# data[].attributes.body
Overall, management encompasses so much and honestly businessed would be nowhere without their leaders and the commitment managers bring to the companies they work for. Businesses thrive because employees at all levels believe in the vision that their managers set forth on. I wanted to revisit this image to remember all the things we delved into in each module and how they relate to this initial image.

# data[].attributes.body
Balanced Scorecards are essential in maintaining just that balance and therefore are essential in a companies endeavors

# data[].attributes.body
Every company wants to set the standard in their industry but before you can do that a company needs to set standards internally so that all their ducks are in a row

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
You have personal values, beliefs, and performance benchmarks. Your business also has these characteristics and they are referred to as company standards. Think of standards as your business personality and vision coupled with the rules you live and work by. Your small business standards will likely mirror your personal standards, and your customers, clients, and employees will form an opinion about your business - and your brand - based on these values.

What are standards?

Your standards define how your company acts, which, in turn, builds trust in your brand. They can be guidelines that describe quality, performance, safety, terminology, testing, or management systems, to name a few. They can comply with authoritative agencies or professional organizations and be enforceable by law, such as required medical degrees for doctors or credentials for financial planners. Or they can be voluntary rules you establish to create confidence among your clients that your business operates at a high and consistent quality level, such as a restaurant only using the highest quality, locally-sourced ingredients.

Standards must align with your mission, business objectives, and organizational leadership, and be implemented consistently across your enterprise. Employees need to buy into the value of adhering to standards so everyone is pulling in the same direction and reinforcing your brand.

Controlling and measuring standards

Standards are what your business aspires to, but they don't guarantee performance. You need to create processes to control how your standards are implemented, and measure and evaluate how they help your business grow. Written guidelines, technical specifications, product inspection processes, management and financial audits, and even customer surveys can be effective performance indicators and help you determine if you're meeting your standards, or if the standards need to be tweaked in some way.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Setting Company Standards for Business Growth | The Hartford

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If your business growth is becoming stagnant, it might be time to set some company standards. Company standards are your business's personality and vision mixed with rules that guide your work. Learn more about how company standards can help your business in The Hartford Business Owner's Playbook.

# data[].attributes.body
While everyone wants an effective leader sometimes that is not what you get and this comic goes to show some of the most noneffective leaders as well as some leaders who mean well but do not really get what effective means

# data[].attributes.body
As this Padlet shows, I learn best with images so this image really shows the characteristics and responsibilities of an effective leader.

# data[].attributes.body
Just as the article title states, business communications is crucial to success in the world of business. Without communications employees will never know things and consumers will also be in the dark

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Business communication involves constant flow of information within and outside a company.

Corporations with large number of people and various levels of hierarchy often struggle to manage business communications effectively. Therefore, there should be effective and continuous communication between superiors and subordinates in an organization, between organizations and society at large.

💡Download our eBook " 10 Principles of Modern Employee Communications" and learn how to communicate with the modern employee in today's digital age.

Effective business communication is essential for success and growth of every organization. Unlike everyday communications, business communication is always goal oriented.

For an enterprise company to operate successfully, all the rules, core company values, regulations and policies of the company have to be communicated to people within and outside the organization.

Types of Business Communication

There are 4 main types of business communications.

1. Internal upward communication

Internal upward business communication is communication that comes from a subordinate to a manager or an individual up the organizational hierarchy. Every leader should enable information to flow upwards in order to have a true understanding of the company's operations.

Internal upward communications usually include surveys, feedback, forms and reports that employees deliver to their managers or team leaders.

For example, a marketing report may include statistics such as total website visitors, social media engagement or total leads generated.

2. Internal downward communication

Internal downward communication flows from a superior to one or more subordinates. This type of communication might be in the form of a letter, a memo or a verbal directive.

When communicating with employees, leaders should keep communication professional and clear. An example of this type of communication may include a memo regarding a new company operations procedure such as safety requirements and new regulations.

