Swot analysis of services example. SWOT analysis of the company's activities using the example of OJSC "VMZ". What is swot analysis

SWOT analysis- one of the most common methods that comprehensively evaluate internal and external factors influencing the development of a company. It is an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, as well as the opportunities and threats from the external environment. "S" and "W" refer to the state of the company, and "O" and "T" refer to the external environment of the organization.

SWOT analysis is a preliminary research stage in drawing up strategic plans, developing strategic goals and objectives of the company.

The term SWOT was first used by Kenneth Andrews in 1963 at Harvard at a business policy conference.

Term in English: SWOT analysis.

Main parameters of SWOT analysis

SWOT stands for:

Strengths– strengths,

Weakness- weak sides,

Opportunities- possibilities,

Threats– threats.

Based on the results of the situational analysis, it is possible to assess whether the company has the internal strengths and resources to realize existing opportunities and resist external threats. Accordingly, an analysis of the internal and external situation is necessary.

When assessing external situation worth considering:

• legislation and political climate,
• expected or possible changes that may affect the operation of the company. (Example: changes in customs legislation);
• economic situation of the country, region (changes in GNP indicators, possible major changes in the economy potentially affecting the company, expected inflation);
• socio-demographic factors;
• changes in technology (expectation of technical innovations);
• ecological environment.

During the analysis internal situation the company's resources and business processes are assessed, and competitiveness is analyzed.

During the analysis process, the formulation of the company's sustainable competitive advantages is confirmed or changed. Key analysis factors:

Deciphering the method

The main idea of ​​the technique SWOT analysis consists of an attempt to determine by calculation how much each of the possible development paths can influence the success of the current, tactical and strategic business processes of the enterprise. When ranking threats in the SWOT analysis matrix by degree of impact, it is assumed to determine the estimated time at which the enterprise will reach a certain degree of destruction, and the sooner economic performance indicators deteriorate, the more attention should be paid to eliminating this threat. After complete completion of the work, based on a SWOT analysis and associated with identifying the greatest threats to the enterprise’s activities and identifying priority areas of development that promise the greatest economic effect with the available financial and human resources, the next stage begins to optimize the work of personnel.

The results of the SWOT analysis are entered into tables.

Decisive for success are always specific actions (events) related to specific goals and consistently implemented.

NexterrorsMost often found in SWOT analysis tables:

1. Conducting a SWOT analysis without a pre-established overall goal. SWOT is not an abstract analysis; its use involves achieving a specific goal

2. External chances are often confused with internal strengths of the company, while they should be strictly distinguished

3. SWOT analysis is often confused with all sorts of strategies. We must not forget the main difference between one and the other (SWOT analysis describes states, and strategy describes actions)

4. In the process of SWOT analysis, priorities are not identified and specific activities are not named. SWOT-Analysis.

Rules for conducting SWOT analysis

No formal training is required to conduct a SWOT analysis. Any manager who understands the company's affairs and is familiar with the market can draw up a simple SWOT form.
But this simplicity and ease of use also has a downside. There is a risk of misuse, hasty and meaningless conclusions, and the use of vague and ambiguous concepts. In addition, do not forget that for the objectivity of the picture, only relevant, verified and fresh information must be used for analysis, which many users simply forget about.
Here are a few simple rules that will help you avoid such mistakes and get the most out of your SWOT analysis.
Rule 1. For an objective SWOT analysis, a business must be segmented by area or specific market. A general analysis that covers the entire business is inappropriate, as the results will be too generalized and useless. Focusing a SWOT analysis on a specific segment will ensure that the company's most important strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are identified.
Rule 2. We must be aware that the elements of SWOT differ significantly from each other, in particular regarding their origin and spheres of influence. For example, strengths and weaknesses are internal characteristics of the company, therefore, they are under its control. Opportunities and threats are external, objective, independent characteristics of the market environment, and they are not subject to the influence of the organization.
Rule 3. The strengths and weaknesses of a company are subjective concepts. But opinions on these characteristics should not be expressed by managers or even competitors, but by clients, customers, partners, and investors. How they consider and perceive these elements is the way it is. Strengths will be considered as such as long as the market perceives them as competitive.
Rule 4. For objective analysis, diverse input data should be used. Even if it is not possible to obtain the results of extensive marketing research, this does not mean that it is enough to limit oneself to the work of one person. For accuracy and depth of analysis, it is best to organize a group discussion with the exchange of ideas, learn and take into account the points of view of all functional departments of the company. Any information or initial data must be supported by reasoned evidence (official letters, verified quotes, industry statistics, press reports, information from dealers, customer opinions and comments, government publications).
Rule 5. The more precise the wording, the more useful the analysis will be. Therefore, one should avoid broad, vague and ambiguous statements that mean nothing to most buyers.

