Encyclopedia of Marketing. SWOT analysis as a research method

Life forces us to make decisions every day. And every decision we make, one way or another, affects our future. Our fate for years and even decades depends on some decisions. To make any important decision, you need a thorough analysis of what is happening, this is necessary both in business and in everyday life. Qualitative analysis is a very difficult matter. And despite the fact that absolutely every person needs to be able to do it, this management function is not taught in school. Today we will talk about one of the most common methods of analysis - the SWOT method.

What is SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis is a method of primary assessment of the current situation based on considering it from four sides:

• Strengths - strengths;
• Weaknesses - weaknesses;
• Opportunities - opportunities;
• Threats – threats;

Strengths and weaknesses are your internal environment, what you already have at the current moment in time. Opportunities and threats are environmental factors, they may or may not happen, it also depends on your actions and decisions.

The acronym SWOT was first used at Harvard in 1963 at a conference on business policy by Professor Kenneth Andrews. In 1965, SWOT analysis was proposed to develop a company's behavioral strategy.

SWOT analysis helps to create a structured description of a specific situation, based on this description, conclusions can be drawn. This allows you to make correct and informed decisions. SWOT analysis plays a significant role in business and should be mastered by everyone involved in personnel management and marketing.

Rules for conducting SWOT analysis

Before you begin drawing up a SWOT analysis, you need to understand a number of rules.

1. Need to choose the most specific area of ​​research. If you choose an area that is too broad, the conclusions will be unspecific and less applicable.
2. Clear separation of elementsSWOT. There is no need to confuse strengths and opportunities. Strengths and weaknesses are the internal characteristics of an organization that are within its control. Opportunities and threats are related to the external environment and are not directly subject to the influence of the organization; the organization can only change its approach and adapt to them.
3. Avoid subjectivity. It would be naive to rely on your opinion if the market does not agree with it. You may think your product is unique, but it's worth asking consumers about this first. Without them, your personal opinion has no meaning.
4. Try use the opinions of as many people as possible. The larger the sample, the more accurate the research. Remember about?
5. The most specific and precise formulations. I often ask my subordinates: “What should you do to earn more?” They almost always tell me that I need to work harder. This is not a specific formulation; it is not clear what specific actions a person should perform at what time.

Using these simple rules, you can proceed to compiling a SWOT matrix.

SWOT matrix

SWOT analysis is usually used by drawing a table, it is often called a SWOT matrix. This method of use does not depend on the global nature of the problem being solved. It doesn’t matter whether you’re deciding who to spend the weekend with or what business to invest your millions in, the essence and appearance of a SWOT analysis will remain the same. The SWOT matrix looks something like this:

The first line and first column are indicated simply for ease of understanding; they are not necessary to draw if you understand the SWOT analysis method well.

How to use SWOT analysis

So, you are faced with a certain task and you need to understand how to solve it. First of all, you need to draw a SWOT matrix. You can do this by dividing a sheet of paper into four parts. In each part you need to write as much available information as possible. It is advisable to write the more significant factors first, then move on to the less significant ones.

We analyze strengths and weaknesses

It is not surprising, but it is with the description of strengths that the most problems arise for people who take up SWOT analysis for the first time. In general, you can ask your employees, friends and acquaintances for help in assessing, but it is better to learn how to analyze yourself. Strengths and weaknesses are assessed using the same parameters.

In business, strengths are assessed primarily based on the following parameters:

• Management and human resources in general. First of all, the competence and experience of the staff;
• Having a clear system. Business processes and employee understanding of what to do;
• Finance and access to money;
• Clearly. This is a very important success factor; the lack of a sales department is a serious obstacle and a sink for other resources;
• Reasonable marketing policy;
• Availability of production costs.

When conducting a SWOT analysis of your personality, you can rely on the following criteria:

• Education and knowledge;
• Experience and your skills;
• Social connections, useful contacts and other opportunities to use administrative resources;
• Recognition and authority;
• Availability of material resources;

When analyzing your strengths, you should focus on what you like to do and what you are good at. As a rule, what we don’t like turns out worse for us.

