CE 403:

Professional Practices
SWOT
 Conducting the SWOT Analysis

Ideally, in a group or workshop, brainstorm each category

and capture the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats pertinent to the situation, context, strategy or
project. Aim to only include key points and make sure these
are backed up with evidence ― but don’t be too rigid.
Also, don’t spend too much time capturing this information
and don’t over analyze. As with all brainstorming exercises
the aim is to capture ideas pertinent to the current business
situation.
Finally, highlight the most important issues and then rank
them in order of importance before using our SWOT analysis
example as a checklist for your own SWOT.
 Checklist of Possible SWOT Factors ― SWOT Analysis Example
Internal Factors
Strengths Weaknesses
 Leadership and management skills  Lack leadership and management skills
 Core competences  Key skills gaps
 Resources  Weak finances
 Reputation  Low quality and reputation
 Product or service quality  Products or services not differentiated
 Market position
 Capacity
External Factors
Opportunities Threats
 Economic growth  Economic downturn
 New products or services  New market entrants
 Weak competitors  Increased competition
 Demographic change  Slow growth
 Change in political and economic  Change in political and economic
environment environment
 Market growth  Technological threat
 Global influences  Global warming/ weather
 New technology developments  Demographic change
 Developing a Strategic Plan

The next stage of the analysis is to take the highest ranking

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and
answer the following questions:
• How do you use your strengths to take advantage of
opportunities?
• How do you overcome weaknesses preventing you from
taking advantage of opportunities?
• How can your strengths reduce the probability of threats?
• What can you do about your weaknesses to make the
threats less likely?
As you answer these questions you will begin to understand
the external forces you contend with and how to tackle
them. Use your understanding of the implications to develop
a plan of action.
 Benefits and advantages
• The SWOT helps any organization to decide its future strategy. An
organization can develop its strategy build upon its strengths in order to
utilize the opportunities as well as eliminating weakness and protecting
itself from any threat.
• The SWOT analysis in social work practice framework is beneficial
because it helps organizations decide whether or not an objective is
obtainable and therefore enables organizations to set achievable goals,
objectives, and steps to further the social change or community
development effort. It enables organizers to take visions and produce
practical and efficient outcomes that effect long-lasting change, and it
helps organizations gather meaningful information to maximize their
potential. Completing a SWOT analysis is a useful process regarding the
consideration of key organizational priorities, such as gender and
cultural diversity and fundraising objectives.
 Limitations
• SWOT is intended as a starting point for discussion and cannot, in itself,
show managers how to achieve a competitive advantage. Because the
SWOT analysis is a snapshot of the firm at a particular moment in time,
the analysis might obscure the fact that both the internal and external
environment are rapidly changing.
• Some authors have critiqued the misuse of the SWOT analysis as a
technique that can be quickly designed without critical thought leading
to a misrepresentation of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats within an organization's internal and external surroundings.
• If a firm becomes preoccupied with a single strength, such as cost
control, they can neglect their weaknesses, such as product quality.
• Another limitation includes the development of a SWOT analysis simply
to defend previously decided goals and objectives. This misuse leads to
limitations on brainstorming possibilities and "real" identification of
barriers.
THANK YOU