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SWOT Analysis (Strategy)

SWOT is an abbreviation for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

SWOT analysis is an important tool for auditing the overall strategic position of a business and its environment.

Once key strategic issues have been identified, they feed into business objectives, particularly marketing objectives. SWOT analysis can be used in conjunction with other tools for audit and analysis, such as PEST analysis and Porter's Five-Forces analysis. It is also a very popular tool with business and marketing students because it is quick and easy to learn.


The Key Distinction - Internal and External Issues

Strengths and weaknesses are Internal factors. For example, a strength could be your specialist marketing expertise. A weakness could be the lack of a new product.

Opportunities and threats are external factors. For example, an opportunity could be a developing distribution channel such as the Internet, or changing consumer lifestyles that potentially increase demand for a company's products. A threat could be a new competitor in an important existing market or a technological change that makes existing products potentially obsolete.

it is worth pointing out that SWOT analysis can be very subjective - two people rarely come-up with the same version of a SWOT analysis even when given the same information about the same business and its environment. Accordingly, SWOT analysis is best used as a guide and not a prescription. Adding and weighting criteria to each factor increases the validity of the analysis.


Areas to Consider

Some of the key areas to consider when identifying and evaluating Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats are listed in the example SWOT analysis below:

SWOT Analysis – 4 Steps

SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a convention at Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies.

A SWOT analysis must first start with defining a desired end state or objective. A SWOT analysis may be incorporated into the strategic planning model. Strategic Planning, including SWOT and SCAN analysis, has been the subject of much research.

        * Strengths: attributes of the person or company that are helpful to achieving the objective.
        * Weaknesses: attributes of the person or company that are harmful to achieving the objective.
        * Opportunities: external conditions that are helpful to achieving the objective.
        * Threats: external conditions which could do damage to the objective.

Identification of SWOTs is essential because subsequent steps in the process of planning for achievement of the selected objective may be derived from the SWOTs.

First, the decision makers have to determine whether the objective is attainable, given the SWOTs. If the objective is NOT attainable a different objective must be selected and the process repeated.

The SWOT analysis is often used in academia to highlight and identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is particularly helpful in identifying areas for development.

 SWOT analysis is a tool for planning, especially strategic planning. It is used for assessing Strengths and Weaknesses as the internal elements of the business, Opportunities and Threats as external elements of the business. SWOT analysis has a wide range of usefulness especially using particular information obtained after such an analysis. However, often SWOT analysis begins and ends with the SWOT matrix (quadrant in which fields are listed the elements of SWOT). In this way, we cannot achieve the full benefits of this analysis. In the following graphic is presented a full diagram of the SWOT analysis which begins with the scanning of internal and external environment of business.

Step 1: Scanning External and Internal Environment

One thing that is obvious for each business is that they have external and internal Environment. SWOT analysis begins by evaluating the current situation in respect of the internal and external environment of the business. This evaluation of the current situation will lead to identification of internal and external factors that affecting business. The internal factors can be strengths, but can also be some type of weaknesses of the business, while external factors can be opportunities or threats to the business. In this section, it is necessary to identify all factors and rang them according to importance of business for which is performed the analysis.

The questions that must be answered here are:

   1. What are Legal factors that influence my business?
   2. What are Ecological factors that influence my business?
   3. What are Political factors that influence my business?
   4. What are Economic factors that influence my business?
   5. What are Social factors that influence my business?
   6. What are Technological factors that influence my business?
   7. What are Competitive factors that influence my business?
   8. What are managerial factors of my business?
   9. What are strategically factors of my business?
  10. What are structural factors of my business?
  11. What are goals of my business?
  12. What are operational factors of my business?
  13. What are technological factors of my business?
  14. What are cultural factors of my business?
  15. What politics was implemented in my business?
  16. What are leadership factors of my business?

As you can see through answering this 16 question we can identify the most crucial factors from the external and internal environment of a business. First seven questions are about the external environment using LE PEST C acronym whilst next 9 questions are about the internal environment (formal and informal subsystem of a business). Formal subsystem questions are questions from 8 to 13 whilst informal subsystem questions are questions from 14 to 16.

Step 2: Internal and External Analysis

In this step, we analyze internal and external environmental factors that influence our business. The purpose is to determine whether an internal factor is strength or weakness of our business and whether an external factor is opportunity or threat for our business.

The questions that must be answered here are:

   1. Which Legal factors are our Opportunities and, Which are our Threats?
   2. Which Ecological factors are our Opportunities and, Which are our Threats?
   3. Which Political factors are our Opportunities and, Which are our Threats?
   4. Which Economic factors are our Opportunities and, Which are our Threats?
   5. Which Social factors are our Opportunities and, Which are our Threats?
   6. Which Technological factors are our Opportunities and, Which are our Threats?
   7. Which Competitive factors are our Opportunities and, Which are our Threats?
   8. Which Managerial factors are our Strengths and, Which are our Weakness?
   9. Which Strategically factors are our Strengths and, Which are our Weakness?
  10. Which Structural factors are our Strengths and, Which are our Weakness?
  11. Which Goals are our Strengths and, Which are our Weakness?
  12. Which Operational factors are our Strengths and, Which are our Weakness?
  13. Which Technological factors are our Strengths and, Which are our Weakness?
  14. Which Cultural factors are our Strengths and, Which are our Weakness?
  15. Which Politics are our Strengths and, Which are our Weakness?
  16. Which Leadership factors are our Strengths and, Which are our Weakness?

Step 3: Constructing SWOT Matrix

Until now we have already listed influential factors from inside and outside our business and classified them as strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. Now we can make SWOT matrix. SWOT matrix is a simple quadrant constructed from SWOT acronyms and in each quadrant is noted each factor. This is an excellent graphic presentation of what is good and bad in business, and what we can expect as an opportunity or threat..