Analysis of opportunities and threats

Opportunities and threats are created by changes in the environment and those changes that you can make personally. It is worth noting that to analyze the external situation on the market, and even more so to predict the future market, you need to have serious qualifications. It is very difficult to predict what will happen and it is worth relying primarily on current facts and trends. At the same time, when making long-term planning, it is necessary to take into account the most pessimistic scenario for the development of the situation.

Opportunities and threats in business are primarily assessed according to the following parameters:

1. Market trends. Increase or decrease in demand.
2. Economic situation in the country. In years of economic growth, business, other things being equal, will grow in proportion to the growth of the economy, and vice versa.
3. Competition, the absence of competitors today does not guarantee their absence tomorrow. The arrival of a major player in the market can turn the industry upside down.
4. Infrastructure changes. Major changes to infrastructure can result in both gains and losses.
5. Legislation and political trends. Probably, in 2003, no one imagined that within 5 years all casinos would close.
6. Technological revolutions. Progress inevitably destroys entire industries while creating new ones.

Every field of business has its own experts and professionals; to compile a high-quality SWOT matrix, you can turn to them for advice and expert opinion.

SWOT analysis methodology

So, we have a completed SWOT matrix that contains: strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats. Based on this matrix, you need to work according to it. To do this, perform the following steps:

1. It is necessary to rank all factors according to the degree of influence;
2. All far-fetched and unimportant factors must be excluded;
3. We analyze how your strengths can help you avoid threats and achieve opportunities;
4. Let's see what impact your weaknesses can have on opportunities and threats;
5. How strengths can help improve weaknesses;
6. How can we reduce threats;

Based on the work done, you draw up the main vectors of development. SWOT analysis is primarily a tool for descriptive assessment of the situation. It does not analyze large amounts of analytics and does not compare indicators over past years. SWOT does not measure quantitatively the parameters. And that is why the SWOT method will always be a rather subjective analysis tool.

Application of SWOT analysis

The simplicity of SWOT analysis makes this tool very versatile; as we wrote above, it can be used both in life and in business. SWOT analysis is used both separately and in combination with other analysis and planning tools. SWOT analysis is most widely used in management, primarily for strategic planning of an organization's activities.

SWOT self-analysis

Separately, I would like to talk about the use of the SWOT analysis method to determine priorities in personal development. You can use this tool to determine goals both at work, for example, what area of ​​activity you should pursue, and in personal relationships.

I strongly recommend that middle and senior managers ask their subordinates to do a personal SWOT analysis at least once a year. It is also an excellent tool for determining management abilities when hiring a new employee. I first read this idea in Igor Mann’s book Number 1. Mann recommends giving SWOT to everyone who came for an interview.

The starting point for the final accumulation of all the key information collected using the previously described methods and the final analysis is a SWOT analysis (an acronym made up of the first letters of the English words: strength - force, weakness - weakness, opportunity - opportunity and threat - threats) is one of the most common and effective types of analysis in marketing and market research, especially if the method is used in its full version.

SWOT analysis allows you to identify and structure the strengths and weaknesses of a company, as well as potential opportunities and threats in the market. Based on the results of applying all preliminary methods of analysis, researchers must compare the internal strengths and weaknesses of their company with the opportunities and threats of the market. Based on the quality of compliance, a conclusion is made about the direction in which the organization should develop its business and, ultimately, resources are distributed among segments.

The SWOT analysis methodology involves first identifying strengths and weaknesses, as well as threats and opportunities, and then establishing chains of connections between them, which can later be used to formulate the organization's strategies.

Strengths and weaknesses are elements of the internal environment, which can include a wide variety of aspects of an organization's activities.

Strength is something in which a company has succeeded, or some feature that can provide it with additional opportunities for business development.

A weakness is the absence of something important to the functioning of a company, something that it does not succeed (in comparison with others), or something that puts it at a disadvantage.

Any element, depending on the perception of buyers, can be both a strength and a weakness.

Opportunities and threats are elements of the external environment. Opportunities and threats are outside the organization's control. They can be considered as external factors related to elements of the market environment.

An opportunity is defined as something that gives a firm a chance to do something new: launch a new product, win new customers, introduce new technology, etc.

A threat is something that can harm a company and deprive it of significant advantages.

Environmental analysis, which should have already been completed by the time of the swot analysis using the PEST analysis method and Porter's five-factor model (described above), can serve as an excellent starting point for this part of the swot analysis.

