How long has the swot analysis method been used? SWOT analysis

Who needs a SWOT analysis and why. How to carry it out correctly. What types of SWOT analysis exist and in what situation should they be used.

When starting a business project, many are faced with the need to plan their actions for a short or long period of time. In order for planning to be adequate to the current situation, it is necessary to take into account one’s own capabilities that can be used to achieve the goal, shortcomings that could prevent this, as well as the influence of external factors on the success of the enterprise. One of the effective assessment methods is SWOT analysis, which will allow, taking into account all the realities, to build the most effective strategy for promotion, sales, advertising campaigns and any activity related to the life of the project.

What is SWOT analysis

Currently, there are several methods for assessing the current position of a company that have proven their practical effectiveness in strategic planning. The most popular are SNW analysis and SWOT analysis.

SNW analysis allows you to identify the advantages and disadvantages of a company, as well as take into account the characteristics of the organization that cannot be classified as either the first or the second. At the same time, SNW does not take into account factors of the external world, which can also greatly influence the success of a particular strategy.

SWOT analysis consists of assessing the pros and cons of a company in terms of achieving a goal or completing a given task, as well as all the opportunities and risks of the external environment in which this company exists. This method is indispensable for strategic planning and setting the goals and objectives of the organization, as well as for choosing ways to achieve and solve them.

The name SWOT is an English acronym: Strengths (strengths), Weaknesses (weaknesses), Opportunities (opportunities), Threats (threats). It is these parameters that are assessed in the analysis.

What issues does the use of SWOT analysis solve?

SWOT analysis is primarily aimed at assessing all factors that may affect the company's achievement of its goal. Therefore, this analysis must be performed based on a specific task.

SWOT helps answer the following questions:

• what resources the company has and what will be needed to achieve its goal;
• what resource will be spent to achieve the goal;
• what resources can be attracted from the external environment;
• what prevents the achievement of goals within the company;
• what factors in the external environment can slow down or make it difficult to achieve your goals;
• as a general conclusion - is the goal set for the company achievable and under what conditions is this possible;

Simply put, using this method, the analyst clearly sees what can be done to achieve the goal, what means the company has to do this, and whether there are means to achieve the goal that can be taken from the outside world. Risk factors and ways to prevent them are also assessed.

Video: what is SWOT analysis and how to do it

The essence and types of SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis is a description of all the above factors, and its results are most often visualized in the form of a table.

SWOT table

Express analysis

Express analysis is the simplest and fastest form of analysis. It includes taking into account and assessing internal and external factors from the table above. All these factors are analyzed and summarized in the following table, which is called the cross matrix. Only those factors that can be correlated are included in this matrix. For example, high production rates (a company's strength) will allow it to take advantage of high demand for a product (an opportunity). Or lack of experience (weakness) may prevent you from achieving your goals in a highly competitive environment (threat).

The advantage of express analysis is its simplicity and ability to be done quickly. This form of SWOT analysis also allows us to reflect internal and external factors in their interaction, which is important for the formation of the organization’s strategy.

The disadvantage of such an analysis is its superficiality and the fact that the matrix does not include those elements that may also be important for the development of the company, but cannot be associated with an opportunity or threat.

Table: SWOT cross matrix

Summary analysis

Summary analysis is an analysis of both the present moment and the long-term prospects for the development of a company or product. This type of analysis is most often used in conjunction with other market research tools. To conduct a summary analysis, you need to write down all the factors in the SWOT table, then evaluate each factor in terms of its weight for the company and the likelihood of its occurrence in the future.

The summary analysis is done carefully, the process uses data obtained through other studies, and, if possible, the situation of the company under study is compared with the situation of competitors. Methods to improve the situation are also being developed.

Mixed analysis

A mixed type of analysis simply combines the previous two. This is a detailed study of the company’s position for the future, the results of which are entered into a cross-sectional matrix.

Principles of conducting

In order for the results of a SWOT analysis to be reliable, it is important to adhere to certain principles when conducting it:

1. Avoid subjectivity. If you are evaluating a product, its uniqueness and usefulness should not be your personal opinion, but the result of surveys, focus groups or other studies that provide a statistically reliable measure of market opinion. Strengths and weaknesses should be considered as such not in the opinion of the analyst, but according to the results of research and in comparison with a similar product of competitors.
2. Set as specific goals as possible. Simply assessing the situation is pointless if there is no assessment criterion, which becomes the significance of the factors under study for the goal. We need to start from something. The more specific the goal, the more reliable and useful the result will be in practical application.
3. Clearly classify the SWOT elements according to the table. Do not confuse external threats with weaknesses or opportunities with resources. The fashion of your product will be your opportunity to increase sales, and the high quality of the product (again, compared to competitors and according to the market) will be your strength.
4. Combine SWOT with other research methods. It is important that the elements of the matrix are not the analyst’s conjectures, but actually facts confirmed by practice or research. The more information available to the analyst, the more accurate the result will be.
5. Analyze only those factors that will be needed to achieve your goals and build the desired strategy.