Step 4: Defining Strategies

What’s next? Whether this is sufficient to complete the SWOT analysis? Any analysis must give us future directions for treatment. If we stop here we can not say that we made a successful analysis. Therefore, for each combination of quadrants in the matrix we must determine strategies. From the SWOT matrix, we can extract 4 strategies:

    * S-O Strategies (Strength-Opportunities Strategies). These strategies should take advantage of opportunities that fit the strengths of the business.
    * W-O Strategies (Weaknesses-Opportunities strategies). These strategies should enable it to overcome the weaknesses of the business while we utilize the opportunities.
    * S-T Strategies (Strength-Threat Strategies). These strategies should allow the use of strength sides, while eliminate or reduce the threats from the environment.
    * W-T Strategies (Weaknesses-Threats Strategies). These strategies should allow the elimination of weaknesses and preventing external threats to reach exact those weaknesses of the business.

The questions that must be answered here are:

   1. What are my S-O Strategies?
   2. What are my W-O Strategies?
   3. What are my S-T Strategies?
   4. What era my W-T Strategies?

SWOT analysis that gives us results in the form of strategies for dealing with the current situation and prepare for the future and which covers both internal and external factors is a good defense mechanism for each business.

SWOT ANALYSIS | TOWS ANALYSIS | A Note on Marketing Planning

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) is a popular framework for developing a marketing strategy. A Google search for “SWOT” and “planning” turned up almost 93,000 hits (August 2004), most all of which laud the use of SWOT Analysis. Some students have said that it is the most important thing they learned at the Wharton School.

Although SWOT is promoted as a useful technique in numerous marketing texts, it is not universally praised: One expert said that he preferred to think of SWOT as a “Significant Waste of Time.”

The problem with SWOT is more serious than just wasting time. Because it mixes idea generation with evaluation, it is likely to reduce the range of strategies that are considered. In addition, people who use SWOT might conclude that they have done an adequate job of planning and ignore such sensible things as defining the firm's objectives or calculating ROI for alternate strategies. I have observed this when business school students use SWOT on cases.

What does the evidence say? Perhaps the most notable indication is that I have been unable to find any evidence to support the use of SWOT.

Two studies have examined SWOT. Menon et al. (1999) asked 212 managers from Fortune 1000 companies about recent marketing strategies implemented in their firms. The findings showed that SWOT harmed performance. When Hill and Westbrook (1997) examined the use of SWOT by 20 companies in the UK in 1993-94, they concluded that the process was so flawed that it was time for a “product recall.”

One advocate of SWOT asked: if not SWOT, then what? Borrowing from corporate strategic planning literature, a better option for planners is to follow a formal written process to:

(1) set objectives, (2) generate alternative strategies, (3) evaluate alternative strategies, (4) monitor results, and (5) gain commitment among the stakeholders during each step of this process.

I describe this 5-step procedure in Armstrong (1982). Evidence on the value of this planning process, obtained from 28 validation studies (summarized in Armstrong 1990), showed that it led to better corporate performance:

20 studies found higher performance with formal planning, 5 found no difference, and 3 found formal planning to be detrimental.

This support was obtained even though the formal planning in the studies typically used only some of the steps, the steps were often poorly implemented, and the conditions were not always ideal for formal planning.

Given the evidence, SWOT is not justified under any circumstances. Instead use the comprehensive 5-step planning procedure.

References

Armstrong, J. S. (1982) “The Value of Formal Planning for Strategic Decisions,” Strategic Management Journal, 3, 197-211. Available in full text at http://jscottarmstrong.com

Armstrong, J. S. (1990), “Review of Corporate Strategic Planning," Journal of Marketing, 54, 114-119 also found in full text at http://jscottarmstrong.com.

Hill, T. & R. Westbrook (1997), “SWOT Analysis: It’s Time for a Product Recall,” Long Range Planning, 30, No. 1, 46-52.

Menon, A. et al. (1999), “Antecedents and Consequences of Marketing Strategy Making,” Journal of Marketing, 63, 18-40

SWOT ANALYSIS: How to Reboot Your Life with the SWOT MATRIX

We often see, when the computer locks up and nothing functions, there is a convenient option: you can reboot it. There are times when our life gets locked up as well. At those times we feel paralyzed and if we stay in the feeling of paralysis, we can end up with depression or other health problems.


When we’re stuck, we need to reboot our life. Unfortunately there isn’t a convenient button to push. But it’s possible all the same. The first thing we need to look at is why and where our life has got stuck. A great tool to get this overview is the SWOT matrix. SWOT is an acronym for Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. The first two, Strengths and Weaknesses, are our personal attributes that we bring to our life. The second two, Opportunities and Threats are what the outside world brings to us.


The way to reboot our life with the help of the SWOT matrix is to look at each of the seven areas of life and check out where we may be stuck and how to move forward. The important point here is that stuckness can result from internal forces, that is from our own personal attributes and how we bring them to bear on the various areas of our life. Stuckness can also result from external factors, that is from forces that impinge on our life from outside.

Here are seven areas of life that we need to consider:

• Mental
• Physical
• Spiritual
• Social
• Professional
• Recreational
• Creational

If we take each one and investigate it in terms of the SWOT Matrix, we can see how to reboot our life.

1. Mental

This area includes our emotional, as well as our intellectual well-being. Right now, what are your strengths and weaknesses in this particular area? Are you involved in learning something new? Learning is important for our intellectual well-being. We need to use our brain, in order to develop it. After all, the good news is that we can develop intelligence at any age. What threats or opportunities to you see in regard to your mental wellbeing?


How is your emotional health right now? What is strong about it and where are there weaknesses? What threats or opportunities to you see in regard to your emotional wellbeing?

2. Physical

How is your physical health? Which basket are you in: fit or flab? What are your strength or weaknesses in regard to your body? What threats or opportunities do you perceive? Threats could be health problems.


Maybe you’re out of shape, overweight, or you have other health threats to deal with. Opportunities are actions that we can take to optimize our physical condition.

3. Spiritual


Is there a spiritual component to your life? Do you have a spiritual practice, like meditation or prayer? Or are there moments in nature where you feel connected? I’m talking about natural spirituality here.



What are your strength and weaknesses in respect to spirituality? What threats or opportunities do you perceive?

