Strategic Analysis

This is a term often used with an assumption that the people hearing it understand its meaning.

Strategic Analysis is said to be:

‘… the process of conducting research on the business environment within which an organisation operates and on the organisation itself, in order to formulate strategy.’

BNET Business Dictionary

What is meant by the term “strategic analysis” differs from academic to academic and business o business, however there are some common factors. These are typically:

1. Identification and evaluation of data relevant to strategy (a plan, method, or series of maneuvers for achieving a specific goal or result: a strategy for gettingahead in the world) formulation

2. Definition of the external and internal environment to be analysed

3. A range of analytical methods that can be employed in the analysis

Examples of analytical methods used in strategic analysis include:

• SWOT analysis
• PESTLE analysis
• PRIMO-F analysis
• Porter’s five forces analysis
• Value chain analysis

 

 

Marketing plan for a training company

How to develop a marketing plan for your training company

What is a marketing plan?

A Marketing Plan is sometimes called a marketing strategy, in essence it is an action plan of what it is you are going to do to promote your business. Like any SMART goal  it is a written plan that states the marketing goals and the objectives to be achieved over a specified period of time.

So if you are currently in business or looking to set up a training company or starting out in freelance training, the one thing you need is a clear plan – well in fact two plans… a business plan (a simple one page plan will do) and a marketing plan.

A marketing plan looks at three factors:

1. Where is your business now?
2. Where do you want/ need your business to be? (and why)
3. How are you going to get your business there?

Jumping straight to step (2) or three is a waste of time without REALLY understanding (1) – where is your business now (are you now)? What do you do? Who do you do it with? For how much?

We need to follow some sound principles…

Knowledge -> Understanding -> Action

We need Knowledge of where we are – we need to understand or make sence of this in order to take appropriate Action

 

A  Marketing Plan Template (example)

 

Executive Summary - What is the plan about – one or two simple paragraphs

Business Overview 

- What do you do – be specific (to say you run management training courses is too vague)

Target market - who do you do it do/ with? The narrower & more specific the better

Vision – what do you want to be ?

Mission – Why are you in business? what is your purpose?

Current Analysis - where are you now ? what do you do? who to? for how much?

External Analysis – What is happening in the environment in which you are, or want to operate? 

Conduct a PEST/ PESTLE analysis

Internal Analysis

Conduct a PRIMO-F analysis

Use the PESTLE & PRIMO-F data to complete a comprehensive SWOT analysis. Use this to consider where you are, where are you going and how are you going to get there?

 

Marketing Strategies – your plan

Consider what approaches (strategies) are required to achieve your desired goals. Look at:

• Marketing Mix (4 ps – product, place, pricing, promotion)
  • Your target market
  • Service/ product strategy
  • Pricing  approach
  • Promotional strategy- how do people know you exist?
  • Customers – acquisition, maintain – also see Ansoff matrix

  

Implementation Plan

What needs to be done. What actions.. by who… by when

Resourcing requirements

• How much money/ cash you need for your business plan
• Investment from you ?
• The people involved – is this just you? associates? partners?

This template will work equally well for a coaching or consulting company.

Useful Links

Recently I have noticed a number of trends on many professional forums. There appear to be increasing numbers of people in HRD roles or studying for HRD roles that lack some of the ‘basics’. To meet this need I have written a number of guides and introductory articles, their purpose is to act as a beginner 101. I hope you find them of value.

http://www.rapidbi.com/articles

Management Models – 100+ Management Models – a page full of graphical management models
The PESTLE Analysis Tool – The PESTLE analysis – a powerful tool for exploring the external environment of an organzation
SWOT analysis – The SWOT analysis – a powerful tool for exploring the strengths of an organzation
PRIMOF_- Business_Growth_Model – The PRIMO-F business growth model
Write SMART objectives – Description on how to write SMART objectives for individual and business performance
Critical Success Factors – What are Critical Success Factors and how to use them
Corporate Social Responsibility CSR – How does Corporate Social Responsibility impact smaller businesses

 

 

The pages below contain free articles on management, leadership and HR issues:

Top management blog posts of 2009

The last 12 months has been a major shift for the team at RapidBI. As a way of looking back here are the most read blog entries in the last 12 months.

What was Hot….?

1. Leadership models
2. Learning Styles – Honey & Mumford Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ)
3. PESTLE analysis for schools and education
4. Ansoff matrix – product market grid – Management theory & model
5. Training Needs Analysis TNA
6. Models for use in leadership, change, projects and management
7. Writing a training session or lesson plan – templates
8. 25 great tips on employee engagement – morale boosters
9. Training Needs Analysis Template – TNA sample
10. Sample Key Performance Indicators – KPIs
11. Porters five forces

 

What was not…?

1. Change management – approach and models
2. How to Write a SWOT analysis
3. Stop Start Continue Change – a Management and facilitation Model
4. Who owes what to who…?
5. Organisational Diagnosis and diagnostics
6. 5 common mistakes in SWOT analysis
7. Diagnosing Organisational Culture
8. Managing Change in Organisations
9. Employee Engagement – the solution in difficult times?

Strange as there are some topic overlaps!! I suspect it is because many of these less read posts are in fact early ones, at a time when the blog was not getting the same traffic as it is now.

What will be hot in 2010.. come back in 12 months to find out!

SWOT analysis for schools and education

SWOT analysis for teachers, schools and education

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threads in an educational environment.

A SWOT analysis is a tool that can provide prompts to the governors, management teachers and staff involved in the analysis of what is effective and less effective in the schools systems and procedures, in preparation for a plan of some form ( that could be an audit, assessments, quality checks etc.). In fact a SWOT can be used for any planning or analysis activity which could impact future finance, planning and management decisions. It can enable you (the governors and management) to carry out a more comprehensive analysis.

Definitions

• Strengths – Factors that are likely to have a positive effect on (or be an enabler to) achieving the school’s objectives
• Weaknesses – Factors that are likely to have a negative effect on (or be a barrier to) achieving the school’s objectives
• Opportunities – External Factors that are likely to have a positive effect on achieving or exceeding the school’s objectives, or goals not previously considered
• Threats – External Factors and conditions that are likely to have a negative effect on achieving the school’s objectives, or making the the objective redundant or un-achievable.