All weaknesses and strengths, threats and opportunities are determined by factual data and the results of marketing research, available in the public domain or obtained by an analyst

In some cases, it is necessary to consider only those weaknesses and strengths within the company that can be influenced.

One marketer I know talked about how a SWOT analysis of the activities of a manufacturing organization with which he worked was built. At the same time, it was decided to evaluate the most defined and influenceable area: the activities of the sales department. Neither the product nor the production activities were taken into account, since it was the management of this department that planned to reconstruct in order to increase sales (at that time the company was operating at a loss). The goal was also set to be as specific as possible and understandable in digital equivalent: to develop a strategy for increasing sales of an existing product without modernizing production (at that time the company simply did not have the resource). It was this specific formulation of the question that led to the effectiveness of strategic planning in the future.

Why and who needs SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis is a tool that has the desired effect when used correctly. Just like an ax that is great for chopping wood but not at all suitable for cooking porridge (although Russian soldiers may have a different opinion on this matter), a SWOT analysis is only useful if it is applied to the location.

Moreover, in many cases you can do (and many even do) without SWOT analysis, however, this tool will significantly facilitate understanding of what and how to do, increasing the effectiveness of the strategy several times.

• In what cases does a SWOT analysis come in handy:
• when drawing up a tree of the organization’s goals, determining the strategy for existing in the market both in the short and long term (here it is simply necessary);
• in cases where you are starting a new business project;

Despite the fact that, in theory, a SWOT analysis should be done when starting any project, since it will show the feasibility of the undertaking, allow you to weigh all the risks and evaluate opportunities, balancing them with internal resources, in practice, beginners most often neglect this. Many business projects start from scratch anyhow, without building a strategy, and only then, after the first successes, managers turn to marketers. Nevertheless, a certain percentage of such projects, created out of enthusiasm, achieve a strong position in the market. Most often, SWOT analysis is resorted to by those who have made a mark on their first business projects, as well as entrepreneurs who have sufficient experience and knowledge to understand the need to study the market and their own product (organization).

SWOT analysis allows you to create an action plan to achieve your goal

SWOT analysis- one of the most common methods that comprehensively evaluate internal and external factors influencing the development of a company. It is an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, as well as the opportunities and threats from the external environment. "S" and "W" refer to the state of the company, and "O" and "T" refer to the external environment of the organization.

SWOT analysis is a preliminary research stage in drawing up strategic plans, developing strategic goals and objectives of the company.

The term SWOT was first used by Kenneth Andrews in 1963 at Harvard at a business policy conference.

Term in English: SWOT analysis.

Main parameters of SWOT analysis

Strengths– strengths,

Weakness- weak sides,

Opportunities- possibilities,

Threats– threats.

Based on the results of the situational analysis, it is possible to assess whether the company has the internal strengths and resources to realize existing opportunities and resist external threats. Accordingly, an analysis of the internal and external situation is necessary.

When assessing external situation worth considering:

• legislation and political climate,
• expected or possible changes that may affect the operation of the company. (Example: changes in customs legislation);
• economic situation of the country, region (changes in GNP indicators, possible major changes in the economy potentially affecting the company, expected inflation);
• socio-demographic factors;
• changes in technology (waiting for technical innovations);
• ecological environment.

During the analysis internal situation the company's resources and business processes are assessed, and competitiveness is analyzed.

During the analysis process, the formulation of the company's sustainable competitive advantages is confirmed or changed. Key analysis factors:

Deciphering the method

The main idea of ​​the technique SWOT analysis consists of an attempt to determine by calculation how much each of the possible development paths can influence the success of the current, tactical and strategic business processes of the enterprise. When ranking threats in the SWOT analysis matrix by degree of impact, it is assumed to determine the estimated time at which the enterprise will reach a certain degree of destruction, and the sooner economic performance indicators deteriorate, the more attention should be paid to eliminating this threat. After complete completion of the work, based on a SWOT analysis and associated with identifying the greatest threats to the enterprise’s activities and identifying priority areas of development that promise the greatest economic effect with the available financial and human resources, the next stage begins to optimize the work of personnel.

