PEST (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological) 也可被称之为 SLEPT (including Legal) 和 PESTLE (including Legal and Environmental), 可用于衡量一个宏观环境中企业对于某些因素应做的反映。Political, Economic, Sociological, and Technological 这些因素通常是用于macro-level, to the world at large.

　　PEST 是不仅仅用于环境分析 - it can also be used to help assess the feasibility of a proposal for business change. Thus a business analyst, when considering a solution in a department or division of a company, might perform a PEST analysis. The analyst would examine the organisational strategy, board make-up, and organisational structure for political influences. Economic factors would include the budget allocation, cross-charging policies, and accounting models. Sociological factors might be the prevailing organisational culture, or the likelihood of a change in work practice or redundancies. Technological considerations would cover the capability of the current infrastructure to handle the new system, and the compatibility of different components of the system.

　　As can be seen, used in this way, the PEST model draws more on the internal, departmental level experience. By focusing on internal factors, the analysis allows us to see whether or not the proposed solution will be compatible with the company's present position and expectations. The model itself has not been changed by using it in this way, but it has demonstrated flexibility in its application.

　　By Malcolm Eva