Before starting any planning or analysis process you need to have a clear and SMART goal or objective. What is it that you need to achieve or solve? Ensure that all key stakeholders (relevant to the issue being explored) buy into this objective or goal.

Then undertake a PESTLE analysis (or PESTLE in Schools), this will provide you with the external factors (OT).

Use the PRIMO-F model to ensure all internal factors are considered

Conducting a SWOT analysis in a school

One of the most effective ways to conduct a SWOT analysis is not in isolation, but with a team effort. When the goal is shared, then a brainstorming session can be run.

Ensure than when running such a session it is facilitated by a person not involved with the content – this is best with an independent person. If budgets do not allow this – then talk to another establishments head, and arrange a contra deal.

Do this activity in a number of phases:

1) Share the goal

2) Data collection (no filtering or comments – record verbatim) consider all areas of PRIMO-F

3) Take a break of at least 1 hr

4) Filter, sort and analyse into the 4 areas – SWOT – be critical and SMART avoid ambiguous statements or ideas at this stage

5) Prioritise the elements

Have a second session where the planning phase takes this data and puts it into a realistic plan.

IMPORTANT TIP,do not hide or underestimate threats or weaknesses – if you ignore them or underplay them now they will come back to haunt you at some stage – probably when they can do most damage!

The goal of any session like this is not necessarily to neutralise any weakness or threat – that is impossible – but to have it on your radar – and where possible take avoiding action. To some extent it is all about risk.

What sort of tasks and issues can this be used for?

At its most complex and comprehensive, it can be used for business planning, however it is also of value to solving localised issues and challenges.

An Example

We will use an example of a teacher working within a first school who want to improve the relationships with parents of his pupils.

TASK Define the goal and measurable outcomes – i.e. to have more than 50% of parents spending one day in class per term Consider the current activities you have in place to encourage parent-partnerships within your class/ school. Complete a SWOT analysis, identifying your current strengths and realistically appraising your current weaknesses. This can only be done involving other teachers, pupils and parents. From the current analysis identify factors which could be improved Identify opportunities that could be created Put a plan and set of measures in place.

The school identified the following objective:

• To improve parent-partnership by encouraging parents to visit the school and become active members of the community.
• Outcome – to have more than 50% of parents spending one day in class per term

Currently, the school holds an open day once each year. It uses this as a way to encourage parents to visit the school and engage with school staff. The following is the initial SWOT Analysis.

Strengths Highly-skilled teachers. History of successful Open day events School has a strong ethos of openness, sharing and commitment to increasing parental confidence Parents wanting to get involved PTA willing to participate	Weaknesses Teachers not available to meet parents often enough Current open days events not increasing voluntary activity Not enough staff time to plan more events Staff not clear of their role in the parent relationship Narrow focus on open events not partnership activities Curriculum too stretched for additional activity
Opportunities Active volunteer committee willing to plan and organise events Pupils active in the school’s Pupil Participation Project can be asked for their opinions and suggestions. Head Teacher is willing flex curriculum to free up teacher time Use parents to contribute to curriculum delivery	Threats Confidentiality is at risk Pupil coercion to do things they do not wish to do

The next step is to develop a plan with interested stakeholders

SWOT Analysis templates for schools & education

SWOT Analysis Template/ Worksheet – use these templates to start your SWOT process

	SWOT Analysis on ____________________ (organisation name or product/ service/ project) School/ establishment/ organisation Background/ situation ____________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ (usual business partners, relationships, channels to market, assumptions etc…) Date PESTLE completed ____________________ Date of SWOT Analysis ____________________ ____________________v
		INTERNAL
	Under each of the PRIMO-F factors list the relevant strengths and weaknesses. List the Opportunities and threats from your PESTLE analysis below. Then considering the combination of these factors generate some options or alternative strategies for action.	Strengths (PRIMO-F) People (teachers, parents, PTA etc) ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Resources ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Innovation & Ideas ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Marketing (communications) ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Operations (day to day running) ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Finance ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________	Weaknesses (PRIMO-F) People (teachers, parents, PTA etc) ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Resources ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Innovation & Ideas ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Marketing(communications) ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Operations(day to day running) ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Finance ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________
E X T E R N A L	Opportunities ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________	SO Alternatives / Strategies ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________	WO Alternatives / Strategies ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________
	Threats ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________	ST Alternatives / Strategies ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________	WT Alternatives / Strategies ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________

Try our business SWOT analysis tool for free NOW – Or return to our main SWOT analysis page

SWOT Analysis Template / Worksheet 2

	SWOT Analysis on ____________________ (School/ establishment organisation name or product/ service/ project) Background/ situation________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________                   __________________________________________________________________________________________   (usual operational partners, relationships, channels to market, assumptions etc…) Date PESTLE completed ____________________ Date of SWOT Analysis ____________________v
		INTERNAL
	Under each of the PRIMO-F factors list the relevant strengths and weaknesses. List the Opportunities and threats from your PESTLE analysis below. Then considering the combination of these factors generate some options or alternative strategies for action.	Strengths	Weaknesses
E X T E R N A L	Opportunities	SO Alternatives / Strategies	WO Alternatives / Strategies
	Threats	ST Alternatives / Strategies	WT Alternatives / Strategies

Try our business SWOT analysis tool for free NOW - Or return to our main SWOT analysis page

SWOT Analysis Template / Worksheet 3

SWOT analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and threats
Date
Company/ Department name
Internal Factors
Our Strengths	Ways to exploit	Our Weaknesses	Ways to reduce
External factors
Our Opportunities	Ways to exploit	Our Threats	Ways to reduce

Try our business SWOT analysis tool for free NOW – Or return to our main SWOT analysis page

A SWOT analysis in a school, college or other educational establishment can be a simple and yet effective tool for ensuring that all appropriate factors are considered. In this environment it is particularly important to use the PRIMO-F template to ensure that all elements have been considered. Indeed ensure that under People – teachers, support staff, parents and children are considered along with third party people (police, local health etc that can form a part of your community.