4. Social

The social aspect of our life covers all the areas of connection. How are your connections? Are you in a relationship with a special person? Do you have family? Do you have strong friendships? What about colleagues – do you have strong connections? And how is your social life?



Take a look at the SWOT Matrix and consider what your strengths and weaknesses are in respect of your social connections. What threats and opportunities can you discover?

5. Professional

The professional area of life covers what we do for a living, and what we do in order to develop new areas of expertise. How is your motivation? What are your strengths and weaknesses in this area? Are there threats and opportunities on the horizon?

6. Recreational

What do you do for fun? We all need time out where problems recede and we do something that is pure enjoyment.

How easy is it for you to include fun in your life? What are your strengths and weaknesses? How to you see opportunities and threats in this area of your life?

7. Creational

We need to be creative in one way or another if we are to feel in balance and happy. How is your creativity? What are your strengths and your weaknesses?


Many people find it difficult to be creative. Creativity is something we can misplace along the way. Any creative activity can kickstart it again.

Now that you’ve looked at the various areas of your life with the help of the SWOT Matrix, you’ll have a better understanding about how to reboot your life. Even if you just choose one area of your life and look for opportunities, your life will start to open in a new way.m If you focus on all areas of your life and focus on opportunities, your life will reboot completely.

What did you notice about your life when you looked at the various areas with the help of the SWOT Matrix?

SWOT analysis definition

According to Wikipedia Encyclopedia the definition of SWOT analysis:

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve that objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a convention at Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies.

A SWOT analysis must first start with defining a desired end state or objective. A SWOT analysis may be incorporated into the strategic planning model. Strategic Planning, including SWOT and SCAN analysis, has been the subject of much research.

    * Strengths: attributes of the person or company that are helpful to achieving the objective(s).

    * Weaknesses: attributes of the person or company that are harmful to achieving the objective(s).

    * Opportunities: external conditions that are helpful to achieving the objective(s).

    * Threats: external conditions which could do damage to the objective(s).


Identification of SWOTs are essential because subsequent steps in the process of planning for achievement of the selected objective may be derived from the SWOTs.

First, the decision makers have to determine whether the objective is attainable, given the SWOTs. If the objective is NOT attainable a different objective must be selected and the process repeated.

The SWOT analysis is often used in academia to highlight and identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is particularly helpful in identifying areas for development

TOWS Analysis for Decision Making Strategy

How does a firm decide to pursue one course of action over another? Along with SWOT analysis, TOWS analysis is a process that requires management to think critically of its operations. By identifying several action plans that could improve the company's position, TOWS analysis allows management to choose those strategies that most effectively capitalize on the available opportunities.

For companies to develop adequate and successful business strategies, they must sufficiently analyze their internal and external environments.
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One helpful strategic development tool entails SWOT analysis, which identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing a company.

However, a major shortcoming of this method involves its focus on the company's internal environment at the expense of its external situation. Subsequent to the SWOT model, organizations should conduct a TOWS analysis, a procedure that focuses more on the external environment. Although the acronym is simply SWOT reversed, TOWS analysis takes a different approach to linking a company's internal strengths and weaknesses with its external opportunities and threats. This approach allows a business to clearly identify and evaluate the options it could pursue.

To perform a proper TOWS analysis, the company must first conduct a SWOT analysis to identify its internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. The rest of the procedure involves dividing and linking the appropriate classifications into four categories:

    * Maxi-Maxi

    * Maxi-Mini

    * Mini-Maxi

    * Mini-Mini


Creating a TOWS matrix is an easy and visually helpful way to aid in this process.

"Maxi-Maxi" Strategy

Under the Maxi-Maxi classification, an organization identifies the appropriate strengths it can use to take advantage of its opportunities. The firm needs to distinguish and list the strengths that could aid in the maximization of each one of its listed opportunities. For example, possible strengths that could help a company penetrate a new market could include high-brand recognition, high-brand loyalty, large levels of research and development spending, and superior customer service.

"Maxi-Mini" Strategy

The Maxi-Mini category identifies the strengths the company can exploit to minimize its external threats. For instance, a potential threat to a firm could be the loss of market share to a new competitor entering the market. One way the firm could protect its position involves developing a marketing campaign emphasizing its superior customer service or its competitor's inferior customer service.

"Mini-Maxi" Strategy

With the Mini-Maxi strategy, a company wants to use its external opportunities to minimize its internal weaknesses. To illustrate, consider a company that faces rising labor costs in its home country. Simultaneously, it has identified an attractive opportunity to outsource some of its operations to another country where the cost of labor is far cheaper. This outsourcing prospect reduces the company's threat of rising labor expenses.

"Mini-Mini" Strategy

Mini-Mini strategies attempt to minimize the company's weaknesses and prevent external threats. This section matches the firm's threats and weaknesses in order for the company to recognize the potential situations that could harm its operations. Once these possible conditions are realized, the company can conceive of ways to protect its business. For example, a firm can enter into a strategic alliance or merge with one of its competitors to protect its operations from a rival firm. Moreover, the options to withdraw from a market or suspend operations are always present.

SWOT Analysis Model

SWOT analysis, method, or model is a way to analyze competitive position of your company. SWOT analysis uses so-called SWOT matrix to assess both internal and external aspects of doing your business. The SWOT framework is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment.

SWOT is the first stage of planning and helps decision makers to focus on key issues. SWOT method is a key tool for company top officials to formulate strategic plans. Each letter in the word SWOT represents one strong word: S = strengths, W = weaknesses, O = opportunities, T = threats.
SWOT model analyzes factors that are internal to your business and also factors that affect your company from outside. Strengths and weaknesses in the SWOT matrix are internal factors. Opportunities and threats are external factors.

SWOT can be used in conjunction with other tools for strategic planning, such as the Porter's Five-Forces analysis or the Balanced Scorecard framework. SWOT is a very popular tool in marketing because it is quick, easy, and intuitive.

What is SWOT matrix?
The concept of determining strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities is the fundamental idea behind the SWOT model. To present the model in a more understandable way, scholars came up with so-called SWOT matrix. SWOT matrix is only a graphical representation of the SWOT framework.

