Swot Analysis: What is it and how to do it Right

SWOT Analysis is a wonderful analysis technique, which helps people to take strategic decisions with proper reasoning. This technique helps in determining the strengths and weakness and identify the open opportunities and the threats that can one face.

In other words, the SWOT analysis helps people in determining the internal (strengths and weakness) and external factors (opportunities and threats) that can impact an organization, project, decision, product or even a person.

SWOT Guide

While working on this analysis, the following questions should be asked

Strength

1. Which area is your strongest?
2. Which are your best selling products?
3. What others see as your strength?
4. What is your organization’s USP
5. What do you do better than others

Weakness

1. What are your weak areas?
2. What are your worst performing products?
3. What others see as your weakness?
4. Where do you have a scope of improvement?
5. Where do you have fewer resources than others?

Opportunities

1. What opportunities are open to you?
2. How can you turn your strengths into opportunities
3. What are the changing trends that can be beneficial to you?

Threats

1. What are your competitors working on?
2. Are there any obstacles affecting your work?
3. Is there any weakness that can affect your business?
4. Is there any changing trend or policies that can affect your business?

How to do a SWOT Analysis

1. Before starting the analysis, it is important to first draw an objective. The decision-makers need to specify the objective they want to achieve for the organization, project, product etc.
2. Once the objective is set the individuals list down the strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threat under different columns.
3. They can use various questions as mentioned above while performing the analysis.
4. Once the factors are determined, the decision-makers can compare these factors and take a fruitful decision. It also helps in determining the steps need to be taken to convert the opportunities and overcome the threats.

Limitations of SWOT Analysis

Even though SWOT analysis is a popular tool with the decision-makers for taking strategic decisions, it is not free from its limitations.

Categorizing the internal and external factors as strength, weakness, opportunities and threat is very subjective and, there is a lot of uncertainties like price fluctuations, government rules, environment, labor, the political environment that can affect the business which the SWOT analysis cannot foresee.

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