SWOT Analysis: Business Solutions Consulting

How far is my company away from failure? This is one of the questions that SWOT begs to answer. In writing about SWOT analysis, John Bryson quotes Sun Tzu, from the Art of War:

So it is said that if you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but do know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle. (Bryson, 1995, pg 82)

The SWOT analysis has been considered by some as a dated management fad. However, my experience and research suggests that using the SWOT analysis technique could valuable in today’s economy as it was when it was first introduced...That is it is utilized to its full capacity. As such, after completing the assessment and finishing the readings, I decided to use SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) as the tool for analyzing Business Solutions Consulting (BSC), the start-up consulting firm I chose from sample business plans. (Free Consulting Business Plans)

Strengths

1. Have a well developed team approach on most consulting projects and a diversified Portfolio Offering: successfully increasing annual sales in double digits. Action: Using customer input and lessons learned; look to add more complementary services to each customer’s account – offer options for ‘bundle’ packages.

2. Very flexible approach to meeting client needs (onsite and remotely). Action: develop a methodology to be able to react to changing conditions.

3. Strong Financials for the first year with adequate cash at hand $150K and sales doubling annually. In addition, assets are twice the investments, loans and expenses combined. Action: Consider increasing staff and addin...

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...tates Business Industry 541611, 541612, 541612, 541613as defined by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) adopted in 1997 to replace Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. (United States Census)

In analyzing the data associated with the NAICS codes listed above, it can be determined that there is a continued marked for BSC services. One of BSC’s assets is its ability to be flexible and react to changing environments. Accordingly, BSC may be better served to specialize and highlight its expedited response and price differentiation targeted to local businesses and government institutions. Marketing and advertising strategy will develop to targeted audience via local communication medium (newspaper, blogs, etc.) in order to grow its market presence for a reasonable budget. BSC should leverage advances in technology wherever possible.