SWOT analysis matrix

The above is a schema of how SWOT works. You start at the top level and go down to details. When this is filled with content, it gets the shape of a matrix, such as the example below:

SWOT matrix makes understanding the model easier.

Can you show SWOT analysis on an example?

Strengths and weaknesses are internal value creating (or destroying) factors such as assets, skills, or resources a company has at its disposal relatively to its competitors. Below you can find a few examples of what your strengths might be:

    * Unique product

    * Location of your business

    * Patents, know-how, trade secrets

    * Worker's unique skill set

    * Corporate culture, company image

    * Quality of your product

    * Access to financing

    * Operational efficiency


The following list shows a few examples of weaknesses:

    * Location of your business

    * Lack of quality and customer service

    * Poor marketing and sales

    * Access to resources

    * Undifferentiated products or services


Opportunities and threats are external value creating (or destroying) factors a company cannot control but emerge from either the competitive dynamics of the industry or market or from demographic, economic, political, technical, social, legal, or cultural factors.

An opportunity in the SWOT model could be for example:

    * A new emerging or developing market (niche product, place - new country, less competition)

    * Merger, joint venture, or strategic alliance

    * Market trends

    * New technologies

    * Social changes (for example demographics)


And now the final one, threats. A threat could be:

    * New competition in the market, possibly with new products or services

    * Price wars

    * Economic conditions

    * Political changes

    * Competitor oligopoly or monopoly

    * Taxation

    * Availability of resources


Factors related to each aspect of the SWOT model depend very much of the nature of your business. SWOT for a manufacturing company will be different from a SWOT for an internet start-up.

Is SWOT analysis a hard science?

The answer is no. SWOT analysis can be very subjective. Someone can see a new firm coming into the market as a threat because it takes away your current customers. Someone else might see the same company as opportunity because that company might have innovative ideas which your business can explore, and your business might even benefit from possible takeover of that new competitor.

What is the difference between SWOT and TOWS?

TOWS analysis is very similar to the SWOT method. TOWS simply looks at the negative factors first in order to turn them into positive factors.
How should I do the SWOT analysis?

There is a number of simple rules that you can go by when creating a SWOT matrix in SWOT analysis.

Be realistic: Make sure you assess your situation objectively. It is better to be more pessimistic about weaknesses and threats and lighter about strengths and opportunities.

Today versus future: When doing the SWOT analysis, distinguish between today's state of your business and your expectation for the future. Mixing your expectation with the current state will result in skewed outcome.

Simple: Keep your SWOT matrix short and simple. Avoid complexity and over analysis. If you want to include many points to each quadrant of the SWOT matrix, it is a good idea to weight them.

What is the next step in SWOT analysis?

We mentioned that the SWOT analysis is very subjective. One way to bring numbers into the SWOT analysis and make it more useful is to weight individual items. Give a weight to every item in the SWOT matrix and then add them together. Each quadrant in the SWOT matrix will result in some number which as a whole will give you a better picture where your business is relative to other quadrants. This leads us to two models called the IFE matrix and EFE matrix that are rooted in the SWOT analysis.

There are three other models related to this called the BCG matrix model, SPACE matrix model, and QSPM model which you can find here: BCG matrix, SPACE matrix model, QSPM model.

In case you have any questions about SWOT analysis, you are welcome to ask them at our management discussion forum.

 

SWOT Analysis Benefit

You don't have to be running a multinational company to benefit from a SWOT analysis. No matter what size your enterprise, you will take a benefit from running a quick SWOT check.

For those who don't know, a SWOT analysis covers your STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, and THREATS.

Take your strengths to begin with. All businesses have them; otherwise, there wouldn't be a business in the first place. The point of highlighting them, is to increase them. If you can STRENGTHEN your STRENGTHS, you are on to a winner. And if you clearly understand what your strengths are, it is so much easier to add to them.

If you have a strong line of product sellers, then try and increase them. If you have a good agent, or good employee, producing great results, then give them more work and responsibility. If you have an exclusive line that pays a great margin, then market it more aggressively. Push your strengths, and ignore those products and lines that don't produce enough, or sufficient, profit.

WEAKNESSES? All businesses have those too. Know what they are, and attack them relentlessly as if they were the devil incarnate. Business is war, and it is a war that needs winning. Perhaps your products are too dear. Then do something about it. Perhaps they are not producing sufficient margin. Then tackle that head on. Perhaps you have a shop and too much of your stock is going missing. Then install CCTV. Perhaps your products are going out of date. Then wake up, and modernise. May be you don't spend enough time on your business. Then quit watching soaps. I did, and it was the best thing I ever did. A good businessperson always knows their weaknesses inside out, and addresses them as much as they are able. Identify and destroy weaknesses as if they are an alien force about to obliterate your particular planet. If you don't, they will.

OPPORTUNITIES: If any business is to survive in the longer term, it must create and take on board new opportunities. Any business that chugs along doing the same thing month in month out, year in year out, without keeping one eye to the future, is a business that is ultimately doomed. So, what opportunities are currently out there for you? Perhaps there is a range of new ebooks that have come on the market with reproduction rights. May be there is an opportunity there for you increase your range, or venture into a completely new field, for you. May be the local pet shop in your town is closing down. Perhaps there is an opportunity there to enter that trade and mop up their previous business, and goodwill. Or may be the company you work for full time is closing down, or the boss you work for is retiring. Is there an opportunity there for you to take over, or buy that business? Perhaps you could even arrange easy payment terms to pay for it out of your ongoing profits over the next year, or better still, the next five years. There are many stories about, of employees buying the business they work for, and ultimately making a huge success of it. And why not? After all, who knows any business better, than an inside employee? They know where there is hidden value, and they know where the skeletons are buried. We have all heard people say "I could run it better myself". Well, perhaps you could. But have you got the bottle, the energy, and the financial muscle to do so, or could you find it? And if that chance really does come along, may be you should look seriously at grabbing it, before someone else does. Chances like that only appear so many times in life. Your OPPORTUNITIES analysis will highlight that, and any other potential opportunities too.

