The PESTEL and Five Forces frameworks for identifying threats and opportunities in industries are key elements of strategic analysis. However, in Chapter 3 of What I Didn’t Learn in Business School, consulting engagement leaders Livia and Ken point out limitations. They note that there are few industries where the Five Forces are mostly weak. And such industries have strong barriers to entry, so there is little chance of an outsider like HGS entering them.

Given such problems, do you think the PESTEL and Five Forces frameworks are really useful to businesspeople?  Are they likely to be useful for the consultants trying to find ways to make money with Plastiwear? Why or why not? 

Answer briefly in an essay of no more than 300 words (about a page and a quarter double-spaced). 

First, each group member should write a draft essay. Then group members should share them.  Then after learning from each other’s essays, each should re-write his or hers.