Examples of SWOT Analysis for Personal and Business Assessment
Do you need SWOT analysis examples for a restaurant, a small retail business and as personal assessment for students, employee etc?
A very vital tool for business management is SWOT (STRENGTH, WEAKNESS, OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS) analysis. It is a very useful tool to for understanding your strengths as a business, your weaknesses, the opportunities that are open to you and threats to the growth and existence of your business.
Important as it is, a lot of find it a daunting challenge to pen down a detailed SWOT analysis for their business.
In this presentation we will be discussing the SWOT analysis example for a dog grooming business.
As implied earlier, the purpose is to create a good marketing action plan. In this case, a dog grooming business has the following SWOT analysis as a very important part of its business plan.
Let’s take a look at a detailed analysis for the dog grooming business.
STRENGTHS
Has A Growing Customer Base
For over two thousand years dogs have been always regarded as man’s best friend. With time the growing importance of the roles played by dogs in man’s daily activities makes more people to want to keep dogs as pets.
More also, people have come to realize that dogs make the most reliable and efficient security agents. Improved dog species and training facilities even make makes dogs more versatile and attractive to customers.
Client Satisfaction
Costumers’ who enjoy the dog grooming service don’t just keep it to themselves. They spread the information by word of mouth and refer other prospective clients to the grooming service. Business can only be said to be growing when clients are satisfied with the services rendered by dog grooming.
Additional Walk-in Business
In Addition to our on-site animal services we also get so walk in consultation jobs. This adds to our stream of income. Since almost most homes have at least a dog, the tendency to train or groom these pets to enhance their capabilities is worthwhile.
Customers do come to our office for consultancy on issues they may be having with their pets.
Our Mobile Dog Grooming Van Has a Catchy Logo
A catchy logo is a very important tool for marketing. We have taken this fact into consideration in creating a very catchy logo for our dog grooming business. The logo on our van creates awareness and gives us more exposure when performing on site services.
WEAKNESSES
As a typical fact, as a business we are not without weaknesses and shortcomings. We will briefly analyze our weaknesses into the following subtitles.
Marketing Is Not Given the Adequate Attention It Requires
A key weakness we have as a business is marketing. A growth of a business can be said to rely majorly on marketing and budget set aside for marketing. Because we only rely on word of mouth for advertizing, it is hard for us to scale up and grow as a business. This makes us to be unfortunately stunted as a small business or a startup.
Static and Purely Informational Website
Information on our website are not updated regularly so this makes the site boring and uninteresting. This in turn has a negative impact on traffic to the site and hence impacts negatively on our online visibility. To maintain traffic to our website and be visible online we need to make our website interesting be uploading new information daily or weekly.
We do Not Have a Marketing Plan.
The size of our clientele is so largely dependent on marketing plant.
Our dog grooming business has been stunted in growth largely due to our lack of a marketing plan. We have not seen the need for a marketing strategy because we have always been satisfied with our small clientele and word of mouth referral. For this reason we will always remain a small business without any growth.
We Do Not Have A Marketing Budget
A budget for marketing cannot be overemphasized. So due to the fact that we do not have a marketing plan, there will be no marketing budget. In simple words we do not have a marketing budget. This fact has greatly stunted our growth as a business and also impeded us from reach our full potential.
OPPORTUNITIES
We benefit from dogs increased popularity
Dogs are one of the most popular pets people keep. You hardly find a home without a dog. From time immemorial dogs have always been called man’s best friend. The reliability of dogs as security agents, messengers, even baby sitters has increased the acceptance of this wonderful pet. So invariably this in turn means good business for us.
Use The Social Media
The increasing use of the social media makes advertizing very simple and affordable. The social media has helped us advertize our business.
Increase In Walk In Traffic
As we can easily see from the above factors, an increase in the number of people with dogs results in more people requiring consultancy services for their pets. So we get more walk in grooming businesses.
Local Pet Fairs
Local annual pet fairs are a big boost to our dog grooming business. At these pet fairs we have the opportunity to interact with people and meet new clients, which is good for business.
THREATS
We have several threats to the existence of our business and these threats are summarized in following subtitles.
Competition
Competitions from other dog grooming businesses in town pose a threat to our business. More so marketing is not one of our strong points. Some dog grooming businesses in towns are already having ads running on news papers, radio and television stations.
To add to that, a dog grooming business in town is already partnering with a global giant to sell it’s services. Well this article is only an example of how to develop your SWOT analysis, which is a vital requirement in the feasibility study for every business.
