Assignment:
SWOT Paper
SWOT Analysis
When starting a new business along the way there are obstacles that can come about. It is imperative for any organization to construct a SWOT analysis when you have management and owners that are wanting to build upon creative ways to sell their product or service and pave the way with new proposals to share. A SWOT analysis helps a company know their problems and influences around every aspect of the organization. This kind of analysis can assist the company to watch in launching their products and services out in the markets too early and make sure they do not get caught up in falling prey to mistakes. The key to a long success in an organization is to know and identify the key areas of the SWOT analysis (Dess, Eisner, Lumpkin & McNamara, 2013).
Elements of the SWOT Analysis
The four elements of a SWOT analysis that are in association of projects for a company are the threats, opportunities, weaknesses and strengths. The strengths of the company can be an encouraging advancement to achieve strategic goals. When you have an overlay of the organization's strengths and opportunities that take the weaknesses of the company and the threats from the external environment, it will result in a spiral of development that is considered ideal for a company's strategic development (Li, 2017). A company's strengths may get based on its access to unique resources, widely known brand name, excellent product quality, availability of innovative technologies, and highly trained personnel. The weaknesses of a company are its negative internal characteristics that allow predetermining its reduction in the process of achieving strategic goals that can be ongoing. This deceleration becomes significant when the main weaknesses of the organization get merged with primary threats from the external environment. An organization's weaknesses may include factors such as a bad reputation, poor customer service or lack of funding (Li, 2017).
Opportunities that help characterize the events in the external environment can have the right response to which the company can achieve a substantial increase in sales and profits. For example, market opportunities may derive from a competitors' failures, population growth or the rise of demand. Threats that characterize the events in the external environment that have an absence of a proper response can cause the business a significant decline in sales and profits. Some example of market threats may include factors such as changes in customers' preferences, increase in taxes or entry of new competitors (Li, 2017).
It is important to note that while SWOT analyses have four common components - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats - the former two of these elements are internal, while the latter two are external. Knowing and acting on forces within the organization is as necessary as knowing and acting on those influences that affect the business from without.
Differences in Analyses
Some SWOT analyses include supplementary elements not necessary in others.For example, "PEST (political, economic, social and technological), MOST (mission, objective, strategies and tactics) and SCRS (strategy, current state, requirements and solution) analyses" (Taylor, 2016, "SWOT supplements and alternatives") may be beneficial to the comprehensive strategic plan of the business. Alternatively, new companies, in their establishment, may find that the internal factors do not need to be weighed as heavily as those external to the business.
Essential SWOT Elements
1. Identify the elements the team considers most important and that would be included in a SWOT conducted by the team. Why were these chosen?
2. Purpose of a SWOT Analysis
3. Without proper analysis, management may make poor decisions, leading to missed opportunities and allowing competitors to gain an unnecessary advantage. Thus, the main purpose of a SWOT analysis is to gain insight into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats management face when making decisions about potential new projects. For instance, management is able to analyze every potential outcome, both positive and negative, that may impact the success of future projects. In a sense, when making an important decision, conducting a SWOT analysis is one of the most important decisions in the strategic planning process (Taylor, 2016).
4. Notably, SWOT is a tool management uses to better understand their core marketing advantages and disadvantages, while providing insight about external factors (opportunities and threats). For example, management can determine the organizations strengths and weaknesses; high performing areas within the company, and areas that need improvement. Essentially, it removes "blind spots" that the company may have. With respect to opportunities and threats, SWOT allows management to consider ways to handle potential threats, while taking full advantage of any opportunities that come their way.
Alternatives to SWOT Analyses
1. SWOT is not the only tool available to analyze an organization's needs. Scope Planning - situation, core competencies, obstacles, prospects and expectations. It not only analyzes internal and external factors, but it also attempts to align the internal with the external to provide a road map of strategic development. Soar is another way to analyze, it identifies strengths, opportunities, aspirations and results. The Defense/Offense Evaluations, with this method you are basically dividing the business by two realms, first by defending its existing product or markets by its profits and the offense is geared at gaining new products and markets, as well as more profits. Also there is the Core Assessment, which is a leaner version of SWOT, it helps start up business monitor their growth and plan for the future. Value Chain Analysis, value creating activities, this is not always used as an alternative, but sometimes along with SWOT.
2. A SWOT analysis is not a process but a tool used to structure a collection of data in settings such as brainstorming sessions. Some advantages of the tool are its application neutrality, the multi-level analysis that can be achieved using it, data integration, the simplicity and cost. A SWOT analysis can be applied to an organization, its departments, teams or individuals. The analysis requires data from a number of sources and therefore improves planning and communications and can enhance the decision-making process in an organization. A SWOT analysis does not require technical skill or extensive training and can be performed by just about any staff member who has knowledge of the company. The simplicity of this tool allows it to be done in a short amount of time. Some disadvantages are the ambiguity, subjective analysis and, a lack of weighting factors. The tool includes listing points in each of the four elements but there is no system for ranking these individual items by level of significance. The tool also creates a one-dimensional result where each factor listed as one of the four elements is viewed to have only one impact. In other words, it does not take into consideration that one factor could be a strength and a weakness or, potentially a threat. The analysis is also based on data provided from multiple sources which can be based on the bias of the individual providing data (Nordmeyer, 2017).
References
Dess, G., Eisner, A., Lumpkin, G.T., & McNamara, G. (2014). Strategic management: Creating competitive advantages (7th ed). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Li, A. (2017). What Are the Elements of a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats (SWOT) Analysis Strategy?.Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/elements-strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats-swot-analysis-strategy-14554.html
Nordmeyer, B. (2017). Chron. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-amp-disadvantages-swot-analysis-41398.html
Taylor, N. (2016). SWOT analysis: What it is and how to use it. Business News Daily. Retrieved from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4245-swot-analysis.html
Winston, B. (2017). Alternatives to SWOT Analysis. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/alternatives-swot-analysis-64967.html