Businesses have numerous factors to understand and tackle in their business plans. We have learned in Comm 101 that businesses must understand PEST – political, economical, social and technological macro-economic factors that greatly affect the company. For the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project, a major PEST factor are the first nations; the First Nations are external threats to the business plan of Enbridge due to their political factor.
Construction material for pipeline Credit: REUTERS/Julie Gordon
I believe the current situation with the First Nations is that they are an impediment for Enbridge. Currently, numerous First Nations tribes are attempting to stop the construction of the pipeline. Tribes such as Gitxaala are even going through the federal court to legally stop the project. I believe that Enbridge will need to tackle these external factors by evaluating the beliefs of these First Nations and the importance of this ancestral land. This may mean adapting to the needs of the First Nations and other political factors around them. Additionally, the first nations care about the environment, the environmental part of PESTLE, which Enbridge will need to tackle by finding a guaranteed way to deliver oil without a chance of spillage or environmental damage.
Douglas Channel Cr: Darryl Dyck
Overall, external factors from PESTLE can greatly affect companies, which I can see from the Enbridge and First Nations debacle. Tackling factors from PEST is definitely difficult as external factors require the companies to adapt to them, rather than having the problem being under the company’s full control.