Pros and cons

SWOT analysis is often criticized. We are talking about a standardized analysis scheme, which is not suitable for all enterprises and firms.

Benefits of SWOT Analysis

• Helps a company leverage internal strengths or differentiating advantages in its strategy.
• If the company does not yet have strong distinctive advantages, you can analyze your potential strengths and use them to achieve marketing goals.
• Analyze all the company’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities to understand whether they affect competition, market position, and whether they can be corrected based on strategic considerations?
• Know what resources and qualifications are best used to maximize opportunities.
• Identify the threats that are most critical to the company and take a series of strategic actions to ensure good protection.

Flaws

• SWOT analysis is simply a tool for obtaining visual structured information; it does not contain clear recommendations or specific formulated answers. Next is the work of the analyst.
• The simplicity of SWOT analysis is deceptive; its results are extremely dependent on the completeness and quality of the source information. An objective SWOT analysis requires experts with a deep understanding of market development trends and its current state, or to carry out a large amount of work on collecting and analyzing primary information.
• In the process of generating tables, mechanical errors may be made (loss of important factors or inclusion of unnecessary ones, incorrect assessment of weighting coefficients, etc.). They are difficult to identify, except for very obvious errors, but they affect the process of further analysis and lead to incorrect conclusions and erroneous strategic decisions.

Literature and links

This is a preliminary encyclopedic article on this topic. You can contribute to the development of the project by improving and expanding the text of the publication in accordance with the rules of the project. You can find the user manual

Strategy development begins with an analysis of the external and internal environment. The starting point for such an analysis is SWOT analysis, one of the most common types of analysis in strategic management. SWOT analysis allows you to identify and structure the strengths and weaknesses of a company, as well as potential opportunities and threats. This is achieved by comparing the internal strengths and weaknesses of their company with the opportunities that the market gives them. Based on the quality of compliance, a conclusion is drawn about the direction in which the organization should develop its business, and ultimately the allocation of resources to segments is determined.

The purpose of SWOT analysis is to formulate the main directions of development of an enterprise through systematization of available information about the strengths and weaknesses of the company, as well as potential opportunities and threats.

Objectives of SWOT analysis:

Identify strengths and weaknesses compared to competitors

Identify opportunities and threats in the external environment

Link strengths and weaknesses to opportunities and threats

Formulate the main directions of enterprise development

Swot Analysis Basics

SWOT is an acronym for 4 words:

S trength – strength: an internal characteristic of a company that distinguishes this enterprise from its competitors.

W eakness – weakness: an internal characteristic of a company that appears weak (underdeveloped) in relation to a competitor, and which the company has the power to improve.

O pportunity – opportunity: a characteristic of a company’s external environment (i.e. market), which provides all participants in a given market with the opportunity to expand their business.

T hreat – threat: a characteristic of the company’s external environment (i.e. the market), which reduces the attractiveness of the market for all participants.

A SWOT analysis in general form is constructed using the following table.

Table 1. General form of SWOT analysis

Elements of the internal environment: strengths and weaknesses

Strengths and weaknesses can hide a wide variety of aspects of a company's activities. Below are the categories most commonly included in the analysis. Each SWOT is unique and may include one or two of them, or even all of them at once. Each element, depending on customer perception, can be both a strength and a weakness.

Marketing

2. Pricing

   Promotion

   Marketing information/intelligence

   Service/staff

   Distribution/Distributors

   Brands and positioning

Engineering and development of new products.

The closer the relationship between marketing and technical departments becomes, the more important these elements will be. For example, a strong relationship between the new product development team and the marketing department allows customer feedback to be directly used in the design of new products.

1. Operational activities

   Manufacturing/Engineering

   Sales and Marketing

Processing orders/transactions Staff

1. .

   This includes skills, wages and bonuses, training and development, motivation, working conditions of people, staff turnover.

   All of these elements are central to the successful implementation of a customer-centric marketing philosophy and marketing strategy.

   The role of personnel is explored in the following areas.

   Research and development

Distributors.

