The hottest MBA term interpretation SWOT analysis

Explanation of MBA terms: SWOT analysis model

SWOT analysis model (SWOT analysis)

SWOT analysis method (also known as tows analysis method and Dow matrix) is situation analysis method. It was proposed by weirick, a professor of management at the University of San Francisco in the early 1980s, and is often used in enterprise strategy formulation, competitor analysis and other occasions

swot analysis model introduction

in the current strategic planning report, SWOT analysis should be regarded as a well-known tool. The SWOT analysis from McKinsey consulting company includes the analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the enterprise. Therefore, SWOT analysis is actually a method to synthesize and summarize all aspects of the internal and external conditions of the enterprise, and then analyze the advantages and disadvantages, opportunities and threats faced by the organization

SWOT analysis can help enterprises gather resources and actions in their own strengths and places with the most opportunities; And make the strategy of the enterprise clearer

s will inevitably lead to inaccurate peak and valley values. Introduction to the meaning of wot model

the analysis of advantages and disadvantages mainly focuses on the strength of the enterprise itself and its comparison with competitors, while the analysis of opportunities and threats focuses on the changes in the external environment and the possible impact on the enterprise. In the analysis, all internal factors (i.e. advantages and disadvantages) should be gathered together, and then external forces should be used to evaluate these factors

1. Environmental opportunities and threats

with the rapid development of economy, society, science and technology and many other aspects, especially the acceleration of the globalization and integration of the world economy, the establishment of the global information network and the diversification of consumer demand, the environment in which enterprises are located is more open and volatile. This change has had a profound impact on almost all enterprises. Because of this, environmental analysis has become an increasingly important enterprise function

environmental development trends are divided into two categories: one represents environmental threats, and the other represents environmental opportunities. Environmental threat refers to the challenge formed by an adverse development trend in the environment. If decisive strategic actions are not taken, this adverse trend will weaken the competitive position of the company. Environmental opportunities are areas that are attractive to the company's behavior, in which the company will have a competitive advantage

the analysis of the environment can also have different perspectives. For example, a concise method is PEST analysis, and another common method is Porter's five forces analysis

2. Strengths and weaknesses analysis

identifying attractive opportunities in the environment is one thing, and having the competitiveness necessary to succeed in opportunities is another. Every enterprise should regularly check its strengths and weaknesses, which can be carried out through the "enterprise management Checklist". This format can be used by enterprises or consulting institutions outside enterprises to check the marketing, financial, manufacturing and organizational capabilities of enterprises. Each element should be graded according to the extremely strong, slightly strong, medium, slightly weak or extremely weak. When two enterprises are in the same market or both of them have the ability to provide products and services to the same customer group, if one enterprise has a higher profit rate or profit potential, then we think that this enterprise has a more competitive advantage than the other enterprise. In other words, the so-called competitive advantage refers to the ability of an enterprise to surpass its competitors, which helps to achieve the main goal of the enterprise - profit. However, it is worth noting that the competitive advantage is not necessarily reflected in the high winning rate, because sometimes enterprises prefer to increase market share or reward managers or employees

competitive advantage can refer to anything superior in the eyes of consumers that an enterprise or its products are different from its competitors. It can be the width of the product line, the size of the product, quality, reliability, applicability, style and image, as well as the timeliness of service, enthusiasm of attitude, etc. Although competitive advantage actually refers to an enterprise's strong comprehensive advantages over its competitors, it is more meaningful to clarify which aspect of the enterprise has advantages, because only in this way can we develop strengths and avoid weaknesses, or attack weaknesses with real results

as the enterprise is a whole, and the sources of competitive advantages are very extensive, when analyzing the advantages and disadvantages, we must make a detailed comparison between the enterprise and its competitors in every link of the whole value chain. Such as whether the product is novel, whether the manufacturing process is complex, whether the sales channel is smooth, and whether the price is competitive. If the advantages of an enterprise in one or more aspects are the key success factors that enterprises in this industry should have, then the comprehensive competitive advantage of the enterprise may be stronger. It should be pointed out that measuring whether an enterprise and its products have competitive advantages can only be from the perspective of existing potential users, not from the perspective of enterprises

in the process of maintaining competitive advantage, enterprises must deeply understand their own resources and capabilities and take appropriate measures. Because once an enterprise has a competitive advantage in one aspect, it is bound to attract the attention of competitors. Generally speaking, after a period of efforts, enterprises have established a certain competitive advantage; Then, in the situation of maintaining this competitive advantage, competitors began to respond gradually; Then, if competitors directly attack the advantages of the enterprise, or adopt other more powerful strategies, this advantage will be weakened

there are three key factors that affect the duration of an enterprise's competitive advantage:

