I write what i sense

Australians have passed recession.

2009-12-12T00:51:00.000+05:30

Recently i read on internet that Australian-mite have increased their interest rate by 0.25% which was already very high if we compare to other nations. Americano, united kingdom, chinese, jap might envy Australians now. i mean, few months back we heard the whole world is sinking, because of sub prime. but look at Australia, they have increased their property rates even higher than September 2007. Australian market almost lost 59% stock valuation but the news just turned upside. the market vomited with 30% back. its crazy. Australia might be one of the great nations to come out of recession so quickly. what did Australia eat. i think they might have gone to BABA ramdev in INDIA.

The power of blog

2009-04-26T14:57:00.001+05:30

Before the era of Indian independence the most powerful tool of communication was a pen. It was well said by someone "the act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium.” Great freedom fighters like Mr. MK Gandhi took this powerful machine to convey their messages and make the maximum impact. It was thought “The light of the writer and the dramatist who, by the power of the pen, armed solely with courage and his faith in mankind and truth, has nurtured the hopes of the oppressed who were denied democracy."

But it was all granny times and honestly speaking it worked only in that era. The traditional methods used to empower, communicate or advertise.

These days internet is reaching its trends, so people kind of taking full advantage of it. They use it for socializing, dating, education and most importantly for which am writing also is marketing. There are many research works done on the increasing adaptability of internet marketing and it’s ROI. So I will not really talk about it a lot. What I will talk about is internet “a helping hand” or “the only hand” in marketing budgets of some of the companies. They have recognized the hidden potential and have started implementing in their product development. Blog does not help only the product to gain publicity, in fact they give an advantage to personal consumption too. People like me write their diary on blogs, off course making them personal too, so that they can be easily accessed everywhere. Can be far behind the worry of loosing it and full privacy is granted.

Bloggers are sometimes differentiated from journalists. I say what ever you read on newspapers or watch television, that is 100% manipulated. Each section of it is bought by some corrupted bureaucrats, for god knows what reason. But out here, there is no fear of standing anyone behind you. You are what you are. So there is freedom of writing. Many philosophers have questioned the integrity of bloggers, but with lots of assumptions. Because they will say what they want to.

Why are we looking for jobs, its right there!

2009-04-02T11:16:00.006+05:30

The business in any civilization starts with a motive of profits. And we saw the era running with this fuel. Everybody worked for margin money. A business, generating a million dollar a year was considered as a top company. So they basically worked on only one bottom line, which were profits for the owners. Then a time came when partners started keeping an eye on the operations which actually funded by them. Gradually they started taking care of their shareholders too, along with other interested parties in the business. Like the workers, government institutions, subsidiaries. They started holding company meetings where they can ask their shareholders to participate and to be aware for the next steps. Because technically they owners too. Lots of preference was given, and had to be given. Was a sort for an obligation?

Then old selling concept started changing. It was then marketing which was coming into bright lights of business. It was said by someone very influential person in Hindi, at some point of time that, “jo dikhta hai wahi bikta hai”. Now the entrepreneurs could use massive advertisement techniques to attract customers. And they successfully achieved profits for them and the shareholders.

I remembered once when I was a kid and was looking outside my window. I saw a van came into my locality and released some gasses. They were for the mosquitoes. But the funniest part was that, the mosquitoes did not die. I hope they were immune to it. Same was with the case with consumers. Now customers became more vigilant. They started taking keen interest in company’s participation in the society and environment. They were looking for organizations that are committed to not only take from the nature but also return back. It was just like preference of organic food over synthesized food in the country.

So basically companies were supposed to work for their obligations, which were termed as corporate social responsibilities. Believe me, though I don’t have any statistics to prove my suggestions, but I say Corporate Social Responsibility will be the new hot field for work and job creation. Especially after recession, when the marketers lost their battle of reviving from the downturn market, CSR managers are taking the companies into their hands. In western countries consumers have stopped buying cosmetics which are tested on animals. That was the first step of customer’s bhagawat against corporate using unsocial means to earn, then why not developed countries like India.

And job seekers are hunting for jobs in marketing, finance or HR. neglecting the fact that there are already lot of herds for the positions. So why not shift to a position where no one is giving attention to. Sometimes when you don’t have a job, you need to create it. And we will see the future of employment tunneling through CSR corners.

