Political/Legal Factors

• Implementation of government policy and legislation in the UK, Scotland and locally e.g.

• Changes in EU funding • Directly affects public sector • Taxation affects all organisations• Smoking ban impact on pubs

Economic Factors

• Unemployment levels / disposable income impacts sales

• State of the economy (boom or bust?)• Interest rate increases makes it dearer

for the organisation to borrow money• Exchange rate changes the cost of

importing and exporting – the stronger the pound, the harder it is to export UK goods to other countries

• Inflation (increases in general prices) can make raw materials/labour and transport costs much more expensive

Socio-cultural Factors

• Demographic changes • Slow-growing, ageing population• Socio-cultural changes (lifestyle and

attitude changes) e.g. – increasing number of working mums– growth of car and home ownership– concern for environmental welfare– more leisure time

• Structure of labour market– increase in part time work– increase in tertiary sector jobs

Technological Factors

• Rapid pace of change in Information Communication Technology costs money to keep up-to-date

• Need to keep up with competitors• Use of Internet to sell to customers and

buy from suppliers • Software improvements e.g. databases

for customer details • Greater use of computer-controlled

production processes to reduce costs

Environmental Factors

• Pressure groups • Climate change and pollution• Media attention on ‘bad

business behaviour’• Social Responsibility objectives

e.g. Co-op Fair Trade

Competitive Factors

• Need to constantly assess actions of competitors to protect sales and profits

• Desire to create and maintain a competitive edge over rivals

• Establish a Unique Selling Point (USP)