Theme 3 - 3.1.3 - SWOT

Question 1

What does Swot analysis stand for ?

Answer 1

Strengths - internal factors within a business that can help achieve its objectives

Weaknesses - internal factors that could prevent a business from achieving its objectives

Opportunities - External business circumstances that can help it achieve its objectives

Threats - external problems that may prevent a business from achieving its objectives

Question 2

What are the internal/external factors in a business ?

Answer 2

Internal - strengths and weaknesses

External - Opportunities and threats

Question 3

What are strengths of a business ?

Answer 3

• Advantages of the business
• its an internal issue therefore they can do something about it however with external issues they can only try to predict them such as opportunities or threats
• so it’s basically what strengths the business has against other competitors such as the businesses USPs
• What makes people want to buy the product

Question 4

What are the weaknesses of the business ?

Answer 4

• What makes people not want to buy your product and go to the competitors
• What factors make you loose sales whether it’s pricing or not enough differentiation from competitors or not strong enough branding
• The managers will know what the weaknesses of the business are and what needs to be improved

Question 5

What are the weaknesses of the business ?

Answer 5

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Question 6

What are the opportunities of the business ?

Answer 6

• it is when managers spot opportunities for the business to venture into
• What can the managers spot - trends etc
• Opportunities can come from things such as:
  Changes in technology and markets, changes in social patterns, population, lifestyle changes etc

Question 7

What are the threats of a business ?

Answer 7

• What obstacles does the business face ?
• What are your competitors doing ?
• Is changing tech ology threatening your position
• Do you have bad debt or cash flow problems ?
• Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten the business ?

Question 8

What can SWOT analysis be used for ?

Answer 8

SWOT can be used as a tool to formulate a strategy of growth and attack to use the business strengths to maximise opportunities in the market

• can be used to comprehend and defend, using the strengths of the business to minimise the market threats
• It can be used as a tool to improve and attack new markets or produce new products
• SWOT can be used as a tool to identify when to change and retreat