On first stage implementation of the method, researchers, taking into account the specific situation in which the company is located, based on the results of a preliminary study of external and internal expertise, desk study of sources of secondary information, various surveys to obtain summary data, compile a list of all its weaknesses and strengths, as well as a list of threats and opportunities market and present it in matrix form.

The compilation of this matrix is ​​also called qualitative swot analysis, from which the stage of full implementation of the method begins.

In table Table 7.2 shows the most frequently included areas of analysis in the method that must be disclosed for the market under study.

SWOT analysis for any specific company is unique and may include one or more items from the presented list, or even all at once. Each element presented in a qualitative swot analysis should be detailed as much as possible for the specific industry and the company being directly studied.

After a specific, maximally complete list of weaknesses and strengths, as well as threats and opportunities has been compiled, second stage Each parameter should be assessed, with the help of experts from among industry specialists and qualified employees of the company conducting the research, according to its degree of importance for the company (on a scale: 0 - weak influence, 1 - medium influence, 2 - strong influence). For components of the external environment, the probabilities of the occurrence of the presented opportunities and threats should be assessed on a similar scale by introducing an additional column into the matrix.

Table 7.2.

As a result, all assessed elements within each of the four groups should be ranked in order of importance for the organization and placed in sequence in descending order of importance. This stage of method implementation is called quantitative swot analysis. Based on its results, as a rule, the 5-6 most significant elements from each group are transferred to the next stage, so they can be immediately highlighted in color on the quantitative matrix.

On third stage connections are established between these four groups. For these purposes, a confrontational swot analysis matrix , shown schematically in Fig. 7.1.

The intersections of the elements of weaknesses and threats that are most important for the organization, according to experts (zone IV of the matrix) reveal the central problem for the organization as a consequence of the connection of these elements to eliminate weaknesses and prepare to repel possible threats. The intersections of the most important elements of strengths and opportunities (zone I of the matrix) form strategic priorities, i.e. How does the company plan to use its strengths to benefit

Rice. 7.1. Confrontation Matrix Shape SWOT -analysis

take advantage of the favorable opportunities provided by the external environment 100% and eliminate the central problem.

Existing options for confrontation could be the following:

• strength/opportunity - market leader/market growth;
• strength/threat - market leader or strong innovation/increasing competition or increasing consumer power;
• weakness/opportunity - low gross margin or loss of market share/market growth or large market size;
• Weakness/threat: low gross margins or loss of market share/increasing competition or increasing consumer power.

An example of the formation of a confrontational matrix for a website manufacturing company is given in Table. 7.3.

For the example given, the central problem can be formulated as follows: the company’s passive advertising activity against the backdrop of high competition forms the central problem of a low level of attracting new customers. The dependence here is as follows: if a company does not advertise properly, potential customers may not know about this company, and if there is high competition in the market, then the likelihood increases that new consumers will ultimately cooperate with one of the competing companies, information which will be available in various advertising channels.

SWOT analysis helps researchers answer the following questions.

• 1. Does the company under study use internal strengths or differentiating advantages in its strategy? If a company does not have a differentiating advantage, what are its potential strengths that could become one?
• 2. Are the company's weaknesses its competitive vulnerabilities and/or do they prevent it from taking advantage of certain favorable circumstances? What weaknesses require adjustment based on strategic considerations?
• 3. What favorable circumstances give a company a realistic chance of success using its skills and access to resources? It is important to understand here that favorable opportunities without ways to realize them are an illusion. A company's strengths and weaknesses make it better or worse able to take advantage of opportunities than other firms.

Table 7.3.

4. What threats should the company being studied be most concerned about, and what strategic actions should it take to be well protected?

To avoid mistakes when conducting market research and getting the most out of SWOT analysis, must be observed following rules.

Rule 1. It is important to carefully highlight the scope of the SWOT analysis being carried out. When conducting research, a general superficial analysis is often carried out, covering the entire business of the company. As a result, it becomes too general and not useful for its top managers who are interested in deep detail, particularly opportunities in specific markets or segments. Focusing a SWOT analysis on a specific segment ensures that its most important strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are identified.

