Introduction
Many organizations, when thinking about strategy or preparing business plans, undertake what is known as a SWOT analysis though, in reality, the ‘SWOT’ is a summary of a process of assessment, research and analysis. This covers strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and, usually, the results are summarized into a grid as shown in the figure. Too often, however, the results are then ignored in developing the strategy or business plan. There may be a long list of strengths, but the plan might not clearly show how the organization will build on those strengths; there may be a long list of weakness, but the plan might not explain clearly how the organization will address the weaknesses. One business plan reviewed by the …ver más…

* Quality processes and procedures. * Any other aspect of your business that adds value to your product or service.

A weakness could be: * Lack of marketing expertise. * Undifferentiated products or services (i.e. in relation to your competitors). * Location of your business. * Poor quality goods or services. * Damaged reputation.

Looking in: strengths & weaknesses
You will need to think systematically about your strengths and weaknesses, so you may find it helpful to use a checklist. Here are a few thoughts to help you: * Innovation * People * Finance * Marketing * Operations * Resources * Values, beliefs and behavior

In SWOT, opportunities and threats are external factors.
Opportunities
External attractive factors that represent the reason for an organization to exist and develop. Identify them by their “time frames”

Threats
External factors, beyond an organization’s control, which could place the organization’s mission or operation at risk. The organization may benefit by having contingency plans to address them should they occur Classify them by their “seriousness” and “probability of occurrence”

External Analysis
An opportunity is the chance to introduce a new product or service that can generate superior returns. Opportunities can arise when changes occur in the external environment. Many of these changes can be perceived as threats to the market position of existing products and