SWOT Analysis / GAP Analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

[Andy Bassett]

Does anyone have a sample of a SWOT analysis and or a GAP Analysis. I guess it could be on any topic, but if it dealt with an overall company business analysis it would be a bonus.

I could create dummy ones, but im trying to save some time.

Any help appreciated.

Regards

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Andy B

 

[Marc]

What is a SWOT analysis?

 

[Andy Bassett]

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Basically you analyse your company or Project under these four headings, i suppose its nothing more than a Structured form of Brainstorming, but because it is simple its a great way at the start of projects to encourage people to 'think out of the box'.

If your are doing very high level analysis ie on a companies entry into new markets, or expansion plans, you would also carry out a PEST analysis which means looking at the Political, Economical, Sociological and Technical factors.

Regards



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Andy B

 

[Marc]

This is an oldie, but I was reading through it and was wondering if anyone has any examples they could attach.

 

[Claes Gefvenberg]

This is an oldie, but I was reading through it and was wondering if anyone has any examples they could attach.

No examples, but a link to http://www.mindtools.com/, where SWOT and a number of other good tools are explained in varying detail. (I have no connection with mind Tools).

/Claes

 

[Jim Howe]

I have been involved in SWOT, but I find that the reports would be extremely propriatary and can not be posted for public consumption.
Think about it for a moment and I am sure you can understand that were talking about a companies strengths, weaknesses, oppourtunities and threats as gathered from the perception of some of the companies key employee's.
In the old days a VP might have been tasked with writing a "White paper" which is the same kind of analysis but from one point of view.

 

[Bill Pflanz]

SWOT analysis is also done as a first step in strategic planning. It makes sense that you would want to know your SWOT to do long term planning. There is another thread on the value of an MBA. Since I did not get into quality until after I got my MBA, I realized that some of what I was learning for quality I had already seen in my MBA classes. For those who are quality professionals and also have MBA's there are some principles and methods that are used by both.

Bill Pflanz

 

[Phillip]

I would like to add a little twist in SWOT analysis.

It is better to look into the Industry of where you are and then identify the Threats and Opportunities of the INDUSTRY. Not of your company only - but of the whole industry that you are in. You need to consider competition right away.

Then you can enumerate or identify the Company's Strengths and Weaknesses. These can be further classified by Functions of the company.

Now, you can do the TOWS matrix:

Opportunity1 - Strength1/Weakness1, Strength2
Threat1 - Strength3/WEakness2

The logic is to align your company's strengths and/or weaknesses to the opportunities of the Industry. this way you are assessing how you can attack the industry with the current company's strengths.
or how you may want to develop the company's weakness to confront the threats of the industry.

 

[Bill Pflanz]

I would like to add a little twist in SWOT analysis.

It is better to look into the Industry of where you are and then identify the Threats and Opportunities of the INDUSTRY. Not of your company only - but of the whole industry that you are in. You need to consider competition right away.

Philip you are correct in looking at the industry first and then determining how you fit in. Besides SWOT, we used to do a major competitor analysis to evaluate their SWOT and then develop strategic plans around that information.

Bill Pflanz

 

[Hershal]

The other contributors have provided a lot of good information.

In my experience, a really good SWOT analysis is a critcal bit to any significant expansion and business plan development. After all, the research that is involved means one needs to look both within and without the organization. Both aspects must be considered.

Internal may include:
Current manufacturing/service ability
Internal costs and overhead
Start-up costs for the new product/service/offering/etc.
Estimated continuing costs over some period of time
Cost-benefit ratio analysis
Skills levels in-house
Skills levels needed
If new facilities and/or skills are needed, then estimated time and cost to obtain them

External may include:
Exisitng competitors for the product/service, detailed by market region
Price
Legal issues
Trade restrictions (e.g. can't ship high tech stuff to Cuba)
Cost/payback ratio, based on market penetration
Patent/copyright issues
Known barriers to entry
Certifications needed (e.g. ER report to sell construction materials in some juristions), time/effort/cost/source needed to get the certifications

There are other considerations also, based on the intended product/service, the market, and similar considerations. This is therefore only a common list of considerations.

As one other contributor has noted, specific examples are often propriatory, so sharing of examples may get folks (including me for the ones I have done) in trouble.

I hope this helps.

Hershal