How to Use PEST Analysis Video

Welcome to Mind Tools' video learning series.

All organizations need to understand and adapt to the environments they operate in. These might include factors outside of your control, such as laws, lifestyle changes, and technological trends.

But, when you're able to anticipate how these factors might impact your business in the future, you'll find it easier to identify and seize new opportunities, and avoid potential threats.

So how can you analyze your business environment effectively?

A powerful tool for doing this is PEST Analysis. This is a simple, four-point framework that you can use to assess the Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, and Technological factors at play.

Your analysis can help you to understand the forces of change at play in your environment, and guide your strategic decision making.

Start by considering the political factors that affect your business. For example, are any elections due to be held, and how are they likely to play out? Will legislation or taxation laws change? And how could this affect your organization?

Then do the same for economic factors. How stable is the economy? Is it growing or shrinking? What is the unemployment rate? How is inflation impacting your industry? And are these factors likely to change much?

Next, consider the socio-cultural factors of your external environment. How might the rate of population growth or decline affect your business? What about the quality of the health and educational systems? Are social and cultural values changing? And what will the impact of this mean for you?

Finally, brainstorm the technological factors influencing you. Are there any new technologies that you could be using? Or are any being developed that could affect your industry in the future?

Once you've finished your analysis, brainstorm the opportunities and threats   that each area presents. Then identify actions that you can take to exploit any opportunities, and to manage or eliminate threats.

To learn more about PEST Analysis, read the article   that accompanies this video.