Strategic Planning using Research and Analysis
moving location.
SWOT & TOWS - INTRODUCTION
The Connection:
When to conduct Swot & Tows?
Internal Analysis - a Look at the company accounts,
current business model, core competencies
External analysis - Pest, Porter's 5 forces, Competitor
analysis
Do SWOT to conclude, organize & summarize our
research and analysis and TOWS to identify several
strategic options
Example:
Large cafe located in a busy high street and it’s
specialized in serving high quality cakes and desserts
Problem: the cafe is troubled by the fact that less
customers are visiting the cafe, which resulted into
decreasing of sales. - The owner did some research and
analysis to know why customers are looking elsewhere.
Analysis they did: talked to customers, analyzed
financial accounts, online presence, interactions,
investigate their competitors.
How to organize all information?
- Get the Overview
- What information is relevant
- What is good and bad
- Get the Internal Situation and External Situation
SWOT
Internal Information
Strength and Weakness
S – Financial Stability
S – Experienced Confectioner
W – High Turnover of Staffs
W- Run down Building
External Information
Opportunities and Threats
O – Food tourism
O – Increase in disposable income
T- High fat of sugar (Healthy Living)
T – Increase in Competition
MOVE SWOT TO TOWS
TOWS- To identify several strategic options based on
the SWOT
SO Strategic Options – Offering & Campaign
Targeted at Food Tourists
ST Strategic Options – Intensify promotional activities
WO Strategic Options – Reorganize and invest in staff
well-being
WT Strategic Options – Carry out Repairs, or
SWOT & TOWS ANALYSIS WITH
ACTION
EXAMPLE: COMPANY PRODUCING
ENGINE PARTS (AUTOMOTIVE)
SWOT
S – Technical Superiority
S – Well Financed
W – High Price
W – Losing key staff
O – Growing Market
O – Automotive market
T – Cheap Overseas Imports
T – Standard Fit In Automotive
TOWS
MEANING
SO – Uses Strengths to Exploit Opportunities
ST – Use Strength to overcome Threats
WO – Overcome Weakness in Areas of
Opportunity
WT – Actions that address weaknesses and
challenge Threats
TOWS ANSWER
SO – Automotive Market Strategy (since it has
technical superiority)
SO – Enhance Purchasing Terms (since the
company is well financed)
ST – Create a differentiation campaign (can
promote our technical superiority a great way
to challenge cheap imports from overseas)
ST – Channel Strategy for Automotive
Manufacturers (so that the manufacturers
became our customers, less worry about
automotive manufacturers making this type of
tech.)
WO – Promote a Value Campaign (Persuade
people to but the product and prevent losing
staff because they may think that they are lucky
to be part of the winning team)
WT – Reduce Manufacturing or material costs
(since the company has a high price this is a
good strategy to reduce cost)
WT – Loyalty Program (For customers who
purchased in the store)
WT – Raise Awareness of Disruption
(Disruption customers would suffer when
switching from one supplier to another)
SWOT ANALYSIS & TOWS ANALYSIS: Weakness
ILLUSTRATION WITH PRACTICAL EXAMPLE
W – Lack of funding (Needed to borrow some
SWOT amount of money in 1st year)\
Internal Factors W – Haven’t established yet as a reputable
nursery
SW – Existing Brand, Strong R&D, Technology, Skills
Opportunities
External Factors
O – Customer loyalty (Customers are looking for
OT – Suppliers, Competitors, Prices
ongoing relationships)
DEFINITION OF TERMS
O – Growing Market (Market for supplements is
Strengths: huge and growing)

- Positive Attributes Threats

- Internal to your Organization
T – Weather (changes in weather can seriously
- Within your Control
affect production)
What do you do well?
T – Pest (a threat to our ability to produce
What internal resources do you have? healthy plants)

