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This is SWOT Index - Press on S - W
- O - T buttons - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
SWOT Analysis is a strategic method for
identifying your small business' Strengths and Weaknesses, and to examine
the Opportunities and Threats in the wider environment (market, industry,
global situation). There three levels is this tutorial: beginners
who want to just do it, intermediates who want
a more sophisticated analysis, and advanced for
the intellectuals in the crowd. There are many good examples of the
beginners and intermediate analyses on the web (see links).
BEGINNER LEVEL
(undergraduates) back to SWOT index
-
Brainstorm a list of relevant SWOT questions
to analyze your business (see Diagnostic list)
-
Click
Here for popup list of Diagnostic Questions!
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Prioritize the list
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Assign a probability (it may/will happen)
and importance (trivial/urgent) score to each item.
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SWOT is often a piece of your Business Plan
Outline (press here).
Begniing List of SWOT Questions
Press button for Strengths back
to SWOT index
What is golden about your
company?
What do you do well (in sales,
marketing, operations, management)?
What are your assets?
What are your core competenceis?
Where are you making money?
What experience do you have?
Press button for Weaknesses back
to SWOT index
What looks a bit rusty
inside your company?
What do you need (customer service,
marketing, accounting, planning)?
Where do you lack resources?
What can you do better?
Where are you loosing money?
Press button for Opportunities back
to SWOT index
Where is the blue sky in
your environment?
What new needs of customers could
you meet?
What are the economic trends that benefit
you?
What are the emerging political and social
opportunities?
What are the technological breakthroughs?
Where niches have your competitors missed?
Press button for Threats back
to SWOT index
Where are the red alerts
in your environment?
What are the negative economic
trends?
What are the negative political and social
trends?
Where are competitors about to bite you?
Wher are you vulnerable?
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL (MBAs)
back
to SWOT index
A more sophisticated analysis is called "minimax."
How to minimize
while maximizing ?
How to minimize
while maximizing
?
The more sophisticated SWOT looks at how the list items interact.
It always includes a probablity and importance matrix.
In this table, the Green Squares
are an analysis of S, W. O, & T, as in the Beginner level.
However, in the Yellow Squares
there is an important inter-relationship.
We will take the example of a Termporary Personnel Agency that assigns
printers and typesetters to quick, in-plant and commercial printshops.
Figure 2: MiniMax SWOT Analysis for Temporary Personnel Agency
for Printers
Internal
factors ---->
External
factors
|
|
\/ |
Internal Strengths:
S1 Know
personnel work
S2 Know
print industry
S3 Strong
sales force |
Internal Weaknesses:
W1 Office
too small
W2 Rising
costs of labor
W3 No
business plan |
| External Opportunities:
O1 Growing
demand for temp help
O2 Ready
available applicants
O3 We
are the only one |
S1/O2
Build resume bank
S2/O1
Develop
niches of types of shops
S3/O3
Saturate
market with name recognition |
W1/O1
Expand to bigger office
W2/O2
Develop a training program
W3/O3
Do business plan and get a loan |
| External Threats:
T1 Competition
may enter market
T2 Quick
printers expect miracles
T3 Deadbeats
that do not pay |
S1/T1
Compete with advanced locator system
S2/T2
Specialize in in-plants
S3/T3
Tie
commissions to receipt of payment |
W1/T1Open
2nd office in 6 months
W2/T2
Develop Inplants (pay more)
W3/T3
Collections, part of business plan |
PRESS
HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE FROM A STUDENT CONSULTING REPORT.
ADVANCED LEVEL (Ph.D.s)
back
to SWOT index
For some strange reason scholars in strategy
point out the problems with SWOT but the knowledge does not seem to filter
down to the practitioner level. While SWOT can be a great start in
analyzing your small business, it has several blind spots.
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SWOT is a linear analysis.
-
The new work is looking at chaos and complexity
patterns. The blind spot comes in assuming a trivial S, W, O, or T
will not be the strange attractor tip of an emerging chaos pattern.
From a chaos/complexity theory perspective, SWOT can ignore just those
factors that will lead to success or failure.
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In probability/importance analyses of SWOT
items the assumption is that only the high probability/high risk items
need to be monitored. This is a dangerous and misleading assumption.
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SWOT assumes a romantic emplotment of events.
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Emplotment is Paul Ricoeur's word, for how
we grasp together bits of history, events, expectations, scenes and characters
and mold them into a plot. The romantic emplotment paints a rosy
pictures of the firms ability to overcome and conquer its environment.
It usually entails the heroic CEO conquering the competition while overcoming
the stormy seas of commerce. A romantic plot can blind one to the more
tragic forces in the market and the more hegemonic politics.
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SWOT is an expert's monophonic analysis.
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Where is the participation? A SWOT is
oftentimes a simple interview with a CEO or a focus group with a few players.
For a more complete analysis many stakeholders (customers, vendors, competitors,
employees) need to be included. SWOT will depend upon one's point
of view. A mono-phonic SWOT is just one voice, one expert's view.
A more participative design will involve a polyphonic analysis voices from
many points of views).
-
When you get the participation of many stakeholders
in a SWOT, the result is one person's S is anothers W, or one's O is another's
T. There is no magic wand to wave to decide whose warrents and assumptions
are better than anyone else's.
to other SWOT sites and resources back
to SWOT index
BEGINING SWOT DEFINITIONS
SWOT TUTORIALS back
to SWOT index
SWOT Applications back
to SWOT index