Sensitive and often controversial, but sometimes requiring changes, management structures directly determine the success of implementing a marketing strategy. Such aspects should be reflected in the analysis.

Company resources
.

Resources determine the availability of people and finances, and thus affect a company's ability to capitalize on specific opportunities.

The article talks in detail about how to correctly write conclusions based on a SWOT analysis. Of course, before

To begin drawing conclusions on the work carried out, it is necessary to perform the following steps: list all the strengths and weaknesses of the company’s product using a thorough assessment of internal factors, list the main sources of business growth (opportunities) and assess future risks of existence in the industry (threats) by analyzing external factors .

If this work has been completed, then you can begin to prepare conclusions for the SWOT analysis.

Filling out the SWOT analysis table

The first step is to list all the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the SWOT analysis table. Approach this issue thoroughly and include even those factors whose influence on the company’s success is not obvious.

We remove unnecessary things

The table is full. Now, before moving on to formulating conclusions on the swot analysis, it is necessary to exclude non-priority and unnecessary directions in each field of the table. By eliminating unnecessary things, you will be able to focus only on those tasks that are important at the moment for the company. To quickly filter the recorded parameters, follow these 4 steps:

Step One: Checking Strengths

For each strength, ask 2 questions: How does the strength improve customer satisfaction or company profits? and Does the strength create a difference from competitors?. Factors that fall into your strengths, but do not increase profits, do not increase satisfaction and do not create a difference from competitors - feel free to cross them out. They are superfluous.

For each growth opportunity in the SWOT table, ask 2 questions: How can this opportunity increase satisfaction with the product or increase company profits? and Are there resources to implement the opportunity? Implementation period? If you find it difficult to answer the first question, cross out the possibility. If the company does not have the resources to implement the opportunity, postpone it until next year and exclude it from the current SWOT analysis.

Step Four: Check for Threats

For each threat, ask 2 questions: How can this threat reduce satisfaction with the product or reduce company profits? Possible timing of the threat? If you find it difficult to answer the first question, cross out the threat. The predicted duration of the threat is more than 3 years - postpone its consideration until next year.

Final table for conclusions

As a result of this check, you will get a very practical table that contains only the most important parameters and on which it will be very convenient to write conclusions.

10 Key Takeaways

Now that the table is ready, you can proceed directly to drawing conclusions based on it. In practice, there are 10 areas in which it is recommended to draw conclusions:

1. Look at your product's strengths: which product should be strengthened and developed?
2. What strengths of the company are not so obvious to buyers? What strengths need more effective communication?
3. Look at the company's growth opportunities: What needs to be done to realize these opportunities as quickly as possible?
4. How can you leverage product strengths in capability development?
5. Look at the weaknesses of the product: how to minimize the impact of weaknesses on the product?
6. Develop an action plan to eliminate weaknesses or turn weaknesses into strengths.
7. Figure out how to hide those weaknesses that cannot be changed?
8. Look at existing threats: how can threats be neutralized?
9. Can threats be converted into business opportunities and sales growth?
10. What needs to be done to protect against threats as quickly as possible?

Detailed video course

Have questions about compilation? Take advantage of our detailed video course to consolidate theoretical knowledge:

Part one: SWOT analysis, determining the strengths and weaknesses of a product

We present a simple and convenient method for conducting a SWOT analysis with ready-made examples for a manufacturing and trading enterprise, as well as a template in Excel format.

The SWOT analysis method described in the article is universal and is suitable for a company of any profile: an industrial company, a non-profit organization, a retail store or a separate department.

After reading the article, you will definitely be able to create a SWOT analysis for your product or an entire enterprise from scratch, even if you are conducting it for the first time.

Definition: SWOT analysis (from English SWOT Analysis) is a type of situational analysis that allows you to assess the current and future competitiveness of a company’s product on the market by analyzing the internal and external environment of the organization.

The essence and main elements of SWOT analysis

Briefly about the swot analysis method, we can say the following:

• SWOT analysis technology is widely used in strategic management and management, as it is both a simple and high-quality tool for a company on the market.
• The peculiarity of the method is that since the 1980s, SWOT analysis has been actively used to develop strategic decisions and has not lost its relevance throughout its existence in the toolkit of managers.
• Why is SWOT analysis necessary? The purpose of the method is to study the current position of the company in the market and the correct structuring of information for the development of the enterprise.
• Explanation of SWOT: S= Strengths, strengths of the product; W=Weaknesses, weaknesses of the product; O=Opportunities, company capabilities; T=Threats, threats to the company.