What advantages do you have over your competition? T – Similar sized farms (some similar sized
farms are in business longer)
Weaknesses:
TOWS ANALYSIS
- Aspects that detract from the value you offer
- Place you at a competitive disadvantages Definition of terms:
- Need to enhance these areas in order to compete
SO – Attacking Strategy
with your best competitor
Which of the company’s strength can be used to
What areas need improvement to accomplish your
maximize opportunities we have identified?
objectives or compete with your strong competitor?
ST – Defensive Strategy
Does your business have limited resources?
How can we use the company’s strengths to
Opportunities:
minimize threats we have identified?
- External Attractive Factors
WO – Build strengths for attacking strategy
- Represent reasons your business is likely to prosper
Brainstorming on actions to minimize the
What opportunities exist in your market or the
company’s weaknesses using opportunities we
environment that you can benefit from?
have identified.
Has there been recent market growth or have there been
WT – Build strengths for defensive strategy
other change in the market that create an opportunity?
We are preparing plan to minimize company’s
Threats:
weaknesses to avoid threats we have identified
- External factors beyond your control
TOWS ANSWER
- Could place your strategy, business itself at risk
- May benefit by having contingency plans to address SO – Use experience and consistent quality for
them if they occurred ongoing relationship with customers
Who are your existing or potential competitors? ST – Provide consistent quality to acquire market
and reduce competition
What factors beyond your control could place your
business at risk? WO – Take an advantage of growing market to
create reputation
Example:
WT – Avoid adverse impact of weather and pests
NURSERY GARDEN
on plants to spoil the image of nursery.
Objective: To increase sale of nursery in a new market
 Strengths and Opportunities (SO) 
Strength How can you use your strengths to take
advantage of the opportunities?
S – Consistent quality (Consistent product plants with
high active botanical %)  Strengths and Threats (ST) 
How can you take advantage of your strengths to
S – Saleable plants (Produce high ratio of healthy plants) avoid real and potential threats?
S – Experience (Combination of business and
horticulture Experience)
 expanded, exploiting its services is the best way to retain
 Weaknesses and Opportunities customers and one of the best marketing strategies for
departmental stores.
(WO) 
How can you use your opportunities to overcome the
weaknesses you are experiencing?
 Weaknesses and Threats (WT) How
can you minimize your weaknesses and avoid threats?

Possible strategies for retail stores

 Attractive Storefront
For unattractive storefronts with excellent in-person service
and gorgeous products. Don’t forget the important virtual
storefronts of social media and blogs. Your web presence,
along with your storefront, must tell a compelling, attractive
story. If you need to spend a little to beautify any part of your
storefront, it will be money well-spent.

 Better Wages
Sometimes you have to spend money to make money, and
nowhere is this truer than in your relationships with your
employees.
Your employees are the face you show the world. They’re
brand ambassadors. Do you really want your ambassadors
starting wars with, or neglecting, your customers? Dig deeper
to afford long-term, committed employees. If you hire people
who are efficient and effective, you may even be able to hire
fewer people. This allows you to save money even in the face
of higher wages.

 Provide training
Even the best employees can’t do their jobs well if they don’t
know what the job entails. Offer substantive training that helps
committed employees correctly do their jobs.

 Fixing mistakes.
 Dealing with angry customers.
 Effective communication.
 Engaging customers without annoying them.
 Your brand’s values, goals, and public face.
 Recruiting new customers, and encouraging browsers
to make a purchase

 Engage Your Customers

Give them something to love, and they’ll tell everyone about
your business. One of the easiest ways to do this is to engage
with your customers

 Soliciting feedback on social media, or posting

questions and responding to the answers. A social
media community that is active and engaged is a
valuable asset.
 Listening to what customer’s say — even when it’s
something negative about your brand.
 Hiring friendly people with excellent social skills —
not rude temporary workers, or drones who are only
interested in following a script.

 Offer additional facilities

Generally, every store offers more or less, the same list of
products. But to attract the customers to a departmental store,
the retailer has to perform better than his competitors.

 Target the online customers

Using multiple channels to attract customer to a departmental
store, is an old trick. Now that the reach of social media has