January 24, 2011 Objective: Students will learn the purpose and benefits of a SWOT analysis.

What is SWOT Analysis Lecture Video Video from Heather Nelson your Metro instruction. We will be meeting in the Computer Lab tomorrow so that Heather Nelson can go over your Angel online classroom.

How to Identify To identify the Strengths and Weaknesses (or the S’s & W’s), one must look internally at: – YOURSELF personally – The actual business idea itself To identify the Opportunities and Threats (or the O’s & T’s), one must look externally at environmental forces from the broad categories of: – Economics (The Economy) – Competition (hint: their S’s are your T’s; their W’s are your O’s) – Technology – Social/Cultural – Political – Legal Each of the forces listed above can literally help or hurt you and your idea. It is highly prudent to review each area and identify a list of examples for both the O’s & T’s. Unfortunately, this is an area that will ever-change therefore a real business owner would review this task at a minimum – on an annual basis.

Groups: – Strengths: Tyler McClinton, Chuck Jackson, Taylor Johnson, Drew Smith, & Dre Thornton – Weaknesses: Brett Anderson, Freddy Ayon-Gomez, Aric Bechdolt, Tevin Dixon, Jon Renteria – Opportunities: Corey Bird, Tom Bird, Jeff Lenihan, Connor Keim, Phil Maschka – Threats: Morgan Campbell, Shaela Wengert, An Nguyen, Reece Turner In your assigned groups you will create a SWOT analysis poster for your assigned topic. The Strengths & Weaknesses groups will consider the individual characteristics of their group members. The Opportunities & Threats groups will consider external factors that may affect current business startups.

Homework Complete the S, W, O, & T worksheets these are due to Wednesday at the beginning of class. Refer to your personal S’s & W’s identified last week. Create a list of a minimum 3 examples for each of the 4 categories as is particular to you AND your real or hypothetical business concept you plan to use for the course’s major project. **This activity will further be included in your first assignment of the Unit 1 mini business plan