MBA600I
12/14/2012
SWOT Analysis
Table of Contents
Defining SWOT Analysis………………………………………………………………..p. 3
How to Use SWOT Analysis……………………………………………………………p.4
Example SWOT Analysis………………………………………………………………..p.7
Specific SWOT Analysis for Sprint Nextel Corporation……………………………....p.9
Key Points..……………………………………………………………………………….p.12
References………………………………………………………………………………..p.13
Defining SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis is a useful technique that a company can use to identify their strengths and weaknesses, and for identifying both the opportunities open to them and the threats that they face.
Used in a business context, a SWOT Analysis helps carve a sustainable niche in the company’s market. Used in a personal context, it helps a person develop their career in a way that takes best advantage of their talents, abilities and opportunities.
SWOT Analysis is particularly powerful, in that it can help a company uncover opportunities that they are well placed to exploit. And by understanding the weaknesses of the business, they can manage and eliminate threats that would otherwise catch you unawares.
More than this, by looking at themselves and their competitors using the SWOT framework, a company can start to craft a strategy that helps them distinguish themselves from their competitor, therefore, enabling them to successfully compete in their market.
(Hill, T. & R. Westbrook, 1997)
How to Use SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis was originated by Albert S Humphrey in the 1960s, and it is as useful now as it was back then. It can basically be used in one of two ways - as a simple icebreaker helping people get together to "kick off" strategy formulation, or in a more sophisticated way as a serious strategy tool.
References: 3. Bateman, Thomas S. and Scott A. Snell, Management: Leading & Collaborating in a Competitive Word, (9th edition), McGraw-Hill Publishers, 2010. 4. Hill, T. & R. Westbrook (1997). "SWOT Analysis: It’s Time for a Product Recall". Long Range Planning 30 (1): 46–52. 5. Humphrey, Albert (December 2005). "SWOT Analysis for Management Consulting" . SRI Alumni Newsletter (SRI International). 6. Menon, A. et al. (1999). "Antecedents and Consequences of Marketing Strategy Making". Journal of Marketing (American Marketing Association) 63 (2): 18–40.