SWOT – wot’s that? REReP 1.8 Wrap-up WorkshopJune 19-20

SOFIA, BULGARIA

JEROME SIMPSONThe Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe JSimpson@rec.org

www.glocalvantage.com/SWOT

Key Characteristics

•  A means to assess one’s strategic position

• Effective & efficient tool for strategy development

• It’s scaleable, i.e. useful to small teams & large organisations

• It’s simple, enjoyable and costs little

• It’s collaborative, enabling full team participation (and “buy-in”)

• It’s quick and integrateable

By definition

• Strength: a resource or capacity of the organization, company or team that can be used effectively to achieve objectives now or in the future

• Weakness: a limitation, fault or defect of the organization, company or team that will hinder achievement of objectives now or

in the future

• Opportunity: any favourable situation present now or in the future in the market

• Threat: any unfavourable situation in the future in the market that is potentially damaging, now or in the future

Effective Strategy?

“In general, an effective strategy is one that takes advantage of the opportunities, avoids the threats (or turns them into opportunities), builds on the strengths and minimizes the weaknesses (or takes action to eliminate them).”

A potential strategy matrix for a simple SWOT analysis would be:

Tips

• Be comprehensive: Keep the process broad and open

• Manage the group dynamics: Ensure everyone openly contributes

• Keep the thinking straight: Don’t muddy what belongs in one category

• Ensure clarity: Make every statement as clear and unambiguous as possible“Clarity in strategy works. Fuzzy strategies fail” Rashi Glazier, Ctr for Marketing and Technology, University of California

The Process

• Discover & present the driving forces for change

• Undertake the SWOT assessment

• Determine the desired state (where do we want to be?)

• Develop 3 or 4 scenarios based on the SWOT

• Identify next steps, and document the results