Plutocratism

2009-01-25T15:05:00.003+05:30

The idea about plutocratism is kind of weird but when i saw it in one of the articles while crawling on net, i was pretty impressed with the way it was used. To cut the crap i would directly go to the main tunnel. Everybody have heard about the master bailout plans by every other government specifically, Obama government.

The plan is to give money to the individuals like just giving it in the form of tax cut rather than rebates. To some extent it is right also. I totally sympathizes with Barack Obama, that with the kind of pressure on his head he has to give some pain killers. But these pills are for short term only. The effectiveness of the measure is for short term only and not to forget Mr. Bush and Mr. Clinton also did the same thing. Since it is the one time tax credit a lot of people would be saving money except the richers who would actually produce it.

But as a long-term means of employing people it's unsustainable, and some economists argue that it accomplishes nothing, since deficit spending is really just taking out a mortgage against America’s future prosperity. He needs to create jobs and increase investment by helping the richer. These come from companies and the wealthy which obviously is not a plan of Mr. Obama. Its kind of confusing which only time can prove its destiny.

Telecom Providers in INDIA

2009-01-15T18:43:00.004+05:30

I wonder why India has the cheapest call rates all over the world. Although they have a lot of things which lies in cheapest categories, like we have cheapest car in the world: TATA NANO or for that matter cheapest satellites which we boast a lot of Chandrayan. But we have the cheapest call rates and because of this fruit, the UK's biggest telecom provider: VODAFONE entered the market. So let’s study why the companies gives these advantages to the locals in INDIA.

Every telecom provider is supposed to pay some fees to the government to operate in the country. The fees is in tons of crores which is very heavy for any company to pay. It’s like a license fees. Now what happens is no company pays any fees to the government. By this they save lots of funds and adjust these gains by giving almost zero rates in India. This allows them to offer competitive rates in the country.

So the rule says don’t give its right to the government and make easy money. But I did not get this idea, why does government not ask them to pay the money to which they have a right on. I say the Telecom providers in India are the biggest ROBBERS in the country. In the end what we do we make people like Narender Modi our preferred candidate for next prime minister.

Customer Service

2008-12-17T21:34:00.000+05:30

Every marketing guru talks about sales and not to forget after sales. They say after sales service is now been a part of value chain analysis and is being adopted by many companies. But I sill have some confusions why are they so afraid about the word of after sales. All they care about sales. And more over they don't have quality management sort of thing in their whole system.

I bought a Motorola phone as influenced by its brand identity in the market. After two or three months the keypad started showing some problem so I decided to go to customer service center. First it was very difficult to locate one and when I did I was pretty amazed after realizing they outsource their service. I mean a very important part of their chain is handed over to some freak guys who don't have anything to represent so big brand. And guess what the part was out of stock and had to be requisite from Chennai. To add more to my pity situation, the consignment got stuck up for another 7 months and when the warranty was about to over then they changed my keypad and that too after several appeals to the head office. I mean what was that. As if I made the biggest mistake to rely on Motorola.

This was not it. I experienced worst service with Maruti service, HP service, Nokia after sales, and not forget telecoms operators. And not one but all of them. I guess it is very important to suggest their corporate leaders to attend classes of MBA again. I mean for a small cost cutting exercise they outsource the whole step of after sales service. According to some great guy the old customer is the biggest earning point for their sales turnover. The retention method still is missing under their management to do lists.

I feel, since I have worked in hotels. They have pretty good customer service program. If to scale them, they score highest.

Customers hate you? love them!

2008-11-20T18:31:00.000+05:30

Imagine saying about Nokia "IT SUCKS" yeah and that’s true. I read an article on Business week and it stated if you write any brand name on GOOGLE search engine and the word SUCKS after it and you'll get tons of articles telling you all the negativities of the brand. For example I wrote "NOKIA SUCKS" I received 1,450,000 results amazing. At some point of time an actor on the screen, while delivering his dialogues said "if people are talking bad about you, consider it as your success". Exactly I want to quote here. Do not hate them because they are the most authenticated source of your improvements.

I say do not hate them, rather love them. They will help you in every aspect. They will only tell you where you lack. There are less chances of identifying a problem in a dish by the maker of it (chef). But it will more likely get true problem areas. Likewise it is people who get the stuff in the end. And if they will only reject your stuff then you must know why. And that is why they will only give you reasons of rejecting.

