Swot analysis technique for constructing an application. SWOT analysis

SWOT is an acronym for Strengts (strengths), Weaknesses (weaknesses), Opportunities (opportunities) and Threats (threats). The internal situation of the company is reflected mainly in S and W, and the external environment in O and T. SWOT analysis is a development stage

The SWOT analysis methodology involves, firstly, identifying the internal strengths and weaknesses of the company, as well as external opportunities and threats, and, secondly, establishing links between them.

SWOT analysis helps answer the following questions:

Does the company use internal strengths or differentiating advantages in its strategy? If the company does not have distinctive advantages, what potential strengths could be?
- Are the weaknesses of the company its vulnerabilities in competition and / or they do not give the opportunity to use certain favorable circumstances? What weaknesses require adjustment based on strategic considerations?
- what are the opportunities that give the company a real chance of success when using its skills and access to resources? (opportunities without a means of realizing them are an illusion; a firm's strengths and weaknesses make it better or worse suited to exploiting opportunities than other firms).
- what threats should the manager be most concerned about and what strategic actions should he take for a good defense?

The table provides examples of the main factors that should be taken into account in a SWOT analysis.

The classic SWOT analysis involves identifying the strengths and weaknesses in the company's activities, potential external threats and favorable opportunities and scoring them relative to industry averages or in relation to data from strategically important competitors. The classic presentation of the information of such an analysis was the compilation of tables of strengths in the activities of the company (S), its weaknesses (W), potential favorable opportunities (O) and external threats (T).

The resulting SWOT matrix looks something like this:

At the intersection of SW with OT, an expert assessment of their mutual influence in points is put down. The total score for rows and columns shows the priority of taking into account one or another factor in the formation of a strategy.

Based on the results of the SWOT analysis, a matrix of strategic measures is compiled:

SO- activities that need to be carried out in order to use the strengths to increase the company's capabilities;
WO- activities that need to be carried out, overcoming weaknesses and using the opportunities presented;
ST- activities that use the strengths of the organization to avoid threats;
wt- measures that minimize weaknesses to avoid threats.

Rules for conducting a SWOT analysis

In order to avoid possible mistakes in practice and get the most out of a SWOT analysis, you need to follow a few rules.

1. If possible, specify the scope of the SWOT analysis as much as possible. When conducting a business-wide analysis, the results are likely to be too general and not useful for practical application. Focusing the SWOT analysis on the position of the company in the context of a specific market/segment will give much more useful results for practical application.
2. Be correct when assigning one or another factor to strengths/weaknesses or opportunities/threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal features of the company. Opportunities and threats describe the situation on the market and are not subject to the direct influence of management.
3. SWOT analysis should show the real position and prospects of the company in the market, and not their internal perception, therefore, strengths and weaknesses can be considered as such only if they (or their result) are perceived in this way by external buyers and partners. They must correspond to objectively existing differences between the company's products and competitors. It is necessary to rank strengths and weaknesses in accordance with their importance (weight) for buyers and only the most important ones should be included in the SWOT analysis.
4. The quality of a SWOT analysis directly depends on objectivity and the use of diverse information. It is impossible to entrust its implementation to one person, because the information will be distorted by his subjective perception. When conducting a SWOT analysis, the points of view of all functional divisions of the company should be taken into account. In addition, all identified factors must be confirmed by objective facts and research results.
5. Long and ambiguous wording should be avoided. The more specific the wording, the clearer will be the impact of this factor on the company's business now and in the future, the more practical the results of the SWOT analysis will be.

SWOT Analysis Limitations

SWOT-analysis is only a tool for structuring the available information, it does not give clear and clearly formulated recommendations, specific answers. It only helps to visualize the main factors, as well as to evaluate, as a first approximation, the mathematical expectation of certain events. Formulating recommendations based on this information is the job of an analyst.

The simplicity of the SWOT analysis is deceptive; its results are highly dependent on the completeness and quality of the source information. SWOT analysis requires either experts with a very deep understanding of the current state and trends of the market, or a very large amount of work in collecting and analyzing primary information to achieve this understanding. Errors made in the formation of the table (inclusion of unnecessary factors or loss of important ones, incorrect assessment of weight coefficients and mutual influence) cannot be identified in the process of further analysis (except for very obvious ones) - they will lead to incorrect conclusions and erroneous strategic decisions. In addition, the interpretation of the resulting model, and therefore the quality of the conclusions and recommendations, is highly dependent on the qualifications of the experts conducting the SWOT analysis.

