Pestel: Pest Analysis and Factors

The growing importance of environmental or ecological factors in the first decade of the 21st century have given rise to green easiness and encouraged widespread use of an updated version of the PEST framework. STEER analysis systematically considers Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors. Contents [hide] 1 Composition 2 Applicability of the factors 3 Use of PEST analysis with other models 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Composition[edit] The basic PEST analysis includes four factors: Political factors are basically to what degree the government intervenes in the economy.

Specifically, political factors include areas such as tax policy, labor law, environmental law, trade restrictions, tariffs, and political stability. Political factors may also include goods and services which the government wants to provide or be provided (merit goods) and those that the government does not want to be provided (demerit goods or merit bad). Furthermore, governments have great influence on the health, education, and infrastructure of a nation. Economic factors include economic growth, interest rates, exchange rates and the inflation rate.

These factors have major impacts on how businesses operate and make decisions. For example, interest rates effect a firm’s cost of capital and therefore to what extent a business grows and expands. Exchange rates affect the costs of exporting goods and the supply and price of imported goods in an economy. Social factors include the cultural aspects and include health consciousness, population growth rate, age distribution, career attitudes and emphasis on safety. Trends in social factors affect the demand for a company’s products and how that company operates.

For example, an aging population may imply a smaller and less-willing workforce (thus increasing the cost of labor). Furthermore, companies may change various management strategies to adapt to these social trends (such as recruiting older workers). Technological factors include technological aspects such as R&D activity, automation, technology incentives and the rate of technological change. They can determine barriers to entry, minimum efficient production level and influence outsourcing decisions.

Furthermore, technological shifts can affect costs, quality, and lead to innovation. Expanding the analysts to PESTLE or PESTLE adds: Legal factors include discrimination law, consumer law, antitrust law, employment awe, and health and safety law. These factors can affect how a company operates, its costs, and the demand for its products. Environmental factors include ecological and environmental aspects such as weather, climate, and climate change, which may especially affect industries such as tourism, farming, and insurance.

Furthermore, growing awareness of the potential impacts of climate change is affecting how companies operate and the products they offer, both creating new markets and diminishing or destroying existing ones. Other factors for the various offshoots include: Demographic factors include gender, age, ethnicity, knowledge of languages, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, religious belief or practice, culture and tradition, living standards and income level.

Regulatory factors include acts of parliament and associated regulations, international and national standards, local government by-laws, and mechanisms to monitor and ensure compliance with these. Applicability of the factors[edit] The model’s factors will vary in importance to a given company based on its industry and the goods it produces. For example, consumer and EBB companies tend to be ore affected by the social factors, while a global defense contractor would tend to be more affected by political factors.

Additionally, factors that are more likely to change in the future or more relevant to a given company will carry greater importance. For example, a company which has borrowed heavily will need to focus more on the economic factors (especially interest rates). Furthermore, conglomerate companies who produce a wide range of products (such as Sony, Disney, or BP) may find it more useful to analyze one department of its company at a time with the PESTLE model, thus focusing on the specific factors elevate to that one department.