General environment During decision-making processes, businesses can use the PESTEL analysis to analyze the general environment of a business using the following six parameters:
Six external global business environment factors useful in decision-making processes.
Political — This factor either increases opportunities or registers threats to the progress of organizations. It poses threats to a company's potential growth and revenues. Political factors may lead to a raise or lower corporation tax, which impacts profits, increased value-added tax on products, and increased business rates.
Economical — Most of the economic factors, for instance, in Apple, have been sources of opportunity and growth. Stable economies of countries enable a better business environment enabling rapid growth. Most importantly, a stable economy gives ample lucrative business opportunities, increasing disposable incomes among the target customers.
Sociocultural— Socio-cultural trends affect businesses due to influences from consumer behaviors and expectations. Consumer perception, religious backyard, level of consumerism, among other socio-cultural factors, affect sales of products.
Technological — Intriguing technology and funding levels to research potential ever-competitive cutting edge technologies are technological opportunities for businesses. Apple company has gained from different advancements, like the ever-growing cloud computing technology, integration of technology into business, and the ever-growing mobile market. However, the company has received equally substantive threats from other competitive firms in the electronic industry.
Environmental— The 21st century policies on the environment, including concerns of safe and renewable energy sources, obligate companies to use extra costs in planning and implementing the policies. Business sustainability trends are an opportunity that can be tapped into by business organizations.