Rule 2. It is necessary to clearly understand the differences between the elements of SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal elements of a company's activities that are subject to control by its management. Opportunities and threats (the greatest number of errors are made in these elements during the implementation of the method) are associated with the characteristics of the market environment and are not subject to the influence of the organization. In other words, these should not be opportunities and threats to the company itself, but only to the market or external environment. The company can only determine in conclusions how to use the highlighted opportunities and how to avoid the negative consequences of market threats.

Rule 3 . Strengths and weaknesses can only be considered as such if they are perceived as such by customers, and not by researchers or employees of the company under study. In addition, they must be formulated against the background of existing competitors' proposals. For example, a strength will only be strong if the market sees it as such. At the same time, the analysis should include the most significant advantages and weaknesses.

Rule 4. When implementing the method, researchers need to be objective and use diverse input information. You cannot entrust the construction of the matrix to one person, since this specialist may not be absolutely accurate and in-depth in analyzing the factors. It is more appropriate to conduct research in the form of group discussion and exchange of ideas. It is important to understand that a SWOT analysis is not just a statement of the subjective opinions of the people involved in its implementation. It should be based, to the maximum extent possible, on objective facts and data collected through pre-implemented intermediate research methods of the external and internal marketing environment. Therefore, the process of identifying factors for each quadrant of the matrix should be carried out with the creation of an expert group from among company employees, dealers and other experts in the given market.

Rule 5. Vacillity and ambiguity must be avoided. Too often, swot analysis elements appear vague precisely because they include language that means nothing to most buyers. The more precise the wording, the more useful the analysis will be.

The swot analysis should be as focused as possible, for example, if necessary, a separate table should be built for each new market or group of buyers.

When conducting marketing research, it is very important to support all statements of researchers with real evidence (quotes, letters, industry statistics, press reports, government publications, information from dealers, survey data and customer comments) so that they are not unfounded, subjective for the company’s management, conducting the study, and therefore unconvincing for use in further work. It is necessary to constantly remember that the analysis should be built with a focus on customers, and not on the internal problems of the organization, which do not in any way affect its behavior in the market.

When considering each factor in a swot analysis, it is important to analyze it through the following set of key questions:

• - Are you sure that this is actually the case?
• - How high is the probability of this opinion, does it require additional examination?
• - From what sources was this confidence formed and how reliable and objective are the sources used?
• - Is there a possibility that everything could change in the near future?
• - Does the statement made have meaning (attitude or meaning) for buyers of the company's products?
• - Has a specific position in relation to competitors been considered?

Often when conducting marketing research, especially as part of a marketing system audit, a separate SWOT analysis is carried out for each leading competitor in the industry, as well as for different markets. This reveals the company's relative strengths and weaknesses, its potential to combat threats and seize opportunities. The procedure is useful in determining the attractiveness of existing opportunities and assessing the firm's ability to exploit them.

In such cases, when using a SWOT analysis of market opportunities and threats, work is often done with the strategic matrices shown in Fig. 7.2, 7.3.

Rice. 7.2.

BC - high/strong; VU - high/moderate; VM - high/small; NM - low/small, etc.

When constructing a strategic matrix of opportunities in the external environment, the strength of influence of an opportunity on the company and the likelihood of its manifestation are assessed by expert means. A cluster breakdown is made in a matrix in which a discrete point scale can be used, obtained by expert means, and based on the established scale ranges into which the factors combined into certain quadrants will fall. The position of each factor on the matrix can also be shown directly in it by specific points. During the analysis, only factors that fall into the upper left quadrant of this matrix (the first two squares horizontally and vertically) are highlighted, since they have the maximum impact on the company and the most significant likelihood of occurrence. Factors that fall into the lower right field are ignored as least significant. A situational approach is applied to factors occupying the diagonal.

External environmental threats are analyzed using a similar approach.

Rice. 7.3.

VR - high/destruction; VK - high/critical condition; VT - high/severe condition; VL - high/"light bruises"; NL - low/"light bruises", etc.

The difference in the structure of the threat matrix lies in a more multifactorial breakdown of the degree of influence of the threat on the enterprise, in which four clusters are already used: destruction, critical condition, serious condition, “minor bruises”.

By identifying the most significant factors of opportunities and threats, researchers analyze the possibilities of using them in strategic planning through pairwise comparison with internal factors of the company's strengths and weaknesses.

