SWOT analysis - time for a product recall
Most of our plans and strategies contain a SWOT analysis, but the analysis, or at least what it has become is hardly worth the paper it is printed on. It is time to recall the SWOT analysis
By on Apr 30, 2009Most of our plans and strategies contain a SWOT analysis, but the analysis, or at least what it has become is hardly worth the paper it is printed on. It is time to recall the SWOT analysis
The problem is easy to illustrate. Imagine you are in a long line of people and you pass a rumour on from one person to the other ( aka chinese whispers)
At the end when you ask the last person in the chain what they understood, somehow white has become black and the story has lost its meaning. SWOT is a powerful analysis that helps organisation's to align their strengths with their opportunities and ensure they mitigate the impact of their threats
Today we usually end up with a subjective wish list that does everything but inform our strategies. Strengths include best in class sales force ( because we said so ), it is time to revisit this powerful planning tool and understand how to properly identify key alignment issues that will make ( dare I say it ) strategies obvious.
I know some are thinking but we have grown for years without your fancy SWOT....... Winning in any market is closely linked with standard of competition, to neglect the need to get better is to hope competition stays stupid.