces model to be analyzed in the first part. The second part will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the two possible alternative strategies for IBM.Part 1: Micro and Macro External Environment Analysis1.1 PESTEL AnalysisThe external factors can be divided into six broad categories which are political, environmental, social, technology, environment and law (Johnson, 2005). These external factors are generally beyond the company's control and sometimes present themselves as threats. In this case, political factor, environmental factor and technology factor will be used to analyze the computer technology industry. Political Factor The Iraq War is an ongoing war that began with the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. This war has affected the world economy. , in particular the United States which is directly waging war on Iraq. Fear of a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq has soured investor confidence in the U.S. stock market. In addition, technology stocks on the European market plunged following the decline in results from sector giants Microsoft and IBM (CNN.com). This is because everyone is negative about Iraq and in combination...... middle of document......ion.cnn.com/2003/BUSINESS/01/17/ markets.europe/index.html. Accessed 5/31/2007• My solution info.com IBM market sharehttp://www.mysolutioninfo.com/news-display.aspx?Code=960&t=IBM%20Number%20One%20in%20Worldwide%20Application%20Development% 20Software %20Market%20Share. Accessed 1/6/2007• Network World US Militaryhttp://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/101206-us-military-to-test-ibms.html?page=1 Accessed 29/5/2007• Employees laid off at New.com IBMhttp://news.com.com/IBM+to+cut+almost+1%2C600+more+jobs/2100-7252_3-6187552.html?tag=topicIndex Accessed 02/06/2007 • IBM Companywww.IBM.com Consulted on 5/28/2007• IBM transfers its main buyer to China Sale of its PC business to Lenovohttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6045482.stm Consulted 30/5/2007• SARS BBC Newshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/sars1.shtml#what_is_it? Consulted on 1/6/2007