Chapter 5 Charting Your Strategic Direction In This Chapter Analyzing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats Figuring out how to make money Deciding whether you want to grow bigger | H DD Chapter 5 Charting Your Strategic Direction In This Chapter Analyzing your strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats Figuring out how to make money Deciding whether you want to grow bigger 1 . . f you ve worked your way through the last few chapters you may feel like a juggler. On the one hand you re evaluating the industry that you re in. On the other hand you re getting to know your customers better. All the while you re keeping both eyes on the competition. Chapter 4 helps you on all three fronts. But wait you have more to keep track of. You need to watch what s happening inside your business. What are your company s strengths Where s your company a little weak What opportunities and what threats are on the horizon How do you plan to compete and win How will you make money What s your long-term strategy How will you expand and develop your company And when the time comes to retire or move on to other ventures what exit strategy will you follow The answers to these questions are essential to your business planning and they re what this chapter is all about. Assessing Your Capabilities Opportunities and Threats In the business world the companies with their heads in the sand are headed toward extinction. While they cling to the past or hunker down in the moment companies with visionary leaders look around with 20 20 vision and adapt their plans to steer clear of trouble and seize the opportunities they see on the horizon. So how do you put your business in the winning group For starters take an eye-opening look at your business situation by conducting a SWOT analysis. H DD 96 Part II Developing Your Plan s Components In MBA lingo SWOT is an acronym for strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats. A SWOT analysis is an important part of business planning for one simple reason It works. Before you can carry out a SWOT analysis you need to look at each of the pieces of the process separately first by sizing up your business strengths and weaknesses and .
