Devil’s Advocate: What’s a SWOT? Or a PESTLE?

Robert Joseph considers the usefulness of two different models of business analysis.

Reading time: 3m 15s

Portrait: Cath Lowe.
Portrait: Cath Lowe.

My 2025 Predictions attracted a gratifyingly large audience and some very positive reactions to my inclusion of the underappreciated challenges wine may face from health-focused smartwatches and weight-loss drugs. One Australian wondered - via Linkedin - whether wineries would include these in their SWOT analyses.

This, in turn prompted me to question how many smaller members of the industry ever use this basic method – or the separate PESTLE - to bench test the health of their business. A small straw poll suggested that the answer is ‘not enough’.

So, if you and your team regularly sit down to look at your enterprise’s SWOT - Strengths, Weaknesses and Opportunities, and Threats - it might face, you may not need to read any further.

As someone who does a certain amount of consulting to wineries and regions, ‘doing a SWOT’ is almost as much of the early process as saying good morning and having a cup of coffee. Not only does the exercise reveal where the business is right now, but it also illustrates the way its principals view the world around them: how inwardly-focused they are, how aware of the way the industry and the world in general is moving, and how laterally they are thinking.

For those who haven’t ever done a SWOT, now’s a good time to start, bearing in mind that a factor may fit in more than of the four boxes.

A warming climate may make it harder for some to grow Merlot for example (Threat), but it might improve the prospects for another variety that previously struggled to ripen (Opportunity).

Having a frank outsider contribute who’s not afraid to speak the unpalatable truth, is very helpful when doing a SWOT, but nowhere more so than when assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a business, a brand or a particular product (and, yes, one can usefully apply SWOTs at each of these levels). All too often, bosses over- and under-estimate the value of what they have.
 

Strengths

The pallet that goes to Switzerland every year may, for example, be overlooked as a possible springboard for increasing sales in that market. But one enthusiastic review from a critic may not justify a belief that a currently slow-selling wine made from a hard-to-pronounce grape is going to suddenly take off.

Factors like these need to be considered carefully. Are they really strengths? Or opportunities? Or neither?

In Europe, many might imagine that being in an appellation might be a strength; in the eyes of trade buyers in some markets that AOP may have little resonance, or it may actually be a weakness.
 

Weaknesses

Weaknesses covers a broad range of areas. It should certainly include vulnerability to climate change, but also any uncertainty over the willingness of the next generation to take over the estate, or ageing equipment or vines. (Old vines can simultaneously be a strength today when they are improving the wine and a weakness tomorrow when the cash has to be found to replant the vineyard).
 

Opportunities

The chance to buy a vineyard from a neighbour might be an obvious opportunity, but so, in a market that’s turning away from red wine, could the use of black grapes to launch a rosé or even a Blanc de Noirs. Might it be worth having a pop-up shop in the nearby town in the summer or the weeks leading up to Christmas? How about branching out into the production of a vermouth, or brewing a beer?

There should be lots of opportunities to consider, even if most or all are dismissed, for the moment at least.
 

Threats

There are also probably more threats than many people imagine. Shortages of labour and water and possible increase in disease and pests (think Esca and Spotted Wing Drosophilia) are obvious challenges. Climate change – and the possible challenges of obtaining affordable insurance – is another one, but so were tariffs, even before China and Donald Trump imposed them on wine at around the time of the pandemic. Political change and conflict need to be considered (think of importing Israeli wine or exporting to Russia). And then there’s the discussion about health and its potential political impact.

Insights

Jeff Siegel asks the experts and analysts for their thoughts on where the US wine market is heading next.

Reading. time: 4m 45s

PESTLE

Thinking of politics brings us to PESTLE analysis, which specifically features it as the first of its six factors; the others are Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental. The simplest way to describe the difference between the two processes is that SWOT focuses on the existing or proposed business or venture, while PESTLE considers external factors that could affect it – and quite possibly, its partners, suppliers, customers and competitors.

Given its inclusion of global political, legal, and environmental issues, doing a PESTLE analysis involves much broader reading than is common among many smaller winemakers who tend to focus on media covering news related to their regions and countries. Those who have a free subscription to Meininger's International, however, should be unusually well informed.

Most – but not all - consultants prefer to start with a SWOT and move outwards to a PESTLE, bearing in mind that some of the issues (such as tariffs) will feature in both. Those same consultants agree, however, that  both forms of analysis are worthwhile, and that there is a value in keeping the SWOTs and PESTLEs updated as circumstances change.

Opinion

Robert Joseph notes two young brands that seem to be bucking the trend to lighter wine styles.

Reading time: 3m 30s

The views and opinions expressed in the Devil's Advocate pieces are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the publication. They are intended to provoke discussion and debate. If you would like to offer your own response to this or any other article, please email the editor-in-chief, Anja Zimmer at zimmer@meininger.de.

 

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