SWOT analysis (translation from English swot analysis)- one of the most effective tools in strategic management. The essence of swot analysis is to analyze the company’s internal and external factors, assess the risks and competitiveness of the product in the industry.

Definition of SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis method is a universal method of strategic management. The object of SWOT analysis can be any product, company, store, factory, country, educational institution and even person. There are the following types of SWOT analysis:

• SWOT analysis of the activities of a company or manufacturing enterprise
• SWOT analysis of the activities of a government or non-profit organization
• SWOT analysis of the activities of an educational institution
• SWOT analysis of a specific territory: country, region, district or city
• SWOT analysis of a separate project or department
• SWOT analysis of a specific market or industry
• SWOT analysis of the competitiveness of a brand, product, product or service
• SWOT personality analysis

Companies often conduct a SWOT analysis not only of their products, but also of competitors’ products, since this tool very clearly systematizes all information about the internal and external environment of any organization.

The advantages of SWOT analysis are that it allows a fairly simple, correct look at the position of a company, product or service in the industry, and therefore is the most popular tool in risk management and management decision making.

The result of a SWOT analysis of an enterprise is an action plan indicating deadlines, priority of implementation and the necessary resources for implementation.

Frequency of SWOT analysis. It is recommended to conduct a SWOT analysis at least once a year as part of strategic planning and when forming budgets. SWOT analysis is very often the first business analysis step when creating a marketing plan.

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Part one: SWOT analysis, determining the strengths and weaknesses of a product

Elements of SWOT analysis

Explanation of SWOT analysis abbreviations: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, T=Threats.

S=Strengths

Strengths of a product or service. Such internal characteristics of the company that provide a competitive advantage in the market or a more advantageous position in comparison with competitors, in other words, those areas in which the company’s product feels better and more stable than competitors.

The importance of strengths for a company in strategic planning: due to strengths, a company can increase sales, profits and market share; strengths ensure an advantageous position of a product or service in comparison with competitors. Strengths must be constantly strengthened, improved, and used in communication with market consumers.

W=Weaknesses

Weaknesses or shortcomings of a product or service. Such internal characteristics of the company that impede business growth, prevent the product from leading the market, and are uncompetitive in the market.

The importance of weaknesses for a company in strategic planning: a company’s weaknesses hinder the growth of sales and profits, pulling the company back. Due to weaknesses, a company may lose market share in the long term and lose competitiveness. It is necessary to monitor areas in which the company is not strong enough, improve them, and develop special programs to minimize the risks of the influence of weaknesses on the company’s efficiency.

O=Opportunities

A company's capabilities are favorable external environmental factors that can influence business growth in the future. Importance of market opportunity for a company in strategic planning: Market opportunity represents the sources of business growth. Opportunities must be analyzed, assessed and an action plan developed to exploit them using the company's strengths.

T=Threats

Company threats are negative external environmental factors that may weaken the company's competitiveness in the market in the future and lead to decreased sales and loss of market share. The significance of market threats for a company in strategic planning: threats mean possible risks for the company in the future. Each threat must be assessed in terms of the likelihood of occurrence in the short term, in terms of possible losses for the company. For every threat, solutions must be proposed to minimize them.

Drawing up a SWOT analysis

It is advisable to adhere to the following sequence of actions when conducting a SWOT analysis:

This SWOT analysis technique allows you to assess the company’s risks and opportunities in the most complete and detailed manner, and plan a working product marketing strategy:

• An analysis of the surrounding market environment of a product or service is carried out in the context of external and internal factors.
• Based on the analysis, business strengths, business weaknesses, threats and market opportunities for business are formed.
• The obtained parameters are entered into the SWOT matrix for ease of analysis
• Based on the SWOT matrix, conclusions are drawn about the necessary actions, indicating implementation priorities and deadlines.

In the process of conducting a SWOT analysis, involve people interested in making a decision, experts in various issues. An outside opinion will allow you to create a more objective analysis.

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Standard view of a SWOT analysis table

In the SWOT analysis table, it is advisable to indicate factors in order of priority.

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What it is?

