When Do Companies Or People Make A SWOT?

A SWOT is a summarization of a situation. A SWOT is used to map a company, but it can also be used to map a career. Further on in this blog I give examples of SWOTs in various situations. A SWOT is a way to stand still and look first internally: 

• What do I or my company already have as knowledge?

and then look outwards: 

• What does the competition do?

• And which opportunities are there that are not used yet in the market (or the company)? 

Sometimes this creates a niche in which a company can specialize without competition. A SWOT is always a way to make the company stronger and take advantage of the strength of the company and the market opportunities.

What is a SWOT?

A SWOT is a way to summarize business, project, etc. into four categories. The four categories are a way to order the summarization into:

• Strength

• Opportunities

• Weakness

• and Threats.

This is mostly done in box with four quadrants, a matrix. Each category gets a quadrant in an order that is set by the SWOT-makers. In each quadrant there are about three things named. I was introduced to the SWOT through marketing lessons during my Business Economic studies. Nowadays a SWOT can be used for almost everything when setting goals. I will give a few examples of a SWOT. Strength and Weakness are the categories with which the company looks inside itself. Opportunities and Threats are the categories with which the company looks around to the competition and the opportunities in the markets.

Strength

The strength are the points that are already good and need to be kept up. These are the points to use in advertising the product or skills. These points are in the market where the business is established or the skills that are advertised by the company. The company earns good on these points but has to keep up the skills here. A good example of a strength of Databeet is that I earn money from different products, Databeet has diversification.

Opportunities

Opportunities are the points that are there and have potential to grow into strength if they are developed further. These are the points to work on. Most businesses concentrate on developing these points to penetrate new clients/markets. These are the ‘easy’ markets to target. Not all opportunities will become strength. A good example of opportunities for Databeet is that I started in 2012 with using all the skills I had and now in 2022 I am focusing on teaching my knowledge and digging deeper in two or three skills I know are worth it developing further.

Weakness

The weakness are the points the business isn’t good at. These points can become a threat or an opportunity. These weaknesses don’t have immediate focus, but when business is well this category is the next one to work on. When a company is working on this category they are established and have time to do this. A good example of a weakness of Databeet or actually me not Databeet is that I am interested in a lot of things and see business opportunities in all. This is how I developed SPSS and WordPress in the past. SPSS was gone after about 2 years form my product portfolio. WordPress was my Cash Cow. It was a by product I developed because the market needed it. All the websites I developed with WordPress I was asked for. In 2019 it became a fighting market, which led to my decision to step out of this market completely in 2021.

Threats

The threats are the elements the company don’t want to focus on. Most of the time the competitors are too good to compete here or there is no knowledge on the points in this category. Sometimes the knowledge can be accumulated, and the threat can become a weakness, but this is rare. A good example of threat is that data-analysis is a Cash Cow market, but more and more coding is needed. Early on I decided to specialize in Excel and keep my eye on data Viz. Which led into development of the Big Data eCourse for Laudius in 2018, leaving SPSS behind and keep on following Data Viz.

A SWOT and then?

After sitting down and taking time to make a SWOT it is time to put the SWOT into action by setting goals and action points. Sometimes the goals don’t need action, the product sells itself that is when they are the STAR-products. But be aware of the market around, because if development and competitors are there it becomes a fighting market. A good example of a fighting market for Databeet was WordPress. There was to much competition and the prices where dropping. More and more businesses where entering this market and also WordPress became so easy almost everybody can do it themselves. 

• My STAR-product is still my diversification, 

• My Cash Cows are Excel and Big Data eCourses

• My Question Mark is Data Viz 

• and My Dogs are the products I left behind like WordPress which was a cash cow at first.

SWOT Big Data

In the picture below the SWOT for Big Data. Big Data is the future and has lots of opportunities. In our digital age everything is digitalized, and metrics are on, which means everything goes into a database. When gathering the information it is not always important for what it is going to be used. This is where in analyses with a research question it is as the Dutch say: 'Zoeken naar een speld in de hooiberg'. With this said Big Data has proven its existence by giving insides which 'normal' database can't give. The only threads at the moment with Big Data are Privacy and Ethics.

SWOT Databeet

Each year I look at the products of Databeet and see which ones will go on to next year. This tradition I do with my knowledge of Business Economics. This year I am using the SWOT. Big Data eCourse, Excel eCourses, (guest)blogging and Twitter have a future for sure. And then it becomes difficult, because I can only focus on a few things and the options are:

• DataViz

• More eCourses (as an assignment or for Databeet)

• Bringing Spanish and French to the level I could work in those language on the level I work now in Dutch and English.

All three are good options and Stars or Cash Cows for the future. But are they all Stars and Cash Cows for me? Only the future will tell, up to more years Databeet!

SWOT Healthy Life

Healthy life is more than only getting enough sleep and eating the right thing. It is about balance in life. About mending your own business and living the life I want within the rules of society. It is about doing the things that make me happy.

SWOT CAREER

A career starts with education, taking all the chances I got in life and making the right choices for me. Career is also about having a life I want to have and doing the things I like. Sometimes there are must things, but none of them should interfere with the life I decided to have.

SWOT Schooling

The Schooling SWOT gives me and the audience an overview of what my schooling has brought me.  By looking at the SWOT I can see what schooling I want to invest in and what not.

SWOT DataViz

DataViz is a way to make information available to less data literated people and people with no time. It is a way to make research available to everybody. Even research about subjects I don't know nothing about can become understandable to me with a SWOT. I don't have to do anything with that subject, but I can participate in small talk about this subject I don't know anything about. Another good example of good Dataviz is the way the Dutch government communicated during COVID-19 in a later stage. The Dutch government used a lot of pictograms to inform people about lockdowns, 1,5m, etc.

SWOT BOOKS

Books are the way to learn more about the world, a subject, etc. It is an easy way to expand my knowledge. Books are everywhere and in every language which makes it the most accessible way to expand my knowledge.

SWOT Travel

In my SWOT about travel I give the benefits of travel and the opportunities I see. There are also weakness and threats with traveling. By making this SWOT I can prepare myself for my next journey by taking my weaknesses and the threats serious. For the fun part I can use my strengths and opportunities.

SWOT 'Hanzesteden'

The Hanzesteden SWOT summarizes the strength and weakness of the Hanze time. And the opportunities and threats that made the Hanze network work in that time and also the fall of the Hanze network at the end of the middle ages. In 2023 the Hanze time in 9 Dutch cities will be in the picture for a whole year. Can they use the strength of the Hanze time?