I would say they are like blank cheques. Grab them before others do. The criticism is more likely to benefits a brand rather erasing it. They care enough about your product or service to tell you exactly what went wrong. There may be other players who will just butter you and will go ahead in the competition. Some service related companies have started playing this game. Some time back it used to happen only good guest feedback card were taken into consideration, but soon they realized they have to reverse the strategy in order to win this game.

the new trend of cartoon network

2008-11-13T16:51:00.002+05:30

Remember the cartoon network few years ago, where hanna barbera and warner brothers used to dominate the channel and the cartoon industry like anything. There were more and more shows on the channel. I remember when I used to come back from school at lunch I had to eat my meal while watching flinston and jetsons. And after that that ninja robots and swat cats. And the world famous tom and jerry in the end before going for a tuition class.

But look at it now, you might see tom and jerry in the evening. But the channel is heavily loaded with some chinese dumps. Okay to some extent we can say the country is overloaded with lots of cartoon designers and the channel can have them at cheapest prices. And the strategy to adopt these media has made them great wonders. The kids of the next generation are accepting the high quality and cheap cost cartoons very easily.

changing paradigm of insurance advertising

2008-11-11T22:20:00.000+05:30

probably you have been seeing quite a few ads on TV for insurance. basically when you talk about the ads they initially focussed on reach of Customers to the insurance agents like bajaj allianze did.

But now when i recently noticed two ads of IIFCO tokiyo and Birla sun life insurance, i felt they have change their target reach way to fear and worry. like for example IIFCO signed Paresh rawal as its brand ambassador. in their TV commercial they portray a common man named albert pinto could not sleep because he had fear harm to his stuff like car. then he went to the insurance company and insured his car and become carefree, through an auto car insurance company. now he is looking younger and in picnic clothes with his family with his newly insured car.

another example is of a different product which is life insurance. and that TV commercial shows a man who is in a lot of worry and and after he buys the product he becomes tension free.

but if we look at these two ads they at some point leave negative remarks on the advertisement industry.

facebook and google

2008-10-30T23:20:00.000+05:30

recently facebook and google have done a makeover for their site, to introduce innovation and remove monotonous to their user interface systems. but probably then dont have a glitch of it that they landed themselves into big troubles.

Recently Facebook did a major UI upgrade that caused an uproar in the user community. People screamed because the new Facebook UI was just awful and made the user experience terrible.

Google last week brought out the new iGoogle UI and it is awful. To make matters worse, they did not tell anyone, one day you login, the UI is different and it has a terrible user experience, with no way to go back to the one you were quite happy with.

If you check Google’s discussion forum there is a ton of activity on how many users hate it. So why did Google make this mistake? Did they not usability test this with real users? Given how backward it is, what was the problem they were trying to solve? I am left to wonder.

Facebook was even arrogant where they asked the userbase to get 5 million signatures on their online petition before they would consider giving the users the ability to switch between the two versions. Facebook, you created the problem by releasing a less usable UI and you now want the users to do the work before you would listen?

Yes, it is very difficult to make UI changes that are pleasing to everyone - but I don’t think these companies will have a tough time justifying that the new changes are liked by a whole lot of people.

What do you think? Why do you think companies fall into this trap?

decisions of handling pamphlets

2008-10-29T20:26:00.000+05:30

I read it somewhere on internet and thought to share it with you.

When you are intend to handover pamphlets as a matter of marketing gimmic, outside any grocery shop or somewhere outside a center of examination, we do not think of giving time. To be more clear, I would say we have to take decision as on when we should hand over the flyer to them. While going inside or at the end of it. In my opinion it should be at the end. That means after the shoppers end their shopping. it has a reason also.

If you handover them at the starting then you probably have some drawbacks like:

1 They are unlikely to read it.
2 They will put it in the empty cart and the groceries they buy, end up on top of the flyer
3 When they check out, they will leave the flyer in the cart
4 They will load the groceries into the car and the flyer ends up left behind the cart.

Now if you give them at the end of it, then you might face a scenario like:

1 They are likely to put the paper into one of their grocery bag they have in their hand.
2 It might landup in their car with them
3 It has more chances of reading.

But again i would say there is only 20 percent chances that they might give them a glance. I mean if i am being a customer and i would be given a flyer sort of thing i never read any of them.

BCG matrix

2008-08-12T02:29:00.001+05:30

The BCG matrix method is based on the product life cycle theory that can be used to determine what priorities should be given in the product portfolio of a business unit. To ensure long-term value creation, a company should have a portfolio of products that contains both high-growth products in need of cash inputs and low-growth products that generate a lot of cash. It has 2 dimensions: market share and market growth. The basic idea behind it is that the bigger the market share a product has or the faster the product's market grows the better it is for the company.

