Strengths and weaknesses in the SWOT analysis are internal value creating factors such as assets, skills, or resources a company has at its disposal relatively to its competitors. Below you can find a few examples of what your strengths might be:
- Unique product
- Location of your business
- Patents, know-how, trade secrets
- Worker's unique skill set
- Corporate culture, company image
- Quality of your product
- Access to financing
- Operational efficiency
The following list shows a few examples of weaknesses:
- Location of your business
- Lack of quality and customer service
- Poor marketing and sales
- Access to resources
- Undifferentiated products or services
Opportunities and threats are external value creating (or destroying) factors a company cannot control but emerge from either the competitive dynamics of the industry or market or from demographic, economic, political, technical, social, legal, or cultural factors.
An opportunity in the SWOT model could be for example:
- A new emerging or developing market (niche product, place - new country, less competition)
- Merger, joint venture, or strategic alliance
- Market trends
- New technologies
- Social changes (for example demographics)
And now the final one, threats. A threat could be:
- New competition in the market, possibly with new products or services
- Price wars
- Economic conditions
- Political changes
- Competitor oligopoly or monopoly
- Taxation
- Availability of resources
Factors related to each aspect of the SWOT model depend very much of the nature of your business. SWOT for a manufacturing company will be different from a SWOT for an internet start-up.