Research Guides: MBA 634: Strategic Management: PESTLE Analysis

Getting Started

When conducting research for a PESTLE analysis, the focus should be on how each of the external factors might impact the chosen industry. What kinds of opportunities or threats will they provide? The areas to research are Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental.

NAICS Lookup
The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is used to classify businesses for the purposes of collecting and analyzing data. Official site for finding the most recent NAICS codes for an industry.

Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
Look for the country review reports (navigate to the Country Reports on the right hand side of the homepage) then search for your country. Choose the Country Review Report and review the most recent publication year available. These reports are broken into chapters. Of particular interest should be: Political Overview, Economic Overview, Social Overview, and Environmental Overview.
Statista This link opens in a new window
Provides quick facts, statistics, and market data for countless topics. Look here for political, economic, social, and environmental information related to your selected industry. Great source for images to include in your projects. You may also want to link back to the original source for more information and reports.
IBISWorld This link opens in a new window
Provides comprehensive and up-to-date US industry reports. Information covered includes regulatory concerns (legal issues), key external factors, major players, and benchmarking (key ratios) data.
BCC Research This link opens in a new window
Provides market research reports for specific industries and products. Detailed emerging trends and technology is covered as well as a thorough review of the competitive landscape. This resource focuses on providing information for life sciences, materials and technology.

Trade.gov Industry Reports
Industry analysts at the U.S. Department of Commerce publish the latest trends, trade policies, events, and market insights worldwide. These reports focus on the extraction, manufacturing, service, and knowledge-based industries, sectors, and sub-sectors that drive the global economy.
CIA World Factbook
The World Factbook provides basic intelligence on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, environment, communications, transportation, military, terrorism, and transnational issues for 266 world entities.