In this section of your analysis, you will: 1) assess the company's current situation within the industry using both SWOT and PESTEL analyses; 2) identify and discuss critical issues, and 3) discuss the major implications for the company in terms of future strategy.
The SWOT analysis is a snapshot in time of your company's situation. Any issue that arises for your company can affect the overall analysis, so your SWOT analysis should be as current as possible. The following sources may provide a SWOT analysis for your company, but remember:
Remember that a SWOT analysis is a snapshot of your company's current situation, and any existing SWOT analysis you find is only a foundation for your own analysis - you will almost certainly need to update it to reflect anything that has happened with your company since the SWOT analysis was created.
The following databases and sources can serve as useful sources for current news and events affecting your company:
SWOT analyses are not available for all public companies; here's a helpful strategy for finding something to get you started:
A PESTEL analysis looks at the following elements or conditions in relation to your company:
Political | How does the current political climate affect your company? |
Economic | How does the current economic climate affect your company? |
Social | What impacts do societal trends have on your company? |
Technological | What impacts do technological changes have on your company? |
Environmental | What impacts do environmental trends have on your company? |
Legal | What impacts do legal trends have on your company? |
You won't find a pre-made PESTEL analysis in any of our databases. Instead, use the tabs corresponding to each element listed above to explore questions and resources that will help you find information to complete a PESTEL analysis for your company.
How does the current political climate affect your company?
Think about which political party is governing the country:
Not all of the following issues will be relevant to your company but some of them will be:
Government Web Sites
Note: It is impossible to include links to every country that your company might originate from. Remember to look for the appropriate government website if it is not listed here.
News Databases
How does the current economic climate affect your company?
Think about the following questions:
Databases & Government Web Sites
What impacts do societal trends have on your company?
Other things to think about include education levels, beliefs about buying local or locally made, adoption of new hobbies, or behaviours.
What impacts do technological changes have on your company?
What are the current technological trends? For example, how is Telus changing as telephone landlines become a thing of the past?
What impacts do environmental trends have on your company?
What are the current environmental trends?
What impacts do legal trends have on your company?
What are the current legal trends? For example, there is a great deal of debate about the Internet, net neutrality, net security, and who pays whom. If Netflix is your company how would these debates affect them?
Industry profiles offer an important context for your company's situation. Are the critical issues your company is facing unique to the company, or prevalent within the industry? Are there critical issues faced by your company's competitors that are not an issue for your company? Are there industry trends that are not reflected in your company's strategic directions or reports to investors? Industry profiles will give you a chance to gauge your company's situation against the larger industry.
Passport GMID offers news, profiles, analysis, reports, and data for industries in the fast-moving consumer goods sectors. It's also a good place to find related demographic and economic data for countries around the world. A search for an industry reveals a variety of types of information:
To find industry data:
APA Citation Format
References
Euromonitor International. (2015a, June 29). Beer: What's brewing on the horizon? Global briefing. Retrieved from http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal
Euromonitor International. (2015b, June 30). Sales of beer by category: Total volume 2009-2014 [Table]. In Beer in Canada category briefing. Retrieved from http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal
Euromonitor International. (2015c, July 6). The growth in popularity of craft beer in New Zealand [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal
Euromonitor International. (2015d, July 8). Beer in Sweden category briefing. Retrieved from http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal
Telford, H. (2015, June 24). What does craft mean in carbonated soft drinks? Opinion Retrieved from http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal
In-Text Citation
(Euromonitor International, 2015c)
(Telford, 2015)
Note:Provide the URL of the publisher's home page (in this case Euromonitor). Do not provide the direct URL to the report, or the name of the database (Passport GMID).
Industry profiles from Gale Business Insights are global in scope and offer an overview of the industry (key facts, top countries, and top companies), as well as a variety of documents related to the industry:
Tip: Always check the date on the profile - while many are relatively current (within the last year), some are older, particularly in smaller markets, like Canada.
To find a profile:
2. You can either select an industry from the list or click search (magnify glass) and choose from the industries listed on the results page.
From the Industry Profile page, you can find the "Commercial Banking Global Report" under Industry Reports.
APA Citation Format
Reference
Commercial banking. (2021). In Gale Business Insights: Global Collection. Retrieved from https://go.gale.com/ps/dispBasicSearch.do?userGroupName=abbo55004&prodId=GBIB
In-Text Citation
(Commercial banking, 2021)
Note: Provide the URL of the database home page, but not of the specific document.
Industry profiles from Business Source Complete offer a great deal of data about an industry. A profile will typically include the following:
Tip: Check the date on the profile - while many are relatively current (within the last year), some are older, particularly in smaller markets, like Canada.
To find a profile:
APA Citation Format
References
MarketLine Industry Profile. (2012a, February). Global Pet Care. Retrieved from http://www.marketline.com/
MarketLine Industry Profile. (2012b, February). Pet Care in Canada. Retrieved from http://www.marketline.com/
In-Text Citation
(MarketLine Industry Profile, 2012a)
Note: Take the title from the title page of the report, not the listing in the database. Provide the URL of the publisher's home page (in this case Marketline). Do not provide the direct URL to the report, or the name of the database (Business Source Complete).
Stock Analysis provides performance data on industries (market cap, revenue, profits, PE ratio, profit margin, dividend yield), as well as companies. The focus is on companies traded on U.S. stock exchanges. Choose the data you want to display (see "Columns") for companies within the sector, then export your data to an Excel spreadsheet.
To find the industry profile:
Newspapers can be a good source of information about your company. Most newspapers have a business section that focuses on local business as well as business news in general.A good source of information for critical issues facing your company, product launches and reviews, key trends, personnel changes in the executive ranks, and industry news.
Not all product review sites are created equal, and it's good to treat product reviews with a healthy skepticism. There are essentially two types of review sites:
Both types of review sites are valuable. The best strategy is to read multiple reviews from both types of review sites, and look for patterns of agreement or disagreement. Here are a few that we can recommend: