CEM is a basic and vital function of any organisation which starts with its inception and runs through out its life. The organisation and the external forces in the environment continuously interact with each other.

     During the stable phase of the operations, a equillibrium is maintained between the organisation and its environment leading to minimal interaction between the two. it gets active or disturbed , whenever  some irregular or non–routine activity is initiated due to either a new initiative undertaken by the organisation or a perceptible change that has taken place in the environment. CEM then becomes relevant.

Such situations are likely to arise in following cases :

Initiatives by the Organisation

    New Business
    - Setting up maiden business by a newly established organisation
    Growth Oriented Business
     -Investment in new projects; in new locations; expansion in new territories; expansion, diversification,  mergers etc. of existing business.
    Enhancing Business Prospects
     -Corporate image building; restructuring of business; opinion building for specific corporate   goals etc.
    Management of Adverse Situations
     -like business reversals, set backs etc.

Changes in External Forces

     -Like changes in laws, political powers, attitude of people etc, have a direct impact on corporate business.

Supplementing the role of other management functions

Infact, any business problem relating to production, marketing, personnel and finance has a CEM prospective to it and vice versa. Today, most of the organizations either overlook or do not pay adequate attention to it. With growing globalization of business activities,  the  Corporate simultaneously operate in a variety of business environments. Such situations demand more elaborate and systematic application of CEM.

Universal Accessibility

     It is true that the genesis of CEM lies in business situations and, hence, so far, we have largely referred  to it in business context only. Infact, CEM concept has universal applications i.e. it is equally relevant and applicable to business and non-business situations.
     To understand it better, replace an organisation with an individual, an institution, a nation or any other entity which has undertaken an activity to perform. Each will have its own environment having same set of external forces but different mix of their influences. The following illustrations bring about for better clarity.
     The management of these non- business environments also needs to be carried out on the same lines as the business environment. Indeed, we should consider organisation and environment only as generic names while considering non-business applications. Thus, CEM’s scope is truly universal, encompassing business and non- business situations alike.