Build Your Business | Make Effective Use Of SWOT Analysis

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Hello enterpreneurs,
What a splendid Wednesday it is, and I believe the weather is bright over there.

I believe we are all doing great and are actively engaging in the post of one another inorder to gain some useful tips on how to increase the success rate of our businesses.

While in my leisure, I decided to carryout some comparison between the successful businesses we have and the businesses that are yet to be successful.

In my comparison, I noticed a very important analysis being carried out by the successful businesses which the unsuccessful ones failed to carry out.

This analysis is no other than SWOT ANALYSIS, follow along as we explain what SWOT analysis is and how it can be applied in our businesses.

The concept SWOT(Strength Weaknesses Opportunity and Threat) analysis can be explained to be a framework used by a company to evaluate it's competitive position and design strategic plans on how to improve the running of the business.

A swot analysis is created with the aim to help a business implement a fact-based, realistic, and data driven evaluation on its strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats.

A business should always strive to maintain a high accuracy of it's swot analysis by avoiding gray areas or preconceived beliefs but instead, concentrating on real life contexts.

Swot analysis shouldn't be used as a prescription for a business but instead it should be used as a guide Inorder to make a business successful.

In the 1960s, Albert S Humphrey designed swot analysis and up to date, it has been a very effective technique to increase the growth of a business.

HOW TO DO A SWOT ANALYSIS

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Swot analysis as explained earlier can in other words be explained as a technique used for for evaluating the general performance, risk, potential and competition of a business.

The swot analysis is usually done using internal and external data, and this technique help to take a business pass through the road of success and avoid that which is likely to be unsuccessful.

VISUAL OVERVIEW OF SWOT ANALYSIS

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A swot analysis is usually presented as a square divided into four equal parts of which each is dedicated to a sector of SWOT analysis.

The visual presentation of swot analysis helps in giving a swift overview of the activities of a company's business, although each segment of the analysis does not possess the same level of importance, as one is more important to the other.

Though they are of unequal Importance, they should all be given attention as neglection of one segment can have a significant effect on the growth of the company.

Now let's proceed to look at the different segment of swot analysis.

• STRENGTH:

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This sector of the swot analysis falls under the internal data of a business.
It involves the evaluation of what gives a company an higher hedge over it's contemporaries in the competitive market.

It explains what an organization is excellent at, what an organization can offer that it's contemporaries can't.
It also involves what make the company preferable to customers when compared to other companies.
It might be that the company has a very strong balance sheet, a good technological application e.t.c.

Using a food business for example, you and your contemporaries produce the same type of food but yours happen to be more tasty than that of your competitor .
It can be regarded that the strength of your business using swot analysis is it's taste.

Another example is when you are a trader, and you sell non-consumable goods like bags, shoes etc.
You and your competitor sell the same goods but yours is more durable, that is, has a longer life span.
It can then be said that the strength of your business is it's durability.

• WEAKNESS:

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Weakness is another internal data of a business using swot analysis.
Weaknesses can be explained to be areas in which a company needs to improve on inorder to increase it's visibility in the competitive market.

Weakness can also be explained to be some characteristics that places your competitors at a better hedge when compared to you.

It is very important that an enterpreneur knows the weaknesses of his business because lack of knowledge of the weaknesses of a business will lead to the halt of such business.

For example, your company is a beverage company and make supplies to the market, then all of a sudden you notice that you are out of supply of goods and there is a limited capital to fund the production of the goods, meanwhile your competitor has just restocked his goods.

It can be said that the weakness of your business is a lack of supplies to the market and lack of capital to fund the production of goods.

• OPPORTUNITY:

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This is classified as a favourable external factor of swot analysis which aims to give a company an added advantage in the competitive market.

Opportunities in a business usually appear by properly analysing the strength and weakness of a business and how it can adjust and meet the new demand of the market.

For a example, if one is a fashion designer and he notices a change in the weather, definitely he should know that there will be a change in the taste of his customers .

If the weather becomes very cold, this is an opportunity to begin designing coats and sweaters that can help his customers stay warm amidst the cold weather.

• THREATS:

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Threats happen to be an external factor that has the ability to cause harm to a business and most times it is beyond the control of the enterpreneur.

For example, in a wheat producing company, a drought can be classified to be a threat, as it will affect the production and supply of wheat to the market.

SWOT TABLE

STRENGTH	WEAKNESS	OPPORTUNITY	THREAT
What resources do we possess	What resources are we lacking	How can we technologically enhance our operations	What are the strength of our competitors?
What are our advantages in the competitive market	what improvement can we make in the market	Can our core operations be expanded	What laws can hinder our operations?
What products are doing excellently well	what products are not up to standard	what other exploration can we take	what act of consumers can pose a threat to our performance?

HOW TO WRITE A GOOD SWOT ANALYSIS

Inorder to construct a good swot analysis, a swot analyst needs to identify and evaluate the Strength, weaknesses, Opportunities and threats of a business.

It is of high recommendation that he makes a list of questions to each segment of the swot quadrant of which he will later provide answers to.
The created questions will help serve as a guide in the completion of his analysis and also help him create a balance list.

The swot table can then be constructed using the formats shown above.

CONCLUSION

The swot analysis is a very effective way to help boost the growth and development of one's business.

It is very important to have all board of directors of a business sitted when the swot analysis is about to be discussed.
This way, new innovation and ideas will be considered.

POST NAME	Build Your Business / Make Effective Use Of SWOT Analysis
OWNER'S NAME	CHARLES
USERNAME	@jueco
LOCATION	LAFENWA, OGUNSTATE, NIGERIA.
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