What is a SWOT Analysis?

by Tim Berry

The point of a SWOT analysis is to help you develop strong business strategies by ensuring you have
considered all of your business’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats it faces in
the marketplace.

As you may have guessed from that last sentence, S.W.O.T. is an acronym that stands for Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the company -- think reputation, patents and location. You can
change them over time but not without some work.

Opportunities and threats are external to the company -- think suppliers, competitors and the economy. They
are out there in the market, occurring whether you like it or not. You cannot change them.

Existing businesses can use a SWOT analysis at any time to assess a changing environment and respond
proactively. New businesses should also use a SWOT analysis as part of their planning process.

A SWOT analysis is typically conducted using a four-square SWOT analysis template, but you could also just
make a list for each category.

Questions to Ask During a SWOT Analysis

Strengths (internal, positive factors)

Strengths describe the positive attributes, tangible and intangible, internal to your organization. They are
entirely within your control.
What do you do well as a firm?

• Which internal resources do you possess? Think about the following:

o Positive attributes of your staff, such as knowledge, expertise, education, credentials, networks, reputation, or
skills.
o Tangible assets of the company, such as capital, credit, existing customers or distribution channels, patents, or
technology.
• What advantages do you have over your competition?
• Do you have strong research and development capabilities? Manufacturing facilities?
• What other positive aspects, internal to your business, add value (CVP) or offer you a competitive advantage?

Weaknesses (internal, negative factors)

Weaknesses are aspects of your business that detract from the value you offer or place you at a competitive
disadvantage. You need to enhance these areas in order to compete with your strongest competitors.
Which factors that are within your control detract from your ability to obtain or maintain a competitive edge?

• Which areas need improvement to accomplish your objectives or compete with your strongest competitors?
• What does your business lack, for example, expertise or access to skills or technology?
• Does your business have limited resources?
• Is your business in a poor location?
 Opportunities (external, positive factors)

Opportunities are external, attractive factors that represent reasons your business is likely to prosper in the
future.

• Which opportunities exist in your market that you can benefit from?
• Is the perception of your business amongst the public positive?
• Has there been recent market growth or have there been other changes in the market that create an
opportunity?
• Is the opportunity ongoing, or is there merely a narrow window for it? In other words, how critical is your
timing?

Threats (external, negative factors)

Threats include external factors beyond your control that could place your strategy, or the business itself, at
risk. You have no control over these factors, but you may benefit by having contingency plans to address them
if they should occur.

• Who are your existing or potential competitors?

• Which factors beyond your control could place your business at risk?
• Are there challenges created by an unfavorable trend or development that may lead to deteriorating revenues or
profits?
• Which situations might threaten your marketing efforts?
• Has there been a significant change in supplier prices or the availability of raw materials?
• What about shifts in consumer behavior, the economy, or government regulations that could threaten your
sales volumes?
• Has a new product or technology been introduced that may make your products or equipment obsolete?

Example of a SWOT Analysis

For illustration, here is a brief SWOT analysis of a hypothetical, medium-sized computer retail outlet in the
United States:
Developing Strategies from Your SWOT Analysis

Once you have identified and prioritized your SWOT results, you can use them to develop short-term and
long-term strategies for your business. After all, the true value of this exercise is in using the results to
maximize the positive influences on your business and minimize the negative ones. But how do you turn your
SWOT results into strategies? One way to do this is to consider how your company’s strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats overlap with each other. This is sometimes called a TOWS analysis.

For example, look at the strengths you identified, and then come up with ways to use those strengths to
maximize your opportunities -- these are known as strength-opportunity strategies. Then, look at how those
same strengths can be used to minimize the threats you identified -- these are known as strength-threat
strategies.

Continuing this process, use the opportunities you recognized to develop strategies that will minimize the
weaknesses (weakness-opportunity strategies) or avoid the threats (weakness-threat strategies) you identified.

(http://articles.bplans.com/how-to-perform-swot-analysis/)

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Using a SWOT Analysis in Your Career Planning
by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., and Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.

A key tool in the strategic planning process (for commercial enterprises) can also be applied to career
planning. This tool is a marketing analysis using the SWOT technique.

A SWOT analysis focuses on the internal and external environments, examining strengths and weaknesses
in the internal environment and opportunities and threats in the external environment.

Your career SWOT analysis should be structured like the table below:
Career SWOT Analysis for Job-Seekers
 Your Personal Your Personal
I
N
T
E
R
N Strengths Weaknesses
A
L
E Opportunities Threats
X
T
E
R
N in Your Career Field in Your Career Field
A
L
To construct your own SWOT analysis to set a course for your career planning, examine your current situation.
What are your strengths and weaknesses? How can you capitalize on your strengths and overcome your
weaknesses? What are the external opportunities and threats in your chosen career field?

