1. Melaney Baker and Saima Amzed
SWOT & PESTLE
Melaney Baker and Saima Amzed

2. SWOT
Is a tool to identify internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats.

3. What can it be used for? business planning strategic planning
outsourcing a service
activity or resource
an investment opportunity
a method of sales distribution
competitor evaluation
marketing
product development
research reports

4. Applied to an organisation
Primark moving store location…
Need to look at how it will effect all people involved with company and therefore could use SWOT
Opportunities e.g. more essential location, potential for new customers
Threats; smaller store, less stock, possibly less sales
Strength; finding a new location, otherwise would have to close down, all would people loose jobs
Weakness; less employees, some made redundant therefore paying out for redundancy, brand image

5. Limitations to SWOT
Need to go back and check the SWOT stays the same; time consuming
Just a list, doesn’t prioritise the issues at hand and it doesn’t help to realise the overall goal
A good way to generate many ideas however doesn’t help to choose the best or offer solutions
Difficult to identify the elements e.g. a strength to one person could be a weakness to someone else
Validity; can produce results that are bias

6. Alternatives
SCORE: Strengths, Challenges, Options, Responses and Effectiveness
SOAR: Strengths, Opportunism, Aspiration and Results
NOISE: Needs, Opportunities, Improvements, Strengths and Exceptions
SCOPE: Situation, Core competencies, Obstacles, Prospects and Expectations

7. PESTLE
PESTLE is a acronym which symbolises P for Political, E for Economic, S for Social, T for Technological, L for Legal and E for Environmental.

8. What can it used for?
Companies can track the environment they are operating in, allows them to investigate the external environment
Helps to plan and launch a new product/project/service
Helps to guide strategic decision making, helps to see if a plan/idea is worth going ahead with

9. Applied to an organisation
Apple releasing a new IPhone, will need to look at external environment
Political: higher calls for corporate taxation in America, therefore would have to pay more tax
Economic: Increased labour costs in China
Social: Ethical concerns in Chinese labour, could limit socially conscious consumers
Technological: Competitors such as Google and Samsung can duplicate product, not unique
Legal: Company depends on products being covered by intellectual property laws, Apple venerable to piracy and lawsuits
Environmental: Pollution is a growing concern from manufacturing facilities

10. Limitations to PESTLE
Users can oversimplify the information that is used for making decisions
The process has to be conducted regularly to be effective and often organizations do not make this investment.
Users must not submit to 'paralysis by analysis' where they gather too much information and forget that the objective of this tool is the identification of issues so that action can be taken.
Organizations often restrict who is involved due to time and cost considerations. This limits the technique's effectiveness as a key perspective may be missing from the discussions.
Users' access to quality external information is often restricted because of the cost and time needed to collate it.
Assumptions often form the basis for most of the data used, making any decision made based on such data subjective. -

11. Alternatives PEST: Political, Economic, Technical, and Social
STEP: Strategic Trend Evaluation Process
DEEPLIST: Demographic, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, Informational, Social and Technological
Many variations, with very similar factors!!