7 PESTLE Analysis

PESTLE analysis

PESTLE (Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors) is used as a tool for insight into an industries environment.

Use PESTLE analysis to research how industries and markets operate within their political, legal and economic environments, identify competitors and gaps in the market and to locate accurate and comprehensive financial data.

Being able to successfully research to locate, analyse, use and create information will ensure your business decisions are grounded in reality and improve their chance of success.

PESTLE infographic © Western Sydney University, created by Todd Hillsley is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike) license

Political

Political factors have an impact on industry such as tax policies, trade restrictions, tariffs and immigration policies.

Useful websites may include:

• Parliament of Australia

  Freely available Australian parliamentary documents, including debates (Hansard), media releases, legislation, bills, second readings, explanatory memorandum, senate and house committee transcripts, background papers and research notes. The parliamentary website also includes links to Committee websites and the Parliamentary papers index.^[1]

   

• Parliament of New South Wales

  Freely available New South Wales parliamentary documents, including debates (Hansard), media releases, legislation, bills, second readings & explanatory memorandum, senate and house committee transcripts, background papers and research papers.^[2]

Economic

Economic factors a have direct impact on a company’s long-term prospects in a market. The economic environment may affect how a company prices their products or influence the supply and demand model. Environmental factors can include:

• Inflation rate
• Disposable income
• Unemployment rate
• Interest rates
• Foreign exchange rates
• Economic growth patterns

Databases and websites you may use include:

• Business Source Complete

  Aggregation of business & economics journals, indexes and abstracts. Includes many full text scholarly journals. Provides company profiles for the world’s 5,000 largest companies.^[3]

   

• ABI/Inform Complete

  International business/management database. Good for all topics, including industry, economics, accounting & finance, marketing, human resources, organisational behaviour, and coaching psychology.^[4]

   

• Passport

  Passport provides market intelligence on industries, consumers and countries. The Economies tab at the top of the Passport homepage provides background information on each country, e.g. ease of doing business, government stability, etc.^[5]

   

• ACCC

  The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and contains information on fair trading, business rights and responsibilities and industry monitoring.^[6]

   

• The Treasury

  The Treasury is the Australian Government’s website on financial policy and includes economic and fiscal outlook documents, the budget and other information on Australia’s economy.^[7]

   

• ASIC: Australian Securities and Investment Commission

  The Australian Securities and Investment Commission is an independent government body that acts as a corporate regulator. It provides information about companies and organisations and finance news.^[8]

   

• Productivity Commission

  The Productivity Commission is the Australian Government’s principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy and regulation. It provides information on current ongoing enquiries, economic news and regulatory reviews.^[9]

   

• OECD iLibrary

  The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 36 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. The OECD iLibrary provides economic information for all member countries, as well as reports, documents and statistical data.^[10]

Social

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

Databases and websites you may use include:

Legal

Legal factors may affect both the internal and external environment of a company. The legal and regulatory environment can affect the policies and procedures of an industry and can control employment, safety and regulations. Legal factors can include:

• Employment laws
• Consumer protection
• Industry-specific regulations
• Regulatory bodies
• Environmental regulations

To find information on the legal factors, investigate the following resources:

• AustLII

  Free access to Australasian legal materials, including legislation, decisions of courts and tribunals, and treaties. Articles from law journals and law reform commission reports are among its secondary materials.^[20]

   

• WorldLII

  Provides free access to primary and some secondary legal materials from overseas jurisdictions. Includes International law databases.^[21]

   

• AGIS Plus Text: Attorney General’s Information Service via Informit Online (1975 – present)

  Covering all aspects of Australian law, and an authoritative collection for primary legal research in comparative and Commonwealth law. This includes articles, reports, and books from Australia, New Zealand, and the Asia Pacific region, plus selected material from the United Kingdom, the U.S., and Canada, starting in 1999.^[22]

   

• ACCC

  The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and contains information on fair trading, business rights and responsibilities and industry monitoring.^[23]

Environmental

Environmental factors include all those relating to the physical environment and general environmental protection requirements. While the environment is more important to some industries, such as tourism, agriculture or food production, these factors may influence a range of different industries and are worth being aware of. Environmental factors include:

• Climate
• Geographical location
• Stakeholder and consumer values
• Environmental offsets
• Weather
• Global climate change

To find information on the environmental factors, investigate the following resources:

• Environment Complete via Ebsco

  Covers all areas of environmental research and technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more. Coverage starts in the 1940s.^[24]

   

• Web of Science Core Collections

  This portal hosts Web of Science, Current Contents Connect, BIOSIS Previews, CAB Abstracts, MEDLINE, and Journal Citation Reports via the Additional Resources tab. Its CrossSearch feature enables a “quick overview” search of these databases and also searches Agricola and Pubmed.^[25]

   

• Environmental Studies in Video

  Contains film covering all realms of environmental studies, particularly ethics, policy, economics, law, sociology, planning, and environmental science.^[26]