History of SWOT Analysis

The pioneer of the direction of strategic analysis, aimed at finding a balance between the resources and capabilities of the company with factors and environmental conditions, is Kenneth Andrews (. He developed a model that became the prototype of SWOT analysis. This model is based on four questions:

1. What can we do (strengths and weaknesses)?
2. What would we like to do (corporate and personal values)?
3. What could we do (opportunities and threats of external environmental conditions)?
4. What do others expect of us (intermediary expectations)?

The answers to these four questions served as the starting point for the formation of the strategy.

SWOT analysis in its modern form appeared thanks to the work of a group of scientists from the Stanford Research Institute (SRI): R. Stewart (research leader), Marion Dosher, Otis Benepe and Albert Humphrey (Robert Stewart, Marion Dosher, Dr Otis Benepe, Birger Lie, Albert Humphrey). Exploring the organization of strategic planning in companies from the Fortune's 500 list (the study was conducted from 1960 to 1969), they eventually came to a system that they called SOFT: Satisfactory, Opportunity, Fault, Threat. Later, the model was modified and renamed to the above SWOT.

1. Product (What do we sell?)
2. Processes (how do we sell?)
3. Buyers (to whom do we sell?)
4. Distribution (how does it reach customers?)
5. Finance (what are the prices, costs and investments?)
6. Administration (how do we manage it all?)

Based on the factors identified during the analysis, strategic decisions were further made.

See and download an example of a SWOT analysis, as well as detailed instructions for conducting it.

SWOT-analysis is a convenient tool for determining the most important directions of the company's strategic development. In literal translation, this abbreviation stands for:

• strengths (Strengths), the advantages of the company relative to its competitors, what will allow it to achieve established strategic goals;
• weaknesses (Weaknesses), shortcomings of the company, what it loses to its competitors, what prevents it from achieving strategic goals;
• opportunities (Opportunities), favorable external factors for the work of the company;
• threats, negative external factors that pose a potential danger to the enterprise.

To conduct a SWOT analysis, the following is required.

1. Identify, classify and rank the factors that represent the strengths and weaknesses of the company, as well as the opportunities and threats of the external environment. From each group, select the most significant (10, no more).

2. Consistently study the combinations of these factors:

• "Possibilities/Powers". Reflects the potential of the company and allows you to answer the question of whether it has competitive advantages and external favorable factors on which the strategy could be based;
• Threats/Weaknesses. Reveals a combination of potential external negative factors and the weakest internal factors of the company, which must be dealt with in the first place;
• Opportunities/Weaknesses. Allows you to identify the internal factors of the company, which should be strengthened in order to take advantage of favorable opportunities in the external environment in the future.

For greater clarity, it is more convenient to present the intermediate and final results of the SWOT analysis in tabular form. It is also better to compare factors using tables.

Let's analyze the swot analysis method using the example of APLEONA HSG, where I work.

An example of a SWOT analysis of an enterprise

Choosing an object of analysis

For swot-analysis, you can select any object: a manufactured product, a business sector, a business, a competitor, and so on. The main thing is to clearly fix it and not scatter attention to adjacent objects. APLEONA HSG provides comprehensive commercial property management, technical control and audit, and infrastructure management services. The company is present in six large regions of Russia: Central, Northwestern, Southern, Far Eastern districts, in Siberia and the Volga-Ural region, as well as in Kazakhstan. For example, let's conduct a swot-analysis of the service "comprehensive management of commercial real estate" in the Central region.

We appoint experts

Experts can be top managers of the company or middle managers, but they must be well-versed in information in their field. They must operate not only with personal opinion, but also with dry figures.

Table 1. Experts to conduct a SWOT analysis of the organization

We identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

At this step, it is necessary to systematically and as realistically as possible determine with each expert the strengths and weaknesses of the company, the threats and opportunities of the external environment. All indicators must be recorded in groups. You can write down as many factors as you like, but here the rule of greatest efficiency comes into force, the meaning of which is to make a selection from significant indicators, ignoring insignificant ones. This means that you can use your time effectively.

The internal strengths (S) of the business include:

1. Great accumulated work experience.
2. Highly qualified personnel.
3. Customized production and business processes.
4. Good marketing policy.
5. High quality of manufactured products.
6. Corporate culture ( what a CFO needs to know about corporate standards ).
7. The innovative component of the business.
8. Other.

Internal weaknesses (W) include:

1. High business debt.
2. Lack of a development strategy.
3. Inefficient use of production assets.
4. Narrow range of products.
5. And so on.

