What Is SWOT Analysis?

SWOT stands for strength, Weakness (internal factors) opportunity, and threat (external factors) affecting a company. You have control over internal factors (location, intellectual property, your team), and you can change them. But the external factors can only prepare for them but can’t change them, including the unavailability of raw materials.

A SWOT analysis puts together your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threat into a list presented in a two-by-two grid. The report has become useful since its invention in the 1960s by Albert of Stanford research institute to small and large business owners who wish to grow their companies.

When should you conduct the analysis?

Whether you’re self-employed and not answering to anyone, never take your business informally. In doing so, you expect things to run cohesively, yet you’re one directing them not to. With that said, conducting a SWOT analysis is essential, and you can do it at any stage of your business. If you make a decision and halfway, you feel things are not good, analyze to find out which operations are not running optimally, and need adjustment.

Perform the analysis to:
• Restore internal policies
• Study new initiatives
• Before deliberating on opportunities

Generally, perform the analysis to assess your business landscape to improve the company’s operation and optimize production.

When you do, ask the team to make contributions as their first-hand experience and knowledge will give you a comprehensive analysis from all business sides ideal while building a cohesive decision. Company leaders and founders should also engage in the analysis process.

Characteristic of SWOT Analysis

Individuals commonly create two columns slip in into four and align internal element mostly on the upper side and external factors below, for comparison. Internal factors, or in other words, strength, and weakness of a business, include the following:
• Financial resources
• Location, equipment, and facilities (physical resources)
• Human resources such as target audience and employees
• Copyrights assess to resources, patents and more

If you’re opening a new branch in a different geographical area, the strength is it’s a new area predicted to grow. But, if someone else is financing the department, the financial bit is a weakness. You can have strong management, but your brand may yet be reputable.

External factors, on the other hand, may directly or indirectly affect your company. They include:
• Suppliers and partners
• Demographics
• Political, economic and environmental regulations
• Market trends

Coming up with a list of SWOT is to help you use strength and opportunities to overcome weaknesses and threats.

Business analysis is essential even for an e-commerce business, as illustrated by SWOT analysis Shopify. As long as you want your business to remain relevant and record an upward scale of growth, you have to analyze the trends and address them. With the goals, you set at the initial stage of your business and the analysis you collect along the way, your business should skyrocket.