SWOT Analysis - A Necessity to Develop Your Business Strategy

Defining your business strategy and monitoring it on a regular basis is essential for a business to grow.
Part of defining your business strategy is the use of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) analysis. When was the last time you carried out a SWOT analysis on your own business? Equally important when was the last time you did one on your main competitors?

If the answer is within the last 12 months what did you learn and what actions are you taking?

If the answer is more than 12 months or 'never' then how do you know how to position yourself in the market define your strategy.

12 months is a long time in business and the past 12 months has seen significant change as the economy moves ahead. Competitors which perhaps weren't around prior to the recession have grown and are looking to expand while existing competitors may have changed their strategies to gear up for growth.

A “SWOT” analysis should be done on your own business and also on your competitors to identify how you can emphasise your strengths against their perceived weaknesses & vice versa. It is not just about today, rather it is about the future and the analysis should take into account new developments and challenges in your industry and sector. Businesses that constantly monitor changes and react to them are the ones that will grow and thrive in the markets of today and tomorrow. Burying your head in the sand and thinking that nothing has changed is a recipe for disaster.   

Paul Clayton is business management & training consultant and a Director at Knowledge Plus Information, a Business Management Consultancy specialising in practical Continuous Improvement methodologies which bring real and significant financial and cultural benefits to businesses and organisations.

DRIVING RESULTS FOR YOUR BUSINESS          www.knowledgeplusinformation.co.uk

Are you on track to achieve your 2014 Goals?  It's nearly the end of month 1 in Q1 and no doubt you are looking at how January has performed; hopefully with the economy improving and confidence returning to the markets you have already met your January budgets and are now forging ahead into February. For businesses in the South & west, who may have been adversely affected by the floods, or suppliers to those businesses, your forecasts may be showing that your January sales budgets are under pressure.

Whether the figures are good or not so good this is the time to review your progress and take action to capitalise on successes or to put in place action plans to remedy any shortfalls. The earlier that action is taken the better the outcome will be; however, you first of all have to know what caused the over or under achievement and whether it is repeatable or just a glitch over which you have no control. This is when a forward looking monitoring and measuring system will prove itself.

Businesses which are using a forward looking management system that measures the really KEY performance indicators, and I emphasise KEY, and manages them by exception to ensure that they are easily identifiable, thereby optimising the use of management time, will be able to to take quick and decisive action to improve the end result.

Continuous business improvement relies on knowing what is happening in a business, when and why it is happening to allow considered and knowledge based decisions to be taken and actioned.

Qualitin ICG is a unique methodology based on management by exception, concentrating and taking action on those activities which can positively affect your business. http://linkd.in/1axSZYW