The possibilities of the external environment (O) include:

1. Government support for the business sector or region.
2. Low competition in the business niche.
3. Growth in demand for products.
4. Increasing the availability of resources.
5. And so on.

The threats of the external environment (T) include:

1. Unfavorable economic situation in the region of presence.
2. Permanent competitive advantage over competitors.
3. Unfavorable shift in exchange rates.
4. Tightening tax laws.
5. And so on.

In our example SWOT analysis of the firm The Deputy General Manager for Property Management noted the following factors:

• S - the presence of a central dispatching service increases the quality of services by 15%, and the quality of accident elimination by 50%;
• W - belonging to a large international corporation imposes additional non-production tasks on reporting and compliance with policies on production. This reduces productivity by 12.2%;
• O - the development of real estate management technologies allows you to make a better product with less labor costs;
• T - the technical base of most commercial buildings and structures is becoming obsolete, new equipment is rarely put into operation. As a result, the risks of insured events increase.

The CFO noted the following indicators:

• S - the organization does not use loans in its work, as a result of which net profit is more by 2 - 4% per year;
• W - the additional burden of compliance with policies and regulations increases overhead costs by 10% per year;
• O - the volume of purchases and high competition in the markets of suppliers make it possible to obtain favorable conditions for the purchase of raw materials and services. For example, increase the payment terms up to 90 calendar days;
• T - tightening the tax policy carries an additional burden on the formation of reporting for each EP. The threat can be estimated at 2 million rubles. annually.

The commercial director noted the factors:

• S - the image of the company as a conscientious and professional service provider helps to win tenders for large contracts for complex property management;
• W - at the same time, the price of the company's services is above the market, which scares away some customers. The share of such clients is 35%;
• O - APLEONA HSG has a good chance of getting an international contract for servicing offices and factories of transcontinental customers operating in the Central region of Russia;
• T - due to the difficult state of the economy, the commercial real estate market in the Central region is stagnating. Contract prices are falling, often below cost.

The Human Resources Director noted the indicators:

• S - high qualification and low turnover of "blue collars" increases labor productivity by 10%;
• W - remuneration of personnel is on average higher than the market, which gives additional costs for the payroll of 50 million rubles. in year;
• O - thanks to the "white" terms of contracts, the company has a wide choice of specialists in the labor markets;
• T - the general decrease in the qualifications of specialists in the labor markets affects the company.

The technical director noted the factors:

• S - the presence of the CAFM system - an innovative tool for managing commercial real estate - allows you to increase work efficiency by 20%;
• W - material engineering base does not allow for a full range of maintenance services;
• O - customers have increased need for the constant presence of highly qualified engineers at the facility;
• T - competition in the market of engineering companies has increased, part of the market has been occupied by highly specialized companies with direct contracts with customers.

How to Use a SWOT Analysis for a CFO

SWOT analysis can be useful for making almost any managerial decision. Look at specific examples of how to use this technique correctly in your current work and when developing a strategy. In the article you will find examples of a SWOT analysis of a project using factoring services, building a SWOT matrix for a machine tool plant, as well as a SWOT analysis of a jewelry company.

Compiling a table and a SWOT analysis matrix

After you have written out the indicators in four lists by category, assign each indicator a significance. Use the opinions of experts.

table 2. Example of a project SWOT analysis table

Sort the indicators within the categories from largest to smallest and fill in the swt-matrix

Based on the collected and ranked factors, the following SWOT analysis matrix was obtained (see Figure 2).

Drawing. Example of a SWOT Analysis Matrix

Analyzing the results

At the last stage, we identify the relationships between the indicators, in other words, we conduct a scenario analysis. To do this, all the factors of the internal environment are compared with the factors of the external environment. The intersection of indicators is a set of scenarios for the possible development of events for the company.

The following swt-analysis matrix is ​​compiled (example):

Scripts are written:

• "Weakness and Opportunities" - pay attention to how to correct the weaknesses of the business with the help of the opportunities of the external environment;
• "Weakness and Threats" - what needs to be done first of all so that threats from the external environment do not harm the business;
• "Strength and Opportunities" - how to maximize the use of competitive advantages in a favorable external environment;
• "Power and Threats" - how to maintain competitive advantages in the face of unfavorable developments.

The obtained results of the analysis can be safely introduced into the strategy of the organization's behavior and used in daily work.

In our sample swot analysis for APLEONA HSG, the following scenarios are considered and behavioral strategies are adopted:

I. Weakness: additional non-productive tasks in production

Opportunity: a wide choice of specialists in the labor markets

The impact on business is average.

