SWOT- A simple assessment tool

I attended a great class at SLA on doing business analysis–one of the most useful tools was the SWOT analysis. In the context of the class, it was to look at doing the analysis of a company, but it is useful for many projects, maybe especially in the context of library services.

SWOT

Strengths: What does an organization already do well? *understand attributes What resources do they have?
What does an organization already have that will help them succeed * Are they innovating in ways that others are not?

Weaknesses: What is not helpful/or even harmful? It is more interesting to see where business is failing * What resource is the company lacking? *Low employee morale? Strategic blunders? Are they in the right segments? Are they missing trends?

Opportunities:  What factors are being driven by external factors? What is the competitive landscape and how are the peers? How is the market share changing?

Disruptions: Threats? What is coming down the pipe that could be negative? Where are the competitors succeeding? What is the company missing? How can the economy affect the company? Who are the big customers? Are they balanced?

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