SWOT Analysis: A Closer Look at Opportunities
As you already know, SWOT is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, which are the four strategic elements of this analysis. The main purpose of SWOT analysis is to provide a thorough overview of your business’s current position and future roadblocks and possibilities. As a result, it is used by businesses for a variety of planning processes that range from marketing planning to business planning.
Since the business environment changes frequently, revisiting SWOT analysis for business opportunities can be quite useful. Therefore, in this article, we will take a closer look at some of the major SWOT opportunities your business can leverage.
Economic Opportunities
Some businesses consider an improving economy as one of the many SWOT opportunities a business can benefit from, but certain businesses benefit more when the economy worsens. Moderate to upscale retailers particularly do well when customers have excess money to spend. The same is true of small businesses that offer premium products and services and target only high-paying customers. On the other hand, lower-priced retailers that rely on lower-to-middle income earners will come across rough economy and unemployment as a chance to attract more budget orientated customers.
New Market Opportunities
A new or emerging market is one of the best SWOT opportunities a business can identify. By reaching a budding customer base early on, (if successful) you will be able to establish your business as a leading provider in that particular market. For instance, during times of high unemployment, displaced workers are often targeted by colleges through attractive promotions so they consider investing more in education to improve their position in the fluctuating job market.
Regulatory Opportunities
Industries, such as utilities, often have to face stringent regulations. This not only affects your ability to regulate product and pricing strategies, but also acts as a barrier to competition. Markets with minimum regulations, on the other hand, will allow your business to target customers aggressively with services, cost and quality advantages. For example, when talking about legal internet gambling steamed up, many innovative businesses immediately started working on developing technologies and effective business plans to make the most of this probable new opening.
Technological Opportunities
Since technology evolves continuously, it significantly affects all industries that resell or manufacture technology-based products. As a result, technology is among one of the most important SWOT opportunities a business can identify. Although your business might not have a vast development budget or even if you do not deal in technology-based products, you can gain certain cost advantages and efficiency over competitors by introducing inventory control, supply chain management, and customer relationship management software.
These are some major SWOT opportunities businesses can leverage. As SWOT analysis provides a calculative insight on opportunities, it can be used to devise strategic plans so your business can make the most of its current market share and maximize its chances of growth and success.
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