Free SWOT Analysis Template

From here you can download a free SWOT analysis template to download. Below we explain:

• What a SWOT analysis is
• How to use the Template

And you can download the template at the foot of this post.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________

What is a SWOT Analysis?

A SWOT analysis looks at internal:

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

It is a good way for organisations to identify risks (threats) and opportunities from what they do well, and what they do less well. A SWOT analysis will also help you consider threats and opportunities in the context you operate in.

You can use this free SWOT analysis template to set out your areas of strength and weakness and then what threats and opportunities arise from that.

A key things is that a SWOT analysis is best used for internal factors. You should use it to identify strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, from what your business is (and is not) doing rather than external factors.

Examples of external factors include:

• New government legislation
• Rising energy costs
• Changes in social attitudes

A SWOT Analysis Explored

As you would expect, the template has four sections.

Strengths

The first section helps you list your strengths. Strengths are things you do well. Are you better at your competitors at:

• Reaching your target audience?
• Upselling or cross selling products?
• Recruiting and retaining staff?
• Getting raw materials and suppliers at a lower price?
• Customer service?

Are you good at:

• Minimising production errors or flaws?
• Facilitating orders and logistics?
• Health and safety in the workplace?

…and so on

The section on Strengths is where you can list all of the things you currently do well, not matter how small or which business area they relate to.

Weaknesses

The next section covers weaknesses. These are not the same as things that could go wrong – these are your threats – or even things that have gone wrong. These are things that you believe you can and should do better, or that you do less well than competitors or peers.

Good sources of weaknesses can include:

• Customer feedback or reviews on sites like Trustpilot.
• Areas of your business that consistently do not meet sales or other targets
• Roles or functions you frequently have problems hiring too, or those with high staff turnover

Opportunities

Now comes the forward looking bit. Thinking about both your strengths and weaknesses, where are your opportunities?

Opportunities are positive changes you can make happen by either addressing your weaknesses or building on your strengths.

To help identify your opportunities you need to think about why?

• Why are you strong in areas of strength?
• Why do you have the weaknesses you have?

For example, if you are strong in any particular area can you get stronger still? Or duplicate that strength in other areas?

Similarly what could you do to tackle your weaknesses? Identifying weaknesses and what you can do about them is possibly the easiest way of finding opportunities.

Consider this case study:

A restaurant is located in a place with relatively low foot fall, leading to fewer walk-ins or orders from people passing by than other similar restaurants in busier locations. This means the restaurant is not as profitable as it could be.

There are a number of opportunities arising from this relative weakness:

• The restaurant could market more aggressively to make more people aware of it, using special offers or other incentives to attract customers
• It could reduce its hours to reduce costs and maximise profits from busier periods
• It could move location
• It could start doing online orders and deliveries as well as a table or take-away service

We will discuss how to prioritise and select the opportunities you may identify later.

Threats

This final part of the analysis involves thinking about what could go wrong if:

• Strengths reduce or
• Weaknesses get worse

For example, your business might have a unique selling point or product – but what happens if your competitors replicate it?

Do you have a small number of highly experienced or knowledgeable staff whose loss would critically impact your business?

________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________

How to Complete the SWOT Template

First

You can use the template to note down all the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats you have identified. There are 10 of each in the template but you do not have to identify 10, or the same number in each of the four sections. If you happen to identify more, just add extra lines into the spreadsheet.

Second

To help you track all of the different things you have identified you should give each one its own reference number. This will help you going forward to keep a link between your strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats arising from them.

It may seem bureaucratic but this link is important as you move forward through the risk management cycle.

Third

If you have not done so already link each everything you have identified to a business area or function, or a strategic business objective.

There are three main reasons for doing this.

1. It helps you work out which parts of your business operations of business plan have the most strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
2. You can see which areas of your business don’t have anything linked to them. Take a moment to ask yourself why, and if that is really true?
3. You may have identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are not linked to any business function or strategic objectives. If so, do they matter? Or are their functions or objectives you haven’t considered?

Finally

As you work through the template it is important ask why a strength is a strength, and what makes a weakness a weakness.

Similarly, you should ask yourself what negative outcome a threat could cause and what positive outcome an opportunity could lead to.

This will ensure you have linked your strengths and weaknesses to the right opportunities and threats.

Remember: you do not have to link these 1 to 1. For example, a weakness could lead to multiple threats, opportunities or both.

Next Steps

A SWOT analysis is one tool you can use to identify risks. As it is best for internal source of risk, you should combine it with a tool like a PESTLE analysis which will help you identify risks from external sources. You can also use other tools like a root cause analysis to help you identify risks

This step is the first part of the risk management cycle. Once you have identified your risk you will need to evaluate them, and then decide what approach you will take to managing them.

Download The Template Here

________________________________________________________________________________________________