What is SWOT Analysis?

The overall evaluation of a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is called SWOT analysis. It’s a way of monitoring the external and internal marketing environment.

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT (OPPORTUNITY AND THREAT) ANALYSIS

A business unit must monitor key macroenvironment forces and significant microenvironment factors that affect its ability to earn profits. It should set up a marketing intelligence system to track trends and important developments and any related opportunities and threats.

Good marketing is the art of finding, developing, and profiting from these opportunities. A marketing opportunity is an area of buyer need and interest that a company has a high probability of profitably satisfying.

There are three main sources of market opportunities.

• The first is to offer something that is in short supply. This requires little marketing talent, as the need is fairly obvious.
• The second is to supply an existing product or service in a new or superior way. How? The problem detection method asks consumers for their suggestions, the ideal method has them imagine an ideal version of the product or service, and the consumption chain method asks them to chart their steps in acquiring, using, and disposing of a product.
• This last method often leads to a totally new product or service.

An environmental threat is a challenge posed by an unfavorable trend or development that, in the absence of defensive marketing action, would lead to lower sales or profit.

INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT (STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES) ANALYSIS
It’s one thing to find attractive opportunities, and another to be able to take advantage of them. Each business needs to evaluate its internal strengths and weaknesses.

MARKET OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS (MOA)

• Can the benefits involved in the opportunity be articulated convincingly to a defined target market?
• Can the target market be located and reached with cost-effective media and trade channels?
• Does the company possess or have access to the critical capabilities and resources needed to deliver the customer benefits?
• Can the company deliver the benefits better than any actual or potential competitors?
• Will the financial rate of return meet or exceed the company’s required threshold for investment?

Below is the SWOT Analysis I did for Dunkin' Donuts, as a part of an assignment for this Marketing class.

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