SWOT Analysis – Take 3 (at least)
The Harvard Business Review strikes again with a good article on strategy and eye-catching headline. If you are a Manager in business, I will guess you have already heard – and may be heartily sick of – SWOT analyses. I stopped using the “traditional” format years ago, preferring the 9 Box version shown above. The latest version in the HBR article by Adam Brandenberger adds a useful slant by comparing your strengths to others’ weaknesses, and (of course!) your weaknesses to their strengths. All good. Yet the main element of SWOT is still missing – the bit that is missing from most SWOT Analyses, of whatever flavour – what are you going to do as a result?
I have just had to attempt to fix the lock on my front door. Stick with me here. I had to get my trusty toolbox out, the screwdriver I needed was right at the bottom, and I reflected that it must be years since I had used it. Yet when the job presented itself, I knew it was there. Now, back to business strategy…
SWOT is just a tool, not a task. It barely matters which format you use; it is there to inspire thinking. But without any follow up action, it remains useless. Just like that screwdriver at the bottom of my toolbox.
https://hbr.org/2019/08/are-your-companys-strengths-really-weaknesses
Buzzword of the Week –Variance
Definition – (in a financial context) The difference (positive or negative) between actual costs and budgeted or standard costs.
Alternate View – You will always have a variance. No one has ever seen an actual number match a budget number. The issue is not the variance – its the action you take because of the variance. Oh – beware those Excel spreadsheets and budgets which show red if they are below (for income) or above (for cost) – usually way too sensitive. Know what the most significant variances are, but above all know what to do about them