Weaknesses: Internal negative aspects that are

I Strengths: Internal positive aspects that are under your under your control and that you may plan to
N control and upon which you may capitalize in planning improve
T
E
R Work experience
Lack of work experience
N Education, including value-added features
Low GPA, wrong major
A Strong technical knowledge within your field (e.g.,
Lack of goals, lack of self-knowledge, lack of
L hardware, software, programming languages)
specific job knowledge
Specific transferable skills (e.g., communication, Weak technical knowledge
teamwork, leadership skills) Weak soft skills (leadership, interpersonal,
Personal characteristics (e.g., strong work ethic, self- communication, teamwork)
discipline, ability to work under pressure, creativity, Weak job-hunting skills
optimism, or a high level of energy) Negative personal characteristics (e.g., poor work
Good contacts/successful networking ethic, lack of discipline, lack of motivation,
Interaction with professional organizations indecisiveness, shyness, too emotional)

E Opportunities: Positive external conditions that you do Threats: Negative external conditions that you do
X not control but of which you can take advantage not control but the effect of which you may be able
T to lessen
E
R Positive trends in your field that will create more jobs
N (e.g., growth, globalization, technological advances) Negative trends in your field that diminish job
A Opportunities you could have in your field by opportunities (downsizing, obsolescence)
L enhancing your education Competition from your cohort of college graduates
Your field is particularly in need of your set of skills Competitors with superior skills, experience,
Opportunities you could have through greater self- knowledge
knowledge, more specific job goals Competitors with superior job-hunting skills
Opportunities for advancement in your field Competitors who went to schools with better
Opportunities for professional development in your reputations
 field Obstacles in your way (e.g., lack of advanced
Career path you have chosen provides unique education/training you need to take advantage of
opportunities opportunities)
Geography Limited advancement in your field, as advancement
Strong network is cut-throat and competitive
Limited professional development in your field, so it
is difficult to remain marketable
Companies are not hiring graduates with your
major/degree

Explore your own self-perception of your strengths, but also put yourself inside a prospective employer's head
as you consider your strong points. Avoid false modesty, but also be brutally honest and realistic with yourself.
Start out by simply making a list of words that describe you; chances are many of these characteristics
comprise your strengths. One of your greatest strengths can be loving the work you do. Some people know
from an early age what kind of work will make them happy. For others, nailing down the self-knowledge that
leads to career fulfilment comes from a process of exploring interests, skills, personality, learning styles, and
values.

In assessing your weaknesses, think about what prospective employers might consider to be the areas you
could improve upon. Facing your frailties now can give you a huge head start in career planning. As humans,
we find it relatively difficult to identify the areas where we are weak. But this assessment helps to identify
areas where we may need to improve. If you identify a skill that you know is in your chosen field, but you are
weak in that skill area, you need to take steps to improve that skill. Past performance appraisals and even your
grades and teacher comments from school provide valuable feedback.

From this analysis, you will develop a road map that shows you how to capitalize on your strengths and
minimize or eliminate your weaknesses. You should then use this map to take advantage of opportunities and
avoid or lessen threats.

After you've analyzed your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, you should use that information to
plan how you intend to market yourself.

The marketing planning process entails a three-step process:

1. Determining Objectives
2. Developing Marketing Strategies
3. Strategizing an Action Program

Objectives
Define your career objectives. What is your ideal job upon graduation (or the job you would like to transition
to from your current job)? What are some other positions you could accept? What is your five-year career
goal?

Marketing Strategies
Develop a broad marketing strategy or "game plan" for attaining your objectives. What are the companies and
organizations you are going to target to obtain your objectives -- your ideal job? How will you communicate
with these firms? The strategies you identify should utilize all of the resources available to you, such as your
personal network or a mentor relationship.

Action Programs
According to marketing principles, marketing strategies should be turned into specific action programs that
answer a number of questions, including: What will be done? When will it be done? Who is responsible for
doing it? Your key task here is setting specific deadlines for obtaining the career and company information you
identified in the marketing strategy step.

(http://www.quintcareers.com/SWOT_Analysis.html)

Additional resources:

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm

SWOT Exercise - Choosing a Post-Secondary Pathway

A SWOT analysis is a great tool for examining a particular individual, organization or option and its internal and
external environments.

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Strengths and weaknesses refer to internal factors. Opportunities and threats refer to external factors.

Your Task:
For this assignment, you will perform a SWOT analysis on any two of the following post-secondary pathways
available to you immediately upon your graduation from high school next year:

(1) attending college/university in Toronto

(2) attending college/university outside of Toronto
(3) direct entry into workforce
(4) travelling or volunteering abroad

For each of your two chosen pathways, create a four-square SWOT analysis template in order to list and identify the
following:

(a) Strengths (pros/benefits/advantages of this pathway)

(b) Weaknesses (cons/costs/disadvantages of this pathway)
(c) Opportunities (positive future opportunities provided by this pathway)
(d) Threats (negative factors threatening your successful entry into this pathway)