- A.Michael Porter's framework for analyzing industry attractiveness across five competitive forces — rivalry, suppliers, buyers, new entrants, and substitutes.
- B.Offering uniquely valued attributes — quality, brand, design, service — that allow premium pricing and customer loyalty.
- C.Porter's decomposition of a firm into nine activities — five primary, four support — used to identify sources of cost advantage or differentiation.
- D.A six-bucket scan of macro forces — Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental — that may create opportunities or threats for a firm. ✓
PESTLE Analysis is a six-bucket scan of macro forces — Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental — that may create opportunities or threats for a firm. The other options describe related but distinct concepts in Strategic Frameworks — see the deep-dive guide for the full distinction.
How to think about questions like this
External SWOT cells are only credible when each item is sourced to a PESTLE category. Questions like this test whether you can distinguish PESTLE Analysis from neighboring concepts. The most common trap is choosing a closely-related concept that sounds similar but applies in a different context.
When you see a definition question on an exam, do two things: (1) translate the question into your own words, then (2) generate the answer in your own words before reading the options. This avoids the cognitive bias of recognizing a familiar phrase as correct just because it is familiar.