For the uninitiated, a SWOT analysis is one of the most effective ways to get clear insight into the factors surrounding any decision that requires strategic planning. It has become a popular way to visualize elements involved in important personal choices, career moves, and business decisions, and it helps the user organize their thoughts in an objective manner. It is a useful tool in trying to determine the next move, where and how to improve, the challenges that may arise, and where the competition stands.
You can also use SWOT analysis to look at what other companies may be doing that you want to emulate, or what your competition is doing so you can stay in the game. Again, organizing the facts in an objective, logical manner, will give you the ability to get a handle on the information you need to make a good decision about where you want to go next.
Before we get into examples, let’s take a quick look at what a SWOT analysis is, and how to go about creating one. This article will use a business perspective, but you can apply all of these methods to career and personal use as well. Additionally, there are plenty of useful resources to help you through the process. A SWOT analysis template will get you started, giving you a way to organize your analysis in a way that is easy to read. You can use the examples provided to inspire your thought process.
Internal Factors
Internal factors are those within your business. They are things you have at least a minimal amount of control over, and you can change them based on the actions you take (or do not take) in the future.
Strengths – What does your business do well? What important resources do you have or provide? What do your customers like about your services, products, customer relationships, branding, and marketing?
Weaknesses – Where could your business use some improvement? What does your business need in order to keep growing or operate more efficiently? What else do your customers need from you that you do not provide? What about your marketing and branding strategies get a lukewarm or negative response?
External Factors
These are factors that your business has either indirect or no control over, and they are outside of your business operations. Using a SWOT analysis to understand the external factors affecting your decisions or strategy shifts is like creating a topographical map to help you navigate your next move.
Opportunities – Are there new or improved services or products you could offer your customers? Markets or marketing outlets you have not explored? Where are your opportunities for expansion?
Threats – What are the major roadblocks to achieving your goals? What is the competition doing that directly affects your company’s success? Are there threats to your product related to media or public perception?
A Roadmap to Success
Organizing your thoughts in this way will help you devise a plan for the best strategy to move forward with your plans. You can build a SWOT analysis in regard to your company overall, or you can create one related to a specific area you are looking to improve (your company’s customer service for example).
Ask every department in your business for input, even if you feel it may be unrelated. You may be surprised at a pattern that gets revealed by asking outside departments what they see. Using the example of improving customer service, insight from the accounting department may reveal an issue with invoicing that would vastly improve the customer experience.
You may need to group input together into categories, but do not dismiss anything until you have the whole picture. Once you have everything divided into its proper quadrant and subcategory, then you can start deciding which points are most important to your purpose and focus on those.
Here are a few examples of a well-done SWOT analysis to help you see the concepts at work:
1. Coca Cola
This SWOT analysis of Coca Cola lays out the basic outline of the company before going into the most important strategic strengths and weaknesses. It then examines the most important opportunities and threats, and makes recommendations for forward movement based on the information in the analysis.
2. Guidance Through the Process
This SWOT analysis is for an unnamed company, but it provides both the finished analysis and the thought process involved in the creation of the analysis in the first place. This example not only gives you the finished product, but it also walks you through, step-by-step.
3. Multiple Examples in One Place
Here you will find several examples of a SWOT analysis from different industries. They all make use of a quadrant-style template, and they can be used to inspire your next brainstorming session.
4. A SWOT Database
This is probably the most comprehensive database of SWOT analyses that you will find. You can search by category or by the brand name. This website is a great tool in learning to study other businesses for the purpose of growing your own.