Teachers, Tutors, PTA (Parent Teacher associations) management committees etc all have a valuable contribution to make

Under Resources, remember to include IT, and consumables that can be used as part of the process

You reap WHAT you sow – what does this mean in marketing?

Social media marketing – tips for success in 2010

Read my 9 top tips for social media marketing  below.

As entrepreneurs and smaller businesses marketing is a vital yet difficult concept for many of us. Many of us hate it and want to find the “quick fix”.

What prompted me to write this article was receipt this morning of a ‘newsletter’ I get that goes straight to my junk mail. It is from Kenneth Yu ”the Puppet Master” (take care with his sites as they take a lot of processing power and clever pop ups). To be honest I liked the hype he created but his newsletter are for me are too frequent and contain little of depth or value. Is he a one trick pony? His latest however caught my eye. He included the message:

---

“You reap what you sow…”

In other words, the more time, resources and energy you put into something, the bigger the harvest you’ll reap — be it financially, relationally or spiritually. So if you put in your elbow grease and late nights, you’re guaranteed success right? WRONG!

Or more rather, the Sowing and Reaping analogy is only a half truth.

You see, we followed this principle to the tee… We “slaved like dogs”, yet we were “rewarded” with disappointment, stress and relationship strain.

Have you ever wondered why sometimes you work so hard, and yet don’t seem to reap the bountiful harvest you deserve?

Here’s something that may come as surprise for you…

There’s a missing dimension to the concept of sowing and reaping. If you miss this, you’re potentially setting yourself back months, even years from where you’re supposed to be.

In one of the Biblical parables, Jesus talked about the parable of the sower.

The gist of it was that the farmer was scattering seed across the land. However, he was rather indiscriminate about it and the seeds fell on stony paths, thorny soil, shallow earth and fertile ground.

The seeds that fell on the former 3 types of soil ended up with stunted growth, or worse… Not growing at all.

Here’s the awesome part…

The seed that fell on fertile ground produced a magnificent harvest of tenfold, hundredfold… and even a thousand-fold!

What made the difference?

It’s about WHERE the sower threw his seed.

That’s right. WHERE you sow is probably more important then HOW MUCH you sow.

It’s a principle we call STRATEGIC SOWING. And we believe it’s the single most important trait of mega-successful entrepreneurs.

Once you master this, you’ll get a return on investment that’ll blow your socks off. Because every ounce of blood, sweat and tears is going to give you a windfall.

One of the biggest bittersweet lessons we learned is that Laura and I may be world-class marketers, but we’re still newbies in terms of building a long-term sustainable business.

The single most vital trait that separates entrepreneurs from marketers is the ability to effectively allocate one’s limited resources. Unfortunately, it’s an ability that comes from hard-worn experience rather than any $997 home study course.

---

This was as a reflection to his own business performance over the last few months, Insightful – yes – accurate – no!

The saying “You reap what you sow” actually is a little different from the account given here.

Lets look at the phrase – what it is saying is you get back from WHAT you sow. Sure the location (WHERE) is important – but more so is the quality of the seeds you sow – sow seeds that are dead and nothing will grow no matter how much hard work you put in. What we agree on is the effort in terms of hours is not the key here.

Kenneth was right about the location – like any good marketing strategy we need to understand the environment in which we operate, the strengths and weaknesses of our service and marketing messages, we also need to look at the detail and quality of what we are sowing.

In social media marketing it is common for volume to rule the day (HOW we sow), but it is the content (WHAT) and location (WHERE which site/ social media vehicle) we put our messages that count.

The social media “marketing gurus”

Without exception all of these ‘marketing gurus’ talk glibly about keywords and other technical terms, yet all fail to inform the reader of HOW to go about identifying these things. Keywords and search engine optimisation is not that difficult, however what is more difficult it really identifying your niche. Many of the web based marketing sites talk about finding your niche – what they fail to tell you is YOU  & I are their niche! – people trying to sell or promote their business on the internet. They have their niche – and on the web it is one of the easiest groups to find! We all want quick fix solutions.

So the next time you work extra long hours, look at WHAT you are doing and WHERE you are doing it. If you are a regular contributer on more than 3-5 forums or communities – then it suggests that you are spreading yourself too thinly – over the holiday period cut some out…

9 Top tips to focus your social media marketing strategy:

1. Identify 5 keywords which your customers will use to find you
2. Identify 1 site where your peers are (for CPD & networking) – stay with them for up to 12 months & evaluate
3. Identify 2 (max) physical networking groups and get active – remember networking is about relationships NOT sales – stay with them for up to 12 months & evaluate
4. Identify 3 sites where your customers are (for sales) – stay with them for up to 12 months & evaluate
5. Using your 5 key words only contribute to those that use and focus on the keywords
6. On twitter identify 5 search keywords and set your twitter app to look at those – ignore your time line
7. Find up to 10 blogs that add value to you and add them to your outlook/ RSS feed reader
8. Turn Google off being your home page
9. Print a sheet of paper listing this information, put a heading on it: If I’m doing anything other than these STOP NOW and put it up in a place you can read it while working

Do we reap what we sow? – well only if we are careful with what, where and how we sow

Wishing all my readers a wonderful and successful 2010 and beyond

Mike

DEEPLIST Analysis – marketing acronym

DEEPLIST analysis – an alternative to the PESTLE analysis

Is DEEPLIST better than PEST or PESTLE? or more of the same?

DEEPLIST – Demographic, Economic, Ecologic/ Environmental, Political, Legal, Informational, Social and Technology

In 2000  Paul N Finlay had a book published called “Strategic management: an introduction to business and corporate strategy”. In this book Finlay used the Acronym DEEPLIST as a way of prompting readers of the key areas that needed to be explored when looking at the “remote environment for the business” or the environment in which the business operates, which it cannot control or influence. Constraints if you like.

Traditionally marketing and business strategists have used PEST or PESTLE analysis.

