Business Environment Assessment Tools – Actions for ‘Environmental Assessment’

As a business student you have likely spent some time learning about applications of PEST (and/or PESTEL), Porter’s 5 forces, and SWOT analysis over the years.  These are useful tools for understanding the environment in which a given organization might find itself embedded.  SWOT analysis is useful for understanding the organization itself on a more micro-level scale.

Discuss to what degree you believe these tools are actually useful for different sized businesses.  For instance, what should a mom and pop computer repair store consider doing in the area of strategic analysis?  What about a medium sized retailer?

What about a family?  Is there an optimal organizational size for applying these tools?  Give some evidence to support your key points.

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