I answered this question today and you can find this information, with live hyperlinks at www.duncanwil.co.uk/pest.html ... I have now got to discuss the limitations of PEST analysis but am finding it hard getting any info on it. Here's what I replied ... sorry but I'm pushed for time and haven't made any of the URLs into live hyperlinks: just copy and paste into your browser to do that. I started by interrogating GOOGLE worldwide for the limitations of PEST and got as many sites to do with greenfly and leaf mould as I did to do with PEST analysis. I then got rid of the limitations of part of the search and fared no better. So, I interrogated pages from the UK section of www.google.co.uk for pest analysis and here is what I think is a sample of the best that can be found there. This is a sweep through the various techniques that are discussed in the standard texts: nothing directly to do with the limitations of PEST analysis but it might spark off a train of thought. http://tbs-home.tees.ac.uk/staff/u0000514/M&S2 Wk 3 03.ppt http://www.netmba.com/strategy/pest/ begins with this "A PEST analysis is an analysis of the external macro-environment that affects all firms. P.E.S.T. is an acronym for the Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors of the external macro-environment. Such external factors usually are beyond the firm's control and sometimes present themselves as threats. For this reason, some say that "pest" is an appropriate term for these factors. However, changes in the external environment also create new opportunities and the letters sometimes are rearranged to construct the more optimistic term of STEP analysis." and ends with this "... it may be difficult to forecast future trends with an acceptable level of accuracy. In this regard, the firm may turn to scenario planning techniques to deal with high levels of uncertainty in important macro-environmental variables." Some clues, therefore, as to what limitations we might be talking about. There's a relatively comprehensive introduction to PEST analysis here http://www.businessballs.com/pestanalysisfreetemplate.htm It also spends a lot of time comparing PEST with SWOT ... worth a read and might also spark something. IF you have the time and energy here's a real example of the application of PEST analysis http://www.mod.uk/linked_files/wsa/phase1-anx_h-i.pdf 38 pages relating to submarines being withdrawn from service. There's a hint on the potential limitations of this application of PEST analysis on page 3, paragraph 5 "... It should be noted that the costs given take no account of risk, growth, profit or VAT ..." Take a look at this http://www.marketing-intelligence.co.uk/help/Q&A/question14.htm and you will see that the final paragraph discusses some of the limitations of PEST analysis. There is also a link at the end of this page where you are invited to download a more detailed paper on PEST and SWOT analysis: you need to register in order to do that and the paper you will then be able to download is fine but nothing new. Here are two PowerPoint Presentations from Durham that relate to real cases and that again might be useful introductions to the subject: http://www.dur.ac.uk/p.j.allen/smarkets.ppt http://www.dur.ac.uk/p.j.allen/258,3,PEST Analysis The second of the above presentations is a nuisance as the author has left all of the click, click presentation gizmos in that aren’t especially web friendly … you’ll see what I mean when you get there! Happy reading and happy weekend. Hope that’s useful. DW

Went with Mrs W to see the Nurse at our local Surgery this week and this caught my eye. In the corridor near the nurse's room there is a wall mounted height measurer. Stand with your back to the window frame in this case as that's where the measure has been attached and slide the scale up and down until it rests on top of your bonce. Take a look at my artistic representation of reality: Notice, the floor immediately beneath the measure is uneven. In order to be measured properly, one needs to lift up one's right leg to counter the slope of the floor that begins immediately below the measure. Alternatively, just stand there and be measured inaccurately. The wonders of modern applied science! Not a massively serious problem but a bit more thought could have been taken! DW

Car insurance renewal time came and I decided that I didn't need comprehensive insurance following my accident of earlier this year when my car was written off and I had to shell out £2,000 to get myself a decent set of replacement wheels. That decision saved me £120 for the year. They suggested that they might be able to help me with my home insurance too and, by jingo, they did: for better cover my broker has saved me 50% of my buildings and contents insurance. Welcome to modern rip off Britain where the unwary simply don't know that the deal that someone did is nowhere near the optimum. As I am now insured for everything with one company, I got a further £20 discount on the car insurance. Still, someone else will now take these savings from me for another and as yet unknowable reason since that's the way of the world! DW

My finger's almost healed now and it's no longer painful, the nail has grown back by about 2 millimetres and the skin has repaired itself by about 50% of what's needed for a full recovery! Good news, eh? DW