In DEEPLIST the factors to be explored are:

• Demographics
• Economic
• Environmental/ Ecological
• Political
• Legal
• Informational
• Social
• Technological

 Where all but Informational are directly included in PESTLE. Demographics is an important element, but can it really be separated from social? many supporters of the ‘original’ PEST say that differentiating between Legal and Political is also difficult in some situations. Having more is not always better. Knowing how to use a model, theory or tool is far more important. I suspect that if increasingly long acronyms are created this will only lead to increased confusion by students trying to understand how to apply it in the first place.

 I wonder if many courses are starting to use this model as it is ‘new & sexy’ compared to PEST or PESTLE, or is it that people need handholding more in terms of the areas that they need to research and explore as part of the strategic planning process.

 In summary:

Deeplist – Demographics:

• Where people live
• Who they are – Age, sex, race etc..
• Social circumstances – Education, income and lifestyle

dEeplist – Economic:

• The extent to which the markets in which you operate is prosperous (or not) and the competitive environment
• Factors such as taxation, monetary and competition policies of your target markets.

deEplist – Environmental/ Ecological:

• What is the perception of the environment in your sector? What are customers attitudes to environmental or green issues. What about availability of materials? Sustainability

deePlist – Political

• In the political landscape in which you operate (both source materials & deliver product) – what will help/ hinder operations and products

deepList – Legal

• What are the limits or constraints on what you do. What may change?

deeplIst – Informational

• What data do you have?
• How do you use it?
• How is it protected?
• As the connected world changes with ever increasing use of the internet and social media what is being said about you, your market and your competitors?
• It is about access a to information and what you can and cannot control.

deepliSt – Social

• The needs and wants of both target markets, social attitudes to the types of products and services you offer.
• How your organisation is seen by the outside world
• CSR – Corperate Social Responsibility

deeplisT – Technology

• What is changing in the world of technology which will impact your products or services.?
• New innovations, adaptations and adoption rates of new technologies. What is changing and how fast?

Personally I prefer PESTLE, we know and understand the model. Maybe we need to change PESTLE to iPESTLE (or iPEST) where I is Information.

iPESTLE or DEEPLIST can be used to best effect when the results of this analysis are used in a SWOT analysis.

 

Footnote

One of the reasons why DEEPLIST is becoming popular in the UK is its adoption by CIMA in its course content.

One disadvantage of DEEPLIST over PESTLE is that DEEPLIST is © Finlay and this may cause organisations that promote it difficulties in the future, this is in addition to increasing the separation of some element’s that may well create difficulties in application (Political/ Legal, Demographics/ Social etc).

5 common mistakes in doing a PESTLE analysis

The PEST or PESTLE analysis is one of the most common diagnostic tools used in marketing and business planning. Its six basic perspectives provide a framework for understanding external factors which may impact the organization, which is easy to follow and yet the tool is so often misunderstood.

PESTLE - Political, Economic, Sociological, Ecological, Legal, Environmental.

PESTLE provides the external perspective to a SWOT analysis…

where: PESTLE + PRIMO-F = SWOT

Six simple rules for a successful PESTLE analysis

1. Be realistic about what is happening in each of the six areas
2. The Analysis should identify what is happening in the marketplace today, and where it could be in the future.
3. Be specific. Avoid grey areas
4. Always analyse in relation to your competition i.e. better than or worse than your competition
5. Keep your PESTLE analysis short and simple to understand – but only as short and simple as the application or situation demands – it is about ‘fitness for purpose’
6. Avoid unnecessary complexity and over analysis

The Top 5 mistakes people make:

1. An unclear goal – providing the context for the PESTLE analysis
2. Maintaining too narrow a focus – you need to look broadly at the market
3. Neglecting input from others – inside and outside the organization
4. Performing an analysis only once- this needs to happen on a regular basis (monthly for technology firms – quarterly for many others)
5. Reliance on PESTLE as a holistic diagnostic strategy – it is only one tool.

A concise PESTLE Analysis

Keep your PESTLE analysis short and focused. If it becomes too long-winded, you’ll soon forget some of the more important points and it will become less effective in the long term.

 

Conclusion

The PESTLE is a valuable tool that in the right hands and with the appropriate level of effort can provide a valuable insight into current and future strategy.

Remember to consider the results of the PESTLE analysis as just one tool in a variety of analysis methods that can form together to create a more realistic analysis of your organization

5 common mistakes in doing a SWOT analysis

The SWOT analysis is one of the most common diagnostic tools used in business. Its four simple perspectives provide a framework which is easy to follow and yet the tool is so often misunderstood.

SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

The Strengths and Weaknesses are internal factors, the opportunities and threats are external factors. Some advocate the use of PRIMO-F to identify Strengths and Weaknesses and PESTLE for external factors…

so PRIMO-F + PESTLE = SWOT

 

Simple rules for a successful SWOT analysis

• Be realistic about the strengths and weaknesses of your organization
• The Analysis should distinguish between where your organization is today, and where it could be in the future.
• Be specific. Avoid grey areas
• Always analyse in relation to your competition i.e. better than or worse than your competition
• Keep your SWOT short and simple – but only as short and simple as the application or situation demands – it is about ‘fitness for purpose’
• Avoid unnecessary complexity and over analysis
• There is little point in listing an Opportunity (O) if the same opportunity is available to competitors
• It is pointless to say you have Strengths (S) if your competitors have the same

  

The Top 5 mistakes:

1. An unclear goal
2. Maintaining too narrow of a focus
3. Neglecting input from others
4. Performing an analysis only once
5. Reliance on SWOT as a holistic diagnostic strategy

A concise SWOT Analysis

Keep your SWOT analysis short and focused. If it becomes too long-winded, you’ll soon forget some of the more important points and it will become less effective in the long term.

Great SWOT Strengths

When considering your SWOT strengths, it’s all too easy to congratulate yourself and identify what you think it is that makes you great. Instead, flip the coin and consider what it is that your customers do/will think are your strengths.

Few Weaknesses

Having written a long list of SWOT based strengths for your organization, it’s also very easy to become a bit jaded and quickly fly over your weakness, without a critical eye. As a result, count up the number of SWOT based strengths, and then write twice as many weakness. This will force you to take a deeper look at the areas that you need to improve.

