Strategically Preparing for Change
What impacts from the political arena have impacted your business over the past 6 months?
What impacts, fueled by economic unrest, has your business felt over the past 6 months?
Instead of waiting for these to occur and then reacting, what would it feel like to proactively game plan for the most likely changes in the future and then having a specific action plan for them?
For years, I have used a series of tools that allow us to ask questions that provide insight for proactive planning – two of which we’ll take a brief look at today: PESTEL and Porter’s Five Forces.
PESTEL Analysis
A PESTEL analysis is a framework used to analyze and monitor the macro-environmental factors across a series of disparate categories that may have a profound impact on an organization’s performance. This tool is especially useful to give a clear understanding of a situation and related internal and external factors.
- Political
- Economic
- Social
- Technological
- Environmental
- Legal
Porter’s Five Forces
Porter’s Five Forces is a simple but powerful tool that you can use to identify the main sources of competition in your industry or sector – and the related potential impacts that they can have on your business, business growth, and long-term product and service strategies.
When you understand the forces affecting your industry, you can adjust your strategy, boost your profitability, and stay ahead of the competition. You can take fair advantage of a strong position or improve a weak one – and avoid taking wrong steps in the future.
This will help you to analyze your organization’s strengths and weaknesses, and to identify critical factors that may affect your profitability.
- Threat of New Entry
- Threat of Substitution
- Buyer Power
- Supplier Power
- Competitive Rivalry
When these two tools are used in concert, the insight can powerfully fuel direction, decisions, and long-range destination.
Only Action gets you closer to your dreams – do something today that your future self will thank you for.
– Coach Rory Sheppard
Originally published on LinkedIn, June 11, 2025.
