Country Research

PEST(LE)

"An acronym for the components of an environmental analysis: political, economic, social, technological, and legal forces. The analysis is commonly used during the process of developing an organization's strategy and in marketing planning. It is a simple and easy-to-remember acronym to help managers consider the main groups of constraints that affect a firm. Frequently, these are external constraints, beyond the control of the firm. exogenous variable. For example, under the first group of constraints — political — a firm would need to consider what the likely effect would be of any forthcoming government legislation. environ-mental scanning."

Quoted in Pestl. (2003). In G. Bannock (Ed.), The new Penguin business dictionary. London, UK: Penguin. From Credo. 

You may see this type of analysis spelled variously as PEST, PESTEL, PEST, or PESTLE.

You will find details you need for a PEST(LE) analysis on the pages in this guide.

SWOT

"a planning and brainstorming tool that helps people evaluate an idea or project for a business or formulate a business plan. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. People use this method to understand a business's internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. This analysis can provide people with ideas about how to improve a business, or it can help them determine how a new business will perform."

Quoted in Harmon, A. (2019). SWOT analysis. Salem Press Encyclopedia. From Discover.

You will find details you need for a SWOT analysis on the pages in this guide.