SWOT What?

A friend of mine wants me to review his SWOT analysis. His new company is looking into developing a regional strategy for expanding one of their market sectors. He was tasked with doing a SWOT analysis and presenting it to the Board of Directors.

Although he had done these analyses several times in the past, there was a new wrinkle—this was for a regional expansion and the factors under consideration were different. Identifying factors for analysis is one key to developing a relevant assessment.

A SWOT analysis is a tool used to assess the competitive nature of a firm by assessing four (4) attributes: strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities in the marketplace (O) and threats (T). Strengths and weaknesses reflect the firm’s internal organization; while opportunities and threats are external factors that affect the firm’s success.

Strengths/Weaknesses may include factors such as:

Design or production efficiency
Experienced workforce
Use or utilization of BIM, IPD or alternative delivery
Market share in specific disciplines or markets
Capital position (bonding, financing, etc.)
Reputation
Management
Past performance
Leadership
Market leaders
Facilities
Recruitment/retention efforts
Research and analytical capabilities of the new market
Aging staff
Untrained or under trained staff


Opportunities/Threats may include factors such as:

Economics
Higher or lower labor costs
Weak market conditions
Changing demographics
Business taxes
Receptivity of out-of-state business climate
Undefined competition
Shortage of skilled/experienced employee base
Shortage of intellectual capital
Distribution of intellectual capital
Different regulations
Labor law
Union influences

While most firms are more than willing to do a SWOT analysis, another major key to its value is the candor of the assessment. It is easy to downplay threats in a new market, or overstate the opportunities “just over there.” A balanced perspective keenly sorts the information and then develops a strategy to address the threats and weaknesses. Be cautious of any analysis that presents an unbalanced perspective. More importantly, engage the perspectives of individuals from various levels of the organization in the analysis and in the strategy going forward.

Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.