SWOT Analysis

ACCA P3考試：SWOT Analysis

1. Strategic Position

The strategic position is concerned with:

the external environment's effect on strategy;

an organisation's strategic capability (i.e. resources and competences);

the expectations and influence of stakeholders.

An analysis of external and internal factors will enable planners to understand the business environment in which the organization operates and to predict changes that might affect the organization in the future.

2. SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis, sometimes called "corporate appraisal", is the analysis of the organisation's:

Strengths—things they do well, or things they have that others do not.

Weaknesses—things they do badly, or things they lack.

Opportunities—events or changes that can be exploited to the organisation's advantage.

Threats—events or changes that should be defended against.

SWOT analysis illustrates key external factors from the business environment (opportunities and threats) alongside the internal strategic capabilities (strengths) or lack of capabilities

(weaknesses) of an organisation that are most likely to affect strategy development.

A good strategy will attempt to seize opportunities in the business environment and overcome threats by building on the organisation's strengths and addressing its weaknesses.

2.1. Opportunities and Threats Analysis (External Perspective)

The most common tools in an external analysis are:

PESTEL (or SLEPT) analysis, which looks at environmental factors under the headings Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal;

the competitive forces model ("five forces") and the "diamond", developed by Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School;

the product life cycle ("PLC") model;

market segmentation used to identify strategic groups; and

critical success factors (CSFs), determining what customers value.

2.2. Strengths and Weaknesses Analysis (Internal Perspective)

An analysis of an organisation's strategic capabilities looks at:

unique resources and core competences;

cost efficiency;

benchmarking;

cultural aspects;

organisational knowledge; and

managing people.

The discovery of stakeholder expectations and the influence of ethics and corporate governance, and the use of Michael Porter's Value Chain model to achieve competitive advantage are additional elements in an internal analysis.