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Planning Tools and Techniques

¡ Market Research
¡ SWOT Analysis

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Market Research

¡ applies a number of tools to discover the preference of customers with

respect to the company’s products, services, marketing strategy, product
prices, competitive strengths, and brand reputation in the marketplace
¡ tools: polling by questionnaires, product concept testing, focus groups,
and pilot testing

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SWOT Analysis

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

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SWOT ANALYSIS TEMPLATE

Source: https://diytoolkit.org/tools/swot-analysis-2/
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SWOT Analysis

Conducting a SWOT analysis can be useful for lots of contexts, including:

¡ problem solving
¡ planning
¡ competitor evaluation
¡ personal-development planning
¡ strategic decision making, such as entering a new sector or launching a new product
¡ a potential partnership
¡ an investment opportunity
¡ outsourcing a service, activity or resource
¡ staff-development planning
¡ developing contingency plans.

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Exploring the environment of a project

¡ Every project or development activity operates within a context of

internal and external influences.
¡ Most interactions with a project or development activity take place
within the internal environment. Internal factors are generally within
your control, and can be altered to suit the needs/influences coming
from the external environment.
¡ Factors in the external environment around a project are generally
outside of your direct control.

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Lecture Exercise

¡ In the next slides are factors that could affect a project. Imagine this is
your own project and, for each factor, indicate whether you think it
is internal (something you can control or manage), or if it is more likely
to be external (something outside of your influence).
¡

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Internal or External?

a. Society, culture and politics External

b. Pricing Internal
c. Knowledge (of team members) Internal
d. Competitor activity External
e. Value for money Internal
f. Economic climate External
g. Legislation External
h. Product quality Internal
i. Technology External
j. People and skills (team members) Internal
k. Reputation Internal

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STRENGTHS OPPORTUNITIES
(Build) (Exploit)

WEAKNESSES THREATS
(Resolve) (Avoid)

Internal External

• Management • Customers
• Marketing • Competition
• Technology • New technologies
• Research • Government policies
• Finances
• Systems

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Strengths and weaknesses

¡ Strengths and weaknesses refer to factors in the internal environment

of the project.

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Strengths
Such as Example Typical questions
Competences and skills Outstanding expertise in basic What do you do better than
healthcare training anyone else?
Resources Highly skilled and motivated What makes you unique?
workforce What unique or lowest-cost
resources can you draw upon
Attributes Good brand image and reputation that others can’t?
Knowledge Established community network What do people in your
with excellent understanding of market see as your strengths?
local context What makes you agile and/or
flexible?
Data Facts and figures about
customers/beneficiaries and their
behaviour or preferences

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Weaknesses
Such as lack of Typical questions
Competences and skills What could you update or
Resources improve?
Attributes What should you avoid?
Knowledge What are things that
Data users/clients/beneficiaries/partners
might see as weaknesses or cause
for complaint?
What critical resources can’t you
provide – do you have sufficient
cash flow?
Are the timescales achievable?

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Opportunities and threats

¡ Opportunities and threats refer to factors in the external environment

around the project.

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Opportunities
Such as Example Typical questions
Changes in technology Increasing availability of internet access Do people have a need?
Do people prefer something else?
Changes in government policy New rules that give you greater Are there any new technologies?
or regulation freedom in an environment Are there changes in government
Local and global events World AIDS day as a global focus for policy?
activities and resources What tools or routes can you use
to engage with your target
New products and/or A new local supplier of a product that audience?
services was previously difficult to access Who could you partner with?
Use of marketing or A local radio station that might be What events can you align your
promotion persuaded to run community-service message with?
advertising
Social or population A strong local women’s group that
structures could help provide support access to
vulnerable individuals
Lifestyle fluctuations Increasing rates of non-communicable
disease (NCD)*.

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Threats

Such as negative impact of Typical questions

Changes in technology What challenges do you have?

Changes in government policy or regulation What are your competitors doing?
Local and global events Is changing technology making things difficult?
New products and/or services Is there an issue with finances?
Use of marketing or promotion
Social or population structures
Lifestyle fluctuations

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Case Study Example: Syed’s business opportunity

Syed runs his own enterprise in an area on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He manages a
collective of people with disabilities who make Bangladeshi puppets in a traditional style,
mainly selling to tourists through local shops, and pays them a basic salary as well as a profit
share. The puppets are all made to Syed’s own designs, and are quite different to the standard
items in most tourist stores. His quirky designs and their popularity with shoppers have come to
the attention of Muhammad, who runs a relatively large factory producing puppets and other
tourist-friendly wares. Muhammad approaches Syed to suggest that he buy his enterprise,
including his designs, and that Syed and his employees all come and work at Muhammad’s
factory. He is offering a lot of money, and Syed doesn’t know whether he wants to maintain his
independence or go for the security offered by a lump cash sum and guaranteed employment.
He uses a SWOT analysis to take a snapshot of his current situation and help him consider the
decision:

Souce: https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=80428&section=5.1

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Souce: https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=80428&section=5.1

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Simple Examples: Free or open source project

management software

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Free project management software has its limitations, but can be a

good fit for small teams or freelancers looking to try it out for the
first time. But it is not a replacement for full featured project
management software.

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