Disclaimer
Please note that the information provided isn’t intended and should not be relied upon as professional or personal nancial
product advice. You should seek professional advice before making any decision that could aect the nancial health of your
business. Source TSBC.com.
SWOT analysis guide
Everyone wants to move forward, but nding out where you
should go and how you get there – and agreeing with other
stakeholders along the way – can be a bit of a headache,
to say the least. Having said that, it was a lot harder before
SWOT Analysis was developed to help businesses assess
their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats –
SWOT.
• Strengths – top strengths or benets of your business,
and how you can protect and enhance them.
• Weaknesses – your weaknesses or issues, and how
you can minimize them or do better.
• Opportunities – top opportunities for your business
and how you can access and take advantage of them.
• Threats – your top threats, and how you can minimize
them and do better.
Our SWOT template will help you to identify each of these
characteristics for your business so that you can better
understand what you’re doing well, what you could improve,
and which external factors could aect your business.
Understanding the SWOT matrix
The concept seems simple, which is one of the reasons it’s
such an eective tool for business analysis. Each of the four
factors are represented in a grid like this:
First, we look at the grid horizontally. The top row – strengths
and weaknesses – are internal factors that you have some
control over. Strengths might include highly trained and
experienced sta, strong brand awareness or a great
location. Examples of weaknesses could be quality issues,
logistical problems, or poor service standards.
The bottom row represents external factors that are outside
your control. For example, a threat might be a competitor
trying to lure away your best employees, whereas an
opportunity could be a new technology changing how a
process is done.
Now it’s time to look at the matrix vertically. The rst
column – strengths and opportunities – are both positive
factors. They are helpful. The second column lists the issue’s
weaknesses and threats, both of which are negative and
harmful.
Strategic planning is one of the biggest concerns of any business, from long-standing global conglomerates to
one-man-bands that have just started up.
How to use the SWOT template
There are four steps to eectively conducting a SWOT
analysis:
1. Dene the issue
Clearly identify the issue you’re analyzing. Whether you’re
looking at your business as a whole, assessing a new idea
or analyzing a competitor, dene it as clearly as you can.
The better dened the issue, the better able you’ll be in
identifying relevant factors.
2. Work the grid
Asses the issue you’re analyzing using each of the four
criteria. This is not always a linear process and you should
feel free to jump around the grid as ideas come to you. For
example, as you’re listing strengths, you may realise that a
serious risk exists that threatens that particular strength.
3. Analyze the results
The idea here is to be brutally honest with yourself. Are
there strengths you’re not making the most of, opportunities
you’re missing or weaknesses you’re ignoring? Think about
each of these factors and how you might take advantage of
those that are helpful and x, mitigate, or eliminate those
that are harmful.
4. Repeat
Run a SWOT analysis on a regular basis, such as each quarter
so that you’re continually ne tuning your business strategy,
or when you’re assessing a new idea or need assistance
making decisions.
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