The results of the SWOT analysis are entered into tables.

Decisive for success are always specific actions (events) related to specific goals and consistently implemented.

NexterrorsMost often found in SWOT analysis tables:

1. Conducting a SWOT analysis without a pre-established overall goal. SWOT is not an abstract analysis; its use involves achieving a specific goal

2. External chances are often confused with internal strengths of the company, while they should be strictly distinguished

3. SWOT analysis is often confused with all sorts of strategies. We must not forget the main difference between one and the other (SWOT analysis describes states, and strategy describes actions)

4. In the process of SWOT analysis, priorities are not identified and specific activities are not named. SWOT-Analysis.

Rules for conducting SWOT analysis

No formal training is required to conduct a SWOT analysis. Any manager who understands the company's affairs and is familiar with the market can draw up a simple SWOT form.
But this simplicity and ease of use also has a downside. There is a risk of misuse, hasty and meaningless conclusions, and the use of vague and ambiguous concepts. In addition, do not forget that for the objectivity of the picture, only relevant, verified and fresh information must be used for analysis, which many users simply forget about.
Here are a few simple rules that will help you avoid such mistakes and get the most out of your SWOT analysis.
Rule 1. For an objective SWOT analysis, a business must be segmented by area or specific market. A general analysis that covers the entire business is inappropriate, as the results will be too generalized and useless. Focusing a SWOT analysis on a specific segment will ensure that the company's most important strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are identified.
Rule 2. We must be aware that the elements of SWOT differ significantly from each other, in particular regarding their origin and spheres of influence. For example, strengths and weaknesses are internal characteristics of the company, therefore, they are under its control. Opportunities and threats are external, objective, independent characteristics of the market environment, and they are not subject to the influence of the organization.
Rule 3. The strengths and weaknesses of a company are subjective concepts. But opinions on these characteristics should not be expressed by managers or even competitors, but by clients, customers, partners, and investors. How they consider and perceive these elements is the way it is. Strengths will be considered as such as long as the market perceives them as competitive.
Rule 4. For objective analysis, diverse input data should be used. Even if it is not possible to obtain the results of extensive marketing research, this does not mean that it is enough to limit oneself to the work of one person. For accuracy and depth of analysis, it is best to organize a group discussion with the exchange of ideas, learn and take into account the points of view of all functional departments of the company. Any information or initial data must be supported by reasoned evidence (official letters, verified quotes, industry statistics, press reports, information from dealers, customer opinions and comments, government publications).
Rule 5. The more precise the wording, the more useful the analysis will be. Therefore, one should avoid broad, vague and ambiguous statements that mean nothing to most buyers.

Pros and cons

SWOT analysis is often criticized. We are talking about a standardized analysis scheme, which is not suitable for all enterprises and firms.

Benefits of SWOT Analysis

• Helps a company leverage internal strengths or differentiating advantages in its strategy.
• If the company does not yet have strong distinctive advantages, you can analyze your potential strengths and use them to achieve marketing goals.
• Analyze all the company’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities to understand whether they affect competition, market position, and whether they can be corrected based on strategic considerations?
• Know what resources and qualifications are best used to maximize opportunities.
• Identify the threats that are most critical to the company and take a series of strategic actions to ensure good protection.

Flaws

• SWOT analysis is simply a tool for obtaining visual structured information; it does not contain clear recommendations or specific formulated answers. Next is the work of the analyst.
• The simplicity of SWOT analysis is deceptive; its results are extremely dependent on the completeness and quality of the initial information. An objective SWOT analysis requires experts with a deep understanding of market development trends and its current state, or to carry out a large amount of work on collecting and analyzing primary information.
• In the process of generating tables, mechanical errors may be made (loss of important factors or inclusion of unnecessary ones, incorrect assessment of weighting coefficients, etc.). They are difficult to identify, except for very obvious errors, but they affect the process of further analysis and lead to incorrect conclusions and erroneous strategic decisions.

Literature and links

This is a preliminary encyclopedic article on this topic. You can contribute to the development of the project by improving and expanding the text of the publication in accordance with the rules of the project. You can find the user manual

The concept of swot analysis originated in 1963. They first talked about it at a conference at Harvard on business policy issues. The acronym was introduced by Professor K. Andrews.

In this article we will look at what swot analysis is and what its role is in marketing research.

