Completing a SWOT analysis?

Table of Contents

A SWOT Analysis is a powerful tool for understanding your Strengths and Weaknesses, and for looking at the Opportunities and Threats you face. The areas you will consider provide an excellent basis for reviewing your business strategy and the future direction of an established business or a new proposition

By undertaking a SWOT analysis you REALLY get to know your own business.

What makes SWOT particularly useful is that the process can be undertaken by an individual or by a group. With focused thinking you will identify your main strengths and form your strongest ‘unique selling points’. It will also uncover opportunities that you can look to take advantage of now and not later. You will also better understand the true, revealed, weaknesses of your business, so you can manage these and eliminate threats before they are harmful.

When reviewing each area, consider all elements of the business from finance and management to production and marketing.

Strengths:

  • What advantages do you have or what do you do better than anyone else?
  • What do people in your market see as your strengths?
  • What factors mean that you “get the sale”?

Weaknesses:

  • What could you improve?
  • Are there areas you should avoid?
  • What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses?
  • What factors lose you sales?

Opportunities:

  • Where are good opportunities for you?
  • What are the interesting trends you can maximise?

Threats:

  • What obstacles do you face?
  • What is your competition doing that you should be worried about?
  • Is changing technology threatening your position?
  • Are political or environmental decisions likely to impact your business
  • Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?

KEY CONSIDERATIONS #

Internal:

  • Strengths: attributes of the organization that are helpful to achieving the objective.
  • Weaknesses: attributes of the organization that are harmful to achieving the objective.

External:

  • Opportunities: external conditions that are helpful to achieving the objective.
  • Threats: external conditions that are harmful to achieving the objective.
  1. How can we Use each Strength?
  2. How can we Stop each Weakness?
  3. How can we Exploit each Opportunity?
  4. How can we Defend against each Threat?

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