SWOT analysis is a study made by companies to be able to identify their internal strengths and weaknesses, and also to know their external opportunities and threats. Every business should conduct such an analysis in order to set their strategic plans and goals. According to Wright (1998), “The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) framework is proposed by many as an analytical tool which should be used to categorize significant environmental factors both internal and external to the organization”. When evaluating the strength of a business, the manager should be able to identify its competitive advantage in the market and take advantage of such strengths. Competitive advantages are ways of doing the business that others cannot …show more content…
One of the most important external threats is the political and legal threat. Political and legal threats could be local or international. A business can be affected by any political or legal changes in any country that it has a relation with. As a result, businesses should acquire political skills and be able to analyses and predict changes and respond accordingly. Political skills empower businesses and may improve their performance and provide them with an advantage in the market. “Companies are beginning to recognize the impact of political issues upon international ventures”. Weiner (1992). According to Weiner (1992), political problems may be the result of wars, corruption, bad elections, religious violence, government agencies, or revolutions. However, the most important external factor that might negatively affect a company is the political instability. McConnell, Brue & Flynn identify a stable political system as, “stable political system characterized by democratic principles, internal order, the right of property ownership, the legal status of enterprise and the enforcement of contracts.” (P.616). Political instability that might affect a business could be local or boarder
Thesis: Although there were several factors and events that had led up to the California Gold Rush, the Westward Expansion, the discovery of gold, and immigration and work were the most influential.
SWOT Analysis: The internal strengths and weaknesses of the company, and the external opportunities and threats from the viewpoint of the company
5. What means can managers use to assess political risk? What do you think is there lative effectiveness of these different methods? At the time you are reading this,what countries or areas do you feel have political risk sufficient to discourage you from doing business there?
All countries in the world have various political environment and regimes. Political systems differ in terms of the governance, power and the rule of law. A political regime can be defined as structures, activities and processes by which given countries in the world govern themselves. Political systems can be based on either collectivism or individualism. It is essential for business to look at a country’s political environment as a vital criterion in venturing or expanding the business or company to that country. This is because political systems differ and each has its own form of governance that impacts a business in terms of its growth. International companies carry out international manufacture and activity in that they
Businesses in the same industry compete against each other to meet their organization goals and sustain competitive advantage over one another. But to meet those goals, it’s important for businesses to analyze their internal and external environment to allow them to come up with new business strategies beneficial to the business. Firms can use SWOT as a starting point. SWOT is a basic technique that can be used by business owners to analyze their business and industry condition (Dess, G., Lumpkin G.T., Eisner, A., McNamara, G, 2013). Using SWOT will help business owners understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of their business. It would help them analyze and come up
SWOT analysis covers the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats which a company is facing in its internal & external environment. Strengths & weaknesses fall under the internal environment of the company and opportunities & threats fall under the
The focus of the SWOT analysis is to identify the key internal and external factors that are important to achieving the objective. SWOT analysis groups key pieces of information into two main categories; internal factors and external factors. The internal factors are the strengths and weaknesses that are internal to the company while the external factors are the opportunities and threats that presented by the external environment. The internal factors are determined by their impact on the company’s objectives. What may represent strengths with respect to one objective may be weaknesses for another objective. The external factors may include technological change, legislation, cultural changes, and changes in the marketplace or competitive position (Wood, 2008).
As previously identified, there are also “non-legal/extra-governmental” political risks which could bring unexpected upheaval to foreign firms. Macro political risks such as the threat of violence, corruption, war or military coup, political instability and terrorism are all direct threats to foreign investors.
A SWOT analysis is a tool used to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization. A SWOT model measures what an organization can or cannot do as well as the possible opportunities and threats. This is done by taking data from the organization’s environment, analyzing the information and separating it into the internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats). When this is completed the analysis can create a plan for the organization to achieve its goals, and identify what difficulties must be overcome to attain
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Ferrell and Hartline, 2014, p. 39). A SWOT analysis evaluates both the internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats) that create advantages and disadvantages to a company when serving its customers (p. 39). A SWOT analysis is extremely beneficial in helping a company determine areas of improvement (p. 39). Internal factors examine the actual company being analyzed while external factors examine the external market (customers and competition) (p. 85).
Political: this inturns the legislation and government rules of the country that may influence and pose as a threat to the business,
Evans and Richardson (2007), contend that globalized economic environment is complex and changes from time to time and this places a heavy responsibility on multinationals and other business enterprises. They are forced to adapt in order to deal with these factors for the benefit of their organizations. A company cannot ignore political issues when assessing the business environment in which it operates because it affects government policies such as licensing, regulation and taxation, which have a direct consequence on the activities of a business enterprise (Evans, & Richardson, 2007).
THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT: The critical concern Political environment has a very important impact on every business operation no matter what its size, its area of operation. Whether the company is domestic, national, international, large or small political factors of the country it is located in will have an impact on it. And the most crucial & unavoidable realities of international business are that both host and home governments are integral partners. Reflected in its policies and attitudes toward business are a governments idea of how best to promote the national interest, considering its own resources and political philosophy. A government control's and restricts a company's
A SWOT analysis is an evaluation of the business environment and organizational strategic capability to identify key issues that may impact strategy development (Ireland, R., Hoskisson & Hitt, 2008). Strengths and weaknesses define a firm’s internal environment whereas opportunities and threats constitute the external environment.
SWOT analysis is a useful tool for understanding and decision-making for all sorts of situations in business and organization. SWOT analysis can be classified into internal and external factors affecting a company. The Strengths and Weaknesses of the SWOT analysis represent the internal factors that influence the viability of the company. While the Opportunities and Threats, on the other hand, are the external factors that may affect the company's performances. A SWOT analysis provides more understanding of the organization in relation to its internal and external environment so that manager can formulate better strategy in pursuit of its mission.