Homepage
Accessibility links
- Skip to content
- Accessibility Help
BBC Account
Notifications
- Home
- News
- Sport
- Weather
- iPlayer
- Sounds
- Bitesize
- CBeebies
- CBBC
- Food
- Home
- News
- Sport
- Reel
- Worklife
- Travel
- Future
- Culture
- TV
- Weather
- Sounds
More menu
Search Bitesize Search Bitesize
- Home
- News
- Sport
- Weather
- iPlayer
- Sounds
- Bitesize
- CBeebies
- CBBC
- Food
- Home
- News
- Sport
- Reel
- Worklife
- Travel
- Future
- Culture
- TV
- Weather
- Sounds
BITESIZE
- Home
- Learn
- Support
- Careers
- My Bitesize
National 5
External factors
Businesses can’t control external factors but must respond to them. These political, economic, social, technological, environmental and competitive factors are represented by the acronym PESTEC.
Part of
Business management
Understanding business
video
Videoquiz
Testprevious
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- Page1of 7
next
External factors
Businesses operate in an ever changing world. External factors are things outside a business that will have an impact on its success. Their impact can be positive or negative.
A business cannot control external factors. All it can do is react to them and make decisions to help it remain successful.
The acronym PESTEC is used to help remember the different types of external factors. These are:
- political - For example, new legislation
- economic - For example, inflation and unemployment
- social - Changes in taste and fashion or the increase in spending power of one group, for example, older people
- technological - For example, being able to sell goods online or using automation in factories
- environmental - For example weather conditions affecting sales or production and growing interest in being ‘green’ , for example by recycling
- competitive - The impact of a rival firm which may have a similar product or which may lower its prices
Each of the external factors can affect a business positively or negatively. In some cases it can even be both.
previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- Page1of 7
next
National 5 Subjects
- Application of Maths
- Art and Design
- Biology
- Business management
- Chemistry
- Computing Science
- Dance
- Design and manufacture
- Drama
- Engineering science
- English
- Fashion and textile technology
- French
- Gaelic (Learners)
- Geography
- German
- Graphic communication
- Health and food technology
- History
- Maths
- Modern Languages
- Modern Studies
- Music
- Music Technology
- Physical Education
- Physics
- Religious, moral and philosophical studies
- Spanish
- Technologies