To prepare for this Shared Activity:
- Review Evans and Richardson (2007). Consider how the featured business used a PESTLE tool to analyze its environment.
- Review Chapter 3 from the module text. Consider the environmental responses listed such as ignorance, delay and retrenchment for your discussion on amelioration strategies for environmental issues.
- Research similar PESTLE tools in the Readings and online. Select a template you think is a good fit with your Final Project organization and proposed fictional product or create a PESTLE tool of your own.
Shared Activity: Required
- Post the completed PESTLE tool you found through your research on your organization (Royal Dutch Shell)
- Complete the PESTLE analysis on the external environment of your chosen organization. Critically analyze your findings on the external environment of the organization.
- Describe insights you gleaned from the analysis. Did you notice any issues?
- Describe the specific area of the PESTLE analysis in which they were found and what might be done to ameliorate them.
- What potential environmental issues not addressed in this PESTLE analysis might need to be researched?
- Based on your analysis, determine the likelihood of success and the impact of marketing the proposed product in the selected area.
- Respond to your colleagues' analyses by expanding on, questioning, suggesting alternative viewpoints or offering further support for their ideas.
- Be sure to include specific examples and support your postings with evidence from the Readings, other current literature and other sources.
Shared Activities Instructions- Please Read.
Students will:
Conduct PESTLE analyses on external environments
Analyze potential marketing environments
Develop strategies for increasing competitive advantage
Using a PESTLE Analysis
No product or brand exists in a vacuum. An organization must have a full understanding of not only its internal environment, but also of the external environment surrounding its products and brands. For the purposes of this unit, the external environment will be divided into the distant and near environments (also known as macro- and microenvironment or distal and proximal). The distant and near environments are associated with two analysis models respectively: the PESTL (political, economic, social, technological and legal) or one of its many variations and the Porter's 5 Forces model. It is essential to analyze both the distant and near environments in order to make informed decisions about the market for products and brands. An external analysis may also be used for control and evaluation purposes throughout a product's life cycle.
In the field of marketing, the distant environment is perceived as being composed of broad forces. These forces are often grouped together for analysis under some variation of PESTLE. Some models also include an additional E for environmental which, in this case, refers to environmental issues such as pollution or ‘green' strategies rather than an organization's internal and external environments. Growing environmental concerns across the globe are such that it is highly recommended that this factor is included. In addition to providing context for a marketing campaign, considering environmental factors may provide a competitive advantage by appealing to customers' growing desire to associate themselves with environmentally-aware organizations and products. Other versions with similar areas of analysis include SLEPT, STEEPLE, EPISTEL and so forth. Each of the PESTLE forces is briefly described in this unit's Unit Introduction, accompanied by some questions that organizations should attempt to answer through analysis. These forces are also addressed in more depth in the Readings. For this Shared Activity, you will conduct a PESTLE analysis on your featured organization and brand, which will become the focus of your Final Project.
Imagine that the organization you chose is in the decision phase of determining where to market new products and has selected one international market to research.