3. Internal lateral communication

Internal lateral business communication happens among employees in the workplace. Today, there are many different ways employees can communicate: chats, messaging, email, employees communication software solutions.

This type of communication can be within or among departments and it happens more regularly than other types of business communication. Moreover, frequent communication among employees play a crucial role for employee engagement and productivity.

4. External communication

External business communication is any communication that happens with external parties such as customers, prospects, vendors or partners.

Unlike all the internal business communications types, external communications happen on a less regular basis.

11 Reasons Why Effective Business Communication is so Powerful

Here are the top 11 reasons why business communications is so important for every company's success:

1. Improves employee engagement

Ragan's research on employee engagement shows that leadership communication is the top internal communication factor that statistically correlates to how engaged employees are. Internal communication teams have a significant role in supporting, coaching and reminding leaders of communication's importance.

To understand the importance of employee engagement, here are a few useful stats.

2. Eliminates email overload

Within companies, email is used for everything from information requests, employee communications and feedback, status reports, task assignments, communications with customers and suppliers, meeting invites, document distribution, notices from HR on various team activities, benefits and birthday wishes.

Radicati reported that the average corporate worker spends 25% of the workday on various email-related tasks.

However, only a small fraction of the emails that hit our inbox deserves our immediate attention. We filter out the important emails by sender or subject. Moreover, many emails we receive are not relevant to us at all.

Internal business communications that use modern tools for employee engagement and communications have eliminated this problem of email overload.

3. Eliminates communication silos

Too much irrelevant content often results in information silos. Meaning, information that is actually important to an employee can easily get lost. Ask yourself why information gets lost in your organization.

Proper internal business communications and and the use of the right communications tools is crucial for eliminating this challenge.

4. Increases employee productivity

4 in 5 employees believe that effective internal business communications helps their job performance.

With the information overload, employees often spend too much information searching for content that they need to do their job.

Moreover, an average employee spends 2.5 hours every day searching for information needed. Monthly, this results in the entire week of time lost to find something that should be at employees fingertips.

Here are just a few ways how internal business communications improve employee productivity.

5. Improves interdepartmental communications

Without a proper communications strategy, it is very hard to keep an effective interdepartmental communications within companies.

In order for employees to be more productive, they need to be able to communicate and collaborate easily.

For example, your research department needs to be on the same page as your marketing team, and your business office has to be in sync with the IT department.

Besides communication itself, here are a few more tips for improving interdepartmental team collaboration.

6. Improves communication with remote workers

Remote teams are the future of work. The Global Mobile Workforce Forecast Update has estimated that over 40% of the world's working population will be mobile by 2022. Moreover, in developed countries such as the US, the figures could soon reach 75%.

This means a new kind of communications, leadership and management approach is required. Coordinating across time zones, information silos and overcoming language and cultural barriers are just a few communication challenges remote teams face. In addition, distance often makes it harder for team members to feel like a team.

Better internal business communications can have a significant positive impact on how remote teams collaborate and feel.

7. Reduces employee turnover

Companies with more engaged and satisfied employees enjoy much lower turnover rates. In order to attract and keep Millennials and younger generations in the workplace, employers have to make sure to keep their employees informed about what's relevant to their jobs.

On the other side, too much irrelevant information often leads to stress, disengagement, frustration and, with that, lower employee retention.

8. Improves knowledge sharing efforts

One of the main goals companies are trying to achieve by investing in internal communications is to improve knowledge sharing best practices.

In the world where employees are constantly growing and learning new things, employers need to enable easy knowledge sharing within their organizations.

Without a well set internal business communications strategy, knowledge sharing and organizational knowledge suffer.

9. Increases employee advocacy

When employers know how to communicate with their employees effectively, they are much more successful in turning their employees into brand ambassadors.

Brand ambassadorship is not so hard to achieve as many companies believe. In fact, happy employees would love to contribute in brand ambassadorship programs.