Placing products in the BCG matrix results in 4 categories in a portfolio of a company:

1. Stars (=high growth, high market share)
- use large amounts of cash and are leaders in the business so they should also generate large amounts of cash.
- frequently roughly in balance on net cash flow. However if needed any attempt should be made to hold share, because the rewards will be a cash cow if market share is kept.
2. Cash Cows (=low growth, high market share)
- profits and cash generation should be high , and because of the low growth, investments needed should be low. Keep profits high
- Foundation of a company
3. Dogs (=low growth, low market share)
- avoid and minimize the number of dogs in a company.
- beware of expensive ‘turn around plans’.
- deliver cash, otherwise liquidate
4. Question Marks (= high growth, low market share)
- have the worst cash characteristics of all, because high demands and low returns due to low market share
- if nothing is done to change the market share, question marks will simply absorb great amounts of cash and later, as the growth stops, a dog.
- either invest heavily or sell off or invest nothing and generate whatever cash it can. Increase market share or deliver cash

The BCG Matrix method can help understand a frequently made strategy mistake: having a one-size-fits-all-approach to strategy, such as a generic growth target (9 percent per year) or a generic return on capital of say 9,5% for an entire corporation.

In such a scenario:

A. Cash Cows Business Units will beat their profit target easily; their management have an easy job and are often praised anyhow. Even worse, they are often allowed to reinvest substantial cash amounts in their businesses which are mature and not growing anymore.

B. Dogs Business Units fight an impossible battle and, even worse, investments are made now and then in hopeless attempts to 'turn the business around'.

C. As a result (all) Question Marks and Stars Business Units get mediocre size investment funds. In this way they are unable to ever become cash cows. These inadequate invested sums of money are a waste of money. Either these SBUs should receive enough investment funds to enable them to achieve a real market dominance and become a cash cow (or star), or otherwise companies are advised to disinvest and try to get whatever possible cash out of the question marks that were not selected.

Some limitations of the Boston Consulting Group Matrix include:

High market share is not the only success factor

Market growth is not the only indicator for attractiveness of a market

Sometimes Dogs can earn even more cash as Cash Cows

How i did my microsoft project part 3

2008-08-10T19:04:00.000+05:30

The management did not forward the query as the client was very special for company future. Infact we were asked to research further on the three platforms. We were also asked to include reports from external sources into our research methodology. It took us another two days to find the portion of the platforms in SAAS. And when we failed to gather some concrete data then we had no option but to take assumptions from one report and generalized them into another analyst reports. We made a lot of mistakes as I was new to research analysis program and my companion was not even in the related field.
Then we reached to the second part of phase one. The TCO of SAAS platforms, which was again to be researched according to the formatted sheet given to us in the starting. And again we faced the same problem. There was no mention of TCO data except one analyst gave the detail which was Forrester. So the management asked to research that also on internet. We tried a lot to find any related data but all was in vain. After keeping the matter on high priority in front of the management, they finally process the query to Microsoft US along with the deliverable of part 1. After two days we got the feedback from the client, stating that the part 1 sheet, which was market forecasting, includes a lot of assumptions so the data was to be triangulized. The senior marketing manager took charge of the triangulization with the help of analysts. And in two days they presented the final version of the report. Meanwhile I was asked to prepare the cost sheet further by researching the internet for the potential data. After there was no major addition to the data, it was finally sent to Microsoft.
Few days after feedback came and the result was the expectation did not mark the deliverables. But the good thing was that, even they agree that due to insufficient data the report is not in standards. And along with the mail phase two of the project came which was TCO comparison between SAAS platforms, On-premises softwares, BPO services and Hosting services. But the major challenges were that I was alone. The content developer left the company, and moreover the management asked to search reports on internet and requisite them so that they can buy the reports from their corporate account. It even complicated the process when the client asked to analyze the data in both perspectives, i.e... Analyst side and vendor’s side. They also gave permission to change the format of the cost sheet according to the data found. Now the challenge was to locate the reports with the potential data in it. It took me a week to find the reports with different strategies. I made a list of keywords which can help me find the right reports.