Opportunities

By considering your SWOT analysis based opportunities, you get to play god with your future. It’s all too easy to look at opportunities with rose-tinted glasses and predict opportunities that don’t actually exist. Instead, look at the opportunities that are available to you today.

Threats

Again, as with SWOT weaknesses, when you consider your SWOT threats, you have to take a cold hearted look at some of the things that you’d probably rather ignore.

Conclusion

The SWOT is a valuable tool that in the right hands and with the appropriate level of effort can provide a valuable insight into current and future strategy.

Remember to consider the results of the SWOT analysis as just one tool in a variety of analysis methods that can form together to create a more realistic analysis of your organization

A Guide to SWOT analysis

PESTLE Analysis for Schools or Education

A PESTLE analysis is a tool that can provide prompts to the governors, management and staff involved in the analysis of the changes in the school’s environment that could impact future finance, planning and management decisions. It can enable them carry out a more comprehensive analysis.  

A PESTLE is usually used in commercial organisations as a part of the strategic development of a business and marketing plan, however a PESTLE analysis can be used as part of identifying the opportunities and threats (swOT) for operational planning within educational and school environments.

The PESTLE provides a simple framework within which to consider external factors. 
PESTLE is used as part of a SWOT for identifying the external factors (OT)

 

 

 

Political	Schools being privatised (like the NHS) A government initiative creates the risk that the school may fail to deliver the policy or be diverted away from local priorities etc. Changes to the skills required to be a teacher/ tutor Changes to curriculum with short lead times Requirement to be self managing Requirement to be self financing
Economic	Central or local government funding decisions may affect school/ establishment finances Closure of a local industry may affect fund raising plans etc. Ability of parents to raise funds for optional activities The need to run breakfast/ after schools clubs Ability to invest ‘savings/ surpluses’ Cost of providing resources: Staff – teaching & support Basics – books/ paper Technology solutions laptops etc Interest rates Shortages of materials on national/ international markets Over provision of school places in the area resulting in competition from neighbouring schools The risk of highly valued, key staff moving on to more ‘up and coming’ schools/ academies
Social	Decline in birth rate, reflecting national trends Local population changes (increasing/ decreasing numbers) Demographic changes may affect likely pupil rolls or the nature of pupils needs e.g. pupils with English as a second language etc. Closure of local firms providing employment Inability to attract staff Social networking – blogs, facebook, twitter Changes to qualifications expected Integration with local community Integration of students with special needs parental preference – an increase in ‘parent power’ has allowed parents more freedom of choice over their child’s school the risk of highly valued, key staff moving on to more up-and-coming establishments Information is accessible to staff anywhere in the world via the Internet Staff were not given enough training or access to effectively change their habits and how they expected information to be made available
Technological	Changes to standards/ equipment required Risk of selecting the wrong technology at times of change (i.e. windows -v- open source) New computer viruses may affect school/ college operations, Disturbing/ illegal images on the internet may affect ICT security measures etc. Move from paper based books to e-book readers Computer hardware being out of date Computer software being out of date Time to manage IT systems
Legislative	new legislation may create risks of non-compliance with the law, create new administrative burdens etc Changes to child protection legislation Raise the age of school leaving age Raise/ lower the age of starting school. Nursery/ kindergarten Change to school opening hours Changes to funding of charity based organisations Health & safety legislation
Environmental	A new highway layout near the school may create new dangers for pupils etc Waste disposal Reduction of green space available for activities Changes to local bus routes Using a significant amounts of paper and photocopier toner to produce printed information.

For a more comprehensive PESTLE article see our pain page.

A PESTLE Template:

Area being reviewed	Factor:	Is factor positive or negative?
Political		P – N P – N P – N P – N
Economic		P – N P – N P – N P – N
Social		P – N P – N P – N P – N
Technological		P – N P – N P – N P – N
Legislative		P – N P – N P – N P – N
Environmental		P – N P – N P – N P – N

Remember this is only a tool. Call it what you like – use whatever factors you feel are appropriate.  Other variations include:

• PEST analysis (STEP analysis) - Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological
• PESTLE/ PESTEL analysis- Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal, Environmental
• PESTEL analysis- Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Environmental, Labour (Labor) related
• PESTLIED analysis- Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, International, Environmental, Demographic
• STEEPLE analysis – Social/Demographic, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, Ethical
• SLEPT analysis – Social, Legal, Economic, Political, Technological
• STEPE analysis – Social, Technical, Economic, Political, and Ecological
• ETPS analysis – Economic, Technical, Political and Social – Scanning the organizational environment

Choose the acronym that most suits you or your organization.

Writing academic reports and references

Often I am asked about the references for some of the pieces I have written about on this site, for example SWOT, PESTLE & SMART, so I thought it was about time to provide an answer here rather than just in person.

Unfortunately  writing a reference for some of these is not as easy to answer as you may believe.

The Harvard (and other referencing systems) were developed for the use of academic material. On this and other more popular management models there was no public paper, it was practical research applied. In addition technically unless you had access to the original paper, your reference should be this site (page) and the company newsletter. During my research of SWOT, PESTLE & SMART, I have found many references quoited that are plain incorrect – many by established academics! Many academics seem to blindly trust the research of their colleagues – this is a dangerous thing to do. For example many quote Drucker and “The practice of management” as the source of SMART – it is not, I have been through several different editions and there is no reference to the model in any of them. Humphrey and the information provided on SWOT  is the nearest I have found to any original documentation.

The reality is with SWOT is that no one really knows, the piece I have presented is the earliest credible reference, but this does not mean he was the originator.

So to answer the question, you can only use references to sources of information you personally have used, be they modern or original.

Recently there has been a move to extend the use of the referencing system to more informal publications (see below) so technically you should reference my site and the newsletter, as these are the nearest things to the source as anyone will find (but I am still on the case but now unhopeful).

Writing Harvard references for less formal sources

Web Pages

For web pages you must include the full address of the page, not just the address of the site. This can be copied from the address bar which normally appears at the top of the browser.

