SWOT Environmental Analsyis

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Incomplete. SWOT is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is the culmination of much internal analysis and external research. Thinking about the outcome, one can define SWOT analysis as the extent to which a firm’s current strategy, strengths and weaknesses are relevant to the business environment that the company is operating in.

Strengths and weaknesses are internal aspects and Kotler (1988) suggests that these should cover the four areas of marketing, financial, manufacturing and organisational. Opportunities and threats look at the main environmental issues such as the economic situation, social changes such as the population getting older and technological developments including the internet.

A SWOT analysis example for a cosmetics manufacturer might include:

Strengths

Strong, experienced marketing team

High brand recognition

Well established consumer testing panel

Weaknesses

Prices perceived to be too high

Costs spiralling out of control due to increases from raw material suppliers

Inconsistent brand identity

Opportunities

Growth of the internet leading to an increase in the number of consumers willing to buy online

New emerging teen market

Threats

New ‘affordable luxury’ entrants to the market threatening to take share from premium brands

Major competitor planning to integrate vertically and sell direct to the consumer

Rise in popularity of nail spas leading to decline in demand for nail products

A SWOT can be performed for companies, departments and divisions as well as individual people. Whatever the focus is the results will be very individual, even to companies competing in the same sector. One company may see new technology increasing the number of consumers who wish to buy online as an opportunity for ecommerce yet another player in the market, without any in-house internet expertise, may see this as a threat.

The importance of SWOT analysis lies in its ability to help clarify and summarise the key issues and opportunities facing a business. Value lies in considering the implications of the things identified and it can therefore play a key role in helping a business to set objectives and develop new strategies. The ideal outcome would be to maximise strengths and minimise weaknesses in order to take advantage of external opportunities and overcome the threats. For example, the environment may present an opportunity for a new product but if the company does not have the capacity to produce that product it may either decide to invest in new plant and machinery or to just steer clear.

The biggest advantages of SWOT analysis are that it is simple and only costs time to do.

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