There are 4 main ways how brand ambassadorship and employee advocacy can help company's operations:

Increase brand awareness

Improve employer brand and attract high-quality candidates

Boost marketing efforts

Increase sales

10. Improves customer satisfaction and retention

Better business communication also means better customer satisfaction. If there's poor communication within an organization, two things happen when it comes to customer service and satisfaction.

First, employees in customer-facing roles won't have the information they need. Second, customers will sense the low employee morale and have a negative experience.

In fact, one study found that employee attitude has a significant impact on customer satisfaction, which then results in an increase in revenue.

11. Builds a better company culture

Finally, a proper business communications strategy is crucial for building a better company culture and workplace environment.

Companies that communicate in a transparent and open way have much healthier work atmosphere, employee motivation and satisfaction.

On the other side, organizations that neglect business communications as a mean for improving the workplace culture, suffer from low engagement, high turnover rates and low employee and customer satisfaction rates.

How Technology Can Help You Improve Business Communications

In the world of digital transformation, companies must be ready to adopt new technologies to improve their organizational efforts.

As employee communications and engagement have become extremely important, new tools in this field have evolved.

As mentioned earlier, emails, intranets and other outdated employee communications solutions are not enough anymore.

Today, we see new software solutions that enable companies to improve both internal and external business communications.

With Smarp, our employee communications solution, companies across the world have managed to:

Increase employee engagement

Boost employee productivity

Eliminate information silos

Increase employee advocacy

Boost marketing and sales efforts

Improve employer brand awareness

Attract more high-quality talent

The Future of Employee Communications

To see how and why employee communications will change dramatically in the future, check out and register for our latest webinar on this topic.

What's next? Download the eBook "10 Principles of Modern Employee Communications" where we share tips & best practices for successfully communicating with your employees in today's digital age.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
11 Reasons Why Business Communication is Critical to Your Company's Success

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Business communication involves constant flow of information within and outside a company. Corporations with large number of people and various levels of hierarchy often struggle to manage business communications effectively. Therefore, there should be effective and continuous communication between superiors and subordinates in an organization, between organizations and society at large.

# data[].attributes.body
HR encompasses all different tasks and responsibilities in an organization and really is a big driving force behind ethics and company growth.

# data[].attributes.body
As someone who worked in office and then in the pandemic worked a flexible work schedule and now as a full time remote employee it is very interesting to dive into the pros and cons of a flexible work schedule. While the pandemic has taken so much from us it has shown the advantaged and has opened companies up to a flexible work arrangement with their employees

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Employee Flexibility

With flexible work schedules, employees stand to experience a good number of benefits. One that many workers point to first is the flexibility to meet family needs, personal obligations, and life responsibilities conveniently. If you have a flexible schedule, you can go to a parent-teacher conference during the day, take a yoga class, or be home when the washing machine repair person comes.

Flexible work configurations allow employees to work when they accomplish most, feel freshest, and enjoy working. Many managers feel that early birds are hard workers and night owls are slackers. There's no evidence that that is the case-it's simply cultural.

Employee Commute

Flexible scheduling includes the ability to adjust the days and hours of being in the office and also allows workers to work remotely. Of course, with the commute to a home workspace, employees avoid the traffic and the stresses of commuting during rush hours. You might be amazed at how much faster a commute can be if you can drive to the office at 10:00 instead of 8:00.

Employees save money by having a reduced consumption of commuting time and fuel costs. In some areas, commutes of more than an hour each way are not uncommon. If these employees are allowed to work from home, that saves two hours of time, gas, and wear and tear on the road. Not to mention, fewer people driving means it's easier for those people who are commuting.

Employee Empowerment

Employees get an increased feeling of personal control over schedule and work environment. One reason people like to work for themselves is the control issue. By allowing employees to determine their own schedule and work environment, you appeal to the entrepreneurial spirit-which can be good for your employees.

Built-in flexibility also reduces employee burnout due to overload. Flexibility means employees can take a break when they need it without incurring the wrath of a boss.