Morrison, M. (2006) SWOT Analysis, http://www.rapidbi.com/created/SWOTanalysis.html, Date accessed 16/01/09.

An extra date, the date you accessed the page is included at the end of the reference, because web pages, unlike books, can be modified and even disappear entirely. Note it is recommended to print pages as paper references as the content of a page is likely to change.

Newspaper and newsletter articles

For newspaper articles the required elements for a reference are:

Author, Initials., Year. Title of article. Full Title of newspaper/ publication, day and month before page numbers and column line.

Hack, A., 2005. Corporate mergers:killing our high streets.
The Guardian, 3 Feb. p.4b.

schools-education-and-the-PESTLE-analysis-tool

PESTLE Analysis micro site – History – Introduction – Templates – HR example – Schools & Education – PEST-G

The PEST or PESTLE Analysis in Schools & Education

 

A PESTLE analysis is a tool that can provide prompts to the governors, management and staff involved in the analysis of the changes in the school’s environment that could impact future finance, planning and management decisions. It can enable them carry out a more comprehensive analysis.

A PESTLE is usually used in commercial organisations as a part of the strategic development of a business and marketing plan, however a PESTLE analysis can also be used as part of identifying the opportunities and threats (swOT) for operational planning within educational and school environments.

The PESTLE provides a simple framework within which to consider external factors. 
PESTLE is used as part of a SWOT for identifying the external factors (OT)

Political	Schools being privatised (like the NHS) A government initiative creates the risk that the school may fail to deliver the policy or be diverted away from local priorities etc. Changes to the skills required to be a teacher/ tutor Changes to curriculum with short lead times Requirement to be self managing Requirement to be self financing
Economic	Central or local government funding decisions may affect school/ establishment finances Closure of a local industry may affect fund raising plans etc. Ability of parents to raise funds for optional activities The need to run breakfast/ after schools clubs Ability to invest ’savings/ surpluses’ Cost of providing resources: Staff – teaching & support Basics – books/ paper Technology solutions laptops etc Interest rates Shortages of materials on national/ international markets Over provision of school places in the area resulting in competition from neighbouring schools The risk of highly valued, key staff moving on to more ‘up and coming’ schools/ academies
Social	Decline in birth rate, reflecting national trends Local population changes (increasing/ decreasing numbers) Demographic changes may affect likely pupil rolls or the nature of pupils needse.g. pupils with English as a second language etc. Closure of local firms providing employment Inability to attract staff Social networking – blogs, facebook, twitter Changes to qualifications expected Integration with local community Integration of students with special needs parental preference – an increase in ‘parent power’ has allowed parents more freedom of choice over their child’s school the risk of highly valued, key staff moving on to more up-and-coming establishments Information is accessible to staff anywhere in the world via the Internet Staff were not given enough training or access to effectively change their habits and how they expected information to be made available
Technological	Changes to standards/ equipment required Risk of selecting the wrong technology at times of change (i.e. windows -v- open source) New computer viruses may affect school/ college operations, Disturbing/ illegal images on the internet may affect ICT security measures etc. Move from paper based books to e-book readers Computer hardware being out of date Computer software being out of date Time to manage IT systems
Legislative	new legislation may create risks of non-compliance with the law, create new administrative burdens etc Changes to child protection legislation Raise the age of school leaving age Raise/ lower the age of starting school. Nursery/ kindergarten Change to school opening hours Changes to funding of charity based organisations Health & safety legislation
Environmental	A new highway layout near the school may create new dangers for pupils etc Waste disposal Reduction of green space available for activities Changes to local bus routes Using a significant amounts of paper and photocopier toner to produce printed information.

 

For a more comprehensive PESTLE article see our main page.

A PESTLE Template:

Area being reviewed	Factor:	Is factor positive or negative?
Political		P – N P – N P – N P – N
Economic		P – N P – N P – N P – N
Social		P – N P – N P – N P – N
Technological		P – N P – N P – N P – N
Legislative		P – N P – N P – N P – N
Environmental		P – N P – N P – N P – N

 

Remember this is only a tool. Call it what you like – use whatever factors you feel are appropriate. Other variations include:

PEST analysis (STEP analysis) – Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological
PESTLE/ PESTEL analysis- Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal, Environmental
PESTEL analysis- Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Environmental, Labour (Labor) related
PESTLIED analysis- Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, International, Environmental, Demographic
STEEPLE analysis – Social/Demographic, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, Ethical
SLEPT analysis – Social, Legal, Economic, Political, Technological
STEPE analysis – Social, Technical, Economic, Political, and Ecological
ETPS analysis – Economic, Technical, Political and Social – Scanning the organizational environment

Choose the acronym that most suits you or your organization.

Introduction-to-the-PESTLE-analysis-tool

PEST/ PESTLE Analysis Introduction PESTLE Analysis micro site – History – Introduction – Templates – HR example – Schools & Education – PEST-G

The PEST or PESTLE Analysis

Originally designed as a business environmental scan, the PEST or PESTLE analysis is an analysis of the external macro environment (big picture) in which a business operates. These are often factors which are beyond the control or influence of a business, however are important to be aware of when doing product development, business or strategy planning.

This page has been developed to help and support anyone with activities or projects which require use of the PESTLE analysis tool to undertake an environmental scan of an organizations operating environment.

• Jump straight to the FREE PESTLE Template (below)
• PESTLE Analysis on an HR department or other internal function
• Download PDF versions of these templates
• History of PEST (LE)
• NEW page on PESTLE analysis for schools and education

It is important to take into account PESTLE factors for the following main reasons:

• Firstly, by making effective use of PESTLE analysis, you ensure that what you are doing is aligned positively with the powerful forces of change that are affecting our working environment. By taking advantage of change, you are much more likely to be successful than if your activities oppose it

• Secondly, good use of PESTLE analysis helps you avoid taking action that is likely to lead to failure for reasons beyond your control
• Thirdly, PESTLE is useful when you start a new product or service. Use of PESTLE helps you break free of assumptions, and helps you quickly adapt to the realities of the new environment

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Introduction to The PESTLE Analysis tool
PESTLE analysis is a useful tool for understanding the “big picture” of the environment in which you are operating, and the opportunities and threats that lie within it. By understanding the environment in which you operate (external to your company or department), you can take advantage of the opportunities and minimize the threats.

