Do you use SWOT? Making some simple changes to it, as shown in this presentation, will make it so much more useful and effective for you.

1. How to do a useful SWOT
analysis
A short presentation by Katie Underhill

2. First we take our
typical SWOT
analysis...

3. Strengths:
Internal- can be
exploited
Weaknesses:
Internal- need
to be corrected
Opportunities:
External- can
you take
advantage of
these?
Threats:
External- how
do you defend
against these?
A typical SWOT
analysis

4. List your
strengths,
weaknesses,
opportunities and
threats. Some
examples to
consider follow...

5. A marketing orientation
Positive perceptions of
the brand
Skilled managers
Competences that
cannot be copied
Satisfied customers
Have not innovated for
a number of years
Low levels of staff
motivation
High staff turnover
Cash flow could be
improved
Technological
advances present
innovation
opportunities
Social changes
meaning more
customers in our target
segments
Economic downturn
Political environment
Increasing competition
Examples of the items on a SWOT analysis

6. How to use this information
 Consider the SWOT as a matrix with vertical and
horizontal axes
 Your axes should represent what is important to your
business, for example:
 Impact of the items listed on the organisation
 Level of importance of the items listed to the customer
 Rank the items on a scale of 1-10 with 1 as least
impacting and least important
 Plot the items visually as follows...

7. Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities
10
1
1
1 1
Importance to customer
Sizeofimpact
Sizeofimpact
Importance to customer
10
10 10
10
A marketing
orientation
Positive
perceptions of the
brand
Skilled
managers
Competences
that cannot be
copied
Satisfied customers
Have not
innovated for a
number of years
Low levels of
staff
motivation
High staff
turnover
Cash flow
could be
improved
Technological
advances present
innovation
opportunities
Threats
Social changes
meaning more
customers in our
target segments
Economic
downturn
Political
environment
Increasing
competition

8. Now for the clever bit...
 The business may not have the resources or
competencies to manage each item in the SWOT
accordingly
 This SWOT once populated, enables you to see at a
glance, what is important to the organisation
 This means you are able to make decisions about
which:
 Strengths to exploit
 Weaknesses to correct
 Opportunities to take advantage of
 Threats to defend against

9. Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities
10
1
1
1 1
Importance to customer
Sizeofimpact
Sizeofimpact
Importance to customer
10
10 10
10
A marketing
orientation
Positive
perceptions of the
brand
Skilled
managers
Competences
that cannot be
copied
Satisfied customers
Have not
innovated for a
number of years
Low levels of
staff
motivation
High staff
turnover
Cash flow
could be
improved
Technological
advances present
innovation
opportunities
Threats
Social changes
meaning more
customers in our
target segments
Economic
downturn
Political
environment
Increasing
competition
Don’t bother with
anything in this area-
not important to
customers and low
impact

10. Don’t forget
 SWOT should not be used in isolation... it is simply
one auditing tool in a sea of many
 Exploit strengths, correct weaknesses, take
advantage of opportunities and defend against
threats
 Continuously review your SWOT analysis as part of
your marketing scanning