Employee Childcare Costs

Depending on the flexible work schedule chosen, may decrease external childcare hours and costs. It needs to be clear that for all but a handful of jobs, working from home still requires childcare because you can't work effectively while also entertaining a toddler. However, if a couple both have flexible schedules, Mom can go into the office at 6:00 a.m. and Dad can get the kids ready for school. Mom's 8-hour day is finished by 2:00 p.m. and she can meet the bus at 3:00 p.m., while Dad starts his workday at 9:30 a.m. The result is two full-time jobs and incomes with no childcare costs.

Top Advantages

Flexibility to better meet family and personal needs

Reduced commuting time and gas expenses

Have more control over your time schedule and working environment

Can work during the hours that fit your energy cycles best

Boosts employee morale

Reduces tardiness and absenteeism

Reduces employee turnover

Enhances company image as a family-friendly place to work

Top Disadvantages

Difficult for office-based staff to work as effectively with telecommuting staff

Working from home may mislead loved ones about your availability

No clear dividing line between home and work

Some employees may not work efficiently without supervision

Compressed work weeks may mean client availability suffers

Feelings of unfairness when only certain employees have work that can be done remotely

Employers Gain Commitment

With flexible work schedules, employers experience benefits as well. Giving up some control of work schedules gives increased employee morale, engagement, and commitment to the organization. The option also reduces employee turnover, absenteeism, and tardiness by allowing workers to flex hours around home and family obligations. The flow of projects and work may increase as employees are able to work when they accomplish most, feel freshest, and enjoy working.

Employer Business Improvements

Offering flexible work schedules will increase your ability to recruit outstanding employees. You will develop an image as an employer of choice with family-friendly flexible work schedules. Providing options can extend your hours of operation which is especially important for departments such as customer service.

Cloud technology allows workers to touch documents outside the office environment. In some businesses, this allows the company to expand its area of service to other time zones or even globally. Using remote worker options, the business can hire workers from areas where hourly wages are lower and reduce their compensation overhead. However, care must be taken that the drive to lower wages does not harm the quality product of the service you provide.

Overhead costs may drop when you employ remote workers. You will reduce the square footage requirements of office space and the cost of desks, chairs, computers, and other necessary equipment.

Disadvantages for Employees

Employees who thrive in an office environment may find it difficult to work when colleagues don't hold the same schedule. Team efforts may require advanced planning and coordination of the employee scheduled workdays and hours. This is why many employers require core days and core hours during which everyone is in the office.

There is no clear delineation between work and home. When you use flexible schedules sometimes that means work all of the time. If your boss allows you the flexibility to go to to your child's soccer game, then the boss may not feel guilty about calling you at 9:30 p.m.

Remote workers can often make neighbors and friends think you aren't actually working, thus causing problems with relationships. Family and friends can become upset when you say you can't watch their child, or let the repairman into their houses-because, after all, you're home all day. Working from home-while becoming more common-is still a foreign concept to many people.

Disadvantages for Employers

Some managers, who are used to seeing when their staff members come to work, watching what staff do all day at work, and knowing when people leave for home, have trouble adjusting to the new management style which requires trust. Also, in team-oriented departments, teams still need to meet, which requires set guidelines and the juggling of schedules.

Some people take advantage of the flexibility and the ability to work from home. If an employee requires structure, they may find it difficult to focus on work and not the household chores and entertainment. Office-oriented people sometimes view their work-at-home colleagues as slackers because they can't physically see their productivity.

Compressed workweeks can make client handovers complicated-clients expect service 5 days a week during business hours and can be fussy when an employee isn't in on Friday. For this customer-centric reason, jobs that require customer-facing responsibilities only allow certain types of flextime. Whole days working from home are not an option. Other kinds of jobs such as assembly-line manufacturing and hands-on healthcare such as nursing share the same disadvantages. Employers struggle with fairness when only certain employees can work remotely.