You can learn more about the theoretical foundations of SWOT analysis of a product in the article:.

How to prepare for a SWOT analysis?

Remember that the SWOT analysis method is only a convenient tool for systematizing available information. Therefore, an effective SWOT analysis must begin with two steps:

• Conduct where the company operates, pay important attention to consumer research and identifying key characteristics. More than 70% of the SWOT analysis conclusions depend on who your company is and what quality criteria your consumer places on the product.
• Swipe and . Determining the strengths and weaknesses of the product will depend on who your competitor is.

Step One: Identify the Product's Strengths and Weaknesses

The first step in conducting a SWOT analysis is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the product or service. To do this, make a comparative analysis of the internal resources of the company or product with key competitors:

• Those parameters that turned out to be better than those of competitors are the strengths of your product.
• Parameters that turned out to be worse than those of competitors are the weaknesses of your product

Table 1 Example of analysis of strengths and weaknesses

Strengths (S = Strengths) are internal characteristics of a company that provide a competitive advantage in the market or a more advantageous position in comparison with competitors.

Weaknesses (W=Weaknesses) or shortcomings of a product or service are internal characteristics of a company that impede business growth, prevent the product from leading the market, and are uncompetitive in the market.

• Prioritize the level of influence of factors on the company's sales volume and profit.
• Leave 6-8 key factors.
• The rest may be useful in the future - take note of them.

Be sure to check out. The methodology contains more than 14 areas of various internal environmental factors that can become strengths or weaknesses of the company.

Step Two: Identify Threats and Opportunities for Business Growth

The second step of a SWOT analysis is to identify the opportunities and threats to the business's future growth. To do this, an analysis of external environmental factors is carried out, the level of influence of each factor on the company’s sales, and the likelihood of occurrence are assessed.

Company opportunities (O=Opportunities) are external environmental factors that will allow the company to increase sales or increase profits.

Company threats (T=Threats) are external environmental factors that may reduce sales or profit levels of the company in the future.

Illustrative examples of SWOT analysis

Most of the concepts and tools used in strategic planning are difficult to use for the first time without clear examples. For those who doubt the correctness of drawing up a SWOT analysis, we have prepared ready-made solutions:

• : Includes a brief analysis of the key success factors and threats of the world's largest retail chain.
• : contains detailed recommendations for conducting SWOT analysis in the trading industry.
• - this is the most complete and step-by-step example, which will be useful to a greater extent to manufacturing companies and organizations.

Quantitative method of SWOT analysis

In modern literature, a quantitative example of SWOT analysis is often found: a model in which it is necessary to evaluate the analyzed factors of the external and internal environment on a point scale.

The quantitative approach is undoubtedly effective, as it allows us to demonstrate the significance of factors, but it is too time-consuming.

It would be more effective to evaluate each factor of the company’s internal and external environment in terms of importance and priority expertly, without resorting to complex quantitative scoring. The accuracy of this approach will be close to the quantitative method of assessment, since in both cases you yourself, and therefore expertly evaluate each factor of the SWOT matrix.

If after compiling a SWOT analysis you still have a free minute, we suggest you familiarize yourself with

Detailed video course

Four detailed video lectures on the SWOT analysis methodology provide concise and fully structured information on: how to do a SWOT analysis “from scratch”, how to find the strengths and weaknesses of a company’s product, identify opportunities and threats for a business, how to write the correct conclusions on SWOT analysis and effectively present the results of the work done.

Part one: SWOT analysis, determining the strengths and weaknesses of a product

Fully.

Ready-made samples, templates and cases

You can download a ready-made template - a sample of compiling a SWOT analysis from scratch in Excel, as well as an example of presenting the results of a SWOT analysis in PowerPoint format in the section.

Any head of an enterprise should know the strengths and weaknesses of a SWOT analysis, because he must be prepared for unexpected and not always pleasant surprises, and respond quickly and clearly to them. For these purposes, SWOT analysis technology is provided.

Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of SWOT analysis, through the practical use of marketing research of this kind, an entrepreneur will always be able to find the best solution in any situation.