Decoding the abbreviation

SWOT in English stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. These words literally mean swot analysis method. Namely, analysis of the marketing strategy and the company as a whole from the point of view of assessing its strengths and weaknesses, its opportunities and threats from the external environment. The external environment refers to a set of factors that influence the enterprise. Including competition, demand, consumer interest and so on.

Thus, swot analysis is needed to assess the company’s activities in order to prevent the impact of threats on it. It is also intended to help it develop and promote in the market. Each step in the analysis is usually carried out by separate groups of company specialists. At the end, joint conclusions are drawn.

Swot analysis rules

This analysis has several rules that help you avoid mistakes and get the most out of it.

1. The first rule is to carefully define the scope. That is, swot analysis must be applied for each specific company. Otherwise, it will be of a general nature, which means it will be useless for managers. It is advisable to focus on a specific segment, which ensures that all strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats, are identified.
2. The second rule states that you need to be able to distinguish between the concepts that make up a swot analysis. Strengths and weaknesses in the analysis refer to the features of a company that it can control. As for opportunities and threats, they are always associated with the market environment.
3. The third rule says that regarding strengths and weaknesses, you should always focus on customers. It is important to rank strengths and weaknesses from the buyer's perspective. After all, if ranking is carried out only from the point of view of managers, then the analysis will not be effective.
4. Fourth rule. In the assessment methodology, you need to focus on several people. After all, one person will not be able to conduct a deep analysis, and will also not be objective.
5. The fifth rule states that the end of a swot analysis should be a clear conclusion. The conclusion should not contain ambiguous statements and should be clear to every person involved in marketing activities.

Application of swot analysis

Now the technique is used to analyze competitor factors, implement strategy, and scout competitors.

It should be noted that swot analysis takes into account many factors that can affect the company’s activities. These are economic factors, political, market and technological, international, legal, social factors. The analysis also includes an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of competitors, suppliers and even those enterprises that indirectly affect the company's activities.

The name of the analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats - SWOT analysis, comes from the abbreviation of the words:

Strengths- strengths, strengths;

Weaknesses- weaknesses;

Opportunities- possibilities;

Treats- threats.

SWOT analysis is a fairly simple and popular technique that allows you to assess the consequences of the decision you make, when making which you are guided by knowledge and understanding of the surrounding situation. And it doesn’t matter whether this decision lies in the field of marketing, choosing a company development strategy, or any of your decisions related to current activities, even not related to business.

So, using the WSOT method, you can analyze whether you (or your friend) should wear that blue dress that she bought in a boutique last month. When choosing a profession, or this or that company for employment, we evaluate our strengths and weaknesses, the opportunities offered in a new place, as well as the threats of changing jobs. As for marketing, in fact, every marketer involved in making strategic decisions owns this technique, to one degree or another.

Intuitively, we use SWOT analysis quite often, but few people independently bring such an assessment to its logical conclusion, stopping at a fundamental understanding of the situation and without delving into the analysis of marketing details.

The following are two of the simplest methods, the use of which will allow a novice entrepreneur to independently conduct a SWOT analysis. There are in-depth options for SWOT analysis. Their use requires a more careful approach, preparation and elaboration of details.

SWOT analysis methodology

In principle, everything is simple, the analysis is carried out according to the following scheme:

1. Expert formulation of your strengths and weaknesses- these are internal factors. Their basis is only you. If we are talking about a company, then these are the strengths and weaknesses that are inherent in the company. For an expert description of this, it is enough to use the results of an express survey of enterprise management.

Strengths and weaknesses must be assessed according to at least 3 vectors:

• Management (condition, quality, motivation, qualifications)
• Business processes
• Finance

To analyze internal factors, I still suggest using a different model. For
When conducting an analysis of internal factors, we should pay attention to compliance with:

• marketing activities of the company to its external environment;
• the company's sales system and its adequacy to the marketing channel;
• organization of production processes and adequacy of products to the market (for manufacturing companies);
• organization of logistics processes and their adequacy to the marketing channel;
• the financial condition of the company and its objectives;
• administrative system and quality of business process administration;
• management system, human resources management

2. We describe opportunities and threats- which are external factors, based on the situation outside the company, the company’s business environment.

There is no need to invent threats, they are always the same. It is enough to assess the typical potential threats for your company (for you).

There are threats:

• social;
• economic;
• technological;
• political;
• environmental;
• competition.

3. We rank the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats according to the degree of influence on the company, throwing out the far-fetched.

