Md. Arafat Rahman: A strategic planning technique used to help a person or organization identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to business competition or project planning is termed as SWOT analysis. This technique, which operates by `peeling back layers of the company` is designed for use in the preliminary stages of decision-making processes and can be used as a tool for evaluation of the strategic position of organizations of many kinds such as for-profit enterprises, local and national governments, NGOs, etc.

It is intended to specify the objectives of the business venture or project and identify the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving those objectives. Users of a SWOT analysis often ask and answer questions to generate meaningful information for each category to make the tool useful and identify their competitive advantage. SWOT has been described as the tried-and-true tool of strategic analysis, but has also been criticized for its limitations.

SWOT assumes that strengths and weaknesses are frequently internal, while opportunities and threats are more commonly external. The name is an acronym for the four parameters the technique examines: Strengths: characteristics of the business or project that give it an advantage over others, Weaknesses: characteristics that place the business or project at a disadvantage relative to others, Opportunities: elements in the environment that the business or project could exploit to its advantage and Threats: elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or project.                                                                                                                                                                

The degree to which the internal environment of the firm matches with the external environment is expressed by the concept of strategic fit. Identification of SWOTs is important because they can inform later steps in planning to achieve the objective. First, decision-makers should consider whether the objective is attainable, given the SWOTs. If the objective is not attainable, they must select a different objective and repeat the process.

Internal factors are viewed as strengths or weaknesses depending upon their effect on the organization`s objectives. What may represent strengths with respect to one objective may be weaknesses for another objective. The factors may include personal, finance, manufacturing capabilities, and all of the marketing processes.

External factors include macroeconomics, technological change, legislation, and socio-cultural changes, as well as changes in the marketplace. Results are often presented in the form of a matrix. SWOT analysis is a method of categorization for which lists are compiled, uncritically and without prioritization, rather than seeking important factors to achieving objectives; weak opportunities may appear to balance strong threats.

SWOT analysis can be used in any decision-making situation when a desired end-state is defined, not just profit-seeking organizations. Examples include non-profit organizations, governmental units, and individuals. SWOT analysis may also be used in pre-crisis planning and preventive crisis management. SWOT analysis may also be used in creating a recommendation during a viability study and survey.

SWOT analysis can be used to build organizational or personal strategy. Steps necessary to execute strategy-oriented analysis involve identification of internal and external factors, selection and evaluation of the most important factors, and identification of relations existing between internal and external features. For instance, strong relations between strengths and opportunities can suggest good conditions in the company and allow using an aggressive strategy. On the other hand, strong interactions between weaknesses and threats could be analyzed as a potential warning and advice for using a defensive strategy.

One way of using SWOT is matching and converting. Matching is used to find competitive advantage by matching the strengths to opportunities. Another tactic is to convert weaknesses or threats into strengths or opportunities. An example of a conversion strategy is to find new markets. If the threats or weaknesses cannot be converted, a company should try to minimize or avoid them.

As part of the development of strategies and plans to enable the organization to achieve its objectives that organization use a rigorous process known as corporate planning. SWOT alongside can be used as a basis for the analysis of business and environmental factors such as setting objectives: defining what the organization is going to do, environmental scanning and internal appraisals of the organization`s SWOT: this needs to include an assessment of the present situation as well as a portfolio of products & services and an analysis of the lifecycle.

Analysis of existing strategies: this should determine relevance from the results of an internal/external appraisal. This may include gap analysis of environmental factors. Strategic Issues: key factors in the development of a corporate plan that the organization must address. Developing new strategies: revised analysis of strategic issues may mean the objectives need to change, establish critical success factors, preparation of operational, resource, projects plans for strategy implementation and monitoring all results: mapping against plans, taking corrective action, which may mean amending strategies.

The SWOT analysis has been used in community work as a tool to identify positive and negative factors within organizations, communities, and the broader society that promote or inhibit successful implementation of social services and social change efforts. It is used as a preliminary resource, assessing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in a community served by a nonprofit or community organization. Although SWOT analysis is a part of the planning, it will not provide a strategic plan if used by itself, but a SWOT list can becomes a series of recommendations.

Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors within an organization that includes human resources- staff, volunteers, board members, target population; physical resources- location, building, equipment; financial- grants, funding agencies, other sources of income; activities and processes- programs you run, systems you employ and past experiences- building blocks for learning and success, your reputation in the community. Opportunities and threats are the external factors stemming from community or societal forces includes future trends in the defined field or the culture, local, national, or international economy, changes in the age, race, gender, culture, funding sources, physical environment, legislation and local, national, or international events.

Although the SWOT analysis was originally designed as an organizational method for business and industries, it has been replicated in various community works as a tool for identifying external and internal support to combat internal and external opposition. The SWOT analysis is necessary to provide direction to the next stages of the change process. It has been used by community organizers and community members to further social justice in the context of Social Work practice. SWOT is intended as a starting point for discussion and cannot, in itself, show managers how to achieve a competitive advantage, particularly in a rapidly changing environment.

Author: Md. Arafat Rahman is a columnist & student of Southeast University. He can be reached at arafat.bcpr@seu.edu.bd