Forums › OBU Forums › PESTLE & SWOT or SWOT & Porters
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- September 1, 2022 at 2:58 am #664793AnonymousInactive
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Would it be unwise to pair a PESTLE & SWOT together as the opportunities and threats are similar to the pestle factors? Please help!
September 1, 2022 at 1:33 pm #664836AnonymousInactive- Topics: 5
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Furthermore, the organisation of my choice is basically in a duopoly and threat of substitute, new entry and buyers powers are low. It may be difficult to prove poor performance no?
September 1, 2022 at 5:21 pm #664876It depends which topic you are doing but no, the SWOT and PESTLE are not identicall as the former is mostly a study of an organisation’s micro environment [unique to the particular organisation] and the latter is more concerned with the Macro environment [i.e. it could affect rival businesses equally]. In that respect Porter’s is about mid-way between the two – it looks at both mricro and macro factors. If you are doing a topic that involves strategy formulation then the Porter’s which looks at the factors in the business environment that may give a firm a competitive advantage is probably more useful than the PESTLE as it is more specific [if applied appropriately] to the company e.g. it involves studying ITS suppliers, ITS customers etc.
You need to justify your selection of the particular company in relation to the topic title and the sources and models you have used and the University has stressed in its webinars that this is something the student should do i.e. not a mentor or other 3rd party, since it is integral to a student showing critical thinking skills.
September 1, 2022 at 10:09 pm #664901AnonymousInactive- Topics: 5
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You did mention that PESTLE and SWOT would be the best to use back when it was called topic 8. However, recently you mentioned that PESTLE and Porters would be the best for topic 4. Are there any reasons for this?
September 4, 2022 at 12:13 pm #665111The old Topic 8 was simply a business and financial analysis – the new Topic 8 is about STRATEGY.
Although there is no reason that you can’t use a PESTLE alongside other model(s). However since Porter’s 5 Forces is about gaining competitive advantage and the SWOT also looks at harnessing strengths and seizing opportunities, which are both very closely linked to strategy formulation and making strategic decisions, if you are only using 2 models these would seem to be the most appropriate for NEW topic 8.
Both of these models are specific to the particular COMPANY. PESTLE factors may influence decision-making but they are more macro factors and often relate to the industry / business sector as a whole.
September 6, 2022 at 3:29 pm #665393AnonymousInactive- Topics: 5
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Any chance the examiner accepts my report if I only do a SWOT? I disagree with the above point of it mainly being a micro-tool. It looks at both the external and internal environment – I can elaborate so much more rather than using it alongside a pestle or porters and repeating information (this is for topic 4 btw)
September 7, 2022 at 2:58 pm #665611The full title of Topic 8 is:
Analyse and evaluate the business and financial performance over a three year period of an organisation operating in a sector that has faced strategic and operational challenges with an emphasis on how management have addressed these challenges.
The PESTLE may show how some of the challenges have arisen in the sector [macro environment] but the SWOT and Porter’s 5Fs by taking some external factors but by combining them with the company’s own capabilities i.e. what it is doing well, are used to create strategies. Such strategies can be tailored to give it a competitive advantage [building on its strengths and seizing opportunities but focusing on its customers’ needs and being aware of the threat of competition and substitutes etc].
The most important thing is that whichever models are chosen they must be fully integrated into the commentary. Too often in the past students have viewed the models as a separate exercise and tacked them on at the end of their report – whereas they are crucially important to explain what has gone on and explain the.particular management decisions.
You need at least 2 models in your work (Information Pack: You should use two business / accountancy models or frameworks).and therefore if you only have one this is unlikely to be sufficient
September 8, 2022 at 8:37 pm #665829AnonymousInactive- Topics: 5
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Well ratio analysis is also a model as stated in the information pack, so that would constitute as two if used alongside the SWOT wouldn’t it? – this way I also save words on the evaluation of an extra model in part 2, I would be able to reserve 5500 words for part 3
September 14, 2022 at 7:08 am #666324Indeed ratio analysis is a model, the operative word being ‘Analysis’ (which means more than just calculations and graphs). Ensure that you use relevant ratios and the trends in the data are appropriately evaluated by being linked to the other models) and supported by references to sources (annual reports, articles from the business press etc.).along with comparisons to the competitor
September 17, 2022 at 3:49 pm #666621trephena wrote:The full title of Topic 8 is:
Please where in the write up do I bring in the models? What is the layout for the rap?
Thanks
September 27, 2022 at 9:42 am #667278Can the threat in the swot analysis be talked about the industry competitor improve market share? Or must be from global threat like Covid?
September 27, 2022 at 10:40 am #667282Threats relate to the external environment [whereas weaknesses emanate from within the company itself] – a competitor is part of that external environment just as the threat of Covid came from the external invironment
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