SWOT analysis, general concept

The concept of “SWOT” is borrowed from the English language and is essentially an abbreviation of English words:

• S – Strengths – talking about the strengths and advantages of the enterprise;
• W – Weaknesses (weaknesses) – shortcomings, weak points;
• О – Opportunities (favorable opportunities) – we mean opportunities from the outside, due to which, if favorable conditions arise, there is a high probability of creating additional advantages in the company’s activities;
• T – Threats – circumstances that have the potential to cause harm to the organization.

By conducting a SWOT analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of an enterprise, it is possible to clearly clarify whether the company (even) uses its internal strengths to the fullest, and also identifies positions that can become strong, those that need to be adjusted, etc.

Why do you need a SWOT analysis?

A standard SWOT study aims to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of an enterprise, assess risk (including) and best opportunities. It is important not only to obtain the information of interest, but also to compare the results of the study with the indicators of the most important competing companies.

The conducted SWOT analysis allows us to answer important questions, namely:

1. Are personal strengths fully utilized by the firm?
2. What distinctive features does the enterprise have in implementing its own strategy?
3. Are there any weak points and how should they be corrected?
4. Which opportunities are most likely to lead to success.
5. What potential threats should a manager take seriously? features of the actions taken in this case.

The most optimal time for SWOT analysis is the period when the direction in accordance with which further business development is planned is being formulated.

What rules should you follow when conducting a SWOT analysis?

When performing a SWOT analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of an enterprise, it is important to adhere to well-known rules.

1. The research vector must be clearly specified. When analyzing the entire business as a whole, the results will be very generalized and will be completely useless. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct a SWOT analysis in specific areas.
2. All concepts of SWOT analysis must be clearly understood.
3. Conducting assessments from a market perspective. When carrying out the analysis, it is necessary to use the strengths and weaknesses as they appear to competitors and consumers. After all, strengths will be such only if they are visible from the market position.
4. Put objectivity first. Input information must be diverse. Research should not be carried out by just one person. The possibility of in-depth analysis is allowed only if the assessment is given by a group.
5. The wording must be clear. Avoid lengthy and ambiguous phrases. The result depends on their accuracy.

How SWOT analysis works

The principle of operation of SWOT analysis is simple and comes down to a certain scheme.

The first is the identification of strengths and weaknesses by experts. These characteristics are internal.

Here the strong and weak elements characteristic of the company are identified. In many ways, this depends on the literacy of drawing up a long-term plan.

To draw up an expert opinion, it is enough to arrange a survey with the management of the enterprise.

The assessment of strengths and weaknesses should be carried out in at least three different areas:

When analyzing internal factors, such a model can be applied. Rate vectors:

• to what extent the company's marketing activities correspond to the external environment;
• degree of adequacy of the sales system to the marketing channel;
• whether the organization of production processes corresponds to the adequacy of the market products;
• how logistics processes are organized and whether they are adequate to the marketing channel;
• to what extent do the financial position of the company correspond to its objectives;
• whether the administrative system corresponds to the quality of business process administration.

The second is a description of opportunities and threats.

This includes external factors, situations emerging outside the company, and the company’s business environment.

The threats are usually the same. They are:

1. Analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise, assessment of opportunities and threats depending on the degree of impact on the company.
2. A SWOT matrix is ​​compiled, where all information is summarized in the form of tables.
3. The impact of factors is analyzed.
4. After drawing up a description and conducting a marketing analysis, a strategy is determined, which is based on the results of the descriptions proposed above, using strengths and compensating for weaknesses.

SWOT Matrix

All received information is entered into a special table consisting of 4 fields. Such a table is called the SWOT Analysis Matrix.

How to analyze the effect of factors

In accordance with the information received, an analysis is made and a conclusion is drawn regarding how much the “strengths” of the enterprise are capable of realizing the company’s capabilities in achieving certain planned goals.

The SWOT analysis matrix after filling out the necessary data will look something like this:

Strategy MatrixSWOT analysis

Finally, a matrix of SWOT strategies is drawn up. This, in fact, is what everything was started for.

All data obtained as a result of the SWOT analysis is used to develop certain directions of the strategy, along which subsequent work will be based.

As a rule, the organization carries out work in several directions at once, namely:

• realizing strengths;
• correction of weaknesses;
• taking measures to compensate for threats.

Based on the results of the analysis of tabular data, a matrix of activities aimed at correcting shortcomings in the company’s activities is compiled. All information is recorded in one table, represented by four fields:

After analyzing all the information presented in the table, a list of probable actions is compiled, the so-called “marketing plan”.