The strategy is to improve the work of personnel services in order to find only highly qualified young personnel who are able to work quickly and solve various problems.

II. Weakness: the price of the company's services is higher than the market.

Threat: stagnation of the commercial real estate market.

The impact on business is heavy, close to critical.

Behavior strategy - search for new sales markets, including entry into the markets of the CIS countries.

III. Strength: High blue-collar skills and low turnover.

Opportunity: the need for the presence of engineers on site.

The degree of impact on business is average.

The strategy is to allocate additional savings to the customer from the presence of qualified personnel at the facility when concluding an agreement with the customer.

IV. Strength: the image of the company as a conscientious and professional performer

Threat: increased competition in the engineering companies market.

Business impact is moderate.

The development strategy is to constantly train the engineering staff, modernize the technical base in order to provide a full range of technical services to customers.

VIDEO: An example of a SWOT analysis of the financial condition of a company

How to make an analysis of the financial condition of an enterprise based on a SWOT analysis, see the video.

Conclusion

The analysis of the combination of external factors (opportunities and threats) of the company with its advantages and disadvantages (strengths and weaknesses) allows us to answer the following questions:

• how the company can use the available opportunities, relying on its strength, which of the opportunities will allow it to increase its competitiveness;
• what shortcomings in the company's work can prevent it from confronting threats during the implementation of the strategy, as well as limit its ability to take advantage of the available favorable external factors;
• what shortcomings in the work of the company can interfere.

The conclusions drawn on the basis of the company's swot analysis allow us to determine the main stages of the company's strategic planning in the long term.

The starting point for the final accumulation of all key information collected using the previously described methods and the final analysis is the SWOT analysis (the abbreviation is made up of the first letters of the English words: strength- force, weakness - weakness, opportunity- opportunity and threat- threat) is one of the most common and effective types of analysis in marketing and marketing research, especially if the method is applied in its full version.

SWOT analysis allows you to identify and structure the strengths and weaknesses of the company, as well as potential opportunities and threats to the market. As a result of applying all preliminary methods of analysis, researchers should compare the internal strengths and weaknesses of their company with the opportunities and threats of the market. Based on the quality of compliance, a conclusion is made about the direction in which the organization should develop its business and, ultimately, the allocation of resources to segments.

The SWOT analysis methodology involves first identifying strengths and weaknesses, as well as threats and opportunities, and then establishing chains of links between them, which can later be used to formulate organizational strategies.

Strengths and weaknesses are elements of the internal environment in which a wide variety of aspects of the organization's activities can be embedded.

A strength is something a company excels at, or a feature that can provide it with additional business opportunities.

Weakness is the absence of something important for the functioning of the company, something that it fails (in comparison with others), or something that puts it in unfavorable conditions.

Any element, depending on the perception of buyers, can turn out to be both a strength and a weakness.

Opportunities and threats are elements of the external environment. Opportunities and threats are outside the organization's control. They can be considered as external factors related to the elements of the market environment.

Opportunity is defined as something that gives a firm a chance to do something new: launch a new product, win new customers, introduce new technology, and so on.

A threat is something that can cause damage to the company, deprive it of significant advantages.

An environmental analysis, which should already have been completed by the time of the swot analysis using the PEST analysis and Porter's five-factor model (described above), can serve as an excellent starting point for this part of the swot analysis.

On first stage implementation of the method, researchers, taking into account the specific situation in which the company is located, based on the results of a preliminary study of external and internal expertise, desk study of sources of secondary information, various surveys to obtain summary data, make a list of all its weaknesses and strengths, as well as a list of threats and opportunities market and represent it in matrix form.

The compilation of this matrix is ​​also called qualitative swot analysis, from which the stage of the full implementation of the method begins.

In table. 7.2 shows the most frequently included in the method directions of analysis, which should be disclosed for the market under study.

SWOT-analysis for any particular company is unique and may include one or more positions from the presented list, or even all at once. Each element presented in a qualitative swot-analysis should be as detailed as possible for a specific industry and the company directly studied.

After a specific, as complete as possible list of weaknesses and strengths, as well as threats and opportunities, second stage each parameter should be assessed with the help of industry experts and qualified employees of the company conducting the research according to its degree of importance for the company (on a scale: 0 - weak impact, 1 - medium impact, 2 - strong impact). For the components of the external environment, the probabilities of the presented opportunities and threats should be assessed on a similar scale by introducing an additional column into the matrix.

Table 7.2.

