SyrianChick
New member
I need examples of external weaknesses and strengths in a business. Please could somone help.
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what could be external weaknesses and strengths in a business?
- Thread starter SyrianChick
- Start date
Mistilletto
New member
A SWOT analysis is the examining of an organisations Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths and Weaknesses are internal to the organisation. Opportunities and Threats are external to the organisation. I think it will be easier for you to identify these if you use the terms 'Opportunities' and 'Threats' rather than 'strengths' and 'weaknesses'.
Opportunities would be things like - competitor mistakes/problems, new markets opening up, change in economic/political climate that can be exploited by the organisation ie enlargement of EU - workforce mobility, dropping of trade barriers and tariffs etc
Threats would be as above but opposite; ie competitors revealing marketing leading product/expansion, corporation taxes and trade duties increasing etc etc
If you want to be really thorough, you can do a PESTLE analysis which will give you ALL external opportunities and threats of an organisation.
Political - new Government policies affecting business? EU effect etc
Economic - ie slowing coming out of recession; positive for business as consumer spending increases.
Social - ie people more health conscious so if you are a fast food company it is a threat as it makes you product look bad, but an opportunity to increase product range as there will be increased demand for healthy alternatives.
Technlogical - any advances/changes/problems in technology either by your suppliers or competitors (ie advanced production lines etc) or everyone (such as the fast growth of internet) affects your business and it is up to the business to change it from a threat to an opportunity by adapting to it quickly and efficiently
Legal - ie food labelling laws, distance selling laws etc etc - all legislation relevant to the organisation must be adhered to which sometimes will constitute a threat if it means you must change your processes but remember that competitors will also be subject to the same laws
Environmental - eg new environmental regulations on matters such as waste disposal/pollution also need to be considered if your organisation produces waste
Basically you just look at the bigger picture, what is going on in the market, with your competitors and in the wider world so that you can identify how you can guard/make the most of them to minimise risk and maximise profitability.
Hope this helps!
Opportunities would be things like - competitor mistakes/problems, new markets opening up, change in economic/political climate that can be exploited by the organisation ie enlargement of EU - workforce mobility, dropping of trade barriers and tariffs etc
Threats would be as above but opposite; ie competitors revealing marketing leading product/expansion, corporation taxes and trade duties increasing etc etc
If you want to be really thorough, you can do a PESTLE analysis which will give you ALL external opportunities and threats of an organisation.
Political - new Government policies affecting business? EU effect etc
Economic - ie slowing coming out of recession; positive for business as consumer spending increases.
Social - ie people more health conscious so if you are a fast food company it is a threat as it makes you product look bad, but an opportunity to increase product range as there will be increased demand for healthy alternatives.
Technlogical - any advances/changes/problems in technology either by your suppliers or competitors (ie advanced production lines etc) or everyone (such as the fast growth of internet) affects your business and it is up to the business to change it from a threat to an opportunity by adapting to it quickly and efficiently
Legal - ie food labelling laws, distance selling laws etc etc - all legislation relevant to the organisation must be adhered to which sometimes will constitute a threat if it means you must change your processes but remember that competitors will also be subject to the same laws
Environmental - eg new environmental regulations on matters such as waste disposal/pollution also need to be considered if your organisation produces waste
Basically you just look at the bigger picture, what is going on in the market, with your competitors and in the wider world so that you can identify how you can guard/make the most of them to minimise risk and maximise profitability.
Hope this helps!