SWOT Analysis

Discover new opportunities. Manage and eliminate threats. ________________________________________

SWOT Analysis is a useful technique for understanding your Strengths and Weaknesses, and for identifying both the Opportunities open to you and the Threats you face. Used in a business context, a SWOT Analysis helps you carve a sustainable niche in your market. Used in a personal context, it helps you develop your career in a way that takes best advantage of your talents, abilities and opportunities. (Click here for Business SWOT Analysis, and here for Personal SWOT Analysis.) Business SWOT Analysis What makes SWOT particularly powerful is that, with a little thought, it can help you uncover opportunities that you are well placed to exploit. And by understanding the weaknesses of your business, you can manage and eliminate threats that would otherwise catch you unawares. More than this, by looking at yourself and your competitors using the SWOT framework, you can start to craft a strategy that helps you distinguish yourself from your competitors, so that you can compete successfully in your market. How to Use SWOT Analysis Originated by Albert S Humphrey in the 1960s, SWOT Analysis is as useful now as it was then. You can use it in two ways - as a simple

icebreaker helping people get together to "kick off" strategy formulation, or in a more sophisticated way as a serious strategy tool. Tip: Strengths and weaknesses are often internal to your organization, while opportunities and threats generally relate to external factors. For this reason the SWOT Analysis is sometimes called Internal-External Analysis and the SWOT Matrix is sometimes called an IE Matrix. To help you to carry out a SWOT Analysis, download and print off our free worksheet, and write down answers to the following questions. Strengths: What advantages does your organization have? What do you do better than anyone else?

What unique or lowest-cost resources can you draw upon that others can't? What do people in your market see as your strengths? What factors mean that you "get the sale"? What is your organization's Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

Consider your strengths from both an internal perspective, and from the point of view of your customers and people in your market. You should also be realistic - it's far too easy to fall prey to "not invented here syndrome." Also, if you're having any difficulty with this, try writing down a list of your organization's characteristics. Some of these will hopefully be strengths! When looking at your strengths, think about them in relation to your competitors. For example, if all of your competitors provide high quality

products, then a high quality production process is not strength in your organization's market, it's a necessity. Weaknesses: What could you improve? What should you avoid? What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses? What factors lose you sales?

Again, consider this from an internal and external basis: Do other people seem to perceive weaknesses that you don't see? Are your competitors doing any better than you? It's best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible. Opportunities: What good opportunities can you spot? What interesting trends are you aware of?

Useful opportunities can come from such things as: Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale. Changes in government policy related to your field.

Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, and so on. Tip: Local events.

A useful approach when looking at opportunities is to look at your strengths and ask yourself whether these open up any opportunities. Alternatively, look at your weaknesses and ask yourself whether you could open up opportunities by eliminating them. Threats What obstacles do you face? What are your competitors doing?

Are quality standards or specifications for your job, products or services changing? Tip: When looking at opportunities and threats, PEST Analysis can help to ensure that you don't overlook external factors, such as new government regulations, or technological changes in your industry. Further SWOT Tips If you're using SWOT Analysis as a serious tool (rather than as a casual "warm up" for strategy formulation), make sure you're rigorous in the way you apply it: Only accept precise, verifiable statements ("Cost advantage of US$10/ton in sourcing raw material x", rather than "Good value for money"). Ruthlessly prune long lists of factors, and prioritize them, so that you spend your time thinking about the most significant factors. Is changing technology threatening your position? Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems? Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?

 Make sure that options generated are carried through to later stages in the strategy formation process. Apply it at the right level - for example, you might need to apply SWOT Analysis at product or product-line level, rather than at the much vaguer whole company level. Use it in conjunction with other strategy tools (for example, USP Analysis and Core Competence Analysis) so that you get a comprehensive picture of the situation you're dealing with. Note: You could also consider using the TOWS Matrix. This is quite similar to SWOT in that it also focuses on the same four elements of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. But TOWS can be a helpful alternative because it emphasizes the external environment, while SWOT focuses on the internal environment. Example SWOT Analysis A start-up small consultancy business might draw up the following SWOT Analysis: Strengths: We are able to respond very quickly as we have no red tape, and no need for higher management approval. We are able to give really good customer care, as the current small amount of work means we have plenty of time to devote to customers. Our lead consultant has strong reputation in the market.

We can change direction quickly if we find that our marketing is not working. We have low overheads, so we can offer good value to customers.

Weaknesses: Our company has little market presence or reputation. We have a small staff, with a shallow skills base in many areas. We are vulnerable to vital staff being sick, and leaving. Our cash flow will be unreliable in the early stages.

Opportunities: Our business sector is expanding, with many future opportunities for success. Local government wants to encourage local businesses. Our competitors may be slow to adopt new technologies.

