Sample PESTLE analysis · Tala Provisions, Inc.
PESTLE sorts the outside world into six lenses: political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental. Here are Tala Provisions' forces, each marked as an opportunity, a threat or neutral, with a time horizon. One lens is still empty. Add a factor to it and see how the board changes. How it works
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How a PESTLE analysis works
PESTLE has no score. It is a structured list, and the judgment is yours.
- Place each factor in a lens. A factor can sit in more than one lens, and each placement keeps its own impact and horizon.
- Mark its impact on the company: opportunity, threat or neutral.
- Give it a time horizon: short (under 1 year), medium (1 to 3 years) or long (over 3 years).
- Attach the source behind it. A factor with no source is flagged.
The board counts factors per lens and per impact. It does not add them up into a number, because a count of threats says nothing about how much they matter. Weighing comes next, in the EFE.
Worked example: Tala Provisions
Tala's board has 5 opportunities, 3 threats and 1 neutral item. The economic lens carries the two sharpest short-term threats: a higher import duty on green beans and a weaker peso, both of which raise what Tala pays for imported inputs. The social and technological lenses hold most of the opportunities: more urban professionals choosing specialty coffee, shoppers returning to malls, and more orders placed online. The environmental lens cuts both ways, with erratic rainfall threatening highland yields and customers asking for compostable packaging.
| Lens | Factor | Impact | Horizon | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Political | F-020 Government push to raise local coffee output | Opportunity | Long | S-D05 |
| Economic | F-021 Higher import duty on green coffee beans | Threat | Short | S-D02 |
| Economic | F-022 Weaker peso raises imported input costs | Threat | Short | S-D04 |
| Social | F-023 More urban professionals choosing specialty coffee | Opportunity | Medium | S-D01 |
| Social | F-024 Shoppers returning to malls | Opportunity | Short | S-D01 |
| Technological | F-025 More orders placed online and by subscription | Opportunity | Medium | S-D03 |
| Legal | F-026 Tighter labelling rules for packaged food | Neutral | Medium | S-D06 |
| Environmental | F-027 Erratic rainfall lowering highland coffee yields | Threat | Long | S-D07 |
| Environmental | F-028 Customers asking for compostable cups and packs | Opportunity | Medium | S-D08 |
| 9 factors | 5 opportunities · 3 threats · 1 neutral |
Read across the board, Tala's outside world rewards a fresh, specialty product sold online and punishes dependence on imported inputs. That tension shows up again in every matrix after this one.
The horizons matter as much as the lenses. The import duty and the peso are short-horizon threats, so they belong near the top of the EFE. Erratic rainfall is a long-horizon threat: real, but it shapes a strategy on local bean supply more than this year's numbers.
Where it fits
PESTLE is the first look outside the company. The forces that matter most become the opportunities and threats you weigh in the EFE: Tala's specialty demand, import duty, peso and online-ordering items reappear there as F-001 to F-004. Not every PESTLE item makes the cut, and the EFE also takes industry forces PESTLE has no lens for, such as a rival's new 3-in-1 pricing (F-006).
Common mistakes
- Listing a fact instead of a force. "Coffee is popular" is not a factor. "More urban professionals choosing specialty coffee" says what is changing and for whom.
- Leaving out the legal lens. Most capstones have at least one legal factor, even a neutral one such as labelling rules.
- Marking everything an opportunity or a threat. Neutral is a real answer when a force touches the company but does not help or hurt it yet.
FAQs
Does PESTLE give a score?
No. It is qualitative on purpose. The weighting and rating happen in the EFE.
What is the difference between PEST, PESTLE and PESTEL?
PEST covers four lenses. PESTLE and PESTEL add legal and environmental; the two spellings are the same framework in a different order.
How many factors should each lens have?
One or two strong, sourced factors per lens beat five vague ones. Check your program's guide for a minimum.
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