A SWOT analysis is an essential business tool. Here are the basics of how to write a SWOT analysis of the company you are doing a research on.
If you're looking to find out how to write a SWOT analysis, there are a few key things that you want to keep in mind. A SWOT analysis is a way to look at another company and this could be a competitor or someone who you want to do business with. What you want to do is use a SWOT analysis method that breaks down all the details on the company.
A SWOT analysis is a type of study. It focuses on four main components of a topic: strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Most SWOT analyses are written about companies, products, and industries (your topic). People use it to identify the benefits and disadvantages of their topic. And once the analysis is complete, they can immediately use their findings. I’ve written countless SWOT analyses from scratch. And in this article, I’ll explain my thought process while writing each one.
If you are going to write a SWOT analysis, there are a few key things that you have to focus on. For starters, you want to write out a detailed description of the company that you're going to be:
- Discussing
- researching
- and analyzing
Find research online for your SWOT analysis
What that means is you want to get all the details you can on the company. You may want to start online and go to their website. When you go to the website try to get as much information you can about them and if you can't find it there, you can go to sites like Wikipedia.
This can give you information on the company and it might let you know how they started. It will give you background information like the number of employees, their services, and focus. You may not always find this on their website, so researching online is a great way to get more details.
Start building your SWOT analysis
Your next step will be to start your actual SWOT analysis on your paper. You are going to put down a box with four equal boxes inside. In the first one, you can write 'strengths', next to that, 'weaknesses'. Write 'opportunities' below the strengths and next to that write 'threats'. That's how to write a SWOT analysis in the beginning.
How to Write A SWOT Analysis: Strengths
As you do the research of a company, you want to look at areas where you know they're strong. Maybe they were in the news recently because they made a lot of money or they bought another company. That’s big news that you want to list. They may have even started working on a really big deal.
For example, if you were looking at Facebook, you might say: “Wow, the Facebook stock has gone up a lot and they’ve been in the news a lot lately”. That's a strength. It'll be the first thing to write in your SWOT analysis.
What is a strength for your topic?
If you’re not sure what a strength means for your topic, it’ll be difficult to find them during your research phase.
It’s simple: a strength is a benefit (or advantage) for your topic. A strength may benefit the bottom line. It may increase brand recognition. It may be why customers are obsessed with your topic. Or it may be how the topic stands out above the sea of everyday products.
Examples of strengths
One of Netflix’s strengths is the ad-free content they offer customers. As a customer, you can stream Netflix’s catalog without seeing a single ad. This is also possible when using Hulu, a competitive streaming service but only if you pay a higher monthly fee. Compared to other streaming services, like TLC Go which forces you to watch upwards of 50 ads for a 40-minute television show, Netflix customers have it made.
BMW’s major strength is a luxurious brand image. People buy a BMW because it’s luxurious. Expensive. If you have one, it means you’re above the average person. You’re wealthy, desirable. Maybe even ambitious. You don’t feel the same way in a Toyota as you do in a BMW. And that’s because they have created this luxury feeling for their brand.
It may be best to think about strengths abstractly. Think about how the strength is beneficial for your topic.
Finding strengths online
To find new or relevant information, search the topic + press release.
See if your topic has created new products, mergers, or received awards. Search news sites for the topic and see what reporters are saying about it. Hopefully, it’s all good news, which you can use for this section of the SWOT analysis.
If it’s bad… well, we’ll save that for the “weaknesses” section.
Where to search online:
- Publications (New York Times, TechCrunch, other news sites)
- Forums (Reddit, Facebook)
- Press releases (Newswire, PRNewswire)
- Reviews (Amazon)
You can even search “strengths + your topic” and see what comes up. Be sure to read through and check for accuracy if it’s not from a reliable source (like say, the DailyMail).
Searching for strengths for a product
If you’re doing a SWOT analysis for a product, search for its reviews. You’ll likely find a few highly rated and lowly rated reviews.
Don’t blindly believe all the high or low reviews. In many cases, companies buy 5-star reviews. And the competition may pay someone to give poor reviews. Instead, see if you can spot a pattern among the reviews. Maybe a few people are boasting about a new feature for the product. Maybe they love how it feels.
Have you used the product?
If you have, you’ll likely have a few insights about it yourself. You’ll have looked at discussions about the product before buying it. And after using it, you’ll have some good things to say about it. Otherwise, check forums like Reddit. It’s typically real people openly discussing a product — the good, the bad, and the “meh”.