As a result, all assessed elements within each of the four groups should be ranked in order of importance to the organization and placed in descending order of importance. This stage of the implementation of the method is called quantitative swot analysis. According to its results, as a rule, 5-6 most significant elements from each group are transferred to the next stage, so they can be immediately highlighted in color on the quantitative matrix.

On third stage links are established between these four groups. For these purposes, a confrontational swot matrix , schematically shown in Fig. 7.1.

Intersections of the most important for the organization, according to experts, elements of weaknesses and threats (zone IV of the matrix) reveal the central problem for the organization as a result of the connection of these elements to eliminate weaknesses and prepare to repel possible threats. The intersections of the most important elements of strengths and capabilities (zone I of the matrix) form strategic priorities, i.e. how the company plans to use its strengths to take advantage of

Rice. 7.1. Shape of the Confrontation Matrix SWOT - analysis

be 100% satisfied with the favorable opportunities provided by the external environment and eliminate the central problem.

The existing options for confrontation can be the following:

• strength/opportunity - market leader/market growth;
• strength/threat - market leader or strong innovation/increasing competition or increasing consumer influence;
• weakness/opportunity - low gross margin or loss of market share/market growth or large market size;
• Weakness/Threat Low gross margin or loss of market share/increasing competition or increasing consumer power.

An example of the formation of a confrontation matrix for a website manufacturer is shown in Table. 7.3.

For the given example, the central problem can be formulated as follows: the company's passive advertising activity against the background of high competition forms the central problem of a low level of attracting new customers. The dependence here is as follows: if the company does not properly advertise, then potential customers may not know about this company, and if there is high competition in the market, then the likelihood increases that new consumers will eventually cooperate with one of the competing companies, information about which will be available in different advertising channels.

SWOT analysis helps researchers answer the following questions.

• 1. Does the company under study use internal strengths or distinctive advantages in its strategy? If a company does not have distinctive strengths, what potential strengths could they be?
• 2. Are the company's weaknesses its competitive vulnerabilities and/or do they prevent it from taking advantage of certain favorable circumstances? What weaknesses require adjustment based on strategic considerations?
• 3. What favorable circumstances give the company a real chance of success when using its skills and access to resources? It is important to understand here that favorable opportunities without ways to implement them are an illusion. The strengths and weaknesses of the company allow it to better or worse adapt to the use of favorable opportunities compared to other firms.

Table 7.3.

4. What threats should the company under study be most concerned about and what strategic actions should it take to protect itself well?

To avoid mistakes when conducting market research and get the most out of a SWOT analysis, must be respected the following rules.

Rule 1 It is important to carefully highlight the scope of the SWOT analysis being carried out. When conducting research, a general superficial analysis is often carried out, covering the entire business of the company. As a result, it becomes too general and useless for its top managers, who are interested in deep detail, in particular opportunities in specific markets or segments. Focusing the SWOT analysis on a specific segment ensures that the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that are most important to it are identified.

rule 2. It is necessary to clearly understand the differences between SWOT elements: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal elements of the company's activities that are subject to control by its management. Opportunities and threats (the greatest number of mistakes are made in these elements during the implementation of the method) are associated with the characteristics of the market environment and are not subject to the influence of the organization. In other words, these should not be the opportunities and threats of the company itself, but only the market or the external environment. The company can only determine in the conclusions how to use the highlighted opportunities and how to avoid the negative consequences of market threats.

Rule 3 . Strengths and weaknesses can only be considered as such if they are perceived as such by customers, and not by researchers or employees of the company under study. In addition, they should be formulated against the background of existing competitors' proposals. For example, a strong side will only be strong when the market sees it as such. At the same time, the most significant advantages and weaknesses should be included in the analysis.

Rule 4 When implementing the method, researchers need to be objective and use versatile input information. It is impossible to entrust the construction of the matrix to one person, since this specialist may not be absolutely accurate and deep in the analysis of factors. It is more expedient to conduct research in the form of a group discussion and exchange of ideas. It is important to understand that a SWOT analysis is not just a presentation of the subjective opinions of the people involved in it. It should be based as much as possible on objective facts and data collected in the course of pre-realized intermediate methods for studying the external and internal marketing environment. Therefore, the process of identifying factors for each quadrant of the matrix should be carried out with the creation of an expert group from among the company's employees, dealers and other experts in this market.

Rule 5 Spaciousness and ambiguity must be avoided. Too often, swot analysis items look vague precisely because they include language that means nothing to most buyers. The more precise the formulations, the more useful the analysis will be.

Swat analysis should be as focused as possible, for example, if necessary, a separate table should be built for each new market or group of buyers.

