Task Outline:
This task requires you to prepare a simplified report on the current and emerging nature of the business environment. This report be based on three Portfolio of P.E.S.T. issues that you have identified as influencing shaping the business (macro) environment. The Portfolio will be your collection of three articles that have been reported in reputable newspapers, business and trade publications, or similar reputable and respected publications (refer to examples below).
Journal articles must NOT be used as a current business environment issue for analysis.
No duplication of topics are allowed, i.e., no two articles on the same issue can be analysed. Nor can the one issue (e.g. COVID-19) be analysed twice.
The articles in this portfolio MUST have been published in the mainstream news media from 1st June 2020 until 31st August 2020.
Examples of Reputable Business News Sources
You are required to collect 3 articles from quality news sources, such as those outlined below, that identify changes in the business (macro) environment that have affected the way an industry operates.
The changes identified in the business environment must be clearly related to one or more of the P.E.S.T. factors (political/ economic/ social/ technological).
You should access relevant business environment articles from current, credible, local, and international business sources, such as:
inc.com economic.com afr.com
fortune.com
forbes.com
bloomberg.com
entrepreneur.com/magazine
fastcompany.com/
bmmagazine.co.uk
africanbusinesscentral.com/
The use of recently published academic journal articles is acceptable as a support reference (i.e. citation) source only.
It is your responsibility to determine whether a business news article is worthy of PE.S.T. analysis. To assist you in making this determination, ask yourself the following question: Is the business issue I am planning to report on significantly impacting the entire industry? If not, you may need to find another business news issue. Remember, you are analyzing the impact of the issue on the specific industry, not the company or institution affected by the issue.
It is also your responsibility to determine if the source of your news item (that you are analyzing) is reputable or credible (HINT: Research is your friend).
The business news articles selected do not have to be related to each other, and therefore, should be analysed as individual (i.e. independent) issues. The news articles are part of your reference list for this task along with any additional resources you cite in your analysis. The articles sources for analysis must have originally been published in English.
Your analysis must demonstrate your understanding of why it is essential for business to monitor and adapt to the business (macro) environment(s) they operate in. Your report will compliment your conceptual understanding with an in-depth analysis of the implications your Portfolio of PEST issues may have in terms of future strategy development and/or the operational and investment decisions that business will make into the future – both the short-term and the long- term.
Therefore, the focus of this task, is a demonstration that you have understood how to apply the P.E.S.T. framework to an issue impacting the broader business environment, rather than your opinion on the issue being analysed.
Your Portfolio of P.E.S.T. Issues report must include your own meaningful insights that are based on your own synthesis of the important macro/industry level issues, and your own analysis not purely descriptions.
Simply agreeing with an author’s opinion on the issue is not original thought, nor is it your own original analysis. In simple terms, your report must address a ‘so-what’ question to what you have identified and analysed is happening in the wider business environment. In other words – the report is designed to help you to understand the impact of the issue on the broader (macro) business environment.
Accordingly, not all P.E.S.T. factors are necessarily relevant for every one of the five issues identified for analysis in this report.
For example, if there is no political impact related to the business issue you have identified, do not analyze the political impact. As importantly, the PEST framework is not a predictive tool. Do not apply the PEST framework to analyse how the focal news issue will affect the future of the business environment.
In summary, you are analysing the specific impacts, of a specific business issue, on a specific (one) industry.
