PESTLE Factors

You can use a series of questions, or a PESTLE cheat sheet, to help you and your team find the right factors to explore. Without a cheat sheet you might unwittingly forget to explore an important factor area.

1. Political: Look at the Government, Policy and Tax situations; what are businesses talking about?
2. Economic: Look at impacts on the company costs and profits for products and services, and estimate for both national and international.
3. Social: Look at cultural trends in the territory. These can make a significant difference.
4. Technological: Look at the R&D competitive landscape, and at new enabling technologies.
5. Legal: Check both external and internal factors here, including labour law, consumer law, operating standards, and safety standards.
6. Environmental: For the environment are you operating in, check climate concerns, geographic concerns.

Each of your PESTLE factors has a different effect over time. Make a roadmap with your PESTLE view, so that you can define where to take action, and where to manage risk for each PESTLE factor.

Don’t get distracted by the entire global political picture. Pick the areas that are close to your business so that you can influence your business planning. Use these questions:
Current taxation policy: Are there factors that affect your tax efficiency right now?
Future taxation policy: Similarly are there positive or negative changes due soon?
Political campaigns: What political activities will affect your business?
Political agendas: What are the governments in your trading areas prioritising? How might this affect you?
Trade deals: What international trade agendas will affect you in the foreseeable future? Most importantly, can you prepare?

Focus on your specific business scenarios and revenue process so that you don’t become distracted by the wider economy.
Overall economic situation: Are your customers going to be more likely to use your products or less likely?
Strength of consumer spending: Is there disposable income in your customer base? Likewise, do they need your products more (or less) in the foreseeable future?
Current and future levels of government spending: Are you eligible for R&D grants, or other economic stimuli that could benefit you? Can you sell services to government departments?
Relationship to current economic trends: Will your products or services become more relevant in the near-to-midterm future? Are you favoured by patterns flowing in the economy?
Economic risk exposure: Are you reliant on fragile elements in the economy? Importantly, how much uncertainty is there around your core business?

Pay attention to changing attitudes, news and media coverage, and socio-economic patterns.
Lifestyle trends: How do patterns in the approach to home life, work and leisure affect your business? What are celebrities talking about and doing?
Demographics: What social factors related to your target customers and segments might be changing.
Consumer attitudes and opinions: Are your products or services affected by changing consumer choices or habits?
Media views: What messages from News, Sport and Media might affect your sales?
Ethical issues: Explore current changes in popular ethical topics, so that you can plot these against your products and services.
Attitudes to current events: Do your customers hold particular views? Can you segment them by these views and improve your targeting?
Memes in current affairs: What’s happening on social media that is relevant to your customers and business models?

Relevant current and future technology innovations: How are your customer interactions going to be affected by technology? Will you have new opportunities?
The level of research funding: What funding might be available to help your R&D and speed to market?
The ways in which consumers make purchases: Will you have simpler or more efficient interactions with your customers?
Your ability to try new technology easily: How well is your data organised? Can you use APIs to harness new technology?

Explore the areas directly relevant to your products, services and business operations:
Legislation in employment, competition and health & safety: Plot the areas that are changing in the near future so that you can see how factors might change.
Future legislation changes: Are there areas of your business that rely on current legislation that is due to change?
Changes in international law: Do you conduct businesses across borders? Similarly, are there changes in import or export law that are due soon?
Trading policies: Are there international trading policy changes upcoming?

Explore these areas:
The level of pollution you create: What are your byproducts, and what do you dispose of?
Recycling considerations: How much do you recycle? Most importantly, can you improve this?
Global environmental pressures: What legislation might affect your Environmental factors in the near and mid-term future?