The abbreviation SWOT is an acronym for the following English words:

• Strengths – strengths or advantages of the organization;
• Weaknesses - weak points or shortcomings;
• Opportunities - opportunities or external factors that, if properly applied, will create additional advantages for the company;
• Threats – threats or possible circumstances that could harm the company.

A standard SWOT analysis is precisely a comprehensive assessment of the company’s activities, and not only its strengths, but also its weaknesses. But in the terminology adopted in this analysis, they are called sides, respectively, strong and weak. An assessment is made not only of probable external threats, but also of favorable opportunities. In this case, the results obtained must be compared with the indicators of the most strategically important competing firms.

Conducting a SWOT analysis helps answer questions such as:

• Does the company fully use its personal strengths, as well as its distinctive features, in implementing its own strategy?
• Which of the company's weaknesses need to be adjusted accordingly?
• Which potential opportunities offer a real chance of success if all possible resources are deployed and the firm's skills are taken into account?
• What possible threats should a manager pay attention to, and what actions should they take?

Marketers recommend choosing the period for carrying out a SWOT analysis when the direction in which the future development of the business is planned is formulated, and the period for determining the list of goals and setting tasks.

Swot analysis matrix

During the analysis process, specially developed templates are used, which are tables called SWOT matrices. Which one will be used is a purely individual choice. It is worth noting that the results, regardless of the selected template, are completely identical.

Any swot analysis matrix filled out according to a specific pattern. The cells describing the strengths of the enterprise are filled in first. Next we move on to its weaknesses. These two columns help describe the company's microenvironment.

To display the macro environment, you will need to fill in the remaining two columns. In one of them, opportunities should be written down, that is, those probable benefits that the company will be able to obtain in the current market conditions if no significant changes occur. And the last column of the matrix records threats - those factors that can interfere with the development of the company’s strengths and the use of the opportunities provided.

Microenvironment

Strengths include those areas where a company has significantly succeeded and what sets it apart from its competitors. Here you should also describe your competitive advantages, but be objective. These cannot be simply unfounded allegations. They must be confirmed by certain indicators.

These advantages may well include:

• unique company resources;
• personnel with a high qualification level;
• quality products;
• brand popularity.

A company's weaknesses include factors that place it at a disadvantage compared to potential competitors. As an example of the weakness of an enterprise, one can point out a limited range of goods produced or services provided, a not very good reputation, low funding or a relatively low level of customer service.

Macro environment

As you remember, the macro environment in SWOT analysis is presented in the form of probable opportunities or potential threats.

Opportunities include the most favorable circumstances, through which the company receives additional advantages. It is opportunities that contribute to the development of the strengths of an enterprise.

Threats are probable events, in the event of which the enterprise may find itself in not entirely favorable conditions for further development. Examples of such events may be the emergence of new competing companies on the market, increases in tax rates, and changes in demand from buyers.

Additional materials

The swot analysis matrix will require additional information to be filled out more completely and truthfully. Let's consider this point in more detail. All available data will be required in the following categories:

1. Management

All information related to the organization of the work of the entire company is collected here. These are the qualifications of the enterprise’s employees, connections that determine the level of interaction between all departments, etc.

1. Production

In this category, an assessment is made of production capacity, the quality of existing equipment, and the degree of its wear and tear. The quality of manufactured goods, the availability of patent or licensing documentation, if required, and the cost of manufactured goods are also considered. Additionally, the reliability of partners acting as suppliers, level of service, etc. are assessed.

1. Finance.

This is the most important category that requires detailed consideration. It is here that the clearest gradation of the strengths and weaknesses of the business in question is observed. These are the costs of the production process, the availability and speed of turnover of cash capital, the financial stability of the enterprise and its profitability.

1. Innovation.

How often are customers provided with an updated list of products? What is the level of quality and how quickly does the return on capital investments occur? This subparagraph must contain answers to all questions asked.

1. Marketing

• consumer reactions to manufactured goods;
• awareness of your brand;
• the range of products presented by the enterprise;
• pricing policy;
• the effectiveness of advertising campaigns;
• additional services offered by the company.

Rules for performing SWOT analysis

In order to avoid possible mistakes in practice and get the maximum benefit from the marketing research, strict adherence to several rules is required.

