PESTLE Analysis
Why do a PESTLE Analysis?
A PESTLE analysis is a tool used to gain a macro picture of an industry's external environment. PESTLE stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors. It allows a company to form an impression of the factors that might impact a new business or industry. Some factors will be more important to different types of businesses.
A PESTLE analysis allows a strategic and systematic evaluation of a business's prospects, risks and opportunities in a new environment.
While a SWOT analysis concentrates on a company's internal processes, a PESTLE analysis will help identity risk factors for the SWOT analysis.
Political factors include government policies, leadership, and change; foreign trade policies; internal political issues and trends; tax policy; regulation and de-regulation trends.
Economic factors include current and projected economic growth; inflation and interest rates; job growth and unemployment; labor costs; impact of globalization; disposable income of consumers and businesses; likely changes in the economic environment.
Social factors include demographics (age, gender, race, family size); consumer attitudes, opinions, and buying patterns; population growth rate and employment patterns; socio-cultural changes; ethnic and religious trends; living standards.
Technological factors affect marketing in (1) new ways of producing goods and services; (2) new ways of distributing goods and services; (3) new ways of communicating with target markets.
Environmental factors are important due to the increasing scarcity of raw materials; pollution targets; doing business as an ethical and sustainable company; carbon footprint targets.
Legal factors include health and safety; equal opportunities; advertising standards; consumer rights and laws; product labeling and product safety
Resources for a PESTLE Analysis
- IBISWorld This link opens in a new window
Strategic insights and analysis on Australian industries. Each report contains key statistics and analysis on:
- market characteristics
- operating conditions
- current and historical performance
- five-year forecasts
- major industry participants and more.
Also includes Australian Specialised Industry Reports, Australian Company Reports, Global Industry Reports and Business Environment Reports.
Bond University does not subscribe to other content on the site. - Capital IQ Pro This link opens in a new window
Capital IQ provides financial data, analytics, and research.
First time users must sign up and complete a registration form using their Bond email address. Select the ‘New User’ button, add your Bond student details to receive a confirmation to set your password. Click on View More. - MarketLine Advantage This link opens in a new window
MarketLine is a collection of company, industry and country information, covering 200+ countries and every major industry sector.
Social factors, such as demographics and culture can impact the industry environment by influencing peak buying periods, purchasing habits, and lifestyle choices. Society is important as people’s culture and lifestyle can influence when, where and how they are likely to engage with products and services. Social factors can include:
· Religion and ethics · Consumer buying patterns · Demographics · Health · Opinions and attitudes · Media · Brand preferences · Education
- ABS – Australian Bureau of Statistics
The Australian Bureau of Statistics website gives access to all of Australia’s census and demographic data, as well as related news releases.
- APA-FT: Australian Public Affairs Full Text via Informit Online (1978 - present)
The place to start for coverage of Australia's political, economic, social and cultural affairs. Broad-ranging coverage also includes Australian humanities and social sciences, current affairs, and law.