The outcome of a SWOT session is summed up with a SWOT table and the following table summarizes the issues that we have reviewed throughout this series.
We interviewed dealers, customers, previous employees and current employees, we analyzed organizations with similar challenges and created a list of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats that should be similar to SWOT analysis that we hope Gibson has created.
As a result, this table is the foundation for the entire series and the opportunities section drives the priorities we have explored.
The biggest challenge with SWOT is the need for total truth- If the emperor is naked, the SWOT team has the perfect opportunity to acknowledge deficiencies and to define corrective strategies. However, if employees, partners and advisers are too close to the subject, uncomfortable, scared, or have "drunk the Kool-Aid", a realistic SWOT discussion may be impossible.
By definition, we are looking in from the outside and should have avoided "internal blindness". Considering that the issues that Gibson has encountered are relatively common for small and medium businesses it is possible that some of the issues listed are only similar and not the result of foundational issues. However, in the long run, that shouldn’t be a problem; considering the depth and breadth of Gibson’s challenges, it’s better to disprove potential problems than to assume that they aren’t problems in the first place.
It would be extremely informative to learn if Gibson has performed this simple exercise to jump start planning and even more interesting to see if their SWOT table addresses the following issues.
Read more here:
So what do you think? What’s your perspective on Gibson and the guitars market? Looking forward to your input because we learn from you!
Michael Stierhoff is the Chief Customer Officer at Lighthouse Marketing and Business Solutions; helping Lighthouse customers grow their business by better understanding their customer’s needs.
Perhaps more important for this article, Michael is the Chief Cook and Bottle Washer for the GuitarYouDreamAbout.com where we help guitarists “Find Their Perfect Sound’.