Assignment:
SWOT Analysis
Strengths - what do you do well?
Weaknesses - what are you not so good at? Where might you need to improve?
Your strengths section can include a tangible strength (e.g.: state-of-the-art drill press) or an intangible strength (e.g.: goodwill) of your company.
Opportunities - What's coming that might be a chance for you to profit or succeed?
Threats - What's coming that might cause you problems?
Strengths and Weaknesses
State one major strength your company has, and one major weakness it suffers.
Opportunities and Threats
List three specific opportunities and three specific threats, each set ranked in order of importance, clearly labeled, and numbered, with threats separate from opportunities. List them in the proper order (it's what makes it S-W-O-T). This is a glimpse into the future; what you think is coming, what major positive or negative developments might affect your organization and your plans. Describe briefly how you will capitalize on the opportunities available in each case and how you will meet the challenge of the threats.
Make these threats and opportunities specific to your industry and/or company and related to a particular environment. Do not list general things like the "economy" or "competition" as threats; they are threats for any business. And don't list your marketing task as a threat; a threat to a cereal company is not "How to market our cereal."
Some Good Examples of Product-Specific Threats From Previous Student Papers (Plan product in parentheses)
Threat - Increased crime in downtown; 30% rise over the last two years in beatings and shootings (from a Plan for a Downtown Nightclub)
- Will meet by installing security system, hiring security personnel
Threat - Declining cost of electronic equipment (from a Plan with a product that was highly internet and technology-based)
- Will meet by hiring recent graduates of high-tech programs to keep us up to date
Threat - Transmission standards that vary across the world (from a Plan for SmallWorld cell phone)
- Will meet by creating adaptor that will handle various types/levels of transmission
Objectives and Issues
List (label, number) your three main Objectives in a way that makes it clear exactly what they are, in order of their importance. State clearly, directly under each Objective, ONE major Issue affecting the accomplishment of each objective, phrasing the issue as a question.
It is the section from which you get the goals that you will put in your Executive Summary and which will start your thinking on your Marketing Strategy: what you want to do and what key issues will affect your doing it. To get a better idea of your objectives, look ahead to Controls to see how these objectives will be tested after implementing the Plan.
Objectives are specific things that you want to accomplish. Issues are broad categories of problems, things you'll need to think about while working out how you will obtain your objectives. In the example of the objective of 15% market share, notice that the issue is not the specific question, "how can we get a market share of 15%?" but rather the very general question of "how does one go about increasing market share?" An even better way to phrase an issue here would be something like, "Given that we are a service industry with limited resources, how do we increase market share without risking XYZ?".
Make your objectives specific to your organization. Don't state as objectives things which are just common business sense or part of general business practice. The following are all incorrect objectives from previous Plans; they are incorrect because these are general things any marketer strives for.
• satisfy customers
• make sure production meets demand
• be located in the right place
• have a strategy that appeals to the target market
Satisfying customers, producing enough, finding a good location, determining the right strategy -- these are not objectives for a Marketing Plan any more than an objective of my teaching this course would be "to give a class that teaches students what they need to know," or "to offer the course twice each year."
Objectives must be clear, specific, numeric, and limited to a particular time period
Poorly-Stated Objectives Well-Stated Objectives
To make money Earn a 10% ROI by the second year of operations
To get more customers We will increase our market share from 16% to 18% by the end of fiscal 2007, by increasing our community sponsorship budget by 15%
To get bigger Our objective is to open three new units by the end of fiscal 2007 in each of the 3 Atlantic provinces where we have no stores
Some examples of well stated issues for objectives (from previous Plans)
OBJECTIVES AND ISSUES
OBJECTIVES AND ISSUES
• Earn a 10%profit in our second year of operation
• Issue: How can we attract and retain a strong and loyal customer base?
• Open 3 franchises within the Extended Market Area of Calgary by the end of 2015
• issue: How do we ensure success in a slow economy?
• Capture 10% of market in our first year and increase that to 14% in our second year
• Issue: What do we need to do to constantly attract new customers?
Value Proposition
State in no more than 3 lines the value proposition of your product.