SWOT analysis is a technique that helps you to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and to develop a strategic strategy for you. It is relatively easy to conduct, compared to how it might be.
This not only analyzes those four for specific projects but the whole business plan as well. It is a tool that provides your team with strategic planning to anticipate future trends.
This article will explore what SWOT analysis is and discuss how to conduct it properly.
What is a SWOT Analysis?
SWOT analysis stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It is a framework to examine and analyze what a company or project has on those four aspects.
This SWOT analysis is primarily essential for your project or business planning. In short, it is a strategic planning method that considers and evaluates these four main components at once. They are:
Strengths
The first component is strengths, which resources would be your business or project does really well.
Weaknesses
Second is weakness, how some factors in your business or project are lacking and need improvement
Opportunities
Opportunities mean spotting more opportunities to bring huge development to your business or project.
Threats
Threats include anything that possibly harms your business or project.
Purposes
As this method helps arranging your business strategic planning, SWOT analysis has several main purposes as follows:
- The four components uncover key factors of the plan or strategy. It also exploits internal factors inside (strengths and weaknesses) and outside the company (opportunities and threats).
- Once the analysis discovers any potential problem triggers, either weaknesses or threats, you can challenge any possible problems in the future.
- The same method also applies to your company competitor, creating bigger chances to take the lead in the market.
- Applying this analysis might open more opportunities which significantly contribute to your company development. Of course, it gets you closer to your company goals.
- While this method provides reasonable strategic planning and problem solving, you can always consider them while making major business decisions.
Benefits
Once you have known the SWOT analysis purposes, the next step is to learn the benefits it offers, such as:
- how to make use of our strength that leads to more profitable opportunities.
- what strategy could deal with the company’s weaknesses which at the same time put the company at risk and carry the loss.
- what does the company do well (strength) that potentially beats the present threats or somewhere in the future.
- how the company’s weaknesses might expose further threats in the progress.
How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis
It is practically easy to conduct a SWOT analysis to assess and devise business strategy.
Here is how to get full experience of the analysis:
- First thing first, set your goals in detail, specific and rational. The decision making often relies on the basic principles in business.
- Next, set up the SWOt analysis components in a matrix or diagram. carefully learn which factor could prevent you from reaching the goals (weaknesses and threats) and which are helpful (strengths and opportunities)
- If required, form a team with different backgrounds to minutely evaluate your business-related factors. The team will help you specify which issues should be taken care of.
- After that, organize a brainstorming meeting. Make more questions about the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
While the discussion has come to an end, you can always link back to this article about SWOT analysis. This method has been known as one strategy that helps you work on a more focused business strategy, based on the principal factors.