The SWOT analysis is a tool used to help an organizations strategic planning process and It is also a useful tool in developing and confirming your goals and marketing strategy.

Secondly, we consider the weaknesses or limitations of the organization. These are the characteristics that place the organization at a disadvantage relative to other organizations. Weaknesses are factors that are within your control that detract from your ability to obtain or maintain a competitive edge. Mindtools.com states, “Ask yourself these questions: What are my competitors doing better than me, what can we improve, and what are people in my market likely to see as weaknesses from my company?” (SWOT analysis, par 3). The more accurately you identify these weaknesses, the more valuable the outcome will be to compete with your competitors.

After analyzing the internal strengths and weaknesses of the organization, it is time to take a look at the external environment to find opportunities. For example, you can consider what is obsolete in your organization, and what can replace it (About.com). In other words, you have to find an opportunity in the external environment to introduce a new product or service in the future that can generate profit.

Threats are related to changes in the external environment. Whereas some changes turn into opportunities, other changes in the environment will impact the business in a negative way. They could cause trouble for the organization or team. It is valuable to rank the threats to their seriousness and probability of occurrence. The better you are at identifying the potential threats, the higher the chance that you can position yourself correctly and respond to them as quickly and as smart as possible.

Once the above analysis is complete, you can build a strategy for the future of the organization, whereby you can capitalize the strengths, improve the weaknesses, seize the opportunities and avoid the threats of the organization. “You have to convert your weaknesses into strength and your threats into opportunities; Further on, you should match the strengths and opportunities to optimize the potential and profitability of the organization “(Marketing Strategy, 2011).

Works Cited List

- Ferrell O. C., and Michael Hartline. Marketing Strategy. South-Western, Cengage Learning, 2011.

- SWOT analysis. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 13 Mar 2012 <>.

- SWOT analysis. Mind Tools Ltd, 1996-2012 < >.

- Zahorsky, Darrell. A Business Owner's Secret Weapon. About.com. <>.