PUBLIC POLICY

WORKSHOP
ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING ( ENVIRONMENTAL & LEGAL)
RONALD A. OGANIA

 Environmental scanning is the

acquisition and use of information about
events, trends, and relationships in an
organization's external environment, the
knowledge of which would assist
management in planning the organization's
future course of action. Depending on the
organization's beliefs about environmental
analyzability and the extent that it intrudes
into the environment to understand it,
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Four modes of scanning may be

differentiated:

Undirected viewing,
Conditioned viewing,
Enacting, and
Searching.
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 We analyzed each mode of scanning by

examining its characteristic information
needs, information seeking, and
information use behaviors. In addition,
we analyze organizational learning
processes by considering the sense
making, knowledge creating and
decision making processes at work in
each mode.
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Undirected viewing
Undirected viewing takes place when the organization perceives the environment to
be un-analyzable and so does not intrude into the environment to understand it.
Information needs are ill-defined and fuzzy, and much of the information obtained
is non-routine or informal, usually gained through chance encounters. Since the
environment is assumed to be un-analyzable, the organization is satisfied with
limited, soft information and does not seek comprehensive, hard data.
The advantage of undirected viewing is that the organization need not expend
resources on formalized scanning, but this saving incurs the risk of the organization
being surprised or caught off-guard.
During undirected viewing, sense making is characterized by informal bracketing.
Bracketing of external signals is informal in that what the organization a notice
depends on what subjective cues observers happen to be attending to at the time.
Overall, the modus of learning in undirected viewing is one of stimulus-andresponse: the organization maintains its status quo until a strong stimulus is
recognized and necessitates a response.
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Conditioned viewing
Conditioned viewing, occurs when the organization perceives the
environment to be analyzable but is passive about gathering
information and influencing the environment. Information needs focus
on a small number of relatively well-defined issues or areas of concern.
During Conditioned Viewing, sense making is belief-driven, and there
are fewer cycles of equivocality reduction. Over time, the organization
(or the industry it is in) has developed a set of assumptions and beliefs
about the environment and uses them to define a number of areas of
particular interest to structure or 'condition' the scanning activity.
Overall, the modus of learning in conditioned viewing is for the
organization to use its existing knowledge about what is important in
the environment to focus its scanning and action taking.
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Enacting
Enacting takes place when the organization perceives the
environment to be un-analyzable but then proceeds to
intrude actively into the environment in order to influence
events and outcomes. Information needs are those
required for experimentation and testing the environment.
During enacting, sense making is action-driven. The
organization intrudes actively into the environment to
construct new features and to then concentrate sense
making on these features.
Overall, the modus of learning in enacting is for the
organization to learn by doing by trying out new actions
in order to reveal new goals and methods.
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Searching
Searching (labeled as Discovery in the original Daft and Weick paper)
takes place when the organization perceives the environment to be
analyzable and it actively intrudes into the environment to collect an
accurate set of facts about the environment. Information needs are based
on well-defined search goals that are broad, detailed, and open-ended.
During searching, sense making is based on formal, systematic scanning
that is aimed at determining the objective facts of what is happening in
the external environment. This systematic scanning can be both actiondriven and belief-driven.
Overall, the modus of learning in searching is for the organization to invest
resources in collecting information about and analyzing the environment,
and then to adjust its actions in the light of this new knowledge.
The main difference between searching and conditioned viewing is that
searching requires significant resources for entering the environment to
create new features and/or to collect information.
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 A PESTEL analysis is a framework or tool used by

marketers to analyses and monitors the macroenvironmental (external marketing environment)
factors that have an impact on an organization. The
result of which is used to identify threats and
weaknesses which is used in aSWOT analysis.

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Environmental Factors
These factors have only really come to the forefront in the
last fifteen years or so. They have become important due to
the increasing scarcity of raw materials, pollution targets,
doing business as an ethical and sustainable company,
carbon footprint targets set by governments (this is a good
example were one factor could be classes as political and
environmental at the same time). These are just some of the
issues marketers are facing within this factor. More and more
consumers are demanding that the products they buy are
sourced ethically and if possible from a sustainable source.

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 Both consumers and governments penalize firms for having adverse

effect on the environment. Governments levy huge fines upon
companies for polluting. Companies are also rewarded for having
positive impact on the environment. The consumers are willing to
switch brands if they find a business is ignoring its environmental
duties. Impact on the environment is a rising concern.
Few common environmental factors are:
Competitive advantage
Waste disposal laws
Energy consumption
Pollution monitoring
Environmental protection laws

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Legal Factors
Legal factors include - health and safety, equal
opportunities, advertising standards, consumer
rights and laws, product labelling and product
safety. It is clear that companies need to know
what is and what is not legal in order to trade
successfully. If an organisation trades globally this
becomes a very tricky area to get right as each
country has its own set of rules and regulations.
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This step involves learning about the laws and regulations in your region. It is
critical for avoiding unnecessary legal costs.

