Aug 6, 20192 min read

S.W.O.T Analysis

Every entrepreneur, business, community group should have a #SWOT analysis 📝👩🏿‍💻📊💰📈🏁

Whether you are developing your personal brand in order to land that next career opportunity or your are launching a new promising (coffee, medical, hair, finance, tutoring, non profit, oil & gas, food service... etc.) business.

You need to conduct a SWOT analysis to gain a better understanding of the competitive market, and what positives/negatives factors are working in your favor or against you.

A SWOT analysis (S.W.O.T Matrix) is also a great way to guide business-strategy meetings.

It's powerful to have everyone in the room to discuss the company's core strengths and weaknesses and then move from there to define the opportunities and threats, and finally to brainstorming ideas.

A company can use a SWOT matrix/tool for overall business strategy sessions or for a specific segment such as marketing, production or sales.

The SWOT analysis has been used in community work as a tool to identify positive and negative factors within organizations, communities, and the broader society that promote or inhibit successful implementation of social services and social change efforts.

STRENGTHS are INTERNAL and 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.

WEAKNESSES stop an organization from performing at its optimum level. They are INTERNAL 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 refer to favorable EXTERNAL factors that could give an organization a competitive advantage.

THREATS refer to EXTERNAL factors that have the potential to harm an organization. Common threats include things like rising costs for materials, increasing competition, tight labor supply and so on.