PESTLE and Your Company Analysis Project

In this section, we’ll apply the PESTLE framework to your company analysis project. This will help you gain a deeper understanding of the external factors that could impact your chosen company’s strategy and performance.

Steps:

  1. Identify Relevant Industries:

    Briefly review your company’s business description from its Form10-K. Define the industry boundary using the step-1 of the six-step process introduced in the Industry Analysis Reading. Remember that companies often operate in mutiple product and geographic markets and you may need to use multiple industry definitions to fully address your company’s business profile.

  2. Access Industry Reports:

    Utilize the library resources, such as IBISWorld and MarketScope Advisor, to access any relevant industry reports and analysis on your company’s industries. These reports often provide valuable insights into the PESTLE factors affecting the industry.

  3. Conduct PESTLE Analysis:

    Follow these steps to conduct a PESTLE analysis of your company’s industries:

    • Identify relevant factors: Based on the industry reports and your understanding of the company, identify the key PESTLE factors that are likely to impact the industry.
    • Analyze the impact: Evaluate the potential impact of each factor on the industry, considering both positive and negative effects.
    • Prioritize factors: Determine which factors are most significant in shaping the industry landscape and influencing company strategies.
    • Consider the interrelationships: Analyze how the different PESTLE factors interact and influence each other.

  4. Integrate PESTLE Insights:

    Once you’ve completed your PESTLE analysis, integrate the insights into your company analysis project. Consider how the identified factors might affect your industry’s customers, their willingness-to-pay, suppliers, their opportunity costs, and more generally factors that are considered table stakes in an industry.

  5. Reflect and Discuss:

    Reflect on your analysis and discuss your findings with your project team members. Compare your analysis with others and identify any common themes or variations.

Additional Considerations:

  • Focus on relevance: Not all PESTLE factors will be equally relevant to every industry and the impact of the factors will vary depending on the industry. For each industry, prioritize the factors that are most likely to impact.
  • Use multiple sources: Don’t rely solely on the industry reports. Consider using other sources, such as news articles, academic research, and industry blogs, to gather a comprehensive understanding of the PESTLE factors.