Professional Documents
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Analysis
SWOT Analysis Overview
What is SWOT Analysis?
A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is a tool used to
provide a general or detailed snapshot of a company's health. Think of your SWOT
as a tune-up that every business needs periodically to diagnose and fix what’s a bit
worn, what’s on the verge of breaking down, or what’s already broken and needs
replacement--so that you can keep the business humming—even better than it has
in the past.
9 SWOT offers professional managers an effective evaluative technique to aid the
decision making process.
9 It can not find the solution for you, but it will ensure that issues are: identified,
classified and prioritized clearly, showing the problem in terms of key underlying
issues. Decision makers can then see the answer.
9 It's a four-part approach to analyzing a company's overall strategy or the strategy of
its business units. All four aspects must be considered to implement a long-range
plan of action.
Delta Air Lines Inc., chose to invest in a multibillion-dollar customer service system that addresses
the flight delay problems experienced by 20% of its passengers. Although some companies might
think the move was excessive considering 80% of customers have no problems, Delta believed
customer service was an important area for increasing market share and that competitors could
pose a threat if Delta didn't address the problem.
Another example is Dell Computer Corp., which is a great example of how an IT company can use
a SWOT analysis to carve out a strong business strategy, according to Glazer.
Dell recognized that its strength was selling directly to consumers and keeping its costs lower than
those of other hardware vendors.
As for weaknesses, the company acknowledged that it lacked solid dealer relationships.
Identifying opportunities was an easier task. Dell looked at the marketplace and saw that customers
increasingly valued convenience and one-stop shopping and that they knew what they wanted to
purchase. Dell also saw the Internet as a powerful marketing tool.
On the threats side, Dell realized that competitors like IBM and Compaq Computer Corp. had
stronger brand names, which put Dell in a weaker position with dealers.
Dell put together a business strategy that included mass customization and just-in-time
manufacturing (letting customers design their own computers and custom-building systems). Dell
also stuck with its direct sales plan and offered sales on the Internet.
Clarity in strategy works. Fuzzy strategies fail. Most strategies
fail because they don't have a clear direction
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SWOT Analysis
Internal and External Analysis
To get a better look at the big picture, consider both internal and external forces when
uncovering opportunities and threats. What better source than the group of
participants composed of stakeholders, staff,
Internal Analysis:
volunteers, and/or community residents?
Examine the capabilities of your organization. This can be done by analyzing your
organization's strengths and weaknesses.
External Analysis:
Look at the main points in the environmental analysis, and identify those points that
pose opportunities for your organization, and those that pose threats or obstacles to
performance.
Key points: Once the SWOT analysis has been completed, mark each point with:
9 Things that MUST be addressed immediately.
9 Things that can be handled now.
9 Things that should be researched further.
9 Things that should be planned for the future.
A SWOT session is a participatory group process which
produces output valuable for annual planning
© Copyright 2006 - Advanced Integrated Technologies Group, Inc., All rights reserved.
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SWOT Analysis
The Basics (Cont.)
9 Now that each point has been prioritized, set an action point for each and assign it to a
person, add a deadline.
9 Although the SWOT analysis will assist in identifying issues, the action plan will ensure
that something is done about each one. With complicated issues, a further
brainstorming session might be done to analyze it further & decide what action to take.
9 The SWOT analysis results should be reviewed every few months to determine if
anything has changed and what has been achieved.
9 The "Brainstorm" is best used when setting up a new project or organization, works
best in smaller groups than a SWOT session, and can be effectively used in the
transformation process when the participants are a smaller group of managers.
9 The observations generated by the participants should not include any major surprises
to the organizers and coordinators of the program and the administrators of the
organization.
9 It can be used in a conference where the participants come from different locations
and organizations.
4. Then invest 75% or more of your business aggregate time, resources and
energies in that key thing that you do best and generates the most profits.
5. Tell the truth and the good stories about your business to your customers
and markets. In appealing to all types of markets that you do virtually anything,
your messages usually become mush, you lose credibility, you lose attention
(despite any level of marketing funding)—you create your own marketing and sales
nightmare. All things to all people is not a position. It is a death sentence.
6. Grow organically for the foreseeable future. Sure there are business cases to
consider to purchase highly complementary or directly competitive businesses, but
those are the exceptions versus the rules. Try it the old fashioned way for a while.
7. Execute, execute, execute. This is the bane of BADD executives—who would
rather go after that next windmill, do that next deal, and look busy--versus
executing, which is a lot harder work.
Get input from at least 3-5 key people who have varying views & opinions
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SWOT Analysis
Tricks
9 Minimize the “group grope” and meeting stuff while developing your SWOT — meet
to discuss the SWOT, modify it as necessary, and develop one or more action steps.
9 Ask the hard questions and challenge all of your basic assumptions — none are
sacred.
9 Be objectively critical but also don’t undersell yourself.
9 Get the key facts but don’t get paralyzed with analysis and fact-finding. You may
need to do some other fact-finding and analysis before implementing your
recommendations, but don’t get bogged down at the micro-level of detail.
9 Keep “personal” issues off the list — and handle those separately.
9 This is important, especially if there are to be major changes in the organization and
the content of the program; all members should feel comfortable that this is a group
process, not dominated by factions or individuals.
“Its what you learn after you know it all that counts!”
- John Wooden
© Copyright 2006 - Advanced Integrated Technologies Group, Inc., All rights reserved.
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About The Author
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