SWOT Analysis - An Exercise everyone must do
TIPS: SWOT Analysis: A Lesson to remember
Dear Friends,Greetings from Shabbar Suterwala.
Here is an interesting lesson for all us to Learn as well as start implementing in our life, a powerful tool to improve ourself and whatever we want to improve. Take some time off to read this or maybe take a hard copy of this and read it at leisure time or rather I would say quality time to get more insights about this exercise. Its works out wonderfully if you do it in a group and exchange notes. Wish you a great learning experience.
SWOT Analysis: A Lesson to remember.
SWOT Analysis is an effective method of identifying your Strengths and Weaknesses, and to examine the Opportunities and Threats you face. Often carrying out an analysis using the SWOT framework will be enough to reveal changes which can be usefully made.
SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. Once key issues have been identified, they feed into marketing objectives. It is a very popular tool with marketing students because it is quick and easy to learn.
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. For example, a strength could be your specialist marketing expertise. A weakness could be the lack of a new product.
Opportunities and threats are external factors. For example, an opportunity could be a developing market such as the Internet. A threat could be a new competitor in your home market.
During the SWOT exercise, list factors in the relevant boxes. It's that simple.
To carry out a SWOT Analysis write down answers to the following questions:
Strengths:
What are your advantages?
What do you do well?
Consider this from your own point of view and from the point of view of the people you deal with. Don't be modest, be realistic. If you are having any difficulty with this, try writing down a list of your characteristics. Some of these will hopefully be strengths!
Weaknesses:
What could be improved?
What is done badly?
What should be avoided?
Again this should be considered from an internal and external basis - do other people perceive weaknesses that you don't see? Do your competitors do any better? It is best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible.
Opportunities:
Where are the good chances facing you?
What are the interesting trends?
Useful opportunities can come from such things as:
Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale
Changes in government policy related to your field
Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, etc.
Local Events
Threats:
What obstacles do you face?
What is your competition doing?
Are the required specifications for your job, products or services changing?
Is changing technology threatening your position?
Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
Carrying out this analysis is will often be illuminating - both in terms of pointing out what needs to be done, and in putting problems into perspective.
A word of caution, SWOT analysis can be very subjective. At time two people rarely come-up with the same final version of SWOT.
TOWS analysis is extermely similar. It simply looks at the negative factors first in order to turn them into positive factors. So use it as guide and not a prescription. Adding and weighting criteria to each factor increase validity, but that's another aspect of it.
Now, you have become knowlegable about SWOT, it’s high time now you take a pencil and paper and carry out SWOT about yourself, your Organization and its Products/Services, your Family or practical whatever you are concerned about and want to improve. This is one of the very powerful tool to do so.
“Knowing is Knowing and Doing is Doing, Knowing and Doing are two different things”
With Best Regards
Shabbar Suterwala
Corporate Soft Skills Trainer
email: shabbarsuterwala@hotmail.com
More such artciles at http://shabbarsuterwala.blogspot.com/
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