SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
When you are planning strategically with any company--online or offline--it is useful to complete an analysis that takes into account not only your own business, but your competitor's businesses and the current business environment as well. A SWOT is one such analysis.
Completing a SWOT analysis helps you identify ways to minimize the effect of weaknesses in your business while maximizing your strengths.
Ideally, you will match your strengths against market opportunities that result from your competitors' weaknesses or voids.
Basic SWOT
You can develop a basic SWOT analysis in a brainstorming session with members of your company, or by yourself if you are a one-person shop. To begin a basic SWOT analysis create a four-cell grid or four lists, one for each SWOT component:

Then, begin filling in the lists.
- Strengths - Think about what your company does well. What makes you stand out from your competitors? What advantages do you have over other businesses?
- Weaknesses - List the areas that are a struggle. What do your customers complain about? What are the unmet needs of your sales force?
- Opportunities - Try to uncover areas where your strengths are not being fully utilized. Are there emerging trends that fit with your company's strengths? Is there a product/service area that you could do well in but are not yet competing?
- Threats. Look both inside and outside of your company for things that could damage your business. Internally, do you have financial, development, or other problems? Externally, are your competitors becoming stronger, are there emerging trends that amplify one of your weaknesses, or do you see other threats to your company's success?
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Bobette Kyle is creator of WebSiteMarketingPlan.com and author of the marketing plan guide "How Much for Just the Spider? Strategic Web Site Marketing."




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Comments
I like how you describe what your weaknesses, strengths, opportunties, and threats are and how each one can be or not be beneficial for your business and I also liked how you put it together for your class, you had some good points about each of the swot analysis. I learned a lot from this and this will help me in school and my business.
a very nice article togertherly put ina very nice manner explaining much about swot analysis
i felt article was informative but somehow lacking in the explanation of SWOT any ways nice read...........
I think it is worth adding to this that it is essential to be focussed and specific in SWOT analyses. Think about specific business units, products / services etc. Strengths in one sector might be weaknesses in another.
Always think about the implications of your SWOT analysis. Analyse what a strength of your business is, and then take it to the next level and answer the question "so what?"
Finally, remember that a strength is only a strength if your customers / clients perceive that it adds value to them.
i felt article was very informative but need more details in SWOT analysis.Any how it is excelent.
hi all ,
i read but can't understand as much
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