How is business? It is the superficial question many people ask business owners in lieu of the standard "how are you". Few really care about or even listen to your response because they know it is just meaningless chi-chat. But do you really know how your business is performing? Meaning more than just sales growth or profitability trends. Have you ever done an in-depth analysis of your business? Here’s how you can.
SWOT Analysis
A common and long-standing tool is to list your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). It is a simple concept that makes lots of sense. Knowing your SWOT is important and useful information. Strengths and weaknesses measure internal performance and competence. Opportunities and threats assess the level of risk from external conditions. There are many articles about SWOT, but because this type of analysis is so broad and each business is so unique Wholesale Jonathan Allen Jersey , it is difficult to describe how to apply it to any specific situation. One simple SWOT method is to divide a sheet of paper into four sections. Draw a vertical line down the center and a horizontal line across the middle of the page. Use the top left section to list your strengths, bottom left for weaknesses, top right for opportunities, and bottom right for threats. Then prioritize the items within each section by importance.
Whether you should focus on fixing the negative things or developing the positive ones is a ‘glass half-empty or half-full’ kind of debate that depends on your attitude and perspective. Either way a SWOT analysis really doesn’t provide much guidance. Many attempts at a SWOT analysis fall flat when the enormity of the task is realized. Where do you start? What factors should be considered? Where should you focus? SWOT analysis is a great tool, but users need some guidance and structure to make it work.
Five Forces Analysis
In his books "Competitive Strategy" and "Competitive Advantage" Wholesale Ryan Kerrigan Jersey , Michael Porter introduced the five forces of competition. They are the: 1) bargaining power of customers, 2) bargaining power of suppliers, 3) threat of new entrants, 4) threat of rivalry from existing competitors, and 5) threat of substitution. The five forces provide a framework that makes external risks easier to grasp and evaluate.
Combining SWOT and Five Forces
Both SWOT and Five Forces are analytical tools that are widely used by consultants Wholesale Jordan Reed Jersey , researchers and other professionals. The Five Forces method is basically a refinement of the external part of a SWOT analysis. So it makes sense to combine these tools to create a hybrid method.
Factors to Consider
For any analysis to be worthwhile, it must consider all aspects of the business. There are many factors that are common to virtually every type of business. To insure that no significant factor is overlooked, the analysis must be structured. Internally, five business sectors should be analyzed: 1) management, 2) workforce Wholesale Josh Norman Jersey , 3) sales and marketing, 4) operations, and 5) financial. Externally