Financial Times

Could your business be walking around naked?
By Nilooka Dissanayake
Are you, or could your business be walking around naked like the proverbial emperor with his brand new clothes? Here's how to find out: Do a SWOT Analysis. If you are running your own business, it is unlikely that anyone will point out to you your weaknesses. Nor are they likely to tell you about your strengths.

The Tsunami tidal waves changed our business environment. Even if not, we were anyway experiencing turbulence in political, social and economic contexts. So whether you are in business for yourself, or managing a business for someone else, you would need to keep an eye on the changes taking place in your environment.

How will they affect you? What opportunities can you make use of to take your business to a new level in 2005? What threats will you need to counter to stay in the same place or merely survive? All these things will be clear to you if you take your time to do a SWOT analysis.

I can literally hear students of management and business executives scoffing at this suggestion. SWOT is after all, old hat, isn't it? We all know it? We have all done it. Where has it got us? Well, if you can frankly admit that looking at your business to discover it's internal strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) as well as the opportunities (O) and threats (T) that the external environment poses, has not done you any good, all I can say is that you have not taken the exercise seriously.

Let us talk of strengths. Why you are doing well compared to your competitors? Why do customers leave them and come to or stay loyal? Or are you merely depending on luck and plodding along? Be warned. Your luck may not hold forever. Should you rather not be trying to learn the secrets of your own success that you can replicate it for the future? How do you know you can be good in the future if you don't know why and how you are good now? Think of it.

On the other hand, have you been losing market share and customers lately? Did you ask yourself why? Did you ask them? I have seen many businesses, some quite large organizations, mind you, trying to formulate business strategies without taking into consideration the activities and strengths and weaknesses of their competitors. Are they likely to succeed? You be the judge. As the saying goes, the easiest thing to change in this world is yourself-or in this context your business. Should you not look at understanding your own weaknesses and mending them so you can work towards your business objectives with confidence?

When it comes to small businesses, often the strengths and weaknesses of the entrepreneurs play a key role in the success of the business. Hence, if you are in business for yourself and play a key role in its development, it pays to do a personal business SWOT for yourself as well.

Your business environment really needs watching. Are you keeping your ears to the ground? Do you know the implications of new laws that are being introduced? Have you given thought of the long-term implications of the tsunami or the government's emphasis on small and medium enterprises? What about the new political culture in Sri Lanka? Does it affect your business? Will these myriad changes be favourable, unfavourable or neutral? How will you know if you do not seek to discover in advance? Or are you going to be surprised? Should you not be proactive and find out what opportunities and threats you face?

Somebody's gain is somebody else's loss. That is how business works. So if you are a furniture manufacturer, the post tsunami environment is a good one for you.

There will be so many hotels that have had their furniture and fittings washed out and needing to replace them. And furniture manufacturers are already clamouring to do the needful. Similarly there will be many opportunities for existing businesses as well as for new business ventures. The changed social and business scenario as well as the physical and geographical changes may make new projects feasible. Why not take the long weekend to think about the opportunities as well as threats that face your small business?

If you take your time to do a SWOT for your business, you will discover many things. But you will gain anything by the exercise only if you are seriously intent on maintaining or increasing your strengths, reducing your weaknesses and making the best of opportunities while countering threats to your business. Of course, unless you are seriously action oriented, don't bother!

Please send in your comments on what is presented in this article. You can contact us on ft@sundaytimes.wnl.lk or on 5552524.

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