Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
History of SWOT
In the 1960’s and 70’s, Albert Humphrey is said to have developed this strategic planning tool usingdata from the top companies in America at the time. A SWOT Analysis looks at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are relevant to an organization in a new venture. A SWOT Analysis is a tool which allows users to look at the direction a company or organization may wish to move towards in the future. A SWOT Analysis is a useful tool, which in conjunction with others can help make in-formed decisions.
Definition of SWOT
By specifying clear objectives and identifying internal and external factors that are either helpful or not, a short and simple SWOT analysis is a useful resource which may be incorporated into an organizations strategic planning model.
Strengths- Internal attributes that are helpful to the organization to achieving its objective
Weaknesses – Internal attributes that are harmful to the organization to achieving its objective
Opportunities – External factors that help the or-ganization achieve its objective
Threats - External factors that are harmful to the organization to achieving its objective
After identifying the SWOT’s, identification of the factors and their interdepend-ence helps clarify the steps needed to achieve the ending objectives.
Internal and External Factors
The aim of any SWOT analysis is to identify the key internal and external factors that are impor-tant to achieving the objective. SWOT analysis groups key pieces of information into two main categories . The internal factors may be viewed as strengths or weaknesses depending upon their impact on the or-ganization's objectives. What may represent strengths with respect to one objective may be weak-nesses for another objective. The factors may include all of the 4P's; as well as personnel, finance, manufac-turing capabilities, and so on.
The external