4. We put everything into the SWOT matrix (in a table).

5. Analyze the effect of factors

6. Having finished with the description and marketing analysis, define a strategy, based on the results of the description above, using the strengths, and compensating for the weaknesses of your (company).

SWOT Matrix

All data is summarized in one table consisting of 4 main fields: strength, weakness,
opportunities and threats. Such a table is also called a SWOT analysis matrix.

Analyzing the effect of factors

Actually, what we have compiled above is not yet a SWOT analysis, but only a form (matrix) for a convenient description of the sides, opportunities and threats. Analysis is a conclusion about how much your “strengths” will help realize the company’s capabilities in achieving certain planned goals.

Let’s try to rearrange what has been summarized in the table and answer the questions:

SWOT Analysis Strategies Matrix

Next comes the most interesting part, the reason why everything was started. Based on the results of the analysis, we use the results of the SWOT analysis to develop certain strategy vectors along which we will work. The company, as a pravvilo, works in several directions (vectors) at once:

• We realize our strengths;
• We correct the company’s weaknesses and use its strengths;
• We take measures to compensate for threats.

Analyzing the data in the table, we draw up a matrix of necessary actions to correct the company’s weaknesses, including at the expense of the strengths. We bring all the data into one table (matrix) consisting of 4 main fields: strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. This table is called: “SWOT Analysis Strategies Matrix”.

Analyzing the data located in the table, a list of possible actions (marketing plan) is compiled to neutralize the company’s weaknesses, including at the expense of the strengths. Also, possible options for the company’s development when external factors change, ways to use strengths to reduce risks, etc. are being developed.

Accordingly, the question “how to do a SWOT analysis” is of particular importance in the life of an entrepreneur. Today we will talk about how to do a SWOT analysis. Or rather, we will develop such step-by-step instructions - a questionnaire, after which the same question () will be completely closed for you.

First, let's look at what a SWOT analysis is (I apologize in advance to those for whom this is unnecessary). SWOT analysis is a tool for planning and comparing four business elements. These elements are: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. A properly done SWOT analysis provides an entrepreneur with a huge amount of useful information necessary to make the right business decisions.

Learning to do swot analysis

SWOT analysis - 4-step instructions

For greater clarity, we will divide the SWOT analysis process into steps, each of which is represented by several questions. Answering these questions is, in essence, the process of conducting a SWOT analysis. So.

Step 1 — Scanning the business environment

In this step, by looking at our business environment, we must identify the factors that influence or may influence our business. All factors can be divided into internal and external. To determine these factors, answer the following questions:

1. What legal factors (laws and other regulations) affect (or may affect) my business?

2. What environmental factors affect (or could affect) my business?

3. What political factors affect (or may affect) my business?

4. What economic factors affect (or may affect) my business?

5. What geographic factors affect (or could affect) my business?

6. What social factors influence (or may influence) my business?

7. What technological factors affect (or may affect) my business?

8. What cultural factors influence (or may influence) my business?

9. What market factors influence (or may influence) my business?

The answers to the first 9 questions give you information about external factors, i.e., those impacts on your business that exist in your environment, regardless of the existence of your business. All of these questions are worth asking yourself in one way or another in order to fully understand what could have any impact on your business. Of course, different factors will have different effects in different business areas, but this is exactly what you will understand by answering these questions.

10. Does (or can it influence) the competition factor affect my business?

11. Does (or can it influence) the management and business management factor affect my business?

12. Does the chosen business strategy factor (or can it influence) my business?

13. Does the business structure factor affect (or can it affect) my business?

14. Does the employee factor affect (or can it affect) my business?

15. Does the factor of my business goals influence (or can influence) my business?

16. Does (or can it influence) the leadership factor affect my business?

17. Does the operational management factor affect (or can it affect) my business?

18. Does the technology factor in business affect (or can it affect) my business?

Answers to questions 10 to 18 will give you information about the overall impact of your business's entry into the marketplace. The list may not be exhaustive; a lot depends on the field of activity, but these are the main points.

And so, having answered the above questions, you will have an almost complete set of factors on which your business depends to one degree or another. Next, you should analyze them and draw the right conclusions for yourself. In this regard, we move on to the next step of our instructions on how to do a SWOT analysis.

Step 2. Analysis of the business environment

In this step of the SWOT analysis, we must analyze in more detail all the factors listed above and understand what they actually represent for us and our business. Let's do this, as you guessed, in a few questions. Here they are:

19. Which legal factors could be a threat to our business and which could be an opportunity?

20. Which political factors could be a threat to our business and which could be an opportunity?