SWOT Analysis Shristha Bhandari
SWOT Analysis Shristha Bhandari
SWOT Analysis Shristha Bhandari
Strengths
Strengths describe what an organization excels at and what separates it from the
competition: a strong brand, loyal customer base, a strong balance sheet, unique technology,
and so on. For example, a hedge fund may have developed a proprietary trading strategy that
returns market-beating results. It must then decide how to use those results to attract new
investors.
Weaknesses
Weaknesses stop an organization from performing at its optimum level. They are areas
where the business needs to improve to remain competitive: a weak brand, higher-than-
average turnover, high levels of debt, an inadequate supply chain, or lack of capital.
Opportunities
Opportunities refer to favourable external factors that could give an organization a
competitive advantage. For example, if a country cuts tariffs, a car manufacturer can export
its cars into a new market, increasing sales and market share.
Threats
Threats refer to factors that have the potential to harm an organization. For example, a
drought is a threat to a wheat-producing company, as it may destroy or reduce the crop yield.
Other common threats include things like rising costs for materials, increasing competition,
tight labour supply and so on.
SWOT Table
Strengths Weaknesses
1. What is our competitive advantage? 1. Where can we improve?
2. What resources do we have? 2. What products are underperforming?
3. What products are performing well? 3. Where are we lacking resources?
Threats Opportunities
1. What new regulations threaten 1. What technology can we use to improve
operations? operations?
2. What do our competitors do well? 2. Can we expand our core operations?
3. What consumer trends threaten business? 3. What new market segments can we explore?
Make decisions about the best path for your initiative. Identifying your opportunities for
success in context of threats to success can clarify directions and choices.
Determine where change is possible. If you are at a juncture or turning point, an inventory
of your strengths and weaknesses can reveal priorities as well as possibilities.
Adjust and refine plans mid-course. A new opportunity might open wider avenues, while a
new threat could close a path that once existed.
SWOT also offers a simple way of communicating about your initiative or program and an
excellent way to organize information you've gathered from studies or surveys.
1. Have a clear SWOT analysis objective: The marketing team can discuss which topic
needs immediate attention and this objective can be put to paper. This way, SWOT analysis
can be conducted in an organized and effective manner. For example, if an organization
intends to know whether or not to launch a new product – this becomes the primary objective
of SWOT.
3. Identify business’s strengths: An organization should understand what their strengths are,
what are those features of their functioning which are better than the others in the market.
Answers to these questions must be noted down. Workforce, location of the organization,
product quality, etc. are some examples of an organization’s strengths.
4. Identify the business’s weaknesses: There are certain elements of the organization which
needs improvement. Marketers should create a list of these elements which they believe are
harming their reputation in the market. Acknowledging these weaknesses and working to
eliminate them should be the intention of the analysis. This list can include aspects such as
the reduction in product clients, constant downsizing of market share, lack of proper staff
member’s.
6. Identify threats to the organization: Note down factors that are not a part of an
organization’s ecosystem but are threats to business growth. Unstable markets, the increasing
competition in the market etc. are some threats to a business.
Once the lists are put into a matrix, the degree of importance corresponding to each of the
points so that marketing strategies for immediate implementation can be put into action.
8. Create a strategy to solve identified problems: After creating the SWOT matrix and
answering all these questions, the marketing team can work to create marketing strategies to
attain organizational aims.
Weaknesses:
Which sections of your organization need improvement?
Which aspects of your business can the competitors benefit from?
Do you lack subject matter expertise?
Do you think your business has made enough money?
How progressive are your competitors in terms of coping with market trends?
Opportunities:
Which trends do you think can bring you new opportunities?
Will these trends benefit the market?
Where does the current market lack?
Are your competitors not successful in meeting customer demands?
If yes, can you target those customers?
Threats:
Are there competitors in the market who can cut down your business?
What are the roadblocks you are currently facing?
Do your products/services comply with every existing law?
Do you foresee a change in government laws in the near future?
Do you believe your target audience might evolve in their product preferences?
But how do you turn your SWOT results into strategies? One way to do this is to consider
how your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats overlap with each
other. This is sometimes called a TOWS analysis.
For example, look at the strengths you identified, and then come up with ways to use those
strengths to maximize the opportunities (these are strength-opportunity strategies). Then, look
at how those same strengths can be used to minimize the threats you identified (these are
strength-threats strategies).
Continuing this process, use the opportunities you identified to develop strategies that will
minimize the weaknesses (weakness-opportunity strategies) or avoid the threats (weakness-
threats strategies).