Swot: Factor Analysis

This article seeks to identify the variables to make better strategic planning through empirical study. After identifying thirty-three SOOT variables, a rating type questionnaire has been made, and all the top management, managerial level, and supervisory level (125 no) staff members were surveyed by interview method in a leading textile company in south India. Principal component analysis was used to reduce and group the SOOT variables.

From this analysis, nine non-significant variables are removed from the SOOT data set, and twenty-four are found as significant for further analysis. After identifying twenty-four SOOT variables, the SOOT matrix was formed based on the prioritized SOOT variables with four quadrants; maxi – mini (SST strategy), mini – mini (WET strategy), mini-maxi (WOW strategy), and maxima SO strategy). This will help the company to overcome external threats and also to plan their short-term and long-term strategies.

Keywords? SOOT analysis, Textile, Strategic Planning, Principal Component Analysis, Case study

Many companies are conducting a SOOT analysis as part of the strategic planning process to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats before proceeding to the formulation of a strategy (Hobbes et al., 1999; Roth and Washburn, 1999). SOOT analysis, meaning the analysis of ћkey” or ћcritical” success factors, longs to the highest ranked set of techniques of strategic analysis used by firms in empirical surveys (Glassier and Flash, 1999).

Most of literatures are covering the strategic planning process; most approaches include a cyclic iteration of the following four elements.

(I) The strategic planning process begins with a statement of the Soot: Factor Analysis By charlatan environment.

(ii) Analysis of the organization”s internal operating environment.

(iii) Selection of focused organization strategies.

(iv) Implementation of the selected strategies. The last step also involves the design of the organizational structure and intro systems necessary to implement the chosen strategy (Has and Majors, 1991).

The focus of this article lies in step 2 (external analysis) and step 3 (internal analysis). The main purpose of the external analysis is to identify opportunities and threats in the organization”s operating environment, while the internal analysis seeks to count the organization”s strengths and weaknesses.