What does swat stand for in case of launching a new business?

Answer 1

The correct term is SWOT, not SWAT. It stands for: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

A helpful technique for any venture, from starting a new business to evaluating business expansion plans, is to do a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Strengths: Consider your strengths (what you do well) in relationship to your competitors. Evaluate what you do better than the competition. Determine your company's most unique capabilities that will meet the needs of your customers. Emphasize and develop those strengths. Ensure your customers know about your strengths.

Weaknesses: Consider both internal and external factors to develop an honest assessment of your weaknesses (what you do not do so well) in relationship to your competitors. Zero in on what you need to improve to increase your competitiveness and meet the needs of your customers. A significant external area to evaluate is where people in your market space perceive you to be weak. Look at this from both a competitor's and customer's viewpoint. It is better if you are able to do an honest assessment and face all the unpleasant truths about your company at the beginning that to try to patch negative perceptions and mend burned bridges.

Opportunities: Many times, this appears to be the easiest part of your analysis, since available opportunities (what you can do for your market) probably were driving forces behind why you started your business in the first place. In truth, this can be difficult to develop, because obvious opportunities may misdirect your attentions from new opportunities. Evaluate your strengths to determine if you can fill or create new opportunities that fit a niche to which you are uniquely suited. Alternatively, and many times most importantly, look hard at your weaknesses to see if you can create new opportunities by eliminating or improving your weaknesses. Additionally, keep an eye on new technologies in your market place to see if you can meet new needs on either a narrow or broad scale. Some other areas to consider if they are related to your industry specialty are: changes in government policy, new laws, changing social patterns, new population profiles, local lifestyle changes, significant or important local events, and many more areas as vast as your imagination.

Threats: Often times, enthusiasm and over-confidence can be your worst enemies if you overlook threats (those things that can cause problems) to your business. Give this some long serious thought before you start or expand your business. Identify the areas that can force you out of business or prevent you from meeting your goals. Here is a good place to re-evaluate both your strengths and weaknesses to determine threats to your business. Evaluate if the strengths that helped get you going in the first place still offering you a competitive advantage in your marketplace. Have your weaknesses improved or gotten worse, and what is the impact of that? Consider if your competition is doing something new about which you should be concerned. Constantly evaluate if industry specifications and expectations for your products or services are changing. Some other threats to consider are: changing technology, new government laws and industry rules, shrinking customer base, cash flow issues, aging equipment or facilities, and many more factors that may or may not be obvious to a cursory investigation.