This is used to help focus activities into areas of strength and where the greatest opportunities lie. This is used to identify the dangers that take the form of weaknesses and both internal and external threats.
The four attributes of SWOT analysis:
Strengths - What are the advantages? What is currently done well? (e.g. key area of best-performing activities of your company)
Weaknesses - What could be improved? What is done badly? (e.g. key area where you are performing poorly)
Opportunities - What good opportunities face the organization? (e.g. key area where your competitors are performing poorly)
Threats - What obstacles does the organization face? (e.g. key area where your competitor will perform well)
SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. By definition, Strengths (S) and Weaknesses (W) are considered to be internal factors over which you have some measure of control. Also, by definition, Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) are considered to be external factors over which you have essentially no control.
SWOT Analysis is the most renowned tool for audit and analysis of the overall strategic position of the business and its environment. Its key purpose is to identify the strategies that will create a firm specific business model that will best align an organization’s resources and capabilities to the requirements of the environment in which the firm operates. In other words, it is the foundation for evaluating the internal potential and limitations and the probable/likely opportunities and threats from the external environment. It views all positive and negative factors inside and outside the firm that affect the success. A consistent study of the environment in which the firm operates helps in forecasting/predicting the changing trends and also helps in including them in the decision-making process of the organization.
An overview of the four factors (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is given