THREATS: lastly the worst one of all, and the one that is so easy to ignore, and even not notice at all, until it creeps up on you, and thumps you in the profit line. In my local town, there were two newsagents. They have been there for as long as anyone could remember, and both have a loyal and enthusiastic bunch of customers. Then along came the giant Tesco. It wasn't one of those superstore all embracing bullies, but a smaller convenience store. But it was still going to be open all hours, it was still going to be a price efficient and formidable competitor. As soon as the planning permission for that store appeared in the local press, one of the newsagents sold out. Got a good price for it too, by all accounts, while the other one showed no signs of even noticing the aggressive newcomer about to open on his doorstep. This story is only in its infancy, but if that newsagent is still open in three or four years time, I for one will be very surprised. Identify your threats, and don't be afraid of doing something about it. All businesses have threats. It does not matter whether you run a small mail order business from home, a letting agent on the high street, or a boat builder on the river. All businesses have threats of some kind, that's the way of things.

That is why a regular SWOT analysis will keep you fully aware of what they are, and where they are coming from, and if you do that, you can react against them in the most positive way. If you do nothing, and hope those threats evaporate, you run the risk of being swamped, or gobbled up. Threats rarely disappear by themselves. Always try and confront them head on.

If you are running a successful business, then instigate a yearly SWOT check. It will not take you too long to carry out, and it could save you your business and your livelihood. If you are running an unsuccessful business, then perhaps it is even more imperative that you run a SWOT analysis right now. Once you understand your weaknesses and threats, you can attack them. Once you understand why you are not making any money, you can introduce a well thought out plan to do something about it. Running a business is not just about selling, it is about managing too. A SWOT analysis is an essential tool for any good manager. Running a SWOT is a sign of a well-run business; and more often than not, a sign of a successful business too

How to do a SWOT Analysis (Strategic Planning Made Easy)

“Strategic Planning” sounds a lofty pursuit and perhaps beyond our humble capabilities. Not so with a SWOT Analysis. Learn how to do a SWOT analysis using the SWOT matrix and become an effective strategic planner today, achieving your goals.
What’s Strategic Planning Anyway?

Strategic planning is just management speak for long term future planning. Strategic planning concerns anything that will bring results in anything from 1 year to 5 years or beyond. It’s good management practice to raise your head above the daily grind every now and then, and take action now to positively affect your future.

Definition of SWOT

As with most management models, the clue is in the name.

S = Strengths
W = Weaknesses
O = Opportunities
T = Threats

The SWOT Matrix Explained

All the best management models have four quadrants, and the SWOT matrix is no exception. You use each of the four quadrants in turn to analyze where you are now, where you want to be, and then make an action plan to get there.

 Regardless of whether you or your team are future planning for specific products, work, personal or any other area, the SWOT analysis process is the same.

Step 1 – In the here and now…
List all strengths that exist now. Then in turn, list all weaknesses that exist now. Be realistic but avoid modesty!

Step 2 – What might be…
List all opportunities that exist in the future. Opportunities are potential future strengths. Then in turn, list all threats that exist in the future. Threats are potential future weaknesses.

Step 3 – Plan of action…
Review your SWOT matrix with a view to creating an action plan to address each of the four areas.

In summary;
· Strengths need to be maintained, built upon or leveraged.
· Weaknesses need to be remedied or stopped.
· Opportunities need to be prioritised and optimised.
· Threats need to be countered or minimised.

SWOT Analysis Example

Here’s one I prepared earlier:

 Sow the seeds and reap the benefits

And that’s it! Not too complicated, I’m sure you’ll agree. The SWOT matrix is a useful tool for strategic planning and achieving your goals, individually or with a team. It’s easy to learn how to do a SWOT analysis – just try one out for yourself and reap the benefits.

How to Write a SWOT Analysis (Analyse a Company According to Its Internal And External Factors)

A Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis allows business management to formulate strategies to increase profits for a company. The SWOT analysis also helps a company and its employees to adapt to changing factors in the industry.

The SWOT can be classified into internal and external factors affecting a company. The Strengths and Weaknesses of the SWOT analysis represent the internal factors that influence the viability of the company. The Opportunities and Threats, on the other hand, are the external factors that may affect the company's performances.

What Are Examples of Internal Strengths of a Company?

A strength is essentially a factor from within the company that has resulted in the success of the organisation. For example, a management team with strong calibre denotes that the company is forward looking and is flexible to change. Both factors allow the company to presevere amongst competitors, especially when external threats, such as changes in regulation with respects to the industry, occur.

Another example of a company strength is a hefty financial cash flow. Companies that are liquid in cash are more likely to succeed in the long-run than companies that have invested in illiquid assets (such as heavy equipment / renovations in the office.) This is because working capital (cash) is required to sustain the company's ability to pay employees / suppliers / fund marketing campaigns.

What Are Examples of Weaknesses within a Company?

A weakness of an organisation can be detrimental to the survival of the company. A popular example is poor retention rate of employees. This equates to a high turnover with dissatisfied employees leaving for other job opportunities. The fact that this takes place can be due to a number of reasons. One of them may be poor compensation packages (due to lack of funds). Another example may be a weak organisational culture that inhibits employees from expressing their views and concerns.

An opportunity allows a company to increase profits by offering a gap in demand, a wider consumer base, or an opportunity to reduce costs. A company's strategic goal is to move forward to achieving opportunities that arise in the market. For example, a coffee house may find an opportunity when new suppliers of coffee beans enter into the market. This increases competition amongst coffee bean suppliers and thus, reduces costs for the coffee house. Opportunities are almost always found in shifts in consumer preferences. For example, with the increase of women penetrating the workforce, more clothing designers nab the opportunity to produce fashionable career attire for working women.

What Are the Threats Inherent in the Environment?

A threat can affect the company negatively, especially if the company is unable to adapt to the threat and mitigate its harmful effects. For example, a threat for small grocery retailers would be the emergence of a hyper-market in the area - Wal-mart - for instance. A common threat in any economy would be an economic recession, which reduces consumers' consumption. This threat generally reduces revenue in companies, regardless of the sector.

At the end of a SWOT analysis, the company's plans to move forward should be centred around the opportunities quadrant. Opportunities translate into opportunities to increase revenue as well as to reduce costs; this, in turn, is transformed into higher profits. To achieve success in the opportunities quadrant, the company should look at capitalising on its strengths, such as an effective marketing strategy. By using their strengths, companies should also be able to strategise against the threats that are inherent in the market. Threats are extinguishable but steps to mitigate them can be taken to protect the operations on the company. Although companies always capitalise on their strengths, they should not ignore their weaknesses. Weaknesses represent loopholes within their organisational structure / operations. A company should resolve to fill in their weaknesses in the long-run to ward off aggressive competition. 

When to Use (Not ) SWOT Analysis in Project Management

In 2008 Project Manager at Volvo IT (Peter C) give a question about when to use and when not to use SWOT analysis in project management? And from the discussion on the Linked In there is a few a good answer, and this is the all answers:

    * SWOT is useful as a portion of the strategy development for a business. It is only a portion of the strategy and everything needs to be researched to be sure that this isn't just brainstorming from non-experts. To better answer your specific question:

   1. Use SWOT when you have real experts stating real facts or you are asking questions which require research for the analysis. Even then, take this information as a portion of the strategy in alignment with other factors like real benchmarking data, customer response data and customer research including forecasting.
   2. Don't use SWOT if you don't have real subject experts in the room and if there is a tendency to move from brainstorming to actions without research.

    * As a principal it is vital for analysis to be done through SWOT mentality. Thinking of scenarios and solutions in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats gives analyst a perception that would include all dimensions. Of course, there are cases where SWOT is not fully applied. The only place I would not use SWOT is when we are in the realm of hypothetical... especially when these are far-fetched thoughts. SWOT requires some form of comprehension that may not exist in these cases.


    * SWOT's are always important to utilize both prior to, during, and after completing projects. The key is "objectivity". This can be very difficult to do in a high pressure situation where time is cirtical or in a culture that doesn't re-examine itself for the sake of improvement. If the SWOT is done objectively and supported by 3rd party non-biased market research, "last minute" risks or problems are generally uncovered before they occur. Checking in periodically on your assumptions throughout the project will enable you to further refine the outcome and avoid major mis-steps and ensure quality output. If the project duration is long term, it is good practise to continually evaluate more current market research to support or to adjust your strategy/direction. Finally, re-examining your SWOT with your final outcomes will enable you to learn what works and what doesn't. Doing so will enable you to become more effective in utilizing SWOTs.


    * SWOT is almost always useful, but too many companies see it as the end of the project instead of the beginning. SWOT establishes a good framework and context, but in and of itself, it does not point to the future...it isn't strategy. There are "next steps" that some companies don't take.


    * I found SWOT to be used all too often as a lazy approach to diagnosing a problem (real or perceived). It is too high level to coalesce thinking about the nature of the problem, the place where and when it appears, its frequency and its severity. If used as a sole rationale behind a change and/or project, chances of successfully addressing what ails your organisation are pretty small. It is useful to communicate with people who want to see an "analysis-on-a-page", but as previous contributors said, it is just one of many diagnostic tools that you have to use to analyse the situation(s) you are facing.


    * I think SWOT is more useful when you are analyzing a particular company or business. However, if you wish to analyze an industry, you can use Porter's five forces analysis. Also, SWOT is mostly applicable for static conditions of business. For dynamic or rapidly changing businesses such as knowledge intensive industries, SWOT may not be that helpful. Alternatively, use of BCG matrix or GE/Mckinsey Matrix along with SWOT can give better results.


    * I believe that SWOT, while always useful, is frequently not a sufficient exploration of the situation. For large, company strategy type issues, you might look at a Porter Five Forces model which takes in aspects of the landscape. While SWOT's OT portion looks at the landscape, I think the Five Forces looks deeper and more usefully. Similarly, I like Porter's Diamond of International Competition for a lot of things, like new product entry and predicting a team's chances for success in the playoffs. It takes some tweaking to move Land, Location, Labor, Population and Resources to a world of products and baseball, but you work your own analogues.I try to work every project through the Theory of Constraints. It's a solid theory and works very nicely to figure out what needs fixing. But, generally speaking, SWOT is always a good place to start. At the very least, it's a good exercise that can lead you to a more useful model for looking at the project.

Conducting a SWOT or (TOWS)

What is it? Justify Full
The granddaddy of focus group data gathering processes is the traditional SWOT and its updated offspring, TOWS Analysis. You can SWOT (or TOWS) a concept, a program, a department, a school, or a new initiative. You can even SWOT a person, although one must be careful when doing so.
When doing SWOT Analysis, remember that the S and the W are INTERNAL and the O and T are external. Traditionally, facilitators begin with the organization’s Strengths and Weaknesses and then move out to the external Opportunities and Threats. Recent thinking prompts consideration first of the opportunities and threats existing in the "outside world" against which the institution can leverage its strengths and find conviction to correct its weaknesses. We like this reversal of the traditional order because it helps an organization place itself in context.

Method
Group Process Technique: Brainstorming

Purpose: To generate a large quantity of ideas in response to a stated problem or question.
The group is asked to generate as many responses to the following questions within a limited time frame (10-20 minutes per question). All responses are recorded verbatim and ideas are not judged until evaluation time.

Group Size: Can be used with any number of participants (large groups can be broken into smaller groups of 6-10 to maximize output)

Resources: Flip chart and markers

Procedure
1. Explain basic rules of brainstorming:

Don’t evaluate the idea; defer judgment.
Quantity is the goal.
The wilder the better.
Record each idea verbatim. Tagging on or combining ideas is okay.


2. Begin brainstorming by asking the following questions:

a. What opportunities exist in our external environment?
b. What threats to the institution exist in our external environment?

Brainstorm these along the lines of:

    * Political, economic, social, technology

    * Market size and behavior

    * Constituent behavior

    * Benefits sought

    * Potential new entrants

    * Direct competitors’ performance, strategies, capabilities, intentions


c. What are the strengths of our institution?

d. What are the weaknesses of our institution?