The Moral Maze programme on Radio 4 last night was an outrage. We were treated to a long list of angry sounding people discussing whether Europe was becoming more anti semitic, whether the State of Israel should exist and whether anyone who believes that if Israel shouldn't exist they must automatically be branded anti semitic. The people presenting the arguments were all zealots and had clearly come to the programme with completely fixed positions. Some of the "witnesses" were treated badly in my opinion: the problem seems to have been that everyone knew everyone else or they knew everyone else's work and writings on this subject so they were like boxers who had been watching films of each other as they prepared for a fight! At one point someone wondered where the hate of Jewry had come from and likened it to racism ... for all of their learning they seemed ignorant of the fact that the Magna Carta contains references to Jews that are hardly flattering; and that was written in 1215, almost 800 years ago! I wish they could have found a better topic. I have to confess that I am completely turned off by anything to do with this issue as it has been festering for decades and we are, wretchedly and unfortunately, no nearer a solution: billion of Pounds are wasted on this problem, too as the "best" brains in the political world can find no solution. Then the BBC invites these bad tempered people onto Radio 4 to discuss whether the problem's getting worse or not! Waste of time DW

I am horrified at how Britain is fast becoming the country in which we speak American English with a British accent. On BBC radio news yesterday we were told that Birmingham has taken delivery of a temporary Ferris Wheel display. What on earth is a Ferris Wheel? A Ferris Wheel is what we used to call a Big Wheel and we used the term Big Wheel for many decades. All of a sudden the BBC has decided that we need to call it a Ferris Wheel. Today we heard from the Today programme on Radio 4 that Donald Rumsfeld is in Afghanistan today and Louise Ducet reported that there is a problem in part of Afghanistan as certain War Lords make mischief. I wrote to Sky News a couple of years ago about using the term War Lord since I feel it adds a false legitimacy to what is really only mass murder and general mayhem. Sky News wrote back saying that they had changed their wording, that day at least, as a result of my missive, during the rest of that day's reporting. There is no such thing as a war lord in my mind, they are soldiers, terrorists, freedom fighters or what you like but the term Lord should really be reserved for something more sublime than butchery. DW

Went to Brimingham yesterday, an early start to get to my destination by 9 am: did it with 20 minutes to spare. On the opposite carriageway of the M40 as I was wending my way, there was the remnants of an accident: between junctions 12 and 13. That accident had blocked the nearside lane and was causing a blockage of around 5 miles: traffic queuing, at a standstill, for up to five miles. I heard on the radio that this accident had happened at least at 7 am. As I started back they announced on the radio that the problem had gone so I wended my way back and went down the M40 happily. However, I came to join a 4.5 mile slow moving and sometimes stopping queue FOUR HOURS AFTER THE ORIGINAL ACCIDENT. As I got to the place where the accident had happened, I saw that the lorry/ies invovled were then off the carriageway but we we had still been slowed right down. I estimated that I lost 30 minutes of my time. This set me thinking that relatively simple problems such as a motor accident can snarl up an entire motorway for upwards of four hours. By the time I got there the problem was poor but not horrific. Just imagine the people who were trapped by the accident just after it happened ... how many deliveries were delayed, how many people were late for work or dropping off the kids? What were the real costs and knock on effects as a result of what was probably caused by bad driving and/or poor mechanical maintenance. Answers on a postcard please! DW

I went to Swansea last Saturday, 29 November, to see daughter Fran swim in an International Swimming Event. She did well enough but the most important point is that she will remain in Swansea until today, Thursday 4 Dec, with her coach so that he can work on her style and stroke. The National Wales Swimming Pool is a magnificent affair: 50 metre pool together with diving/learning pool and outside there are hockey pitches, rugby pitches ... a marvellous set up. Take a look: The sound system is marvellous too and the "DJ" had my taste in music. Well, until it got to the Tom Jones Fest that is! Then again we were in Wales. Fran was staying at the Marriott Hotel and that's quite a nice affair and we did lunch there! Can't say I recommend the veggie butty but it filled a corner. One rubbishEnglish gripe is that the menu says that the sandwiches come with chips ... when the butty arrived it arrived with CRISPS. Aaaaagh! I wanted CHIPS. If you're watching this, Marriott people, PLEASE help people like me to understand what you mean. This was my first trip to Swansea and it's a breeze to get there: just get onto the M4 and drive for around 2 hours then turn left and you're there. I didn't have much time to look around but there is a massive newly developed central area and a fet old fashioned terraced houses. The setting on the way in is very attractive: at the end of the valleys system of South Wales. It was dark and drizzly all the way down from Abingdon until I got into Wales and then the sun shone brightly and that lightened up the vista! DW