Threats: Developments in technology may change this market beyond our ability to adapt. A small change in the focus of a large competitor might wipe out any market position we achieve. As a result of their SWOT Analysis, the consultancy may decide to specialize in rapid response, good value services to local businesses and local government. Marketing would be in selected local publications to get the greatest possible market presence for a set advertising budget, and the consultancy should keep up-to-date with changes in technology where possible. Key Points SWOT Analysis is a simple but useful framework for analyzing your organization's strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and

threats that you face. It helps you focus on your strengths, minimize threats, and take the greatest possible advantage of opportunities available to you. SWOT Analysis can be used to "kick off" strategy formulation, or in a more sophisticated way as a serious strategy tool. You can also use it to get an understanding of your competitors, which can give you the insights you need to craft a coherent and successful competitive position. When carrying out your SWOT Analysis, be realistic and rigorous. Apply it at the right level, and supplement it with other optiongeneration tools where appropriate. Using the TOWS Matrix Developing strategic options from an external-internal analysis TOWS Analysis is a variant of the classic business tool, SWOT Analysis. TOWS and SWOT are acronyms for different arrangements of the words Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. By analyzing the external environment (threats and opportunities), and your internal environment (weaknesses and strengths), you can use these techniques to think about the strategy of your whole organization, a department or a team. You can also use them to think about a process, a marketing campaign, or even your own skills and experience. Our article on SWOT Analysis helps you perform a thorough SWOT/TOWS Analysis. At a practical level, the only difference between TOWS and SWOT is that TOWS emphasizes the external environment whilst SWOT emphasizes the internal environment. In both cases, this analysis results in a SWOT (or TOWS) Matrix like the one shown below: Strengths Opportunities Weaknesses Threats

In this article, we look at how you can extend your use of SWOT and TOWS to think in detail about the strategic options open to you. While this approach can be used just as well with SWOT as TOWS, it's most often associated with TOWS. Identifying Strategic Options SWOT or TOWS analysis helps you get a better understanding of the strategic choices that you face. (Remember that "strategy" is the art of determining how you'll "win" in business and life.) It helps you ask, and answer, the following questions: How do you: Make the most of your strengths? Circumvent your weaknesses? Capitalize on your opportunities? Manage your threats?

A next step of analysis, usually associated with the externally-focused TOWS Matrix, helps you think about the options that you could pursue. To do this you match external opportunities and threats with your internal strengths and weaknesses, as illustrated in the matrix below: TOWS Strategic Alternatives Matrix (O)External Opportunities 1. 2. 3. (T)External Threats 1. 2.

3. 4. (S)Internal Strengths 1. 2. 3. 4. SO "Maxi-Maxi" Strategy Strategies that use strengths to maximize opportunities. ST"Maxi-Mini" Strategy Strategies that use strengths to minimize threats. Internal Weaknesses (W) 1. 2. 3. 4. WO"Mini-Maxi" Strategy Strategies that minimize weaknesses by taking advantage of opportunities. WT "Mini-Mini" Strategy Strategies that minimize weaknesses and avoid threats.

This helps you identify strategic alternatives that address the following additional questions: Strengths and Opportunities (SO) How can you use your strengths to take advantage of the opportunities? Strengths and Threats (ST) How can you take advantage of your strengths to avoid real and potential threats? Weaknesses and Opportunities (WO) How can you use your opportunities to overcome the weaknesses you are experiencing? Weaknesses and Threats (WT) How can you minimize your weaknesses and avoid threats? Using the Tool Step 1: Print off our free SWOT Worksheet and perform a TOWS/SWOT analysis, recording your findings in the space provided. This helps you understand what your strengths and weaknesses are, as well as identifying the opportunities and threats that you should be looking at. Step 2: Print off our free TOWS Strategic Options Worksheet, and copy the key conclusions from the SWOT Worksheet into the area provided (shaded in blue). Step 3: For each combination of internal and external environmental factors, consider how you can use them to create good strategic options: Strengths and Opportunities (SO) How can you use your strengths to take advantage of these opportunities? Strengths and Threats (ST) How can you take advantage of your strengths to avoid real and potential threats? Weaknesses and Opportunities (WO) How can you use your opportunities to overcome the weaknesses you are experiencing?

 Weaknesses and Threats (WT) How can you minimize your weaknesses and avoid threats? Note: The WT quadrant weaknesses and threats is concerned with defensive strategies. Put these into place to protect yourself from loss, however don't rely on them to create success. The options you identify are your strategic alternatives, and these can be listed in the appropriate quadrant of the TOWS worksheet. Tip: When you have many factors to consider, it may be helpful to construct a matrix to match individual strengths and weaknesses to the individual opportunities and threats you've identified. To do this, you can construct a matrix such as the one below for each quadrant (SO, ST, WO, and WT). SO Matrix O1 O2 O3 O4 This helps you analyze in more depth options that hold the greatest promise. Note any new alternatives you identify on the TOWS Strategic Alternatives worksheet. Step 4: Evaluate the options you've generated, and identify the ones that give the greatest benefit, and that best achieve the mission and vision of your organization. Add these to the other strategic options that you're considering. S1 S2 S3 S4

Tip: See the Mind Tools Strategy and Creativity Sections for other useful techniques for understanding your environment, and analyzing your strategic options. And see our Problem Solving and Decision Making Sections for techniques for understanding these options in more detail, and deciding between them. Key Points: The TOWS Matrix is a relatively simple tool for generating strategic options. By using it, you can look intelligently at how you can best take advantage of the opportunities open to you, at the same time that you minimize the impact of weaknesses and protect yourself against threats. Used after detailed analysis of your threats, opportunities, strength and weaknesses, it helps you consider how to use the external environment to your strategic advantage, and so identify some of the strategic options available to you.

All the Best