I thought this SKEPTIC acronym for environmental planning from Stephen Haines was pretty neat when he mentioned it in an email.
I use PESTER and Michael Porter’s Five Forces but SKEPTIC environmental scanning combines them both if you’re not going to venture into detailed scenario planning.
What is SKEPTIC Environmental Scanning?
SKEPTIC stands for
S = Social Demographic (the S from PESTER)
K = Competition and Substitutes (two of the five forces)
E = Economics and Ecology (the two Es from PESTER)
P = Political/Regulatory (the P and R from PESTER)
T = Technology (the T from PESTER)
I = Industry/Suppliers (supplier power and new entrants from the five forces)
C = Customers and Citizens (the buyer power from the five forces).
Thoughts On SKEPTIC Environmental Scanning
OK SKEPTIC may not introduce much new into environmental scanning (although citizens doesn’t directly translate) but if you’ve used PESTER (or PEST, PESTEL or STEP) and the Five Forces in the past, then using SKEPTIC may freshen things up a bit and get your top team thinking again.
I see some cynicism towards both the five forces and PEST analysis because they are often not used well by management teams working on their strategy.
SKEPTIC Is A Strategic Planning Model
SKEPTIC Environmental Scanning is one of the frameworks included in my Strategic Planning Models guide.
Click the link to find out what other models could help you to develop a winning business strategy.
Have You Used The SKEPTIC Environmental Scanning Strategy Tool?
Have you used SKEPTIC as a way to combine PEST analysis with the five forces or do you know of any other similar tool which combines them both.
I’d like to know so please leave a comment.