The research on environmental scanning practices of medium sized finance companies in Thailand, during
and after the 1997 economic crisis, shows that companies with well-organized and managed environmental
scanning process have steered through the turbulent environment and have become highly competitive in their
posture. As companies focus on short and long term horizons and look at a broader set of factors they are able
to better foresee changes in the environment and respond towards these movements more pragmatically. The
multi tier environmental scanning process inside these organizations helps in identifying opportunities for new
products and services. However, companies who base their decisions on imitating competitors are vulnerable to
the turbulent changes in the environment and are on the horns of a dilemma. They have not only to recover their
non-performing loans but also need big effort to improve their products and services to face stiffer competition.