A SWOT ANALYSIS ON MY BUSINESS

I will begin the SWOT analysis by drawing a chart on a piece of paper. I would do so by dividing the paper in half both horizontally and vertically, and label each section with one of the following quadrants/factors: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Under strengths in the chart, I would list my business’s strengths over some of my competitors, which verily include the expertise that I have, the capital that is in hand in the business, the equipment deployed as well the human resources employed to sustain the business. Other things to record here are my marketing strategies, patents, accreditation and other recognitions and reputation gained in the environment where the business is based.

Then I would list my weaknesses (in the chart). Here come things such as financial problems, lack of access to stable power supply, poor advertisement medium, low staff morale and low profit customer base.

The next is opportunities. This covers the recent establishment of a 3G network in my business area, which means acquisition of a faster, secure and more reliable communication means, recent selection in the Federal Government of Nigeria’s You win! Enterprise programme in which the business is expected to be boosted in various ways, development of new Internet technologies in the world, recent establishment of new international regulations opening up global trade and thus setting up trends moving customers toward my business from all over the globe, as well as the acquisition of a new staff with expertise in computer programming and software development with a highly commendable positive attitude.  

I would then move on to the threats section. Here I would list the things that obviously threaten my business. Most obvious here are the emergence of new competitors with similar or even better means of carrying out business and targeting same customers with me, inflation in the Nigerian market, increased advertisement costs, and loss of a supplier that may negatively impact my business. Another big threat is debtors.

Finally, I will look at my list of factors in each category in reverse order beginning with threats, then moving on to opportunities, weaknesses and strengths. This makes it easier to see how to turn threats into opportunities and weaknesses into strengths.

Now how can my opportunities be converted to strengths?

Firstly, the establishment of a 3G GSM/HSDPA network in my business area is of a great advantage. Blatantly, it will make the communication of my company more robust and enable it more speed as well, especially the Internet, since the Internet and communication technology is a major part of our marketing strategy. The power of the new 3G network will undoubtedly enable us to manage our website and marketing blogs more effectively.