Elements of a SWOT Analysis and What Is a SWOT Analysis?
Setting the objective should be done after gathering the elements of a 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: are characteristics that place the team 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.
Conducting a SWOT Analysis With Handy Template Guides
The purpose of performing obtaining and establishing the elements of a SWOT analysis is to reveal positive forces that work together and potential problems that need to be addressed or at least recognized in ANY company. Before you conduct a SWOT session, decide what format or layout you will use to communicate these issues most clearly for you.
We will discuss the process of creating the analysis below, but first here are a few sample layouts-ideas of how you may go about gathering the elements of a SWOT analysis can look like in order to get to the final elements in order to start building your company objective, mission, value statements, or marketing messages.
INTERNAL | EXTERNAL | ||
| Strengths | Weaknesses | Opportunities | Threats |
Or if a looser structure helps you brainstorm, you can group positives and negatives to think broadly about your organization and its external environment.
Positives | Negatives |
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And here’s a third option for structuring your elements of a SWOT analysis that might be appropriate for a large initiative that requires detailed planning or many alternatives. This more elaborate “TOWS Matrix” is adapted from Fred David’s Strategic Management text (see “Print Resources”). Here a working table guides you to identify strategies by matching items in each quadrant.
STRENGTHS 1. | WEAKNESSES 1. | |
OPPORTUNITIES 1. | Opportunity-Strength (OS) Strategies Use strengths to take advantage of opportunities 1. | Opportunity-Weakness (OW) Strategies Overcome weaknesses by taking advantage of opportunities 1. |
THREATS 1. | Threat-Strength (TS) Strategies Use strengths to avoid threats 1. | Threat-Weakness (TW) Strategies Minimize weaknesses and avoid threats 1. |
You can then use this SWOT matrix to interview the CEO, President, Managers and employees. After these one-on-one interviews, you summarize the data you have gathered and submit a report on what SWOT OPPORTUNITIES present themselves through this process and present them to the CEO.
Use Pareto’s Principle to prioritize opportunities or use VOC (Voice of the Customer) techniques to implement these opportunities to improve your company. Continuous Improvement is what all companies should be doing daily.