Understand a business quickly.
Want to get your head around a business situation quickly? Try these three well-known models:
SWOT - Most of us know the SWOT model looking at Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. One important distinction that people might miss is that the Strengths and Weaknesses should be looked at with an Internal view—these are factors that relate to your organization’s operations. Opportunities and Threats are considered looking externally—these are factors from the outside that one has no control over that could impact the business. Wikipedia provides a good high-level review of the model.
When using the SWOT, one should consider different vectors to evaluate Internal and External views. For example, for Internal you might consider: Financial Performance, Organizational Capabilities, Brand Health, and Operations, to name just a few. For External, you might consider: Industry, Competitors, Category, Consumers, and Suppliers.
3 C’s – The 3 C’s simply stand for the Company, Customer / Consumer, and Competitors. Make an assessment of each. Again, here’s a review on Wikipedia.
4 P’s – Finally, even if you aren’t a marketer, the 4 P’s come in handy. Consider the business’s Product, Price, Place (e.g., Distribution, Retail Channels), and Promotion (i.e., Marketing, Go-to-Market strategy).
Put together, these 3 tools can provide a snapshot of a business and its environment to quickly get you smart and informed.