PESTLE analysis example

A Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal and Environmental (PESTLE) analysis is a method of assessing the business environment.

The six sections of the analysis create a framework you can use to review any strategies you have in place or to work out a new direction, product or plan for your business.

The example below shows the type of information you should include in a PESTLE analysis. It also includes fictional examples of a product for overseas sale.

Analysis factors	How certain factors may affect the business	Time frame	Type	Impact	Importance
Political – e.g. international trading policies	e.g. possible trade barriers to protect domestic suppliers	e.g. 0-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-24 months…	e.g. Positive, Negative, Unknown	e.g. Increasing, Unchanged, Decreasing, Unknown	e.g. Critical, Important, Unimportant, Unknown
Economic – e.g. current UK economical situation	e.g. strength of overseas economies versus UK may affect price/profitability	Unknown	Negative	Increasing	Important
Social – e.g. overseas attitudes and opinions to product	e.g. will product be accepted overseas?	6-12 months (possibly longer)	Unknown	Unknown	Critical
Technological – e.g. new technologies	e.g. can intellectual property rights be protected overseas	0-6 months	Negative	Unchanged	Important
Legal	e.g. overseas product regulations	0-6 months	Negative	Unchanged	Critical
Environmental – e.g. sustainability	e.g. pollution implications of transportation	n/a	Possibly negative	Unknown	Unknown