I read a blog which advises small businesses on various topics; it encouraged small businesses to do a SWOT analysis. I believe that the SWOT analysis is a very useful tool, because it helps you clearly organize your ideas. It also helps you view things in a different light, for example, you might not have been able to differentiate between a “threat” and “weakness”. Moving on from SWOTs, small businesses should utilize as many tool as possible, from Porter’s FIve Forces to the fishbone model, because all these tools are so simple to utilize, and they all give such useful information pertaining to a whole host of topics. As we saw in the social enterprise video, a seminar was held for small business owners in South Africa, and eve though the tools seemed basic, the business owners thought that the tools very extremely helpful. These simple tools influenced the way people did business, for example: the woman who graphs green and red columns (revenue and costs) at the end of each month, in order to gage her profitability situation better.
Bibliography
http://sme-blog.com/sme-blog/why-your-small-business-needs-a-swot
Photo retrieved from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/SWOT_en.svg/220px-SWOT_en.svg.png