Gamble, J. & Thompson: A SWOT Analysis

Companies that want to be successful, and stay in business for a long time must have a plan. The easy thing to do would be to decide what product or service you want to sell, and start selling it. The problem with that strategy is there are too many variables that can cause the business to crash. According to Gamble, J. & Thompson, A. (2011) it is important for organizations to have a strategic plan for their companies. In addition, they should be able to make changes within the organization if necessary. One way for a company to decide if it needs to make changes is by conducting a SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis identifies the strengths’, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that all organizations should identify. Another factor companies should consider is their mission …show more content…
& Thompson A. (2011) indicated that strategic planning is basically what a company does with competitive moves, and the way they approach business. The idea is to have customers drawn to their business, so they can meet their performance goals. In addition, the plan should allow for the company to grow. The authors stated that there are three questions a company needs to ask itself. The first questions is “where are we now”, which can be determined by taking measure of the company as it stands in today’s markets. The second question is “where do we want to go”, which is basically the vision the company has for itself. The third question is “how are we going to get there”, which entails the company putting a strategic plan into place. In addition, companies should understand the difference between strategic planning and long range planning. According to Gamble, J. & Thompson, A. (2011) strategic planning requires companies to understand that they must be flexible with their plans. Most long range plans are usually put in place with intention of sticking with the plan through the end. In my opinion, most successful companies do more strategic planning than long range