How to Perform SWOT Analysis
Conducting a detailed SWOT analysis for businesses has become a recurring question among business owners.
This will not be unconnected with the fact that a SWOT analysis brings objectivity to the table in the examination of how well a business is performing.
By performing a SWOT analysis of any business venture, an attempt is made at examining the performance of the business through objective lenses in order to know how to improve and build upon its successes (in the event that the analysis comes out positive) or to re-strategize through the application of helpful strategies (when the analysis shows negative signs).
But what does the acronym “SWOT” represent? It simply represents the four cardinal standards of measurement of a business’ overall performance which are its Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats. These four constitute the standard against which vital data gathered from a business are measured. By carrying out the analysis, critical insights regarding key growth indices related to the performance of a business venture are exposed.
What SWOT Represents – 4 Steps of SWOT Analysis
What is a SWOT analysis? Why do you need to carry out a SWOT analysis?
The SWOT standard of measurement is split into two groups. These two have both internal and external implications for any business. The “Strengths” and “Weakness” of a business are internal conditions or factors that examine how the internal dynamics of a business either inhibit its growth or encourage it. On the other hand, the “Opportunities” and “Threats” are mainly external.
A SWOT analysis usually makes use of four diagrams, each containing one of the four cardinal tools for measurement of a business’ viability; the Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat.
- The Strength
This measures the high points, or the advantages available to the business venture. This is where every positive aspect of the business is outlined. A close examination of the business venture is carried out to ensure that every area of competence the business has is brought to the fore. Some of the factors that may constitute the strength of a business include the quality of its human resources. By human resources, we mean the workforce of the business.
Furthermore
Important areas where their skill set would be beneficial to the growth of the business are highlighted. These are assets to the business because a highly skilled workforce will certainly result in a much more organized and well run business. Other areas of strength may include the available capital, work conditions, the competitive advantage the business has over similar businesses, the depth of its channels of distributions and many other areas.
In summarizing this factor, it is important that a careful analysis of everything that adds value to the business venture is included under the Strengths of the business.
- The Weakness
Every business has its area of weakness. However, it is important that the weakness of the business does not outweigh the strengths of the business. This is why the SWOT test needs to be carried out to check for areas of weakness with the aim of adequately adjusting them. Although this is true, providing a truthful and honest appraisal of a business would help determine if such a business has a future or not. In the event that some adjustments need to be made, it becomes easy to make such adjustments to ensure that areas of weaknesses are fully exposed for necessary actions.
What Constitutes Weakness?
There are several common factors that constitute the weakness of a particular business. It is important that all these areas are captured under the Weakness factor of the business. For many businesses, inadequate funding can constitute weakness. Others include the location, the absence of an effective marketing strategy necessary for the increase in sales and patronage of the business and also any other impediment to the success and effective functioning of the business.
- Opportunities
This forms a major reason why the business exists in the first place. By opportunities, we mean external conditions that are highly favourable to the existence and growth of the business. These opportunities may be represented by an increasing demand for your products and services (increased sales), a huge potential for expansion, favourable economic indices, a tax break among several other related events.
Clearly stating the available opportunities your business stands to benefit from is very important. Also, having a clear vision on the road map and time factor for its achievement is necessary for evaluating the effectiveness of a business venture.
- Threats
The word threat always connotes a negative meaning. This is also very true in the world of business. Every business has potential threats likely to derail its existence. Although these threats might not be a present reality, they have the potential of surfacing at any time. Taking these threats into account helps to make a detailed analysis that will guide on whether a business is still viable or not. The results of the SWOT analysis greatly helps in providing a roadmap to the business venture.
What Constitutes a Threat?
There are several factors that constitute a threat. Some of these factors include an economic recession, natural disasters as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, unfriendly government policies, and constant change in government policies.
Others include hostile taxation regimes, stiff competition and double taxation among several others. Highlighting these properly will result in an objective SWOT analysis.
Steps of SWOT analysis process in Strategic Management
Having gotten all the information, it will do well to draw a diagram. This allows for easy reference and interpretation.
First Draw a square, and split the square into four parts. These parts should contain each aspect of the analysis which are; the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. Each of these should form a heading within their respective boxes, arranged according to how they are spelt.
The constituent parts of each of the four cardinal points of measurement should be added, and a proper analysis carried out. It is important to note that after the analysis, if findings reflect a higher positive outcome, then it means the business is on the right path. If not, corrections will have to be made or the business needs to be folded up.
This article has successfully answered the question on how to perform a SWOT analysis with added examples. With the information provided, it is strongly believed that a good SWOT analysis will result if carefully followed.