SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT ANALYSIS

In the absence of formal plans,

The business analyst may use SWOT analysis to help assess organizational strategy, goals, and objectives. SWOT (standing for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) is a common method used to facilitate discussions with stakeholders when articulating high-level and important aspects of an organization, especially as it pertains to a specific situation.

SWOT uses the four categories mentioned previously and provides an additional context for analyzing the business need. It helps to translate organizational strategy into business needs. SWOT investigates the situation internally and externally as follows:

? Internally:

○ Shows where the organization has current strengths to help solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity. Examples of strengths include a knowledgeable research staff, strong brand reputation, and large market share.

○ Reveals or acknowledges weaknesses that need to be alleviated to address a situation. Weaknesses may include low recognition in the market, low capitalization or tax base, and bad publicity due to real or imagined failures.

? Externally:

○ Generates potential opportunities in the external environment to mitigate a problem or seize an opportunity. Examples of opportunities include underserved markets, termination of a competitor’s product line, and discovery of a customer need that the organization can satisfy with a new product.

○ Shows threats in the market or external environment that could impede success in solving business needs. Threats may include increased market share by the competition, new products offered by competitors, mergers and acquisitions that increase a competitor’s size and clout, and new regulations with potential penalties for noncompliance.

SWOT is a widely used tool to help understand high-level views surrounding a business need.

The business analyst may use SWOT to create a structured framework for breaking down a situation into its root causes or contributors.