SWOT analysis

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SWOT analysis, with its four elements in a 2×2 matrix.

SWOT analysis (alternatively SWOT Matrix) is a structured planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. A SWOT analysis can be carried out for a product, place, industry or person. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a convention at the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International) in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies.[1][2] The degree to which the internal environment of the firm matches with the external environment is expressed by the concept of strategic fit.

Setting the objective should be done after the SWOT analysis has been performed. This would allow achievable goals or objectives to be set for the organization.

  • Strengths: characteristics of the business or project that give it an advantage over others.
  • Weaknesses: characteristics that place the business or project at a disadvantage relative to others
  • Opportunities: elements that the project could exploit to its advantage
  • Threats: elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or project

Identification of SWOTs is important because they can inform later steps in planning to achieve the objective.

First, the decision makers should consider whether the objective is attainable, given the SWOTs. If the objective is not attainable a different objective must be selected and the process repeated.

Users of SWOT analysis need to ask and answer questions that generate meaningful information for each category (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) to make the analysis useful and find their competitive advantage.

Matching and converting

One way of utilizing SWOT is matching and converting. Matching is used to find competitive advantage by matching the strengths to opportunities. Converting is to apply conversion strategies to convert weaknesses or threats into strengths or opportunities. An example of conversion strategy is to find new markets. If the threats or weaknesses cannot be converted, a company should try to minimize or avoid them.[3]

Internal and external factors

SWOT analysis aims to identify the key internal and external factors seen as important to achieving an objective. The factors come from within a company's unique value chain.[citation needed] SWOT analysis groups key pieces of information into two main categories:

  1. internal factors – the strengths and weaknesses internal to the organization
  2. external factors – the opportunities and threats presented by the environment external to the organization

Analysis may view the internal factors as strengths or as weaknesses depending upon their effect on the organization's objectives. What may represent strengths with respect to one objective may be weaknesses (distractions, competition) for another objective. The factors may include all of the 4Ps; as well as personnel, finance, manufacturing capabilities, and so on.

The external factors may include macroeconomic matters, technological change, legislation, and sociocultural changes, as well as changes in the marketplace or in competitive position. The results are often presented in the form of a matrix.

SWOT analysis is just one method of categorization and has its own weaknesses. For example, it may tend to persuade its users to compile lists rather than to think about actual important factors in achieving objectives. It also presents the resulting lists uncritically and without clear prioritization so that, for example, weak opportunities may appear to balance strong threats.

It is prudent not to eliminate any candidate SWOT entry too quickly. The importance of individual SWOTs will be revealed by the value of the strategies they generate. A SWOT item that produces valuable strategies is important. A SWOT item that generates no strategies is not important.

Use

The usefulness of SWOT analysis is not limited to profit-seeking organizations. SWOT analysis may be used in any decision-making situation when a desired end-state (objective) has been defined. Examples include: non-profit organizations, governmental units, and individuals. SWOT analysis may also be used in pre-crisis planning and preventive crisis management. SWOT analysis may also be used in creating a recommendation during a viability study/survey.

Criticism

Some findings from Menon et al. (1999)[4] and Hill and Westbrook (1997)[5] have shown that SWOT may harm performance. Other complementary analyses have been proposed, such as the Growth-share matrix.

SWOT - landscape analysis

The SWOT-landscape systematically deploys the relationships between overall objective and underlying SWOT-factors and provides an interactive, query-able 3D landscape.

The SWOT-landscape grabs different managerial situations by visualizing and foreseeing the dynamic performance of comparable objects according to findings by Brendan Kitts, Leif Edvinsson and Tord Beding (2000).[6]

Changes in relative performance are continually identified. Projects (or other units of measurements) that could be potential risk or opportunity objects are highlighted.

SWOT-landscape also indicates which underlying strength/weakness factors that have had or likely will have highest influence in the context of value in use (for ex. capital value fluctuations).

Corporate planning

As part of the development of strategies and plans to enable the organization to achieve its objectives, that organization will use a systematic/rigorous process known as corporate planning. SWOT alongside PEST/PESTLE can be used as a basis for the analysis of business and environmental factors.[7]

  • Set objectives – defining what the organization is going to do
  • Environmental scanning
    • Internal appraisals of the organization's SWOT, this needs to include an assessment of the present situation as well as a portfolio of products/services and an analysis of the product/service life cycle
  • Analysis of existing strategies, this should determine relevance from the results of an internal/external appraisal. This may include gap analysis which will look at environmental factors
  • Strategic Issues defined – key factors in the development of a corporate plan which needs to be addressed by the organization
  • Develop new/revised strategies – revised analysis of strategic issues may mean the objectives need to change
  • Establish critical success factors – the achievement of objectives and strategy implementation
  • Preparation of operational, resource, projects plans for strategy implementation
  • Monitoring results – mapping against plans, taking corrective action which may mean amending objectives/strategies.[8]

Marketing

Main article: Marketing management

In many competitor analyses, marketers build detailed profiles of each competitor in the market, focusing especially on their relative competitive strengths and weaknesses using SWOT analysis. Marketing managers will examine each competitor's cost structure, sources of profits, resources and competencies, competitive positioning and product differentiation, degree of vertical integration, historical responses to industry developments, and other factors.

Marketing management often finds it necessary to invest in research to collect the data required to perform accurate marketing analysis. Accordingly, management often conducts market research (alternately marketing research) to obtain this information. Marketers employ a variety of techniques to conduct market research, but some of the more common include:

  • Qualitative marketing research, such as focus groups
  • Quantitative marketing research, such as statistical surveys
  • Experimental techniques such as test markets
  • Observational techniques such as ethnographic (on-site) observation
  • Marketing managers may also design and oversee various environmental scanning and competitive intelligence processes to help identify trends and inform the company's marketing analysis.

Below is an example SWOT analysis of a market position of a small management consultancy with specialism in HRM.[8]

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats
Reputation in marketplace Shortage of consultants at operating level rather than partner level Well established position with a well defined market niche Large consultancies operating at a minor level
Expertise at partner level in HRM consultancy Unable to deal with multi-disciplinary assignments because of size or lack of ability Identified market for consultancy in areas other than HRM Other small consultancies looking to invade the marketplace

See also

References

  1. ↑ Humphrey, Albert (December 2005). "SWOT Analysis for Management Consulting". SRI Alumni Newsletter (SRI International). 
  2. ↑ "Albert Humphrey The "Father" of TAM". TAM UK. Retrieved 2012-06-03. 
  3. ↑ See for instance: Mehta, S. (2000) Marketing Strategy
  4. ↑ Menon, A. et al. (1999). "Antecedents and Consequences of Marketing Strategy Making". Journal of Marketing (American Marketing Association) 63 (2): 18–40. doi:10.2307/1251943. JSTOR 1251943. 
  5. ↑ Hill, T. & R. Westbrook (1997). "SWOT Analysis: It’s Time for a Product Recall". Long Range Planning 30 (1): 46–52. doi:10.1016/S0024-6301(96)00095-7. 
  6. ↑ Brendan Kitts, Leif Edvinsson and Tord Beding (2000) Crystallizing knowledge of historical company performance into interactive, query-able 3D Landscapes http://de.scientificcommons.org/534302
  7. ↑ Armstrong. M. A handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (10th edition) 2006, Kogan Page , London ISBN 0-7494-4631-5
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Armstrong.M Management Processes and Functions, 1996, London CIPD ISBN 0-85292-438-0

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