How i did my microsoft project part 2

2008-08-06T21:20:00.000+05:30

Software as a service (SaaS, typically pronounced 'Sass') is a model of software deployment where an application is hosted as a service provided to customers across the Internet. By eliminating the need to install and run the application on the customer's own computer, SaaS alleviates the customer's burden of software maintenance, ongoing operation, and support. Using SaaS also can reduce the up-front expense of software purchases, through less costly, on-demand pricing. From the software vendor's standpoint, SaaS has the attraction of providing stronger protection of its intellectual property and establishing an ongoing revenue stream. The SaaS software vendor may host the application on its own web server, or this function may be handled by a third-party application service provider (ASP). This way, end users may reduce their investment on server hardware too.

There was a short of manpower so a content developer was helping me with the project. We decided to read and scan the information about SAAS from internet first and then switch over to the research reports from global consultancies like Mckinsey, Forester, Gartner, IFC etc. it took us a week to read and understand all these things from the resources. The major challenge we were facing that we had to find the data according to an Excel sheet which was made by a person named Mr. Zubair Murtaza from Microsoft Corporation US. So in the end we had to synchronize the data accordingly. After reading reports we found that the reports gave a blurred image of the data. No body was clear in respect to market share in the respective divided platforms. We got the data for a base year and decided to apply CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate).

We found the growth rates mostly from external sources. Next when we had to divide the market share into three platforms of SAAS, which were Delivery Platforms, Development Platforms and application Platforms, we found absolutely no data in the reports regarding it. It was only Mckinsey that were elaborated, elsewhere different classifications were given. We had no option but to send a query to Microsoft, so as to make things better. But before that we had to convince the management to process the query so we presented the scenario.

networking

2008-08-05T23:16:00.000+05:30

Networking has been a core tactic for building and marketing businesses long before the internet came of age and certainly even more so with the explosion of services such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Ning. Web technology and the mass appeal of making connections online makes social networking an attractive channel for businesses that want to extend their word of mouth reach, credibility and influence.
While there’s plenty of buzz about social networks (socnets), most companies aren’t quite “wired” for enganging social communities just yet. Amidst all the shiny new objects of Web 2.0 web applications, it’s important to understand which networks are influential and relevant. Hence, our Reader Poll:

How i did my microsoft project part 1

2008-08-02T22:36:00.000+05:30

In the orientation program, I had a conversation for about two and a half hours with the management. Mainly the projects I got were Adwords analysis and the other two were to be given after I complete the first project. Now being new to internet marketing I faced a challenge of dealing with things which were totally alien for me to understand. So my manager asked me to do some research work on PPC analysis on the internet. After that I tried to represent the data in SPSS. Failing to do so left me with no option, but to switch over to excel. For few days the work was on the same project. The project did not have an outline. The manager analytics was confused about the way to opt for analysis. Every step was on experimental basis. Moreover the CEO was not in the country those days, so the work was going with no structure.
After few days a market research project came from Microsoft US. The project was actually divided into two phases. The first phase mainly included market sizing for the year 2008 and 2013 and total cost of ownership analysis. The second phase was to be disclosed after the completion of previous phase.
The product for research was SAAS platforms, or in other words, Software as a Service.
Microsoft has huge plans for SAAS. It was sure they will enter into the market but, the channel to adopt was not sure. There was even buzz that buying Yahoo was Microsoft big SAAS plan (source Krissi Danielsson's article on E biz). This year, partners are hoping Microsoft will reveal nitty-gritty details on SAAS commission structures, how services will be sold in the cloud, and to what extent partner compensation will change in the Software plus Services future. The fact that Microsoft hasn't yet offered this information has contributed to uneasiness in the channel, according to some solution providers. And there was news in Feb 2008 that Microsoft has said that the Internet service provider Fasthosts, which has started offering a subscription-based version of Microsoft Office 2007, is infringing on the software giant's license regulations -- but Fasthosts has denied this claim.

Diamond Model and Clusters

2008-07-31T22:29:00.001+05:30

The Diamond Model of Michael Porter for the competitive advantage of Nations offers a model that can help understand the comparative position of a nation in global competition. The model can also be used for major geographic regions.

Traditional country advantages
Traditionally, economic theory mentions the following factors for comparative advantage for regions or countries:
1. Land
2. Location
3. Natural resources (minerals, energy)
4. Labor, and
5. Local population size.
Because these 5 factors can hardly be influenced, this fits in a rather passive (inherited) view regarding national economic opportunity.

Clusters
Porter says that sustained industrial growth has hardly ever been built on above mentioned basic inherited factors. Abundance of such factors may actually undermine competitive advantage! He introduces a concept called "clusters" or groups of interconnected firms, suppliers, related industries, and institutions, that arise in certain locations.

These clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers, and associated institutions in a particular field. They grow on locations where enough resources and competences amass and reach a critical threshold, giving it a key position in a given economic branch of activity, with a decisive sustainable competitive advantage over others places, or even a world supremacy in that field. Porter says clusters can influence competition in three ways:
• They can increase the productivity of the companies in the cluster.
• They can drive innovation in the field.
• They can stimulate new businesses in the field.
Some well-known examples of Clusters are USA/Silicon Valley (computers), Netherlands/Rotterdam (logistics), India/Bangalore (software outsourcing), USA/Hollywood (movies), France/Paris (fashion).

According to Porter, as a rule competitive advantage of nations is the outcome of 4 interlinked advanced factors and activities in and between companies in these clusters. These can be influenced in a pro-active way by government.

The Strategy, Structure and Rivalry of Firms. The world is dominated by dynamic conditions. Direct competition impels firms to work for increases in productivity and innovation.
Demand Conditions. If the customers in an economy are very demanding, the pressure facing firms to constantly improve their competitiveness via innovative products, through high quality, etc, will be greater.
Related Supporting Industries. Spatial proximity of upstream or downstream industries facilitates the exchange of information and promotes a continuous exchange of ideas and innovations.
Factor Conditions. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Porter argues that the "key" factors of production (or specialized factors) are created, not inherited. Specialized factors of production are skilled labor, capital and infrastructure. "Non-key" factors or general use factors, such as unskilled labor and raw materials, can be obtained by any company and, hence, do not generate sustained competitive advantage. However, specialized factors involve heavy, sustained investment. They are more difficult to duplicate. This creates a competitive advantage, because if other firms cannot easily duplicate these factors, they are valuable.

The role of government in the Diamond Model of Porter

The role of government in the Diamond Model of Porter is to act as a catalyst and challenger; it is to encourage - or even push - companies to raise their aspirations and move to higher levels of competitive performance. They must encourage companies to raise their performance, to stimulate early demand for advanced products, to focus on specialized factor creation and to stimulate local rivalry by limiting direct cooperation and enforcing anti-trust regulations.

The competitive advantage of nations

Porter introduced this model in his book: "The Competitive Advantage of Nations", after having done research in ten leading trading nations. The book was the first theory of competitiveness based on the causes of the productivity with which companies compete. Instead of traditional comparative advantages such as natural resources and pools of labor. This book should be considered obligatory reading for government economic strategists. It is also highly recommended for corporate strategists that are interested in the macro-economic environment of corporations.

Pest Analysis

2008-07-31T22:16:00.000+05:30

The PEST analysis is a framework that strategy consultants use to scan the external macro-environment in which a firm operates. PEST is an acronym for the following factors:

Political
Economic
Social
Technological

PEST factors play an important role in the value creation opportunities of a strategy. However they are usually outside the control of the corporation and must normally be considered as either threats or opportunities. Remember macro-economical factors can differ per continent, country or even region, so normally a PEST analysis should be performed per country.

In the table below you find examples of each of these factors.

Political (incl. Legal)	Economic	Social	Technological
Environmental regulations and protection	Economic growth	Income distribution	Government research spending
Tax policies	Interest rates & monetary policies	Demographics, Population growth rates, Age distribution	Industry focus on technological effort
International trade regulations and restrictions	Government spending	Labor / social mobility	New inventions and development
Contract enforcement law Consumer protection	Unemployment policy	Lifestyle changes	Rate of technology transfer
Employment laws	Taxation	Work/career and leisure attitudes Entrepreneurial spirit	Life cycle and speed of technological obsolescence
Government organization / attitude	Exchange rates	Education	Energy use and costs
Competition regulation	Inflation rates	Fashion, hypes	(Changes in) Information Technology
Political Stability	Stage of the business cycle	Health consciousness & welfare, feelings on safety	(Changes in) Internet
Safety regulations	Consumer confidence	Living conditions	(Changes in) Mobile Technology

Completing a PEST Analysis is relatively simple, and can be done via workshops using brainstorming techniques. Usage of PEST analysis can vary from: company and strategic planning, marketing planning, business and product development, and research reports.

Variants of PEST Analysis

Sometimes extended forms are used, such as SLEPT Analysis (plus Legal) or the STEEPLE Analysis: Social/demographic, Technological, Economic, Environmental (natural), Political, Legal and Ethical factors. Also Geographical factors may be significant.