It is very important when conducting market research to back up all statements by researchers with real evidence (quotes, letters, industry statistics, press reports, government publications, information from dealers, survey data and customer comments) so that they are not unfounded, subjective for company management, conducting the study, and therefore unconvincing for use in further work. It must be constantly remembered that the analysis should be built with a focus on customers, and not on the internal problems of the organization, which in no way affect its behavior in the market.

When considering each swot analysis factor, it is important to analyze it through a set of the following key questions:

• - Is there any certainty that this is actually the case?
• - How high is the probability of this opinion, does it require additional expertise?
• - From what sources was this confidence formed and to what extent are the sources used reliable and objective?
• - Is there a chance that things could change in the near future?
• - Does the statement put forward have a meaning (relationship or meaning) for buyers of the company's products?
• - Has a specific position in relation to competitors been considered?

Often when conducting market research, especially as part of a marketing system audit, a separate SWOT analysis is carried out for each leading competitor in the industry, as well as for different markets. This reveals the company's relative strengths and weaknesses, its potential to deal with threats and exploit opportunities. The procedure is useful in determining the attractiveness of existing opportunities and assessing the firm's ability to exploit them.

In such cases, often when using a SWOT analysis of market opportunities and threats, work is carried out with the strategic matrices shown in Fig. 7.2, 7.3.

Rice. 7.2.

BC - high/strong; WU - high/moderate; VM - high/small; HM - low / small, etc.

When constructing a strategic matrix of opportunities for the external environment, an expert assesses the strength of the influence of an favorable opportunity on the company and the likelihood of its manifestation. A cluster breakdown is performed in a matrix in which a discrete scoring scale obtained by an expert can be used, and based on the established ranges of the scales in which the factor will fall, united in certain quadrants. The position of each factor on the matrix can also be shown directly in it with specific points. In the analysis, only factors that fall into the upper left quadrant of this matrix (the first two squares horizontally and vertically) are singled out, since they have the maximum impact on the company and the most significant probability of occurrence. Factors falling in the lower right field are ignored as the least significant. The situational approach is applied to the factors occupying the diagonal.

A similar approach analyzes the threats of the external environment.

Rice. 7.3.

VR - high/destruction; VC - high/critical condition; VT - high/severe condition; VL - high / "light bruises"; NL - low / "light bruises", etc.

The difference in the structure of the threat matrix lies in a more multifactorial breakdown of the degree of influence of the threat on the enterprise, in which four clusters are already used: destruction, critical condition, serious condition, "light bruises".

By identifying the most significant factors of opportunities and threats, researchers analyze the possibilities of using them in strategic planning by pairwise comparison with the internal factors of the company's strengths and weaknesses.

SWOT analysis (translation from English swot analysis) is one of the most effective tools in strategic management. The essence of swot analysis is the analysis of internal and external factors of the company, risk assessment and competitiveness of goods in the industry.

Definition of SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis method is a universal method of strategic management. Any product, company, store, factory, country, educational institution, and even a person can become the object of SWOT analysis. There are the following types of SWOT analysis:

• SWOT analysis of the activities of a company or manufacturing enterprise
• SWOT analysis of the activities of a state or non-profit organization
• SWOT analysis of the activities of an educational institution
• SWOT analysis of a specific territory: country, region, district or city
• SWOT analysis of a separate project, department
• SWOT analysis of a specific market or industry
• SWOT analysis of the competitiveness of a brand, product, product or service
• SWOT personality analysis

Companies often conduct SWOT analysis not only of their own product, but also of competitors' products, as this tool very clearly systematizes all information about the internal and external environment of any organization.

The advantages of SWOT analysis are that it allows you to look at the position of a company, product or service in the industry quite simply, in the right context, and therefore is the most popular tool in risk management and management decision-making.

The result of the SWOT analysis of the enterprise is an action plan indicating the deadlines, priority of implementation and the necessary resources for implementation.

Frequency of SWOT analysis. It is recommended to conduct a SWOT analysis at least once a year as part of strategic planning and budgeting. SWOT analysis is very often the first step in business analysis when drawing up a marketing plan.

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Part one: SWOT analysis, determination of the strengths and weaknesses of the product

Elements of a SWOT Analysis

Deciphering the abbreviations of SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, T=Threats.

S=Strengths

Strengths of the product or service. Those internal characteristics of the company that provide a competitive advantage in the market or a more advantageous position in comparison with competitors, in other words, those areas in which the company's product feels better and more stable than competitors.

The importance of strengths for a company in strategic planning: due to strengths, a company can increase sales, profits and market share, strengths ensure a winning position of a product or service in comparison with competitors. Strengths must be constantly strengthened, improved, used in communication with the consumer of the market.

