How to Conduct Regular SWOT Analyses:

Because you are proactive, responsible, and result-oriented,
you are continually analyzing your current situation based on
the realities of the moment, rather than on the way it might
have been yesterday or the way it may be tomorrow.
The word SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, and Threats. By continually evaluating your situation
as if you were in enemy country, surrounded by hostile
forces, you are better able to make the best decisions and to
focus your energies where the best results are possible. The
successful commander is one who can bring his greatest
strengths to bear against the areas of greatest enemy weakness.
At the beginning of World War II, the French felt secure behind
the Maginot Line, the massive fortifications forming a zone ten
to fifty miles deep that they had built along the country’s eastern
border between 1929 and 1934. The Germans’ great
advantage was speed and mobility. Using this strength to their
advantage, they skirted the line and attacked through Belgium,
which had refused to allow France to extend the Maginot Line
along the Franco-Belgian border. From there, the Germans
swept through the Ardennes Forest and across France, bringing
about the unconditional surrender of the French Government
in less than six weeks.

1. Strengths. What are your personal strengths? What are
   the strengths of your business? What are the strengths of
   the key people who report to you? What are the
   strengths of your products or services relative to your
   competition in today’s marketplace? Be clear about your
   strengths, your areas of superiority, and always look for
   ways to capitalize on them.

2. Weaknesses. Where are you weak as a person? What are
   the weaknesses of your staff? What are the weaknesses
   of your products or services, based on feedback from
   your customers? What are the weaknesses in your current
   business situation, and what could you do to compensate
   for them? These are key questions you must ask
   and answer on a regular basis.

3. Opportunities. What opportunities are available to you
   to increase sales, cut costs, and improve your market
   position? What are the trends? Where is the market
   going? What is it that customers want today, and will
   want tomorrow, that you are not currently offering? Your
   greatest benefits and rewards will come from capitalizing
   on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than on
   being preoccupied with the problems of the past.

4. Threats. What are the threats to your business? What
   could possibly go wrong? What can you do to assure that
   you continue to survive and thrive no matter what happens?
   The failure to acknowledge and counter a possible
   threat can be disastrous to a company and to a military
   unit.
   Conduct a SWOT analysis regularly on every part of your
   business, both internal and external. Make sure everyone around
   you is thinking in these terms as well. This keeps everyone sharp
   and alert and ready to act quickly when necessity demands it.