Access over 20 million homework & study documents

A SWOT analysis example for a cosmetics manufacturer

Content type
User Generated
Type
Study Guide
Rating
Showing Page:
1/23
SWOT analysis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities,
and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business
venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve
that objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a convention at Stanford University in the
1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies.
A SWOT analysis must first start with defining a desired end state or objective. A SWOT analysis may be
incorporated into the strategic planning model. Strategic Planning, has been the subject of much research.
[citation
needed]
Strengths: characteristics of the business or team that give it an advantage over others in the
industry.
Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the firm at a disadvantage relative to others.
Opportunities: external chances to make greater sales or profits in the environment.
Threats: external elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business.
Identification of SWOTs are essential because subsequent steps in the process of planning for
achievement of the selected objective may be derived from the SWOTs.
First, the decision makers have to determine whether the objective is attainable, given the SWOTs. If the
objective is NOT attainable a different objective must be selected and the process repeated.
The SWOT analysis is often used in academia to highlight and identify strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats.
[citation needed]
It is particularly helpful in identifying areas for development.
[citation
needed]
Contents
[hide]
1 Matching and converting
o 1.1 Evidence on the use of SWOT
2 Internal and external factors
3 Use of SWOT analysis
4 SWOT - landscape analysis
5 Corporate planning
o 5.1 Marketing

Sign up to view the full document!

lock_open Sign Up
Showing Page:
2/23
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
[edit]Matching and converting
Another way of utilizing SWOT is matching and converting.
Matching is used to find competitive advantages by matching the strengths to opportunities.
Converting is to apply conversion strategies to convert weaknesses or threats into strengths or
opportunities.
An example of conversion strategy is to find new markets.
If the threats or weaknesses cannot be converted a company should try to minimize or avoid them.
[1]
[edit]Evidence on the use of SWOT
SWOT analysis may limit the strategies considered in the evaluation. J. Scott Armstrong notes that
"people who use SWOT might conclude that they have done an adequate job of planning and ignore such
sensible things as defining the firm's objectives or calculating ROI for alternate strategies."
[2]
Findings
from Menon et al. (1999)
[3]
and Hill and Westbrook (1997)
[4]
have shown that SWOT may harm
performance. As an alternative to SWOT, Armstrong describes a 5-step approach alternative that leads to
better corporate performance.
[5]
These criticisms are addressed to an old version of SWOT analysis that precedes the SWOT analysis
described above under the heading "Strategic and Creative Use of SWOT Analysis." This old version did
not require that SWOTs be derived from an agreed upon objective. Examples of SWOT analyses that do
not state an objective can be "Human Resources" and "Marketing."
[edit]Internal and external factors
The aim of any SWOT analysis is to identify the key internal and external factors that are important to
achieving the objective. These come from within the company's unique value chain. SWOT analysis
groups key pieces of information into two main categories:
Internal factors The strengths and weaknesses internal to the organization.
External factors The opportunities and threats presented by the external environment to the
organization. - Use a PEST or PESTLE analysis to help identify factors
The internal factors may be viewed as strengths or weaknesses depending upon their impact on the
organization's objectives. What may represent strengths with respect to one objective may be

Sign up to view the full document!

lock_open Sign Up
Showing Page:
3/23

Sign up to view the full document!

lock_open Sign Up
End of Preview - Want to read all 23 pages?
Access Now
Unformatted Attachment Preview
SWOT analysis From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve that objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a convention at Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies. A SWOT analysis must first start with defining a desired end state or objective. A SWOT analysis may be incorporated into the strategic planning model. Strategic Planning, has been the subject of much research.[citation needed] Strengths: characteristics of the business or team that give it an advantage over others in the industry. Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the firm at a disadvantage relative to others. Opportunities: external chances to make greater sales or profits in the environment. Threats: external elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business. Identification of SWOTs are essential because subsequent steps in the process of planning for achievement of the selected objective may be derived from the SWOTs. First, the decision makers have to determine whether the objective is attainable, given the SWOTs. If the objective is NOT attainable a different objective must be se ...
Purchase document to see full attachment
User generated content is uploaded by users for the purposes of learning and should be used following Studypool's honor code & terms of service.

Anonymous
Awesome! Made my life easier.

Studypool
4.7
Trustpilot
4.5
Sitejabber
4.4