How to Write A SWOT Analysis: Weaknesses
In the next block of how to write a SWOT analysis, begin writing down the company's weaknesses. Start looking up the weaknesses the company might have. When you look at weaknesses, you want to look at all the problems that the company has had in the news. A great example would be Walmart which has been in the news a lot because of labor issues. They've had problems with:
- unions
- with paying employees
- not giving high salaries
These are all weaknesses. You also want to make sure that you look at things like their stock and whether or not you are reading articles that say they're doing well or if they're doing poorly.
What is a weakness for your topic?
Again, as we did for strengths, realize what a weakness could be for the topic, as well as consumers (if applicable). That's how to write a SWOT analysis correctly.
For instance, weaknesses for companies include:
- Competition
- Market saturation
- Bad reviews
- Profit decline
- Lack of diversity
- Poor economies
As for products, it may include:
- Poor reputation of the company
- Price
- Material quality
- Usability
Examples of weaknesses
PepsiCo offers only a few healthy food and beverage options. With the health-conscious crowd rising up, PepsiCo should be developing more low-calorie, nutritional options for them. And yet… they’re not. This means, despite PepsiCo’s huge presence in the food and beverage industry, they’re neglecting a substantial market.
Bitcoin’s worth is declining. It’s actually at its lowest valuation in more than a year. That’s just how it works though; it’s unpredictable, like stocks.
Finding weaknesses online
If your topic is a product and you’ve used it before, you already know about issues first-hand. You’ve likely read reviews before buying or trying the product and have seen common complaints.
You can use forums to see if these complaints are still relevant. If they are, it can be included in the SWOT analysis you are writing. People are more honest about the things they don’t like about a product, so this is definitely when searching for reviews is a fantastic option for gathering info.
You can also see which publications have discussed your topic lately. Even if the topic is only briefly mentioned, consider adding it to the weakness section (when applicable).
Where to search for weaknesses
- Publications (New York Times, TechCrunch, News sites)
- Forums (Reddit, Facebook)
- Press releases (Newswire, PRNewswire)
- Reviews (Amazon)
- Use your own experience (if applicable)
You can create a quick list of the faults of the topic. They might not all make it into the final draft of the analysis. But it’s good to have a list, particularly of the leading issues or complaints against your topic. Because this section can be highly informative for SWOT analysis' next section called opportunities.
How to Write A SWOT Analysis: Opportunities
Your next step of how to write a SWOT analysis is going to be about the opportunities. What you want to do ideally is to look at what the company mentions in its latest press release. A press release can tell you basically a little bit of information about a company and what they're getting ready to do next. You can also look at an annual report or an earnings report.
You don't want to read the full report because that might take days to get through! A lot of the information in there is really a bunch of numbers, so you want to go to the summary of the report.
The easiest way to do this is to just do a search for that particular company and search for the summary in their annual report.
So if it was Facebook that you were looking up, you can go under Facebook and then type in 'annual report summary'. This is a recap so you will find all the information there. Alternatively, you could just type in their annual report and then Facebook and look for the first few articles that come up from different companies or firms who are writing articles about them.
You may also find that there are finance companies who write about them and give articles with details on their weakness and opportunities. What they are giving you is a SWOT analysis in a different version. They're going to give you a smaller detailed version of what you need to know. What you're going to look for is an opportunity that they may be working on in the future.
For example, if you were doing opportunities for Netflix, you might see something like them mentioning that they now have a new season of Game of Thrones or the new season of their show Orange Is the New Black. That's because they actually mention things they're working on in their particular business because they do streaming videos. They are going to mention them, but they won’t tell you who is in which episode!
While these might be popular videos, they are also considered opportunities because these are areas where they are expanding. Keep in mind this is not always the case. A few years ago Netflix lost a big deal with the video channel Starz where they pulled their movies from the Netflix line-up because Starz and Netflix were fighting over money. Some news will be good and some news will be bad.
What does an opportunity mean for your topic?
An opportunity is the chance to achieve something for your topic. It should be positive. Such as a new merger or expanding a business into a new region.
It’s much easier to find opportunities after finishing the “weaknesses” section of the analysis. Opportunities are born from weaknesses. It allows a weakness to become a strength. Look again at the above example of PepsiCo’s weakness. It’s not as prevalent in the healthy eating niche as it should be. But if it were, that would change the weakness into a strength.
