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Using STEEPLED analysis to develop your supply chain

STEEPLED analysis will help drive your business approach and facilitate growth. Discover more here.

What is STEEPLED analysis?

STEEPLED analysis is a strategic planning methodology that can be used across all business functions to discover, evaluate, organise, and track external risk. It is an acronym, with the letters standing for social, technological, economic, environmental, political, legislative, ethical, and demographic.

 

Here is a brief overview of each of the STEEPLED components:

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Social:

The impact of society on business activity such as trends in fashion, public awareness of social movements and their influence on gender issues and ethnicity.

Technological:

The influence of technology or lack of it on business developments. Issues such as risks on data security and hacking, use of dated equipment and growth in robotics

Economic:

The impact of national and or global economic decisions on your business or market, for example, recession, depression, recovery, inflation, interest rate, taxes, tariffs.

Environmental:

The influence of macro environmental factors such as threats from natural disasters, heightened awareness of climate change, carbon impact, vehicle emissions, green energy.

Political:

The impact of political decisions on the business environment such as policy changes, ideological direction, international treaties, and trade missions.

Legislative:

The impact of new and changing laws and regulations such as health and safety laws or changes in the regulations for employees such as minimum wage or apprenticeships.

Ethical:

The influence of changing perception of ethical issues such as labour rights, modern slavery, or food issues such as genetic modification or animal welfare and veganism

Demographic:

The impact of changing population trends such as improved life expectancy and education, population shift from rural areas to cities.

 

How do you use a STEEPLED analysis in the supply chain

The purpose of the STEEPLED tool is to apply critical thinking to the entire external business, including the supply chain.

The tool can be used in the following ways:

  • As a planned review of the external business environment (six monthly for example). In this way, any emerging threats or changes in the marketplace can be picked up early and tracked for impact. It can also reveal a change in direction within your business environment that can help you shape your response to the change rather than be caught out by it.
  • As a one-off, in response to a sudden change in business circumstances such as the bankruptcy of a competitor, an emergency change in the economic forecast, an international event with significant repercussions.
  • As a review of corporate or departmental strategy. By running a STEEPLED analysis of potential challenges in macro factors that could influence your organisational activity, it could help to determine or shape your organisations corporate or procurement strategy.

Combining a STEEPLED analysis with a SWOT analysis could then identify changes in direction to be implemented.

 

Benefits of STEEPLED analysis

STEEPLED analysis can help drive your business approach and lead you to develop relationships which will help growth. There are also many other benefits including:

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Evaluate

It challenges you to evaluate your business from every angle, ensuring that you don’t leave anything out or become ‘blind’ to changes in the external landscape.

Cost-effective

It is an extremely cost-effective technique – the only thing it costs is time.

Global trends

It keeps you aware of global trends, enabling you to seize opportunities as they arise and before your competitors.

 

Supply chain optimisation

Every link in the supply chain costs money and takes time to improve it. When improved, you can reduce the amount of money that link costs. Take a look at the opportunities to consider for optimisation.

Supply chain management key themes

Supply chain management Managing the supply chain Strategic SCM Future supply chains What is a supply chain?
Global supply chains Supply Chain Security Supply Chain Resilience Supply chain collaboration Vertical integration

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