W=Weaknesses

Weaknesses or shortcomings of a product or service. Such internal characteristics of the company, which hinder business growth, prevent the product from leading the market, are uncompetitive in the market.

Significance of weaknesses for a company in strategic planning: company weaknesses hinder sales and profit growth, pull the company back. Due to weaknesses, the company can lose market share in the long run and lose competitiveness. It is necessary to monitor areas in which the company is not strong enough, improve them, develop special programs to minimize the risks of the impact of weaknesses on the company's efficiency.

O=Opportunities

A company's capabilities are favorable environmental factors that can influence business growth in the future. Significance of market opportunities for a company in strategic planning: market opportunities represent the sources of business growth. Opportunities need to be analyzed, evaluated and an action plan should be developed for their use, drawing on the strengths of the company.

T=Threats

Threats to the company are negative environmental factors that can weaken the company's competitiveness in the market in the future and lead to a decrease in sales and loss of market share. Significance of market threats for the company in strategic planning: threats mean possible risks for the company in the future. Each threat must be evaluated in terms of the probability of occurrence in the short term, in terms of possible losses for the company. Against each threat, solutions must be proposed to minimize them.

Drawing up a SWOT analysis

It is advisable to adhere to the following sequence of actions when conducting a SWOT analysis:

This SWOT analysis technique allows you to fully and in detail assess the risks and opportunities of the company, plan a working marketing strategy for the product:

• The analysis of the surrounding market environment of a product or service is carried out in the context of external and internal factors.
• Based on the analysis, the strengths of the business, weaknesses of the business, threats and market opportunities for the business are formed.
• The obtained parameters are entered into the SWOT matrix for ease of analysis
• Based on the SWOT matrix, conclusions are formed on the necessary actions, indicating the priorities for implementation and deadlines.

In the process of conducting a SWOT analysis, involve people interested in making a decision, experts in various issues. A third-party opinion will allow you to make an analysis more objectively.

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Standard view of the SWOT analysis table

In the SWOT analysis table, it is desirable to indicate the factors in order of priority.

Any head of an enterprise should know the strengths and weaknesses of a SWOT analysis, because he should be ready for unexpected and not always pleasant surprises, respond quickly and clearly to them. For these purposes, the SWOT analysis technology is provided.

Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of SWOT analysis, through the use of marketing research of this kind in practice, an entrepreneur will always be able to find the best solution in any situation.

SWOT analysis, general concept

The concept of "SWOT" is borrowed from English and is essentially an abbreviation of English words:

• S - Strengths (forces) - talking about the strengths and advantages of the enterprise;
• W - Weaknesses (weaknesses) - shortcomings, weaknesses;
• O - Opportunities (opportunities) - refers to opportunities from the outside, due to which, in the event of favorable conditions, there is a high probability of creating additional advantages in the company's activities;
• T - Threats (threats) - circumstances that have the ability to harm the organization.

By conducting a SWOT analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise, it is possible to clearly clarify whether the company (even) uses internal strengths to the fullest, and also identifies positions that can become strong, those that need to be adjusted, etc.

What is a SWOT analysis for?

A standard SWOT study aims to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of an enterprise, assess risk (including) and best opportunities. It is important not only to obtain information of interest, but also to compare the results of the study with the indicators of the most important competing firms.

The conducted SWOT analysis allows you to answer important questions, namely:

1. Whether the firm uses personal strengths to the fullest.
2. What are the distinguishing features in the implementation of its own strategy the company has.
3. Are there weaknesses and how should they be corrected?
4. What opportunities are most likely to lead to success.
5. What are the likely threats that the manager should deal with seriously. specifics of the actions taken in this case.

The most optimal time for a SWOT analysis is the period when the direction is being formulated, in accordance with which further business development is planned.

What are the rules to follow when conducting a SWOT analysis?

When performing a SWOT analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of an enterprise, it is important to adhere to known rules.

1. The research vector should be clearly specified. When analyzing the entire business as a whole, the results will be very generalized and completely useless. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct a SWOT analysis in specific areas.
2. All concepts of SWOT analysis should be clearly understood.
3. Evaluation from the position of the market. In carrying out the analysis, it is necessary to apply the strengths and weaknesses in the state in which they appear to competitors and consumers. After all, strengths will be such only if they are so visible from the market position.
4. Put objectivity first. The input information must be versatile. Research should not be done by just one person. The possibility of deep analysis is allowed only in the case when the assessment will be given by the group.
5. The wording must be clear. Do not allow lengthy and ambiguous phrases. The result depends on their accuracy.

