Business Feature
SWOT analysis for Small Businesses

With Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City Dubai has become a land of opportunities for the visionary. All you need is a vision and the willingness to work hard. All the resources right from comfortable bank loans, state of the art infrastructure and a pool of qualified potentials from whatever nationality are available right here in Dubai.
Small business is thriving in Dubai. Some take off; some struggle and some silently go under.

Sound strategy Good old marketing strategies have to be a part of every small business man's priorities. In trying to make ends meet and concentrating on day to day matter alone might take your mind off mind from the far reaching consequences of each business decision.
A proper SWOT analysis in place will keep your plans on track and in lieu with your long term vision for the company.

SWOT analysis is surely a business tool available in the tool box of any small business owner. But sometimes the pressure of running a business forces you to focus on the issues and fires burning today and not tomorrow.
A proper SWOT analysis of your business can help you in positioning yourself ahead of competitors.
Mostly Strengths and Weaknesses of your business are internal and Opportunities and Threats are external.
A SWOT helps each Small Business owner to look beyond your company walls and determine what opportunities are open for your company and how to capitalize on your strengths.

Advantages of SWOT analysis to the Small Businesses

  • To identify and carve out a niche for the company
  • Find your place in the industry structure
  • Devise and employ tailor made marketing and advertising tactics to develop and maintain the company's brand share in the market
  • To be aware of potential threats and to be prepared with appropriate responses .

    A successful small business should communicate to the customer why they should pick you among the myriad of options in your industry today. For that A SWOT analysis should be done from a realistic point of view and keeping in mind a very discerning customer. The analysis should also consider the standards of the industry and your major competitors. A basic SWOT analysis should be

    Strengths Anything that the industry requires, that you do well and your competitor doesn't do can be your strength. For example your company's distribution channels, your direct marketing approach, your patented high end product.

    Weaknesses We can all list strengths, but can we be realistic and list weaknesses? This might be the take off point for any small business. Weaknesses can be anything from non efficient staff to a lack luster front end office.

    Opportunities Successful business turns threats to Opportunities. Opportunities abound today's ever dynamic world, where new markets are being formed and the customer is being provided with revolutionary products. Opportunities can come as new business regulations or even a wrong move by your competitor.

    Threats How you identify and tackle threats will pave your path to success. A new competitor with a more sophisticated product can be a threat. Being aware of this in advance and making a better package for the customer to stand up against the competitor's new product is how a threat becomes an opportunity.

    SWOT is simple and like all simple and age old strategies very powerful. SWOT is a starting point and is also plays a major part in strategic planning.

    Business software There is a proliferation of business planning software available today thus making it easy for any business to devise and maintain a system in place for efficient performance.
    Using Business planning software has certain advantages
    Assess a situation and provide a clear formulation of the problem Compare alternatives
    Identify opportunities which can be 'maximized' to make the most of the organizations resources
    Analyze past failures
    Identify the relevant key facts to focus on and priorities issues Take you through the whole decision making process in an orderly way Take a complex problem through to a new level of sophistication and professional analysis
    Ensure complex ideas are stored and presented logically