Brainstorm these along the lines of:

    * Ability to design/innovate

    * Ability to source and produce

    * Ability to market and service

    * Ability to finance

    * Ability to manage


4. Record all ideas verbatim.

5. After all ideas have been storyboarded and the time limit is up, categorize ideas into thematic groupings.

Facilitator Notes To Wrap Up

Prioritization is a key factor in obtaining useful SWOT (OTSW) data, as the output from brainstorming will be significant.

At the end of the small group reports, reduce the list of strengths and weaknesses to no more than five distinctive competencies and debilitating weaknesses:

1. Strengths that are distinctive competencies
Are those few things that your institution does best that constituents really care about and that set it apart from other market entries. Core competencies usually attract widespread agreement. An organization will focus on capitalizing on its distinctive competencies.

2. Weaknesses that are debilitating

Are those areas in which constituents expect and demand performance or competency and the institution is dangerously lacking. Debilitating weaknesses frequently attract widespread agreement. An organization will focus on correcting its debilitating weaknesses.

Reduce threats and opportunities to the five most critically important of each.

Questions to Consider when evaluating OTSWs or SWOTs:

1. What will the institution gain if it does nothing? What will it lose?

2. What will the institution gain if it launches a successful initiative? What will it lose if it does not?

SWOT (OTSW) MATRIX

    * What are the Threats and Opportunities present in the external marketplace that effect this school, department, program, project?

    * What are the Strengths and Weaknesses present inside the institution that effect this school, department, program, project?

SWOT OR TOWS Analysis (TOWS MATRIX)

SWOT is the acronym for strength, weakness, opportunities and strengths whereas TOWS is the acronym for threats, opportunities, weakness and strengths both refers to the same thing. SWOT or TOWS analysis use by the firm to develop strategies or we can say possible set of strategies. Strategist prefer SWOT or TOWS MATRIX because it gives alternative set of strategies which help the firm to choose the strategies suit the firm in terms of available resources.

SWOT analysis is not only the part of strategic management, it’s also the part of marketing, human resource and other business areas. In this tutorials we will discuss the way to develop TOWS matrix and its attributes in detail and also give examples to show firm develop strategies using SWOT or TOWS matrix.

What are the things need to be included in SWOT or TOWS matrix?

SWOT or TOWS matrix as discussed above consist of strength, weakness opportunities and threats, using these variety of strategies are developed. The most common tabular form of the SWOT or TOWS is shown in the figure below.

I would like to explain strengths,weakness opportunities and threats before going into details to make easier for the readers unfamiliar to this topic.

Strengths

Strengths are the strong areas or attribute of the company, which are used to overcome weakness and capitalize to take advantage of the external opportunities available in the industry.
Weakness

Weakness are painful for the company means these are the weak factors which needs to be improve in future otherwise if they exposed to the competitors they can take the advantage of it.

Opportunities
Opportunities are the chances exist in the external environment, it depends firm whether the firm is willing to exploit the opportunities or may be they ignore the opportunities due to lack of resources.

Threats

Threats are always evil for the firm, minimum no of threats in the external environment open many doors for the firm. Maximum number of threats for the firm reduce their power in the industry.

How to identify strengths,weakness,opportunities and threats for TOWS Matrix?

Well, if you have same question them its a good one, finding strengths, weakness, opportunism and threats is deep thinking process. The best thing to do ask the decision maker,employee, strategic partners and customer as well about your good and bad points. The other way out to use some statistical and mathematical tool.In strategic management strengths and weakness are extracted from IFE matrix, opportunities and threats from EFE matrix.

Example of Wal-Mart Strengths,Weakness,Opportunities and Threats
Wal-Mart Strengths


    * Customer oriented
    * SAM’S Club customers able to buy in bulk
    * Super centers offer one stop shopping
    * Satisfaction guaranteed programs promoting customer goodwill
    * Buy from local merchants when possible
    * Stock ownership and profit-sharing with employees
    * Leads industry in information technology
    * Ongoing development of its employees Strong community involvement


Wal-Mart Weakness


    * No formal mission statement
    * Membership only for SAM’S Club
    * Keep poor performing employees on hand
    * Old fashioned store policies
    * Few women and minorities in top management

Wal-Mart Opportunities

    * Consumers want ease of shopping
    * Internet shopping growing
    * Dollar value increasing
    * Similar shopping patterns worldwide
    * Retail sales expected to increase
    * Environment conscious consumers
    * Elderly population growing
    * Asian market virtually untapped by retail
    * European Market untapped by retail


Wal-Mart Threats

    * Regulation of Wal-Mart pharmacies
    * Small towns do not want entry of Wal-Mart
    * Bad media exposure for Kathie Lee Brand
    * Variety of competition nationally, regionally and locally
    * Substitute products more easily because of intense competition


What type of strategies are the part of TOWS Matrix?

The SWOT Matrix is an important matching tool that helps managers develops four types of strategies:

   1. SO strategies—use a firm’s internal strengths to take advantage of external opportunities.
   2. WO strategies—are aimed at improving internal weaknesses by taking advantage of external opportunities.
   3. ST strategies—use a firm’s strengths to avoid or reduce the impact of external threats.
   4. WT strategies—are defensive tactics directed at reducing internal weaknesses and avoiding external threats.


Example of Pakistan State Oil TOWS Matrix


The above TOWS matrix show the four type of strategies, SO strategies are developed using PSO strengths to exploit the external opportunities, WO strategies are developed to overcome weaknesses by utilizing the opportunities. ST strategies are developed by PSO to minimize or eliminate the threats using the internal strengths and last WT strategies are developed to avoid threat and minimize weaknesses.

SWOT ANALYSIS

The SWOT analysis, which stands for "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats," is used to outline goals for yourself or your business, as well as detail where your strengths lie, what you need to improve and how your goals might be hindered by external elements. If you've never created a SWOT analysis, or if it's been a while since you last compared your current status with a previous SWOT analysis, filling out a fresh SWOT analysis matrix could be beneficial to you or your company.

