Overview
External Analysis, The General Environment, PESTEL
The purpose of this second AFI paper is for you to provide ... Your firm/industry of analysis must come from the list in Appendix A of your Syllabus. You will focus on the same firm/industry for all five AFI papers that you will submit during this course. Use the example as a guide for your paper.
Please cite and refer to your sources using a standard reference style.
Because feedback on parts 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 of your paper is so important I require that you submit your papers in the .DOCX format (e.g., Microsoft Word). While Canvas’ Turnitin will accept PDF files, it will not allow me to give you comments in the body of your text. In a similar manner if you are using the Pages word processing program on a Macintosh Canvas’ Turnitin will not be able to immediately process your paper and I will have great difficulty in opening it (you can readily save a Macintosh Pages word processing document as a .DOCX document). If you fail to save and submit in the proper format this will result in: 1) a 20% penalty; 2) a delay in grading; and 3) no feedback other than a simple number score.AFI Paper 2:
AFT PAPER 2
External Analysis, The General Environment, PESTEL
[Your firm/industry of analysis must come from the list in Appendix A of your Syllabus,
You will focus on the same firm/industry for all five papers. Use the example as a guide for your
paper.
Please cite and refer to your sources using a standard reference style]
What is the name of the firm that you are examining and what industry would you place it in?
[insert your answer here]
Describe the industry that this organization is in
1. Who are some of the existing firms or players in this
industry? [insert your answer here]
2. What technologies are being used in this
industry? [insert your answer here]
3. Who are the customers for this industry’s
goods/services? [insert your answer here]
4. What business models (chapter 5) exist in this industry [show me the money/revenue]?
[insert your answer here]
Do a PESTEL analysis on this industry (not on your firm, do it on the industry)
1. Political – How does/might the political environment effect your firm’s
industry? [enter your answer here]
2. Economic – How does/might the economic environment effect your firm’s
industry? [enter your answer here]
3. Social – How does/might the social environment effect your firm’s industry?
[enter your answer here]
4. Technological – How does/might the technological environment effect your firm’s
industry?
[enter your answer here]
5. Environmental – How does/might the environmental concerns effect your firm’s
industry?
[enter your answer here]
6. Legal – How does/might the legal environment effect your firm’s
industry? [enter your answer here]
If you were a manager in this industry, what two or three factors in the general environment
would most concern you and why?
[insert your answer here
I. Financial Services & FinTechRegulatory capital, switching costs, platform networks, fintech disruption
Banks
- Bank of America
- JPMorgan Chase
- Wells Fargo
Investment & Asset Management
- Goldman Sachs
- Charles Schwab
Payments & FinTech
- Visa
- PayPal
Network effects, ecosystem lock-in, data advantage, antitrust exposure
- Microsoft
- Apple
- Alphabet (Google)
- Amazon
- NVIDIA
- Salesforce
- Uber
- DoorDash
- Airbnb
Brand equity, differentiation, supply chain management, discretionary demand
Apparel & Lifestyle
- Patagonia (private)
- Levi Strauss & Co.
- Lululemon Athletica
Food & Beverage
- Domino’s
- Dunkin’
- Pizza Hut
- Coca-Cola
- PepsiCo
- Chipotle
- Mondelez
- Tyson Foods
General Retail
- Costco
- Kroger
- Albertsons
- Target
- Home Depot
Asset-light models, franchising, cyclical exposure, brand portfolios
- Marriott International
- Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
- Hilton Worldwide
- Airbnb
- Disney
- Live Nation
- WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)
Patient protection, reimbursement risk, regulatory intensity
- HCA Healthcare
- Merck
- Walgreens Boots Alliance
- Pfizer
- Johnson & Johnson
- UnitedHealth Group
- AbbVie
- Moderna
Scale economies, cyclical demand, supply chain complexity
- Caterpillar
- John Deere
- Nucor
- Boeing
- 3M
Commodity exposure, ESG pressure, capital allocation intensity
- ExxonMobil
- NextEra Energy
Vertical integration, electrification transition, global supply chain
- Tesla
- Harley-Davidson
Network density, fixed-cost leverage, fuel sensitivity
- FedEx
- UPS
- Union Pacific
Brand community, niche positioning, discretionary demand
- Callaway Golf Company
With this expanded and categorized list, we aim to have students to have exposure to:
- Highly regulated vs lightly regulated industries
- Commodity vs differentiated markets
- Platform vs pipeline business models
- Asset-heavy vs asset-light models
- Network effects vs scale economies
- Patent-driven vs brand-driven advantage
- Duopolies (Boeing/Airbus, railroads)
- Oligopolies (banking, airlines, defense)
Fragmented industries (restaurants, retail)