Know-How Exchange : Research/Metrics

I suspect that there may be several good SWOT discussions that have happened on this forum before. You might want to search and see what has been talked about previously.

However, I've only been here a short while, so I'll give you my take on SWOT analysis. Pardon me if I repeat things you may already know.

SWOT stands for "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats," and is an excellent tool for analysis both the internal characteristics of an organization or product and the external factors it is facing.

Sometimes a SWOT analysis can be put into a four-quadrant table, but it doesn't have to be that way.

The first two characteristics are internal measures.

Strengths are what the organization/product/group is doing well. Are they first to the market? Unique? In a good location? Strong brand name? A hot, new color? Advanced technology? Less expensive? New? Have a big budget? Good management? etc.

Weaknesses are what the org/product doesn't have going for it. The more honest here, the more useful this analysis can be. Are you more expensive? Slower? Have a poor reputation? Unknown in the market? Have a funny name? Ugly? Dressed funny?

Opportunities are external things that going in your favor. Did a law just pass that means everyone needs to buy your product/service? Competitors leaving market? Underserved market? Lots of media attention around your market? Fed-up competitive customers looking for alternatives? Partners that can be leveraged?

Threats are the external forces that could limit your success. Can the competition quickly match your product/service? Will they match your price? What is the economy doing? Any legal issues pending or possible?

A careful analysis of these areas supports the rest of your market planning. Communication should focus on the strengths and manage the weaknesses. Plans should prepare for the threats while capitalizing on the opportunities. Only by better knowing yourself and your competitors can you effectively compete with your product or service.

Trinarina,

Nolan is correct. Search on this site for SWOT and you will find plenty of good material. Additionally, in QuickMBA, there's a good framework for SWOT.

https://www.quickmba.com/strategy/swot/

I hope this helps.

Wayde

Although the concept of SWOT analysis has been around for a long time, most companies have come to recognize that conducting this sort of analysis from an internal perspective is often a recipe for disaster.

The only perspective that matters is that of the marketplace (customers). And customers in most markets make their purchase decisions based on the benefits that are most important to them, and the price they must pay to receive those benefits. In other words, customers make their purchase decisions based on VALUE.

So your first task is to determine what markets you are targeting, with what products or services. That's because different markets will define value differently for different products and services. And you want to be sure that you have the correct definition of value for the markets that you are targeting.

Then you measure! The right measures will tell you which benefits are most important to your targeted market(s). And those measures will also tell you how well you are performing on those benefits relative to your competitors. THAT'S what will give you the strength/weakness component of your SWOT analysis.

Now that you have the market's perspective on your competitive strengths and weaknesses, you need a systematic way to identify your existing value-adding opportunities. For a complete explanation of how to do that, you'll find the book, "Dominating Markets with Value" extremely useful. Chapter 7 provides a step-by-step process. And Chapter 6 details a procedure for identifying threats.

This bring a market persepctive to your SWOT analysis, which will prove far more useful than an internal perspective. For more information, you might visit www.MarketValueSolutions.com.

Good luck. And let me know if you need more information.

Reg

The reference to SWOT on QuickMBA is a good one, but can we ask WHY you are doing this? WHAT will you use this for? If it's to develop a strategic plan, do you know what steps to take after the SWOT analysis?

These strategic tools are all very well, but you need to know how to use them, and what they can help you to do.

If you come back and explain the whole situation, maybe someone here can prescribe a mini-strategic review program to enable you to make some really positive changes to the organisation you've been asked to SWOT.

ChrisB

https://www.businessballs.com/swotanalysisfreetemplate.htm

There is a SWOT excel template available from https://www.business-tools-templates.com/swot_analysis_chart.htm

Hope this helps