As much as possible, try to narrow the scope of the activity in which the analysis will be carried out. If you perform this procedure simultaneously for all activities of the enterprise, the data obtained will be too general and absolutely useless from a practical point of view. Focusing the analytical process on a company's position in a specific market segment will help obtain more specific data.

As you complete the matrix columns in the macro and micro environments, be careful when drawing conclusions regarding the strengths/weaknesses and opportunities/threats of certain factors. Weak or strong qualities are represented by the internal characteristics of the company. Whereas the second pair characterize the situation in a given time period, and cannot be regulated by management.

High-quality analysis is possible only when all the data is completely objective. This strategic analysis should be carried out on the basis of the diverse information presented. The research cannot be entrusted to one specialist, since the information received may well be distorted by his personal subjective perception. In this marketing research, it is necessary to take into account the point of view of each functional unit of the enterprise. All data entered into the SWOT matrix must be confirmed by existing facts or the results of previously conducted research activities.

The use of lengthy formulations or the possibility of its double interpretation is completely unacceptable. The more specifically a factor is formulated, the more clear its impact on the company’s activities as a whole will be in the future. And accordingly, the results obtained after completion of the analysis will have the greatest value.

Weaknesses of SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is just a simple tool with which information is structured. This marketing procedure does not provide any specific answers or clear recommendations. It only helps to more adequately assess the main factors and predict the occurrence of certain events with a certain degree of probability. Formulating any recommendations based on the data obtained - this procedure is already within the competence of the analyst.

Moreover, the apparent simplicity of this strategic analysis is very deceptive. The veracity of the result, and accordingly the development of further transformations, is highly dependent on the completeness and quality of the information provided. To truly obtain the most realistic data, you will either need the participation of an expert who can assess the current state and likely path for further development of the market, or you will need to carry out very painstaking work in collecting and then analyzing the information received in order to achieve this understanding.

Errors that may be made when filling out a matrix table are not detected during the analysis process. Therefore, the addition of an extra factor or, on the contrary, the loss of an important one or other inaccuracies lead to an erroneous conclusion, and therefore incorrect development of a further strategy.

SWOT Analysis Example

The given analysis example is for demonstration purposes only. Here is the entire sequence of actions that will help you perform a SWOT analysis.

Determination of strengths/weaknesses (sides)

First of all, analyze all possible options. Each of the areas must contain at least 3 parameters that helped in assessing the competitive capabilities of the business.

For example, let’s take the direction “appearance of the product.” To analyze it you will need to answer questions such as:

• to what extent is the appearance of the packaging better/worse than that of a competing company;
• the convenience of packaging is better/worse compared to a competing company;
• how much better/worse is the packaging design compared to a competing company, etc.

We check the importance of identified strengths/weaknesses

Not the entire list from the first paragraph will be needed to fill out the matrix. Now you should eliminate the non-essential items. To choose the right parameters, you should evaluate the impact of each in terms of the satisfaction of potential customers, as well as the profit generated.

The results of such a check will help eliminate parameters that play a minor role. The final microenvironment rating will be fully prepared.

Identifying likely growth paths

At this stage, you will need to write potential options that can . Two questions will help with this:

1. how a company can increase its sales level;
2. What are the possibilities for reducing production costs?

Make a comprehensive list of opportunities that will help your business grow. As an example, the following options can be given:

• new sales territory;
• expansion of the range;
• influx of new consumers, etc.

Next, an assessment is made and opportunities that do not have a decisive impact on profits and customer satisfaction are eliminated. Having fully analyzed the entire list received, we cross out opportunities that do not have a strong impact on the profit received and customer satisfaction.

Identifying Potential Threats

This section should list potential threat options. For example, why customers may refuse to purchase a company’s product:

• changing your usual lifestyle;
• decrease in the level of income of the population;
• changed requirements for product quality, etc.

Then we exclude threats that do not threaten the development of the enterprise over the next 5 years.

Filling out the matrix

Now that all the data has been received, we fill out the standard template. In this case, the rating of all indicators is necessarily preserved. Next, based on the SWOT information, recommendations are made for the further development of the enterprise.

You can find detailed swot analysis, strategy and implementation methods using the example of a specific enterprise in this article:

You can also watch the compilation of swot analysis on video.

