Example of a Small Business Performing a SWOT Analysis Essay

watch over more about performing a nerd analysis earlier reading the case study.BackgroundThe three members of the lead team at a littler marketing consulting firm were interested in expanding their extendings to their clients. before long the firm has 20 employees (including the three members of the lead team) many of whom are consultants with the end being administrative and marketing staff. The last time the participation had do a turn out analysis was when they were first starting up in line of products and were establishing on their business plan. The SWOT seance enabled them to work up their business plan by having them think through their business goals and objectives for viability and feasibility. At the time, the three of them, plus a few members of their Advisory Council participated in the SWOT analysis. The goal of this SWOT session would be to* Determine ways to split up position the company in marketplace. * Determine new products and services to offer clients to better compete in a crowded marketplace.Preparing for the SWOT sessionThe leadership team wanted to set aside 3 hours for the SWOT session. Given that the business was small, the leadership team felt that eitherone should participate. The following decisions were do * All 20 employees would participate in the SWOT session* A Fri twenty-four hours morning in mid-summer would be set aside for the session (andas a thank you for participating employees would be given the balance of the day off to spend with family and friends) * The focus of the SWOT session would be toward determine products and services to offer to clients and that information would be yieldd to participants beforehand so they outhouse begin to think about it * A professional facilitator would be brought in to lead the session since this SWOT exercise was essential to the companys continued growth and success Additionally, the leadership team was going to provide all participants with a copy of the SW OT analysis done at the very beginning before the business venture began. While it had a different purpose, it would be valuable for the SWOT session participants to view it and, from the leadership perspective, it would be interesting to compare then to now.The SWOT session cogitate was used during the SWOT session to gather info for the companys strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The facilitator led the group starting with strengths and working through to threats. An hour was allocated for this task. from each one participant spent time writing on ill-chosen notes their thoughts, ideas, opinions, beliefs and cognise truths regarding the companys strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. When done, all of the information was posted on the walls chthonian the appropriate heading (e.g. Strengths, etc.)Prioritizing the informationThe next hour and a half(a) was spent reviewing the data with an eye toward * Looking for themes/commonalities combining simi lar sticky notes under themes (e.g., Customer Service) * Prioritizing primed on* Significant information/data provided by large numbers of participants (e.g, ineffective use of social media was mentioned 15 times) * What could be quick hits for the company to start to effectively compete against the competition * Products and service ideas that can be created within a course of instructions time frame The table below is a small sampling of the data gathered during the brainstorming session. This particular data is selected as when they prioritized their efforts these were the areas of focus.STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES OPPORTUNITIES THREATS* Long-term employees committed to the company * Customers love the work done by the company * Customer retention is high * Well-known brand in the local area * Company has made a profit every year in business * Client base was growing * No blog on the website * Ineffective use of social media * No global customers * The business hasnt expanded in the last few years and seems stagnant. * No presence at trade shows or industry events/ conferences * No new blood bringing in fresh ideas * Client base not growing as quickly as in previous(prenominal) * rent current customers to refer business * Use social media and blogging to strain brand name and gain new customers * Expand business nationally * Target smaller start-ups who needed strong marketing to get their business off the ground * Provide sales live services for clients * scissure dashboards for tracking marketing * Competition was increasing * A number of local competitors were already blogging and utilizing social media * Current customers wanted social media consulting and it was difficult to do so when the company doesnt do social media themselves* Lots of individuals and former(a) new small businesses popping up who do marketing consulting base on the information gathered during the brainstorming sessions and what the participants believed could be accomplished i n a one to two year timeframe to have a authoritative impact on the business, the following was opinionated to admit the objectives Objective give position the company for success in the marketplace Objective bleak products and services * violate a blog * Assign responsibilities for social media accounts LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook * Ask current customers to refer business * Expand business nationally * Develop and offer dashboards for customers to manage marketing initiatives * Provide services to start-ups who need a strong marketing initiative * Provide social media services and support Next stepsThe companys next steps were to gravel the projects they decided to accomplish toward achieving their goals and* Assign responsibility for that project* Develop a project plan including a timeframe and budget needs* Prioritize the projects march on* Begin workA survey done of all participants later on the SWOT session showed that they were excited about the process and the path they had authentic to help meet company goals. By getting all employees involved, the leadership team showed that they valued all employees and wanted their contributions to help make the company a success. Once a month the leadership team would meet with each project lead to check on project status. It was decided that on an annual basis employees would participate in SWOT sessions to work on strategy for the upcoming year. As the company grew, employees would have the fortune to participate on a rotating basis.