Horsley
A SWOT analysis is defined as a method used for analyzing and positioning an organization’s resources and environment into four regions: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (Phadermrod, Crowder, & Willis, 2019, p. 195). Strengths and weaknesses are internal controllable factors whereas Opportunites and Threats are external and uncontrollable factors (Phadermrod, Crowder, & Willis, 2019, p. 195). In my interview last week with Ms. Chace, Business Director for the local Economic Development Council, she spoke about the SWOT analysis and how important that step was for economic development, especially in including all stakeholders within the community. Phadermrod, Crowder, & Willis (2019) also reiterate this point as they note, often times SWOT’s are conducted from only one (internal) perspective. It is important to incorporate outside sources as well so other views and concerns may be addressed that employees or leaders within the city may not recognize (p. 195). Stakeholders will differ depending on the make up of each community, but my city, for example, includes the city management team (including the city manager and assistant city manager), Mayor and City Council, the city’s Economic Development Council and most importantly, the citizens. The citizen component has really come into play recently with companies incorporating Importance – Performance Analysis (IPA) into their SWOT analysis to better determine customer satisfaction towards an organization’s product or service (Phadermrod, Crowder, & Willis, 2019, p. 195). My city did this approach in 2019 through a citizen survey, which had citizens rate different city services and experiences on a scale. Through this effort, it allowed the city management team to better see strengths/weaknesses and make sure they were part of the SWOT. I also found information on U.S Economic Development Administration Website that gave a great description of a variety of regional attributes and dynamics to take into consideration such as the state of the regional economy, external trends and forces, workforce considerations, higher education on the area, special efficiencies/sustainability, energy needs, development potential, resources available, local partnerships, etc (EDA). Based off of my research, the following is my SWOT analysis for my city of Lee’s Summit:
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
· Downtown/historic district
· Quality of life
· Good communication among stakeholders
· Strong development partners
· Good incentive policies to attract businesses
· Entrepreneurship/small businesses are the main business in the city
· Highly educated community
· Centrally located in the country
· Growing residential community
· Wealthy community
· Highly rated public high schools
· Reliable and effective utilities – water, sewer, electricity, gas, internet
· Lack of business diversity
· Underdeveloped land
· Lack of “shell structure” or ready to use commercial property
· Lack of quality jobs
· Lack of housing diversity
· Upkeep and expansion of roadways
· Good relationship with landowners who want to sell/develop property within the city
· Regional partnerships available
· Push for manufacturing companies due to central location
· Large corporations in nearby cities – potential business growth
· More partnerships with local University’s/ community college to enhance workforce presence
· Smart traffic solutions
· Inability to grow commercial business industry
· Large upfront costs for land development
· Regional competition – more developed communities have more infrastructure available
· Little to no grant funding opportunities
References:
Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R., & Willis, G. (2019). Importance-performance analysis based swot analysis. International Journal of Information Management. 44., 194-203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2016.03.009
US Economic Development Administration. SWOT analysis. https://www.eda.gov/ceds/content/swot-analysis.htm
Read Less
ReplyReply to Comment
The post Horsley A SWOT analysis is defined as a method used for analyzing appeared first on PapersSpot.