Specifically the PEST or PESTLE analysis is a useful tool for understanding risks associated with market growth or decline, and as such the position, potential and direction for a business or organization.

For the purposes of this page we will focus on the PESTLE variation of the acronym.

The PESTLE Analysis is often used as a generic ‘orientation’ tool, finding out where an organization or product is in the context of what is happening out side that will at some point effect what is happening inside an organization.

A PESTLE analysis is a business measurement tool, looking at factors external to the organization. It is often used within a strategic SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis).

PESTLE is an acronym for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors, which are used to assess the market for a business or organizational unit strategic plan

The PESTLE analysis headings are a framework for reviewing a situation, and can also be used to review a strategy or position, direction of a company, a marketing proposition, or idea. There are many variants on this model including PEST analysis and STEEPLE analysis.

Completing a PESTLE analysis can be a simple or complex process. It all depends how thorough you need to be.  It is a good subject for workshop sessions, as undertaking this activity with only one perspective (i.e. only one persons view) can be time consuming and miss critical factors.

Use PESTLE analysis for business and strategic planning, marketing planning, business and product development and research reports.

The PESTLE template below includes sample questions or prompts, whose answers are can be inserted into the relevant section of the table.

The questions are examples of discussion points, and should be altered depending on the subject of the analysis, and how you want to use it.

Make up your own PESTLE questions and prompts to suit the issue being analyzed and the situation (i.e. the people doing the work and the expectations of them).

It is important to clearly identify the subject of a PESTLE analysis (that is a clear goal or output requirement), because an analysis of this type is multi faceted in relation to a particular business unit or proposition – if you dilute the focus you will produce an unclear picture – so be clear about the situation and perspective that you use PESTLE to analyze.

A market is defined by what is addressing it, be it a product, company, organization, brand, business unit, proposition, idea, etc, so be clear about how you define the market being analyzed, particularly if you use PESTLE analysis in workshops, team exercises or as a delegated task. The PESTLE subject should be a clear definition of the market being addressed, which might be from any of the following standpoints:

• A company looking at its market
• A product looking at its market
• A brand in relation to its market
• A local business unit or function in a business
• A strategic option, such as entering a new market or launching a new product
• A potential acquisition
• A potential partnership
• An investment opportunity

Be sure to describe the subject for the PESTLE analysis clearly so that people contributing to the analysis, and those seeing the finished PESTLE analysis, properly understand the purpose of the PESTLE assessment and implications.

top

Remember this is only a tool. Call it what you like – use whatever factors you feel are appropriate.  Other variations include:

• PEST analysis (STEP analysis) - Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological
• PESTLE/ PESTEL analysis- Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal, Environmental; PESTEL analysis
• PESTEL analysis- Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Environmental, Labour (Labor) related; PESTEL analysis (rare no references available)
• PESTLIED analysis- Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, International, Environmental, Demographic
• STEEPLE analysis – Social/Demographic, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, Ethical
• SLEPT analysis – Social, Legal, Economic, Political, Technological
• STEPE analysis – Social, Technical, Economic, Political, and Ecological
• ETPS analysis – Economic, Technical, Political and Social – Scanning the business environment

Choose the acronym that most suits you or your organization.

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Next Steps
When you have identified the factors that may impact your organization, in column 2 list HOW they would impact on your organization.  When this is complete, in column 3 indicate the extent to which each factor is a risk.

As a rule of thumb, for every HIGH risk you identify you should have at least 10 MEDIUM and 20 LOW risk item.  If you identify more high risks than low risks it may be worth re-visiting your thoughts on what may or may not impact your organization.  Then look at the relative importance and implication of each factor.

When you have done this you are ready to start to populate a SWOT analysis (see below).

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Action Planning

When you have collated the relevant data you need to develop an action plan with SMART objectives (Specific measurable achievable relevant time-bound or SMARTER objectives)

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On to SWOT analysis

To take the PESTLE analysis forward you can integrate the results into your SWOT.

The outputs from the BIR/ SWOT will provide you with your internal strengths and weaknesses.

Have a look at the HIGH impacts from the PESTLE.  Some will be positive in nature, others will be negative. List these on your SWOT analysis under OPPORTUNITIES and THREATS.

The PESTLE model is a useful environmental scan as part of a diagnostic process. The PESTLE analysis tool can be used in association with the Business Improvement Review (BIR) – a highly structured and holistic SWOT tool.  The PESTLE models can help to identify the context in which a business operates and provide a context for change.  A PESTLE analysis can provide a valuable agenda upon which to use a Business Improvement Review (BIR) to help identify the strengths and weaknesses (SWOT) of an organization, as apart of an organizational change process. Click here for more information. Need to write SMART objectives? Need to use Management Models

Have you found this page of value? Need more details/ ideas? Your feedback is welcomed.

Based upon information from many sources. No copyright over the model or acronyms are assumed. This page is provided for educational purposes only. RapidBI Ltd cannot accept any responsibility for the actions taken using this or any of the tools provided on this site. Please note this page is updated on a regular basis.  The more feedback we get the more we will develop this and similar pages for people studying CIPD and other HR and management programmes. CTP, CPP etc

PEST or PESTLE Analysis

PESTLE Analysis micro site – History – Introduction – Templates – HR example – Schools & Education – PEST-G

Writing a PESTLE Analysis – Tools and Template ETPS – PESTEL – PESTLEE – PESTLIED – SLEPT – STEEPLE – STEP – STEPE – PEST-G The Environment Scan – Environmental Organizational Scanning

Welcome to our new micro site on the PEST or PESTLE analysis.

Our popular page has now been improved and is split into more easily digested chunks. Lets us know your comments and feedback. Use the menu above to navigate through this PESTLE analysis micro site.

The PEST or PESTLE Analysis

Originally designed as a business environmental scan, the PEST or PESTLE analysis is an analysis of the external macro environment (big picture) in which a business operates. These are often factors which are beyond the control or influence of a business, however are important to be aware of when doing product development, business or strategy planning.

