By conducting a S.W.O.T. Analysis o your business, you are developing strong business strategies to help your business be the most successful it can be. S.W.O.T. Stands or strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The S(strengths) and W(weaknesses) are what you would refer to as internal to your company, meaning they can be changed over time with a lot o hard work. The O(opportunities) and T(threats) are external to your company, meaning they can not be changed. It is a good idea to conduct a S.W.O.T. analysis at least once a year. For businesses that are brand new, SWOT is convenient for planning and will set your business in the right direction by decreasing stresses later on. To conduct a SWOT for your business you start by making a list for each category of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
List from highest priority to lowest. Once you have finished brainstorming the lists and have your final lists, you then ask yourself and your company employees a series of questions.
A few common ones for strengths(internal positive factors) are...
“what do you do well”? And “what are all your internal resources”? (Examples are knowledge of employees and there backgrounds, education, credentials, reputation, and skills. Assets of a company like credit, existing costumers, distribution channels, patents, and technology.) “What advantages does your own company have over its competition”?
“Does your company have strong research and development capabilities”?
Then there are questions for weaknesses like asking yourself ...
“What factors that are within your control detract from your ability to maintain a competition edge”?
“What areas need improvement to go up against your strongest competitor with no worries”?
“What is your business missing”? “Are your business resources limited”?
Opportunities...
“What are some beneficial opportunities in your market”?
“Do you see any change in your market that arises opportunities for your company”? Now the last thing you really need to look at is the threats that you can recognize against your business. Some things to ask yourself are...
“Who are all your existing or potential competitors”?
“What are some things that might be out of your control that would put your business at risk”?(make a list)
“Are there any situations that threaten your market”?
After asking and answering these questions you can now start putting together some short term and long term developing strategies. A good way to do this is to look at all