1. How long does it take to establish this advantage

2. What are the advantages you can obtain

3. How long does it take competitors to make a strong response

if the enterprise analyzes these three factors clearly, it will clarify its position in establishing and maintaining competitive advantage

obviously, the company should not correct all its disadvantages, nor should it make no use of its advantages. The main problem is that the company should study whether it should be limited to the opportunities that it already has advantages, or to acquire and develop some advantages to find better opportunities. Sometimes, the slow development of enterprises is not due to the lack of advantages of their departments, but because they can not coordinate well. For example, in a large electronic company, engineers despised salespersons as "engineers who do not understand technology"; The salesmen looked down on the personnel of the service department as "salesmen who can't do business". Therefore, it is very important to evaluate the working relationship of internal departments as an internal audit work

Boston Consulting Company proposed that the company that can win is the enterprise that obtains the internal advantages of the company, rather than just grasping the core competence of the company. Every company must manage some basic procedures, such as new product development, raw material procurement, sales guidance of orders, cash realization of customer orders, time to solve customer problems, etc. Each process creates value and requires internal departments to work together. Although every department can have a core competence, how to manage the development of these advantageous abilities is still a challenge

method of SWOT analysis model

in the process of adaptability analysis, senior managers of enterprises should adopt four basic concepts of leverage effect, inhibition, vulnerability and problem to analyze this model on the basis of determining internal and external variables

1. Leverage effect (advantage + opportunity). Leverage effect arises when internal advantages and external opportunities are consistent and adapt to each other. In this case, enterprises can use their internal advantages to pry up external opportunities and give full play to opportunities and advantages. However, opportunities are often fleeting, so enterprises must keenly seize opportunities and seize opportunities to seek greater development

2. Inhibition (opportunity + disadvantage). Inhibition means hindrance, prevention, influence and control. When the opportunities provided by the environment are not suitable for the internal resource advantages of the enterprise, or they cannot overlap with each other, no matter how big the advantages of the enterprise are, they will not be brought into play. In this case, enterprises need to provide and contribute more than 60% of GDP to non-public enterprises to add some resources, in order to promote the transformation of internal resource disadvantages to advantages, so as to cater to or adapt to external opportunities

3. Vulnerability (advantage + threat). Vulnerability means the reduction of the degree or intensity of advantage. When the environmental conditions pose a threat to the company's advantages, the advantages cannot be brought into full play, resulting in a fragile situation of poor advantages. In this case, enterprises must overcome threats to give full play to their advantages

4. Problematic (disadvantage +9 kinds of food contact materials and products are threatened by the formal implementation of the new national standard). When the internal disadvantages of the enterprise meet with the external threats, the enterprise will face severe challenges. If not handled properly, it may directly threaten the survival of the enterprise

swot analysis steps

1. What is the current strategy

2. Confirm the changes in the external environment of the enterprise (Porter five forces or pest)

3. Confirm the key capabilities and key limitations of the enterprise according to the combination of enterprise resources

4. Score and evaluate according to the general matrix or similar method

divide all the identified advantages into two groups based on two principles: whether they are related to potential opportunities in the industry or potential threats. In the same way, all disadvantages are divided into two groups, one related to opportunities and the other related to threats

5. Locate the results on the SWOT analysis chart

or use the SWOT analysis table to fill the strengths and weaknesses in the table according to opportunities and threats

6. Strategic analysis

take an example of the strategy obtained by Kearney SWOT analysis

when successfully applying the simple rule of SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis, we must have an objective understanding of the company's strengths and weaknesses

when conducting SWOT analysis, we must distinguish the current situation and prospects of the company

comprehensive consideration must be taken when conducting SWOT analysis

when conducting SWOT analysis, you must compare with your competitors, such as better or worse than your competitors

keep SWOT analysis concise and avoid complication and over analysis

swot analysis varies from person to person

once the key problem is determined by SWOT analysis, it is also determined to be the goal of marketing. SWOT analysis can be used together with PEST analysis and porter's five forces analysis. The reason why students of marketing courses are keen on SWOT analysis is that it is easy to learn and easy to use. When using SWOT analysis, it is easy to include unused elements in the relevant tables

limitations of SWOT model

like many other strategic models, SWOT model has been proposed by McKinsey for a long time, with limitations of the times. In the past, enterprises may pay more attention to cost and quality, but now enterprises may pay more attention to organizational processes. For example, the former electric typewriter was replaced by a printer, how to transform it? Should we make printers or other electromechanical products? From the SWOT analysis, the advantages of electric typewriter manufacturers lie in Electromechanical, but the development of printers is more organic