How SWOT analysis works

The principle of operation of SWOT analysis is simple and comes down to a certain scheme.

The first is the designation of strengths and weaknesses by experts. These characteristics are internal.

Here there is a designation of strong and weak elements characteristic of the company. In many ways, it depends on the literacy of drawing up a long-term plan.

To draw up an expert opinion, it is enough to arrange a survey for the management of the enterprise.

The assessment of strengths and weaknesses should be carried out in at least three different areas:

Carrying out the analysis of internal factors, it is possible to apply such a model. Rate vectors:

• How does the company's marketing activities respond to external environments?
• degree of adequacy to the marketing channel of the sales system;
• whether the organization of production processes corresponds to the adequacy of the manufactured products of the market;
• how logistics processes are organized and whether they are adequate to the marketing channel;
• to what extent the financial position of the company corresponds to its tasks;
• whether the administrative system corresponds to the quality of business process administration.

The second is a description of opportunities and threats.

This includes external factors, situations that are formed outside the company, the business environment of the company.

Threats are usually the same. They are:

1. Analysis of the strong weaknesses of the enterprise, assessment of opportunities and threats depending on the degree of impact on the company.
2. A SWOT matrix is ​​compiled, where all information is summarized in the form of tables.
3. The impact of factors is analyzed.
4. After compiling a description and conducting a marketing analysis, a strategy is determined, which is based on the results of the descriptions proposed above, using strengths and compensating for shortcomings.

SWOT matrix

All information received is entered into a special table consisting of 4 fields. Such a table is called the SWOT Analysis Matrix.

How to analyze the effect of factors

In accordance with the information received, an analysis is made and a conclusion is made as to how much the "strengths" of the enterprise are able to realize the company's capabilities in achieving certain planned goals.

The SWOT analysis matrix after filling in the required data will look something like this:

Strategy MatrixSWOT analysis

In conclusion, a matrix of SWOT strategies is drawn up. This, in fact, is what it was all about.

All the data obtained as a result of the SWOT analysis is used to develop certain areas of the strategy, according to which the subsequent work will be based.

As a rule, the organization carries out work in several directions at once, namely:

• implementation of strengths;
• correction of weaknesses;
• taking measures to compensate for threats.

Based on the results of the analysis of tabular data, a matrix of measures is compiled to correct the shortcomings in the company's activities. All information is recorded in one table, represented by four fields:

After analyzing all the information presented in the table, a list of possible actions is compiled, the so-called "marketing plan".

Strengths and weaknesses of SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise has both positive aspects and disadvantages.

StrengthsSWOT analysis:

• makes it possible to judge the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, as well as to initiate the likelihood of threats and opportunities;
• it is easy to use and quite effective;
• draws the relationship between the potential and problems of the company, compares strengths and weaknesses.
• analysis does not require extensive data;
• selects options in which the institution will adequately exist;
• helps to establish a promising direction for the development of the company;
• allows you to evaluate the profitability indicator and compare it with similar data from competitive organizations;
• forms the conditions for assessing the available resources of the institution;
• analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the project, the management receives a warning about what problems may arise;
• the management team has the opportunity to engage in the expansion and strengthening of competitive advantages;
• due to SWOT-analysis, there is a formation of a clearer picture of the position in the market;

SWOT analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise helps to avoid troubles, dangers and choose the most favorable development path.

SWOT analysis and its weaknesses:

SWOT analysis is a simple tool aimed at providing information structuring. Such a procedure does not offer any specific answers, quantitative assessments or clear recommendations.

The role of such an analysis is to obtain an adequate assessment of the main factors and, with a certain percentage of probability, to predict the development of specific events. The analyst should make appropriate recommendations.

In addition, it only seems at first glance that the analysis procedure is simple. In fact, the objectivity of the result is determined by how complete and high-quality the information was provided.

To obtain data as close to reality as possible, it will be necessary to involve an expert who will assess the current state and determine the likely vector for further market development.

If errors were made when filling in the matrix table, then it is not possible to identify them during the analysis. Therefore, in the event that any extra factor is added, or, conversely, there has been a loss of an important element, the conclusions may be erroneous.

An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise, performed according to the SWOT analysis, allows the entrepreneur to choose the most correct direction for the development of his business. That is why, the organization and conduct of such a procedure must be approached extremely responsibly.

SWOT analysis. Part 1 - Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths and weaknesses of a SWOT analysis: Useful tips for conducting