What is macro environment analysis and how important is it to strategy and strategy development?

Macro-environment means external forces and factors: Technology, market trends; social change; legislation, economic conditions. And these strongly influence (some say completely determine) the success or failure of ALL strategies! Note: The managers do not control the outer ring. They only control their response! The response is part of a strategy. Not reading the macro-environment can lead to the demise of a company, see for instance Nokia. “If you think that you can run an organization in the next 10 years as you've run it in the past 10 years you're out of your mind.” - Roberto C. Goizueta, ex-CEO of Coca-Cola