SWOT analysis involves first identifying strengths and weaknesses, as well as threats and opportunities, and then establishing chains of connections between them, which can later be used to formulate the organization's strategy.

SWOT is an acronym for the words Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The internal situation of the organization is reflected mainly in S and W, and the external one - in O and T. Table 3.11 presents the main factors that should be taken into account in SWOT analysis.

Table 3.11

Factors taken into account in swot analysis

An organization can supplement each of the four parts of the list with those characteristics of the external and internal environment that reflect the specific situation in which it finds itself.

Once a specific list of the organization's weaknesses and strengths, as well as threats and opportunities, has been compiled, the stage of establishing connections between them begins. To establish these connections, a SWOT analysis matrix is ​​compiled, which looks like this (Fig. 3.4).

Rice. 3.4. SWOT Analysis Matrix

On the left, two blocks are highlighted (strengths, weaknesses), into which all the aspects of the organization identified at the first stage of analysis are respectively written out. At the top of the matrix there are also two blocks (opportunities and threats), into which all identified opportunities and threats are written down. At the intersection of blocks, four fields are formed: SIV (strength and capabilities); SIS (power and threats); SLV (weakness and opportunity); SLU (weakness and threats). In each field, the researcher must consider all possible pairwise combinations and highlight those that should be taken into account when developing the organization's behavioral strategy.

In fact, the intersection fields (SIV, SIU, SLV and SLU) represent sets of possible scenarios for the development of events. For example, the possibility of the external environment “Growing consumer interest in product“and the strength of the organization “Active marketing policy” can form a pair of SIV “Expanding sales by attracting new customers.” This pair of SIVs can become a real scenario for the development of events, favorable for the organization, but only if the implementation of the named strength takes into account the possibilities external environment will be enshrined in the strategy and accepted as one of the goals (objectives) of the organization.

For those pairs that have been selected from the SIV field, a strategy should be developed to use the organization's strengths in order to capitalize on the opportunities that have arisen in the external environment. For those couples who find themselves on the SLV field, the strategy should be structured in such a way that, due to the opportunities that have arisen, they try to overcome the weaknesses in the organization. If the couple is on the SIS field, then the strategy should involve using the power of the organization to eliminate the threat. Finally, for couples in the SLU field, the organization must develop such strategy, which would allow her to both get rid of her weakness and try to prevent the threat looming over her.

When developing strategies, you should remember that opportunities and threats can turn into their opposites. Thus, an untapped opportunity can become a threat if a competitor exploits it. Or, conversely, a successfully prevented threat can open up additional opportunities for the organization if competitors were unable to eliminate the same threat.

To successfully study the organization’s environment using the SWOT analysis method, it is important not only to be able to identify threats and opportunities, but also to be able to evaluate them in terms of importance and degree of influence on organization strategy.

The method is used to assess capabilities positioning each specific opportunity on the opportunity matrix (Fig. 3.5).

Rice. 3.5. Opportunity Matrix

The matrix is ​​constructed as follows: along the top horizontally, the degree of influence of the opportunity on the organization’s activities is plotted (strong, moderate, small); On the vertical left is the probability that the organization will be able to take advantage of the opportunity (high, medium, low). The resulting nine opportunity fields within the matrix have different meanings for the organization. Opportunities that fall into the fields of BC, VT and SS are of great importance for the organization, and they must be used. Opportunities that fall into the fields of SM, NU and NM practically do not deserve the organization’s attention. It is possible to use the opportunities in the remaining fields if the organization has enough resources.

A similar matrix is ​​compiled to assess threats (Figure 3.6). At the top horizontally are the possible consequences for the organization that the implementation of the threat may lead to (destruction, critical condition, serious condition, “minor bruises”). On the vertical left is the probability that the threat will be realized (high, medium, low).

Rice. 3.6. Threat Matrix

Those threats that fall into the fields of VR, VC and SR pose a very great danger to the organization and require immediate and mandatory elimination. Threats that enter the field of VT, SC and HP must also be in the field of view of senior management and be eliminated as a matter of priority. As for the threats located in the fields of NK, ST and VL, a careful and responsible approach to eliminating them is required. Although the task of eliminating them first is not set. Threats that fall into the remaining fields should also not fall out of sight of the organization’s management. Their development must be closely monitored.