Examples of opportunities
Smart light bulbs. They allow you to control your lights with an app on your phone. Most companies sell these bulbs for home use. But they can also be used in organizations, businesses, and schools. The bulbs last longer than regular bulbs, making it a smart choice for establishments.
Airbnb can easily move into the travel industry. After selecting a room in the city you’re visiting, Airbnb can hook you up with a tour guide. An expert who will show you parts of the city you never knew existed. In some locations, Airbnb is already doing this. But not everywhere.
Finding opportunities online
First, examine your list of weaknesses. Which ones can be “fixed” and transformed into opportunities for your topic? If any on the list can’t ever be “fixed”, then don’t bother including them here. Because opportunities need to be possible. And not in a “million years later” kind of way. As in, possible to achieve in a few months or years.
Additionally, take a look at news and press release websites. Search your topic there. See if there have been any new achievements, such as new product developments, mergers, a change in business models… whatever catches your eye. If there are changes happening, it could mean opportunities are on the horizon.
Specifically, search:
- Publications (New York Times, TechCrunch, Local/international news sites)
- Forums (Reddit, Facebook)
- Press releases (Newswire, PRNewswire)
- Use your own information from the strengths and weaknesses categories
You may only find a few opportunities. That’s OK. It’s best to highlight the most beneficial changes your topic can make. And really focus on what this opportunity means for the future of your topic. Will it bring more customers? Help with future expansions? Make their competition shake in fear?
Focus on what the end result will be. Then include it in your SWOT analysis.
How to Write A SWOT Analysis: Threats
As it relates to threats, that's going to be the next line that you typing as you learn how to write a SWOT analysis. You're going to write what the competition is for this particular company you're looking at.
Netflix threats could be Blockbuster which is going through bankrupt filings. You could say Roku is another threat. You could mention other companies like Play On, Sling and these are all different streaming content sites. You can also mention Amazon Prime.
What is or could be threatening your topic?
Or rather, let’s start with: what’s the difference between a weakness and a threat?
A weakness is a problem. It can be small or large. It can last for a while or disappear quietly.
A threat is likely to cause damage. It can develop from a weakness that was left too long without a solution. It undermines the success of your topic. It’s not just a problem; it’s destruction.
Telling the difference between weaknesses and threats will make you write a SWOT analysis properly.
Examples of threats
E-cigs are popular because they’re healthier than smoking regular cigarettes. But are they? Not enough reports from reputable health studies prove this claim. People fear the health risks associated with using E-cigs for a long duration. Hysteria can easily kill this product if not taken care of swiftly.
Energy drinks lead to death. That is, people have drunk several cans in a row and suffered cardiac arrest. Women who are pregnant may harm their child by drinking a can of Red Bull or a Monster. Nothing can tank a reputation harder than reported deaths.
Finding threats online
As mentioned above, a weakness can be a threat. For instance, if a company ignores a large segment of their customers for too long, that’s a weakness. But what if someone else gives those customers what they’ve been craving?
The new guy steals those customers away. Then the original company loses profits. And maybe, a year from now, the company goes under because they refused to acknowledge their customers’ needs.
That is a weakness that turned into a catastrophic threat.
Threats are often:
- Market changes
- Economic decline
- Competition
- Bad press
- Profit loss.
Again, like with opportunities, you can use the weakness section of your SWOT analysis to brainstorm a few areas of concern (or threats). Then you may want to confirm these threats by searching online.
Search
- Publications (New York Times, TechCrunch, Local/international news sites)
- Forums (Reddit, Facebook)
- Bad reviews (Amazon)
- The competition
Take a look at the competitors of your topic. Ask yourself what they’re doing differently, but most importantly why are they?
Why have they chosen to market a certain way? Or offer a specific shipping method? Or to have their website written the way it is? The reason why may be a threat to your topic.
Consider the future
In this section, you want to think about what the future will be for your topic because of certain threats. Look into stocks. Search your topic online and find any articles you can from the last six months. Maybe you can pinpoint when the threats were first introduced (reported on) and how it affects the company today.
This section is trickier than the others. It’ll require more digging. Perhaps even do a competitor analysis if you've got the time. But the reason it’s more difficult is because it’s about the future of the topic. Will your topic even have a future if these threats persist? That’s what you need to find out.
These steps show how to write SWOT analysis properly. Make sure that it is detailed and well-rounded. You are also going to update this information within another year or so if you're looking at this company again because you need fresh details and a fresh report.
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