The SWOT Analysis Matrix

One of the most popular methods of SWOT analysis review is the SWOT matrix. This matrix is comprised of a two-column, two-row table with strengths and weaknesses listed in the top two boxes and opportunities and threats outlined in the bottom two boxes.

Each row and column in the SWOT matrix has a label. The row with strengths and weaknesses is named "Internal Origin," defining parts of your business or persona that you control. The row with opportunities and threats is labeled "External Origin," since you have no real control over the environment that provides these elements.

The left column, which houses the strengths and opportunities categories, is known as the "Helpful" column, as these benefit your initiative. The right column, which contains the weaknesses and threats categories, is called "Harmful," since these can work against your objective.

To obtain the most desirable results from a SWOT analysis, fill out each of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the most honest, objective way possible. For instance, if you're writing about your company include details about your employees as well as yourself. If this SWOT analysis regards your own personal goals, list the ways your skills can contribute to your goal in the "Strengths" section, but don't forget to cite any necessary improvements or skill deficiencies in the "Weaknesses" category.

Outlining Strengths in the SWOT Matrix

Mindtools.com recommends beginning with the strengths you or your company possess. Begin making a list of any advantages your company provides over competitors as well as positive personality characteristics you maintain. Anything considered to add to your bottom line or your unique selling proposition (USP) should be categorized under strengths.

Outlining Weaknesses in the SWOT Matrix

Defining your weaknesses can show you where you need to improve. Mindtools.com says you should use this section to face the truth about how well you're doing as a company or as an individual. Be sure to list any aspect that could be perceived as a turn-off or disadvantage to potential customers. This includes your personality or that of your employees as well as any product or service that appears sub-par when compared to your competitors.

Defining Opportunities in the SWOT Matrix

According to netmba.com, opportunities often arise with changes in your environment. For instance, if one of your competitors relocated its business several states away, this could be considered an opportunity. Write down any aspect about the current market environment, the economy, or new government policies that make your company stand out or look better than your competitors

Defining Threats in the SWOT Matrix

Threats to a business occur in much the same way opportunities do; they just affect your business in a negative direction. Let's take the above example of your competitor moving away. If a competitor moves into your location and begins providing a product or service on par or better than yours, this is a threat. According to netmba.com, similar threats occur with changes in market trends and government regulations. If your company is affected by these changes, list them in the threats category.

The Marketing Environment

What is the marketing environment?

The marketing environment surrounds and impacts upon the organization. There are three key perspectives on the marketing environment, namely the 'macro-environment,' the 'micro-environment' and the 'internal environment'.

The micro-environment

This environment influences the organization directly. It includes suppliers that deal directly or indirectly, consumers and customers, and other local stakeholders. Micro tends to suggest small, but this can be misleading. In this context, micro describes the relationship between firms and the driving forces that control this relationship. It is a more local relationship, and the firm may exercise a degree of influence.

The macro-environment

This includes all factors that can influence and organization, but that are out of their direct control. A company does not generally influence any laws (although it is accepted that they could lobby or be part of a trade organization). It is continuously changing, and the company needs to be flexible to adapt. There may be aggressive competition and rivalry in a market. Globalization means that there is always the threat of substitute products and new entrants. The wider environment is also ever changing, and the marketer needs to compensate for changes in culture, politics, economics and technology.

The internal environment.

All factors that are internal to the organization are known as the 'internal environment'. They are generally audited by applying the 'Five Ms' which are Men, Money, Machinery, Materials and Markets. The internal environment is as important for managing change as the external.

The internal environment analysis

The internal environment assessment and analysis is conducted after  the external environment analysis. While the external environment analysis seeks to identify opportunities and threats in the external environment, the internal environment analysis seeks to identify the strengths and weakness in your business. Note that it focuses on factors that are internal to your business, some of which can be easily changed or improved upon. The 7's model is particularly useful when identifying internal factors in your business. It looks at the following:

   1. Strategy
   2. Structure
   3. Style
   4. Staff
   5. Skills
   6. Systems
   7. Shared values

Using the model is simple, you simply check for the degree to which your business possess the above 7's. Access which 'S' is a strength or weakness in your business. For example, if your business has the right number of people (Staff) and these people possess the right kind of skills, competence and expertise (Skills), then these are considered to be the internal strengths of your business. Where your business lacks shared values and systems, these are considered to be weaknesses. This is discussed further below:

1.    Strategy

- Do your strategies take into account the short term, medium term and long term?

 2.   Structure

    * - Do you have a formal organisational structure in place?
    * - Are clear lines of reporting or communicating present?
   
3.    Style of leadership

What is your style of leadership?

    * - Participative leadership style
    * - Democratic leadership style
    * - Autocratic leadership style
    * - Dictatorship leadership style
    *

4.    Staff

    * - Do you have competent, skilled and experienced staff to work with?
    * - How can you manage to keep staff in the current environment ?
    * - How do you recruit your staff ?
    * - How trustworthy are your employees?
    * - Do your staff work long hours?
    * - How do you retain quality employees?
   
5.    Skills and competencies

What skills and competencies are present in your business?
This may encompass:

    * - Leadership skills
    * - Management skills
    * - Technical skills
    * - Interpersonal skills
    * - Intra personal skills
   
6.    Systems, processes and procedures

What systems, processes and procedures do have in place or intend to have in place?

    * - Performance management system
    * - Financial management system
    * - Management information system
    * - Accounting information system
    * - Quality control system
    * - Health and safety
    * - Stock control system
    * - Cash control system
    * - Accounting system
    * - Expense control system
    * - Debtors control system
    * - Creditors control system
    * - Production related systems

7.    Shared values

What qualities or attributes do you base your actions on?  What attributes defines the culture of your business? What are the core values of your business? Examples of values include:

    * - Timeliness
    * - Reliability
    * - Convenience
    * - Driving internal efficiency
    * - Effectiveness
    * - Efficiency
    * - People
    * - Customer satisfaction
    * - Customer intimacy
    * - Transparency
    * - Accountability
    * - Brand and business reputation
    * - Quality
    * - Innovation
    * - Creativity