Page 77 - Today’s Business Communication; A How-to Guide for the Modern Professional

66 TODAY’S BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

• Consumer information sources—where does the customer
obtain information about the product?
• Buying process; for example, impulse or careful comparison
• Frequency of purchase, seasonal factors
• Quantity purchased at a time
• Trends—how consumer needs and preferences change over
time

Competitors
• Actual or potential
• Direct or indirect
• Products
• Positioning
• Market share
• Strengths and weaknesses of competitors

Climate (or Context)
The climate or macroenvironmental factors include the following:

• Political and regulatory environment—governmental policies
and regulations that affect the market
• Economic environment—business cycle, inflation rate,
interest rates, and other macroeconomic issues
• Social/Cultural environment—society’s trends and fashions
• Technological environment—new knowledge that makes
possible new ways of satisfying needs; the impact of
technology on the demand for existing products

SWOT Analysis

SWOT is an acronym made up of the first letters of the following words:
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It grows out of your
situation analysis. You must clearly define the current situation that your
organization faces and closely relate your planned strategy. A good place
for you to start is to find a “real” SWOT analysis that has been completed
for an organization and follow that SWOT as a template.