This page has been developed to help and support anyone with activities or projects which require use of the PESTLE analysis tool to undertake an environmental scan of an organizations operating environment.

History of PEST and PESTLE

So where did the term PEST or PESTLE derive? What were the origins?

The term PESTLE has been used regularly in the last 10+ years and its true history is difficult to establish.

From our research, the earliest know reference to tools and techniques for ‘Scanning the Business Environment’ appears to be by Francis J. Aguilar (1967) who discusses ‘ETPS’ – a mnemonic for the four sectors of his taxonomy of the environment: Economic, Technical, Political, and Social.

Shortly after its publication, Arnold Brown for the Institute of Life Insurance (in the US) reorganized it as ‘STEP’ (Strategic Trend Evaluation Process) as a way to organise the results of his environmental scanning.

Thereafter, this ‘macro external environment analysis’, or ‘environmental scanning for change’, was modified yet again to become a so-called STEPE analysis (the Social, Technical, Economic, Political, and Ecological taxonomies).

In the 1980s, several other authors including Fahey, Narayanan, Morrison, Renfro, Boucher, Mecca and Porter included variations of the taxonomy classifications in a variety of orders: PEST, PESTLE, STEEPLE etc. Why the slightly negative connotations of PEST have proven to be more popular than STEP is not known. There is no implied order or priority in any of the formats.

Some purists claim that STEP or PEST still contain headings which are appropriate for all situations, other claim that the additional breakdown of some factors to help individuals and teams undertaking an environmental scan.

Quite who and when added what elements to the mnemonic is a mystery, but what we do know is that the actual order and words contained are common to certain parts of the world and streams of academic study. The term PESTLE is particularly popular on HR and introductory marketing courses in the UK. Others favour PEST, STEP or STEEPLE.

 

Introduction to The PESTLE Analysis tool

PESTLE analysis is a useful tool for understanding the “big picture” of the environment in which you are operating, and the opportunities and threats that lie within it. By understanding the environment in which you operate (external to your company or department), you can take advantage of the opportunities and minimize the threats.

Specifically the PEST or PESTLE analysis is a useful tool for understanding risks associated with market growth or decline, and as such the position, potential and direction for a business or organization.

For the purposes of this page we will focus on the PESTLE variation of the acronym.

The PESTLE Analysis is often used as a generic ‘orientation’ tool, finding out where an organization or product is in the context of what is happening out side that will at some point effect what is happening inside an organization.

A PESTLE analysis is a business measurement tool, looking at factors external to the organization. It is often used within a strategic SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis).

PESTLE is an acronym for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors, which are used to assess the market for a business or organizational unit strategic plan

The PESTLE analysis headings are a framework for reviewing a situation, and can also be used to review a strategy or position, direction of a company, a marketing proposition, or idea. There are many variants on this model including PEST analysis and STEEPLE analysis.

Completing a PESTLE analysis can be a simple or complex process. It all depends how thorough you need to be.  It is a good subject for workshop sessions, as undertaking this activity with only one perspective (i.e. only one persons view) can be time consuming and miss critical factors.

Use PESTLE analysis for business and strategic planning, marketing planning, business and product development and research reports.

The PESTLE template below includes sample questions or prompts, whose answers are can be inserted into the relevant section of the table.

The questions are examples of discussion points, and should be altered depending on the subject of the analysis, and how you want to use it.

Make up your own PESTLE questions and prompts to suit the issue being analyzed and the situation (i.e. the people doing the work and the expectations of them).

It is important to clearly identify the subject of a PESTLE analysis (that is a clear goal or output requirement), because an analysis of this type is multi faceted in relation to a particular business unit or proposition – if you dilute the focus you will produce an unclear picture – so be clear about the situation and perspective that you use PESTLE to analyze.

A market is defined by what is addressing it, be it a product, company, organization, brand, business unit, proposition, idea, etc, so be clear about how you define the market being analyzed, particularly if you use PESTLE analysis in workshops, team exercises or as a delegated task. The PESTLE subject should be a clear definition of the market being addressed, which might be from any of the following standpoints:

• A company looking at its market
• A product looking at its market
• A brand in relation to its market
• A local business unit or function in a business
• A strategic option, such as entering a new market or launching a new product
• A potential acquisition
• A potential partnership
• An investment opportunity

Be sure to describe the subject for the PESTLE analysis clearly so that people contributing to the analysis, and those seeing the finished PESTLE analysis, properly understand the purpose of the PESTLE assessment and implications.

On to SWOT analysis

To take the PESTLE analysis forward you can integrate the results into your SWOT.

The outputs from the BIR/ SWOT will provide you with your internal strengths and weaknesses.

Have a look at the HIGH impacts from the PESTLE.  Some will be positive in nature, others will be negative. List these on your SWOT analysis under OPPORTUNITIES and THREATS.

The PESTLE model is a useful environmental scan as part of a diagnostic process. The PESTLE analysis tool can be used in association with the Business Improvement Review (BIR) – a highly structured and holistic SWOT tool.  The PESTLE models can help to identify the context in which a business operates and provide a context for change.  A PESTLE analysis can provide a valuable agenda upon which to use a Business Improvement Review (BIR) to help identify the strengths and weaknesses (SWOT) of an organization, as apart of an organizational change process. Click here for more information. Need to write SMART objectives? Need to use Management Models

Have you found this page of value? Need more details/ ideas? Your feedback is welcomed.

Based upon information from many sources. No copyright over the model or acronyms are assumed. This page is provided for educational purposes only. RapidBI Ltd cannot accept any responsibility for the actions taken using this or any of the tools provided on this site. Please note this page is updated on a regular basis.  The more feedback we get the more we will develop this and similar pages for people studying CIPD and other HR and management programmes. CTP, CPP etc

PEST-G or PEST-E

What is PEST-G or PEST-E?

There has been some changes to the way PEST is being used in 2009, with the addition of G for Green or E for Environment. Within the PESTLE version of course this is already catered for.

It has taken some time, but now those faithful to PEST rather than PESTLE are starting to change and add a new variant.