SWOT
• STRENGTHS
• WEAKNESSES
• OPPORTUNITIES
• THREATS
Analysing these gives businesses an overview of their position in relation to their external environment. The strengths and weaknesses of a business arise from its internal environment; that is, resources and their use, structure, culture and the different business functions. Which strengths a business decides to build upon and which it seeks to minimise depends on the impact of opportunities and threats from the external environment. Once the external influences on a business have been identified, they can then be judged to be either a threat or an opportunity and can be dealt with, or taken advantage of, as appropriate.
One method of undertaking a SWOT analysis is to consider strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats in relation to four key business functions: marketing, operations, human resources and finance.