Transcript

The next analysis in the Ideation process is SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis is generally done by business analyst. While doing the Ideation process also it is better to do a SWOT analysis.

The SWOT analysis is a very simple tool. This SWOT is an acronym so each letter has a word attached with it. The SWOT ‘S’ stands for the Strength, ‘W’ stands for the Weakness, ‘O’ stands for the opportunity and ‘T’ stands for the Threats. This analysis can be done for every decision you take in your real life time. Suppose, you are trying to get a promotion, you are trying to invest money, you are trying to develop a product so, it is better we do a SWOT analysis. So, when we do it we try to see what is our strength, what is our weakness, what is our opportunity, what is our threat? Suppose, you try to develop a product which is delta x improvement and already 20 companies are already there in a similar product. Then they are all going to be a threat for you. Strength suppose you have a strong hold or an understanding of the problem and you try to find out you are having a set of people whom you can convince so, that is called as strength in solving the problem. So, Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats are the four important things which is to be considered before taking an idea or before taking a decision.

Strengths and weaknesses are internal – which is more towards your company or towards your thought process whatever it is. Strength and weakness – Examples includes who is on our team, our patents and intellectually property right, and our location. These are all part of strength and weaknesses.

The Opportunity and threat are external—things that are going on outside your company, or the market. So. It is very clear strength, weakness which comes in the top is internal, what is your strength in developing the product, what is your weakness in understanding the problem. The other two which is opportunity and threat which is controlled by external environment. So, for SWOT analysis to be effective the company founders or leaders need to be deeply involved. This isn’t a task that can be delegated to the others. You have to sit down and write. You have to understand yourself. You have to understand the strength. If you have a team the strength of your team, the weakness of your team. You are trying to develop a product where in which in the development of the product you decide that it is a product which has some electrical components and you don’t have any electrical expert, that is your weakness. And many a times a people think that an individual can develop a complete product and he can be successful, it is very difficult. When you try to develop a product and when you try to use the design thinking tool, you should always have a team. But, company leadership shouldn’t do the work on their own, either. Select people who can represent different aspects of a company, from sales and customer service to marketing and product development, all of them involve together in developing a solution to the problem.

How to do a SWOT Analysis

• Doing a SWOT analysis is similar to brainstorming meetings, and there are right and wrong ways to run them.
• It is a general suggestion to give everyone a pad of stick-note and have everyone quietly generate ideas on their own to start thinking off.
• This prevents groupthink and ensures that all voices are heard.
• After five to 10 minutes of private brainstorming, put all the stickier-notes on to your wall and group the similar ideas together. Allow anyone to add additional notes at this point if someone else’s idea sparks a new thought.

Strengths

So, this strength as, I told you strength is internal, a positive attributes of an organisation. What processes are successful? What assets do we have in our team, such as knowledge, education, network, skills, and reputation? What physical assessment do we have, such as customers, equipment, technology, cash, and patents? What competitive advantages do we have over the others? These are all the strengths.

Weaknesses

Weaknesses – Are there things that the organisation needs to be competitive on ? What processes need improvement? Are there tangible assets that our organization needs? Are there gaps in our design team? Is the location ideal for success?

Opportunity

Opportunities are external factors – Is our market growing? Are there upcoming events that the organization should participate? Are there upcoming changes to regulations?

Threat

Do we have potential competitors? Will suppliers always be able to supply? Could future developments in technology change the existing product? Is customer behavior changing over a period of time?

To Summarise:

A SWOT analysis organizes our top strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats into an organized list and is usually presented in a simple two-by-two grid. So now you will have in a two-by-two grid, so now you can try to see, okay we have this idea, these all are our strength, these are all our weakness, this is our market threat, these are our opportunity. Now, let us start working on the idea. So, many a times people say I have developed a product there is no customer because you have not done this SWOT analysis properly. SWOT analysis is a very very important tool in developing your ideas. Suppose, you look from the business yes, this is also important. SWOT analysis will force us to look at our business in a new way and from a new direction. You’ll look at your strength, weakness, and how you can leverage those to take an advantage of the opportunities and threat that exist in the market. So, this analysis is very very important for taking the product to the market.

Thank You.