3.12 SWOT Analysis/Matrix

SWOT Analysis is a useful technique for understanding your Strengths and Weakness, and for identifying both the Opportunities open to you and the Threats in a product concept.

The SWOT Analysis can be used before concepts are generated, during the development and to evaluate the concepts.

Internal

Strengths
What advantages does your organization have?
What do you do better than anyone else?
What unique or lowest-cost resources can you draw upon that others can’t?
What do people in your market see as your strengths?

Consider your strengths from both an internal perspective, and from the point of view of your customers and people in your market.

Weakness
What could you improve?
What should you avoid?
What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses?
What factors lose your sales?

Consider this from an internal and external basis:
Do other people seem to perceive weaknesses that you don’t see?
Are your competitors doing any better than you?

It’s better to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible.

External

Opportunities
What good opportunities can you spot?
What interesting trends are you aware of?

Useful opportunities can come from such things as:
Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale.
Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, and so on.

Threats
What obstacles do you face?
What are your competitors doing?
Are quality standards or specifications for your job, products or services changing?
Is changing technology threatening your market position?
Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your product or business?

Tip: When looking at opportunities and threats, PEST Analysis can help to ensure that you don’t overlook external factors, such as new government regulations, or technological changes in your industry.

PEST Analysis

PEST Analysis is aa simple and widely used tool that helps you analyze the Political, Economic,

Socio-Cultural, and Technological changes in your business environment.

This helps you understand the big picture forces of change that you’re exposed to, and, from this, take advantage of the opportunities that they present.

SWOT Analysis Example: