Research Center for Quantum Information. Institute of Physics. Slovak Academy of Sciences B R A T I S L A V A A C A D E M Y O F S L O V A K

Transcription

1 Research Center for Quantum Information Institute of Physics Slovak Academy of Sciences B R A T I S L A V A S L O V A K RC Q I S C I E N C E S A C A D E M Y O F

2 SWOT Analysis Michaël l Le Gohebel Project manager Budmerice 2005 Institute of Advanced Studies Soft skills seminar October, 2005

3 Program n The origins of the SWOT analysis model n What's it all about? n What for? n Your own SWOT analysis n Simple rules for successful SWOT analysis n SWOT Analysis Apple n Open discussion

4 The origins of the SWOT analysis model This remarkable piece of history as to the origins of SWOT analysis has been provided by Albert S Humphrey, one of the founding fathers of what we know today as SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis came from the research conducted at Stanford Research Institute from The background to SWOT stemmed from The research was funded by the fortune 500 The Research Team were Marion the need to find out why corporate planning failed. companies to find out what could be done about this failure. Dosher, Dr Otis Benepe, Albert Humphrey, Robert Stewart, Birger Lie. It all began with the corporate planning trend, which seemed to appear first at Du Pont in By 1960 every Fortune 500 company had a 'corporate planning manager' (or equivalent) and 'associations of long range corporate planners' had sprung up in both the USA and the UK.

5 What's it all about? SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. SWOT Analysis is an effective method of identifying your internal and external environment summarised as your strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats and is key to scientific planning success. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. Opportunities and threats are external factors.

6 The SWOT analysis is an analytical tool which is predominately used in corporate appraisal, as part of a strategic planing exercise. In a performance management scenario, the SWOT analysis can be used to analyse the effectiveness of the small business in terms of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

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8 Strengths and weaknesses are A strength could be: internal factors your specific expertise a new, innovative product or service location of your laboratory quality processes and procedures any other aspect of your activity that adds value to your product or service A weakness could be: lack of expertise location of your business poor quality goods or services damaged reputation

9 Opportunities and threats are external factors An opportunity could be: a developing market such as Quantum information and processing. Cooperations or strategic alliances moving into new scientific segments that offer improved outlooks a new international market (public/private) A threat could be: a new competitor in your field a competitor has a new, innovative product or service EU regulations and priorities are changing in the allocation of funds for your projects

10 What for? Carrying our this in-depth analysis using the SWOT framework will show where you stand today with your business and will highlight your internal strengths and weaknesses, the opportunities available to your activity and the threats that may be coming your way.

11 what a SWOT analysis does A SWOT analysis looks at your company s: Strengths - to build on, maintain, build and leverage Weaknesses to cover, remedy or exit Opportunities to capture, prioritise and optimise Threats to defend against, counter It aims to: Reveal your competitive advantages Analyse your prospects for success Prepare your institution for problems Allow for the development of contingency plans

12 what strengths and weaknesses are examined The strengths and weaknesses analysis is an internal examination that focuses on your past performance, present strategy, resources and capabilities. It is based on an analysis of facts and assumptions about the institution,, including: Sales Products Markets Financial resources Capabilities/scalability People and skills (in particular research,, export experience) Customers (market research) Intellectual property

13 Strengths Advantages of proposition? Capabilities? Competitive advantages? Resources, Assets, People? Experience, knowledge, data? Financial reserves, likely returns? Marketing - reach, distribution, awareness? Innovative aspects? Location and geographical? Price, value, quality? Accreditations, qualifications, certifications? Processes, systems, IT, communications? Cultural, attitudinal, behavioural? Management cover, succession?

14 Weaknesses Disadvantages of proposition? Gaps in capabilities? Lack of competitive strength? Reputation, presence and reach? Financials? Own known vulnerabilities? Timescales, deadlines and pressures? Cashflow, start-up cash-drain? Continuity, supply chain robustness? Effects on core activities, distraction? Reliability of data, plan predictability? Morale, commitment, leadership? Accreditations, etc? Processes and systems, etc? Management cover, succession?

15 what opportunities and threats are examined The opportunity and threat analysis is carried out by examining external factors in your domestic and export market(s). This is usually broken down into environmental factors and competitors, including

16 Demographic Economic Political/legal Sociological Environmental Technology Cultural Environmental factors

17 Competitors Market segments Products Prices Promotion Distribution Capability Resources Ownership New entrants Substitute products Suppliers customers Product life cycle Risk and cost of intellectual property violation of your product

18 Opportunities Market developments? Competitors' vulnerabilities? Industry or lifestyle trends? Technology development and innovation? Global influences? New markets, vertical, horizontal? Niche target markets? Geographical, export, import? Tactics - surprise, major contracts, etc? Business and product development? Information and research? Partnerships, agencies, distribution? Volumes, production, economies? Seasonal, weather, fashion influences?

