Open Access

Rahel M. Schomaker, Alexander Sitter

• The link between economic development, entrepreneurial activity, and institutional frame-work conditions has been focused by scholars from different disciplines, inter alia economics and business management, and is of utmost relevance also for practitioners. This applies in particular to the question of those macro factors that exert an influence on the sustainable success of entrepreneurial activity. PESTEL analysis as a strategic tool that focuses on the assessment of the business environ-ment in terms of specific market conditions, (likely) developments and their positive or negative effects on an enterprise is a popular instrument in this context. However, the existing literature often offers only a compilation and partial discussion of categories and dimensions, but does not include a discussion of the effects of specific framework conditions in detail, nor provides concrete indicators to make the concept operable. The article deals with this question, providing an operationalization of numerous sub-categories of PESTEL, as well as discussing possible extensions to the PESTEL toolbox that become necessary against the backdrop of globalization and digitization.