Create a description of your company and a SWOT matrix that includes trends, strategic positioning, distribution channels, and risks. You’ve already begun this assignment in your discussions.
Change format to SWOT template
In this first course assignment, you will create a description of your selected company and a SWOT matrix that includes trends, strategic positioning, distribution channels, and risks. You’ve already begun this assignment in your discussions.
In the Week 1 discussion, you chose a company (whether your own or the snack food company scenario) and created a description and mission statement for it. In this assignment, you will need to revise your selected company’s description and mission statement based on the feedback you received in the discussion thread. You will also include a brief narrative that provides the rationale for including each component of the mission statement.
Likewise, in the Week 2 discussion, you began work on your SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, threat) matrix. Your task in this assignment is to revise your SWOT matrix based on the feedback you received in the discussion thread. You will also summarize the key learnings from your SWOT matrix.
Reminders and Notes
Before beginning this assignment, you may find it helpful to review textbook Chapter 3, “Making Your Plan Compelling.” This chapter provides useful information about how to organize the information in your business plan.
Your chosen company will operate in a 100-mile radius from your home address. Your goal is to reach $1 million in sales by the end of the second year.
Be sure to follow the guidelines, whether you are using the snack food company or the company of your choice.…
Conducting a SWOT analysis of your business is a lot more fun than it sounds. It won’t take much time, and doing it forces you to think about your business in a whole new way.
The point of a SWOT analysis is to help you develop a strong business strategy by making sure you’ve considered all of your business’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats it faces in the marketplace.
S.W.O.T. is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. A SWOT analysis is an organized list of your business’s greatest strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the company (think: reputation, patents, location). You can change them over time but not without some work. Opportunities and threats are external (think: suppliers, competitors, prices)—they are out there in the market, happening whether you like it or not. You can’t change them.
Existing businesses can use a SWOT analysis, at any time, to assess a changing environment and respond proactively. In fact, I recommend conducting a strategy review meeting at least once a year that begins with a SWOT analysis.
New businesses should use a SWOT analysis as a part of their planning process. There is no “one size fits all” plan for your business, and thinking about your new business in terms of its unique “SWOTs” will put you on the right track right away, and save you from a lot of headaches later on.
To get the most complete, objective results, a SWOT analysis is best conducted by a group of people with different perspectives and stakes in your company. Management, sales, customer service, and even customers can all contribute valid insight. Moreover, the SWOT analysis process is an opportunity to bring your team together and encourage their participation in and adherence to your company’s resulting strategy.
A SWOT analysis is typically conducted using a four-square SWOT analysis template, but you could also just make lists for each category. Use the method that makes it easiest for you to organize and understand the results.
I recommend holding a brainstorming session to identify the factors in each of the four categories. Alternatively, you could ask team members to individually complete our free SWOT analysis template, and then meet to discuss and compile the results. As you work through each category, don’t be too concerned about elaborating at first; bullet points may be the best way to begin. Just capture the factors you believe are relevant in each of the four areas.
Once you are finished brainstorming, create a final, prioritized version of your SWOT analysis, listing the factors in each category in order of highest priority at the top to lowest priority at the bottom.