19 Threats Political effects? Legislative effects? Environmental effects? IT developments? Competitor intentions - various? Market demand? New technologies, services, ideas? Vital contracts and partners? Sustaining internal capabilities? Obstacles faced? Insurmountable weaknesses? Loss of key staff? Sustainable financial backing? Economy - home, abroad? Seasonality, weather effects?

20 YOUR SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Identifying your strengths will help you decide on which areas you can rely. You are likely to see better returns for your effort in these areas.

21 Weaknesses Your weakness will tell you which areas need special attention - thus turning them into strengths. Alternatively, you might decide that these are areas which you should avoid.

22 Opportunities Opportunities are areas which the business needs to attack: they offer earning potential. You will need a strategy that allows you to make the most of the opportunity which exists.

23 Threats Threats are areas which need to be monitored and action taken if needed. The system you have to monitor your business needs to watch out for Changing or increasing areas of threat

24 Simple rules for successful SWOT analysis be realistic about the strengths and weaknesses of your organization analysis should distinguish between where your organization is today, and where it could be in the future be specific. Avoid grey areas. always analyse in relation to your competition i.e. better than or worse than your competition keep your SWOT short and simple. Avoid complexity and over analysis SWOT is subjective.

25 SWOT Analysis Apple Strengths Apple is a very successful company. Sales of its ipod music player had increased its second quarter profits to $320 (June 2005). The favourable brand perception had also increased sales of Macintosh computers. So ipod gives the company access to a whole new series of segments that buy into other parts of the Apple brand. Sales of its notebooks products is also very strong, and represents a huge contribution to income for Apple. Brand is all-important. Apple is one of the most established and healthy IT brands in the World, and has a very loyal set of enthusiastic customers that advocate the brand. Such a powerful loyalty means that Ample not only recruits new customers, it retains them i.e. they come back for more products and services from Apple, and the company also has the opportunity to extend new products to them, for example the ipod.

26 Weaknesses It is reported that the Apple ipod Nano may have a faulty screen. The company has commented that a batch of its product has screens that break under impact, and the company is replacing all faulty items. This is in addition to problems with early ipods that had faulty batteries, whereby the company offered customers free battery cases There is pressure on Apple to increase the price of its music download file, from the music industry itself. Many of these companies make more money from itunes (i.e. downloadable music files) than from their original CD sales. Apple has sold about 22 million ipod digital music players and more than 500 million songs though its itunes music store. It accounts for 82% of all legally downloaded music in the US. The company is resolute, but if it gives in to the music producers, it may be perceived as a commercial weakness. Early in 2005 Apple announced that it was to end its long- standing relationship with IBM as a chip supplier, and that it was about to switch to Intel. Some industry specialists commented that the swap could confuse Apple's consumers.

27 Opportunities Apple has the opportunity to develop its itunes and music player technology into a mobile phone format. The Rokr mobile phone device was developed by Motorola. It has a colour screen, stereo speakers and a advance camera system. A version of Apple's itunes music store has been developed for the phone so users can manage the tracks they store on it. Downloads are available via a USB cable, ands software on the handset pauses music if a phone call comes in. New technologies and strategic alliances offer opportunities for Apple. Podcasts are downloadable radio shows that can be downloaded from the Internet, and then played back on ipods and other MP3 devices at the convenience of the listener. The listener can subscribe to Podcasts for free, and ultimately revenue could be generated from paid for subscription or through revenue generated from sales of other downloads.

28 Threats The biggest threat to IT companies such as Apple is the very high level of competition in the technology markets. Being successful attracts competition, and Apple works very hard on research and development and marketing in order to retain its competitive position. The popularity of ipod and Apple Mac are subject to demand, and will be affected if economies begin to falter and demand falls for their products. There is also a high product substitution effect in the innovative and fast moving IT consumables market. So ipod and MP3 rule today, but only yesterday it was CD, DAT, and Vinyl. Tomorrow's technology might be completely different. Wireless technologies could replace the need for a physical music player. In 2005 Apple won a legal case that forced Bloggers to name the sources of information that pre-empted the launch of new Apple products. It was suspect that Apple's own employees had leaked confidential information about their new Asteroid product. The three individuals prosecuted, all owned Apple tribute sites, and were big fans of the company's products. The blogs had appeared on their sites, and they were forced to reveal their source. The ruling saw commercial confidentiality as more important as the right to speech of individuals. Apple are vulnerable to leaks that could cost them profits.

29 Time for discussion Please, give me your comments Question time!

30 Thank you for your attention!