Overall, the advantages generally outweigh the disadvantages and a good manager can handle the disadvantages. Flexible scheduling has become part of what employees are looking for in their comprehensive employee benefits packages. Your employees will love you; the employer will benefit from overall positive morale which is linked to increased productivity. Best? You will retain your superior employees.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Pros and Cons of a Flexible Work Schedule

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With flexible work schedules, employees stand to experience a good number of benefits. One that many workers point to first is the flexibility to meet family needs, personal obligations, and life responsibilities conveniently. If you have a flexible schedule, you can go to a parent-teacher conference during the day, take a yoga class, or be home when the washing machine repair person comes.

# data[].attributes.body
A company is only as strong as it's weakest link and this image reminded me that empowerment starts all the way down at the little guy.

# data[].attributes.body
SWOT analysis is key in understanding a company and seeing these examples helped me to be able to fully understand and perform a SWOT analysis

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Whether you want to assess the current position of your business, expand to new markets, or simply develop a new strategy, a SWOT analysis is probably one of the first steps that you will probably make in that direction. And, if it wasn't on your radar, it should be! Today, we will see some of the best SWOT analysis examples to get you inspired, and help you understand how to do use it effectively for optimum results.

If you are not familiar with the concept, a SWOT analysis is a key technique for assessing some of the most important aspects of your business. In fact, its name comes from the abbreviation of these aspects:

Strengths - internal

These are the strengths of your company compared to other industry competitors. For example, what is it that you do particularly well that others don't? What is your unique selling proposition, or that service or aspect of your business that differentiates you from the rest?

Do you have a particular competitive advantage over your biggest competitors? This could be technology, an easy access to primary resources, more product personalization, and so on.

Assessing your strengths will help you identify your current position on the market. But also, give you insights on those aspects that represent a clear advantage for your business, so you can leverage them even more.

Weaknesses - internal

Weaknesses, as you might have guessed, are the exact opposite of your organization's strength. In other words, what do your competitors do better than you? In what aspect do they have a clear advantage over you?

Is it something that you offer but can improve, or is it a service or an aspect that you lack altogether? For example, your customer service might be unsatisfactory. Or maybe, a competitor has a particular technological feature that your product don't offer at all.

We will see more of this with practical cases in our section of SWOT Analysis examples.

Opportunities - external

The next aspect of the SWOT analysis is evaluating the positive trends that can open a new opportunity for your business. They usually arise from the outside of your organization, such as industry changes, important movements on the competitors' landscape, or even a change in the laws applicable to your industry.

Analyzing other factors, such as VUCA - the leadership theory on volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, can also reveal new opportunities for your business. To identify them, you will have to look around you from an external perspective.

Can you spot any current trends that could represent an opportunity for your business? For example, the COVID-19 pandemic made companies like Nike and Adidas sell protective masks on their website as a part of their product portfolio. And many new businesses opened to profit from the changes.

Threats - external

Threats are another aspect that is external to your business, but can impact you negatively if you aren't paying attention. Some examples include supply chain problems, shift in market requirements, changes to current laws and regulations, and so on.

Of course, threats are not always easy to identify. You will have to be proactively looking for them - if they are obvious, it is probably too late. What is the competition doing? How is the current technology evolving?

Are you noticing a change in user behavior regarding the consumption of your particular product? All these questions can help you get a better understanding of the market, and what could potentially be harmful to you.

And now, let's get right to our SWOT analysis examples!
Disclaimer: These examples are merely my own analysis and interpretation of the information that is publicly available online for these companies. I don´t work at any of these companies, and I do not pretend that I actually know what is going on behind the scenes for any of them. It is just a practical exercise with real companies with the purpose of giving you a clear idea of how to perform a SWOT analysis.
1. The Coca Cola Company

First on our list of SWOT analysis examples is this one from The Coca Cola Company.
SWOT Analysis examples #1: The Coca Cola Company
Let's discuss it in detail.

