A SWOT analysis can be carried out for a
product, place, industry or person. It involves
specifying the objective of the business venture
or project and identifying the internal and
external factors that are favorable and
unfavorable to achieve that objective.
Importance of SWOT analysis lies in its ability
to help clarify and summarise the key issues
and opportunities facing a business.

The main advantage of SWOT analysis are
that it’s simple and only cost’s time to do.
Helps in generating new ideas as how a
company can use a particular strength to
defend against threat in the market.
SWOT is a simple list and not critically
presented.

A SWOT analysis (alternatively SWOT
matrix) is a structured planning method used
to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats involved in
a project or in a business venture.

 The SWOT analysis is an excellent tool in
organizing information and presenting
solutions, identifying roadblocks and
emphasizing opportunities.
 SWOT is meant to be used during the proposal
stage of strategic planning. It acts as a
precursor to any sort of company action.
 Exploring avenues for new initiatives
 Making decisions about execution strategies
for a new policy
 Identifying possible areas for change in a
program
 Refining and redirecting efforts mid-plan.

 SWOT is a good hard look at
 1) company (or proposed venture) and identify what it does
well or poorly relative to other competitors, and
 2) factors or events that occur outside of the company and how
they may positively or negatively affect its profitability or
survival.
 This analysis leads to business awareness
 It’s the cornerstone of any successful strategic plan,
 A SWOT accomplishes this in four straight-forward steps that
all the business owners can understand.

 Financial resources, such as funding, sources of
income and investment opportunities.
 Physical resources, such as your company’s location,
facilities and equipment.
 Human resources, such as employees, volunteers and
target audiences.
 Current processes, such as employee programs,
department hierarchies and software systems.
 When it comes to listing strengths and weaknesses,
individuals shouldn’t try to sugarcoat or glaze over
inherent weaknesses or strengths. Identifying factors
both good and bad is important in creating a
thorough SWOT analysis.

 Every company, organization and individual is
influenced and affected by external forces. Whether
connected directly or indirectly to an opportunity or
threat, each of these factors is important to take note of
and document. External factors typically reference
things you or your company does not control, such as:
 Market trends, such as new products and technology or
shifts in audience needs.
 Economic trends, such as local, national and
international financial trends.
 Funding, such as donations, legislature and other
foundations.
 Demographics, such as a target audience’s age, race,
gender and culture.

 Macroeconomic matters
 Technological change
 Legislation
 Socio-cultural changes
 Changes in the marketplace or in competitive position.
 The results are often presented in the form of a matrix.

 Reputation in marketplace
 Expertise at partner level in HRM consultancy
 Broad scope of communication sciences
 Good international links even in small fields (in a Finnish context)
 High social significance, in the best interests of Finnish society
 Multidisciplinary and international research teams very common
 Many examples of high-quality research and top researchers
 Quick to respond to societal and cultural research issues
 Previous networking activities good foundation for national
cooperation
 Active international mobility and contacts to international
organizations
 Good library and information services at universities
 Good equipment base
 Status as a scientific discipline

 Shortage of consultants at operating level rather than partner level
 Unable to deal with multi-disciplinary assignments because of size or lack
of ability
 Staff restructurings (in particular reductions in support staff) at universities
take time away
 from research
 Unclear distribution of research between universities and polytechnics
 Research directions too influenced by how research funding is allocated
 Contemporary (e.g. technology-oriented) research projects and studies too
focused on case
 studies
 Research insufficiently targeted at theory formation
 Need for PhDs in the field not recognized outside the universities
 Currently no permanent forum for national cooperation

 Identified market for consultancy in areas other than HRM
 Large university units create new kinds of research combinations
 New regional opportunities in collaborations between other companies.
 New kinds of innovative cooperation models with other disciplines
 Interdisciplinary coordination, in particular in utilization and
development of infrastructure
 Highlighting broad scope in international contexts, applying it to
international research projects
 Rapid internationalization
 Open access publishing
 Identification of new research interfaces

 Large consultancies operating at a minor level
 Other small consultancies looking to invade the marketplace
 Relying on skewed publication and quality indicators
 Ability to respond to the challenges
 Finding talented and motivated graduate students
 Requirement of mobility viewed as an intrinsic value; importance of high-
quality work
 environments – whether domestic or foreign – not sufficiently emphasized
 Scarce university resources
 Rising service fees for material acquisition and limited availability of
material due to a lack of
 Resources in archives services and libraries