BARventure.co.uk - SWOT Analysis

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If you want to review your business and plan for the future it is a good idea to get your thoughts written down on a piece of paper. The SWOT analysis helps give you a format and make the process of evaluation a little easier. Here's the BARventure guide all about it.

Assessing your business will not only help you decide where your business is going but also how it's going to get there. Now despite its name A SWOT analysis has nothing to do with removing the flies from your business but stands fro Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Essentially what you need to do is get yourself a nice large piece of paper and draw lines to make four quarters. Top left you write Strengths, top right you put Weaknesses, Bottom left belongs to Opportunities and; you've guessed it, bottom right is Threats.

Now in each box you write down everything that is applicable to that section. You should look for Strengths and Weaknesses inside your business and form the perspective of your customers and people in your market. What is your company structure? What resources do you have? What do you do better than everyone else? Examine your sales and marketing, management structure and expertise, capacity, finances and costs, USP's (that's your 'unique selling points'), systems and products. What is your offer like? Is it competitive in the market place? Is it good quality? Better quality? What could you improve? What should you avoid? In looking at your strengths, think about it in relation to your competitors. If all your competitors provide high quality products then high quality products are not a strength they are a necessity. When looking at your weaknesses be realistic. Far better that you be critical now than let your customers do it by taking their business elsewhere.

The threats and opportunities boxes help you to identify the external threats and opportunities within the market. Perhaps a new coffee bar is due to open - how might this affect your business. What if a new housing estate is nearing completion. More potential customers? Mentally walk through your surrounding area, or better still go for a walk with a pen and paper and write down everything you come across that might have an impact or bearing on your business.

Once you've got all of this written down on your SWOT chart you can start to formulate your future plans. You've now got all this research at your fingertips and its time to start thinking about how to build on your own company strengths, resolving your weaknesses, exploit opportunities and avoid foreseen threats on the horizon.

What you should have now is the basis of a business plan. Congratulations!

Example Strengths
Large wine selection
Strong and Experienced Management Team
Experienced Head Chef
Newly Refurbished

Example Weaknesses
Limited Funding and Cash Flow
Low GPs and Margins
Inexperienced Staff

Example Opportunities
New Housing Estate Opening
Competitor Closing

Example Threats
Economic slow down may hamper sales
New Bar opening next door

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