Variety of products - one of the biggest strengths that The Coca Cola Company has is their incredible variety of products across different categories. In fact, there are over 500 brands across 200 companies owned by Coca Cola. This not only gives them a higher control on the market, but also more diversified expertise, and less overall competition.

Market share - with a market share of 43% in the soft drink industry, they have a very solid positioning compared to many other competitors. Which also means that it would be extremely difficult to compete with Coca Cola and its almost unlimited resources.

Brand recognition - Coca Cola is one of the most recognized brands in the world, which gives them a huge advantage in front of their competitors. It also means that any new product or brand they invest in will gain visibility almost immediately.

Secret recipes - and last but not least, the company prides itself in having a secret recipe for its flagship product - the Coca Cola. This means that this product will be difficult to replicate by competitors.

Weaknesses

Health trends - one of the biggest weaknesses that the company has is its unability to adapt to current health trends. As people are becoming more and more conscious about the unhealthy food and the amount of sugar they are consuming, soft and sugary drinks are slowly getting substituted by healthier options.

Sugar substitute - another health-related weakness for the company involves the difficulty of improving their quality of their product without affecting its famous taste. Coca Cola has been actively looking for healthy sugar substitutes for years with no success.

Current positioning - the current positioning of Coca Cola and its soft drinks is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because everyone knows the brand and the product it offers. This kind of brand recognition is something that every company dreams of.

However, this weakness comes with the fact that Coca Cola already has a certain reputation established for itself that is difficult to change. And, considering its sugary drinks with mysterious and secret ingredients, it is certainly not the most positive one.

Opportunities

Health trends - if The Coca Cola Company closely monitors and responds adequately to current health trends, they have a huge opportunitiy to increase their market share. And get an even bigger chunk of the soft drink industry. Especially if they manage to find a healthy substitute for sugar.

Few major competitors - considering the dominance of the brand and only a few major competitors for these particular types of products, Coca Cola can quickly introduce new products with the right Marketing strategy.

Healthier alternatives - although the company is quite dominant when it comes to soft drinks, a lot of other healthier alternatives are arising on the market. Flavoured waters, smoothies, organic drinks, green juices, and so on, are just some of the alternatives that people are starting to prefer as they get more conscious with their health.

Negative press and media coverage - although The Coca Cola Company is known for its brilliant Marketing strategies and its incredible brand recognition, it also gets a lot of negative coverage for being unhealthy. In-depth research, Youtube videos, and even articles from reputable sources such as The Telegraph might cause serious harm in the long run.

Now that we have seen the first one, let´s move on to the next on our list of SWOT Analysis examples!

Next on our collection of SWOT analysis examples is Airbus, the world's largest airliner manufacturer, and the one who took the most orders in 2019. So, let's see what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for Airbus:
SWOT Analysis examples #2: Airbus

Market share - with an estimated market share of almost 63%, Airbus is the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, which gives the company a very strong and powerful position in the industry.

Global network & international presence - with business operations located in Europe, the Americas, Africa & The Middle East, and Asia, Airbus has an incredible international network and presence.

Innovation & technology - additionally, Airbus is putting a huge focus on investing in technology, innovation, and next generation manufacturing, more than any other competitor in the industry.

Eco-efficiency - and last but not least, another strength that Airbus counts with is eco-efficiency. The company has been recognized is a leader in proposing and developing solutions for sustainable aviation.

Weaknesses

Delay in delivery - in 2019, Airbus took more orders for aircraft delivery than any other competitor, including its biggest rival Boeing. However, this caused a delay in the delivery of the orders, causing the company to accumulate a lot of backlogs.

Operational inefficiencies - compared to rivals such as Boeing, Airbus has gained a reputation of being somewhat inconsistent when it comes to executing operations. The company is often delaying launches of its new models - for example, the launch of Airbus A380 was delayed by more than one year. This weaknesses is definitely something that Airbus could work on.