This is the last factor in PESTEL. These factors overview the legal elements. Often,
start-ups link these elements to the political framework. Many legal issues can
affect a company that does not act responsibly. This step helps to avoid legal
pitfalls. You should always remain within the confines of established regulations.

Common legal factors that companies focus on include:

Employment law & regulations
Health and safety regulations
Product safety
Advertising regulation
Product labeling
Competitive regulations
Patent infringements

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Presentation Agenda

Introduction
PEST Analysis
PESTLE Analysis
Dimensions of the model
Aim of the analysis
Apple Inc PESTLE Analysis
Conclusion
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Introduction
Apple was founded bySteve Jobs,Steve Wozniak, andRonald
Wayneon April 1, 1976 to develop and sellpersonal computers. It
was named Apple Inc. on January 9, 2007 to reflect its shifted
focus towardsconsumer electronics.

Its best-known hardware products are theMacline of computers,

theiPodmedia player, theiPhonesmartphone, and
theiPadtablet computer.

Apple has continuously come up with innovative products making

it the most valuable company in the world and leaving behind all
its competitors.

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PEST Analysis
It is a simple and effective tool used in situation
analysis to identify the key external (macro
environment level) forces that might affect an
organization.

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PESTLE Analysis
Incorporating the Legal and Environmental
dimensions in the model makes it more
comprehensive and gives better results.

PES
T

PEST
LE
LE
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Dimensions of the model

Government
stability
Tax policy
Trade control
Import
restrictions
Competition
regulation
Tariffs
Regulation/deregulation
Bureaucracy

Growth rates
Inflation rate
Interest rates
Exchange
rates
Unemploymen
t trends
Labor costs
Stage of
business cycle
Credit
availability
Stock market
trends
Trade patterns

Health
consciousness
Education
level
Population
growth rate
Lifestyles
Buying habits
Religion and
beliefs
Age
distribution
Family size
Minorities
Life
expectancy 20

 Basic
infrastructur
e level
Rate of
technologica
l change
Spending on
research &
developmen
t
Legislation
regarding
technology

Anti-trust
law
Discriminati
on law
Copyright,
patents /
Intellectual
property law
Consumer
protection
Employment
law
Health &
safety law

Weather
Climate
change
Laws
regulating
environment
pollution
Air and
water
pollution
Recycling
Waste
managemen
t
Carbon
footprints
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Aim of the Analysis

Find out the current external
factors affecting an organization.
Identify the external factors that
may change in the future.
Exploit the changes
(opportunities) or defend against
them (threats) better than
competitors would do.
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Apple Inc PESTLE Analysis

P
E

S
T
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Political Factors
It is reported that more than a half of sales of
their products come from countries other than
America.
Apple Inc manufactures a number of its parts
and products from outside the US, like Czech
Republic, Ireland, China, Korea and Cork.
The bad political relations between US and the
other world have bad outcomes for the
company.

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Economic Factors
Inflation, recession and currency are three
important economic factors that Apple
noticed.
Since Apple Inc products were viewed as
luxury products, therefore customers started
pending less on them.
US dollar value keeps fluctuating, however
the company has purchased itself foreign
currencies and thus, the economic effects on
the company are minimized.
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Social Factors
As the world cannot be imagined without the gadgets,
thus Apple products have marked their presence on the
international market.

As the purchasing power of the common has risen in

various markets across the world the purchasing of
luxury products have gone up.

Possessing these items are considered as status

symbols in many societies which have also increased
the sales of Apple Inc products.
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Technological Factors
Technology has a short lifetime. That is why
Apple needs to upgrade their product more
often so they will outdo their competitors easily.
Apple Inc has invested largely in its product
research and development field and thus its
products are at the top of the new innovative
products ranking.
One of the most innovative and technologically
advanced products is the iPod which marked
the demise of walkman.

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Legal Factors
Apple Inc has been a participant in various
legal proceedings and claims since it began
operation.
In October 2009, Nokia Corporation sued
Apple for Apple's infringement of Nokia's
patents relating to wireless technology
Apple has been in a number of patent
cases with players like HTC and Samsung.
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Environmental Factors
From reporting the entire carbon footprint to
finding ways to reduce that footprint, Apple
takes a comprehensive approach to
environmental responsibility.
Apples commitment to the environment
includes properly disposing of electronic
equipment at the end of its useful life. It
responsibly recycle your computers and
displays.
On track towards achieving an ambitious goal:
to power every Apple facility entirely with
energy from renewable sources solar, wind,
hydro and geothermal.
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Conclusion

PESTLE Analysis is one of the most

comprehensive models to study the effect of
various forces present in the environment
and subsequently prepare oneself to exploit
the opportunities and defend against the
threats.

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