A mnemonic summarizing the different kinds of drivers that cause change.To remember this, think about pinching the stem of a flower. The sequence of letters has no particular meaning, except to help you remember the concepts. P = political, governmental I = information, communication, media N = natural, macro-environmental C = conflict H = health, biological, micro-environmental A = artistic, cultural, recreational S = social T = technological, mechanical, electronic. E = economic M = moral, ethical, religious This is a more comprehensive version of a group of similar acronyms, such as STEEP (where Information is concealed in Technology, and Nature becomes Environment - confusing with the two Es). Another common acronym is PEST, in which E means economic, and environmental drivers are overlooked. The danger of any acronym like this is that, after considering each of the 10 (or 5, or 4) kinds of drivers, you stop looking for new kinds of drivers. So this is a good method for starting an environmental scanning process, but by no means an end to that process. You always need to consider "What else?"