I have attached a fellow classmates’ post. Please respond with a 200 word minimum. When a firm’s mission and strategic direction are well understood, the company can begin to craft a strategy. The first step in crafting a strategy is completing a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. The SWOT analysis enables company leadership to take advantage of environmental opportunities, while avoiding or minimizing environmental threats. The company can attempt to emphasize its strengths and monitor and control the impact of its weaknesses. In this process companies will find strengths not utilized and can correct weaknesses. The foundation for company strengths and weaknesses are the human, organizational, and physical resources. A successful company must have knowledgeable and skilled employees, along with detailed and understandable processes and procedures. The company needs to understand the best materials available in its location and the distribution channels to get access to the material needed. Companies can rank strengths and weaknesses from its resource base that may include brand name, customer loyalty, leadership, human resources, location, market, quality, and many others. A company’s internal strengths and weaknesses must not be confused with external opportunities and threats (Parnell, 2014).
After the SWOT analysis is completed, a company can also employ a SW/OT matrix to help managers make strategic decisions. The SW/OT matrix uses the information gathered in the SWOT analysis process and is a great tool for generating strategic alternatives for the company. The matrix is created by listing all company strengths and weaknesses vertically on the left-hand side and across the top would be the list of company opportunities and threats. Strategic alternatives emerge from combing one or more strengths/weaknesses with one or more opportunities/threats. Four categories of alternatives result from the SW/OT matrix are strength-opportunity, weakness-threat, strength-threat, and weakness-opportunity. The matrix may result in many alternatives that fall under the same category and only a few in other categories. Focus should be placed on the specific alternative and not the four categories of alternatives (Parnell, 2014). Management can incorporate any alternatives that could be beneficial to the company in the strategic decision-making process.
Parnell, J. (2014). Strategic management. SAGE Publications, Ltd, https://www-doi-org.ezproxy.lsus.edu/10.4135/9781506374598