High production costs - another key weakness of the company is the fact that it has higher production costs than its main rival Boeing, which leaves them with lower profit margins.

Opportunities

Boom in Travelling - as the travelling industry is booming due to the growing percentage of the middle class, and the lower costs for airplane tickets compared to a decade ago, aircraft manufacturers are receiving more orders than ever. In fact, even in the next few years, the air traffic is anticipated to grow by 4.3% annually. According to Airbus, this alone will require "39,200 new passenger and dedicated freighter aircraft over the next 20 years."

Technological advances - over the last few years, the industry has gone through a lot of innovation processes and technological improvements. This has allowed Airbus to improve its weaknesses and offer better and faster performance. Also, the fact that aircrafts are becoming more and more secure with the new technologies make people want to travel even more.

Competition - the competition in the aerospace industry is practically considered a duopoly. The reason why is because Boeing and Airbus have a combined share of 91% for the whole commercial aircraft market globally. This means that they will not have to fight off small competitors, but also that the competition between both companies is extremely fierce. Which can be a significant threat for Airbus.

Global pandemic - in 2020, the whole world suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic. This alone had a severe impact on the growth of the commercial aircraft market, as people suddenly had to stop travelling. And although this was a temporary decrease that is slowly starting to recover, aircraft manufacturers like Airbus will be affected at least for the next one year.

Potential competitors in key markets - of course, the fact that Airbus and Boeing are currently dominating the global market does not mean that this will last forever. Currently, important markets like China and Russia are also planning to develop their own commercial aircraft. If that happens, it will most probably shrink the market share for Airbus.

Next on our list of SWOT Analysis examples is Zara, one of the biggest clothing companies in the world. Zara is a brand owned by Inditex, among with several others such as Bershka, Stradivarius, and Oysho.
SWOT Analysis examples #3: Zara

Efficient manufacturing & delivery - Zara is one of the most efficient clothing companies in the world when it comes to all operational processes - manufacturing, delivery, supply chain and logistics. Reportedly, the company needs just 1 week to develop a new product and get it to all 2,259 stores it has worldwide, compared to an industry average of 6 months. This gives Zara a huge advantage when it comes to delivering new designs in record time.

Competitive pricing - additionally, the company also offers a very competitive pricing for the variety and amount of products it offers. Its clothing is targeted to a middle class audience, although it´s also true that the pricing is adapted to the characteristics of each market. For example, the prices for Zara in South Korea are 96% higher than the prices in Spain, taking into account the exchange rate of the study.

Strong global presence - As we already mentioned, Zara has over 2,200 stores across 96 countries, positioning itself as a strong international brand with a solid support (Inditex, with over 7,000 stores).

Fast reaction to new trends - the company is known for imitating high-fashion trends, and it is extremely fast when it comes to spotting and replicating them for its own products.

The company´s strengths is what makes it one of my favourite SWOT analysis examples on this list. They are very well defined, and definitely makes Zara stand out from competitors. However, this does not mean that there are no weaknesses:

Weaknesses

Zero policy advertising - the company is famous for its zero policy advertising. This means that, instead of investing in Marketing and Communication actions, they use the money for opening new stores. Although this policy has some awesome benefits, I think that it´s also a very big weakness. The heavy digital advertising done by competitors can completely overshadow Zara in the long run.

Limited product stock - because Zara delivers fashion pieces in record time, they don´t produce as much stock as other companies would. Which is not great news for customers who often love a piece, and it is already out of stock - or simply not in the size they need.

Controversies - additionally, the company is also involved in multiple controversies revolving child labour and paying under minimum wage. As people are getting more and more conscious about these topics, these controversies is doing a lot of harm to the company´s reputation.

High fashion imitation - as we already mentioned, Zara is known to imitate fashion trends. Which means that they are not a trend setter, and they do not offer a lot of unique and creative pieces designed exclusively by them.

Opportunities

Growing demand for high fashion - currently, there is a growing demand for clothing that looks high fashion, but don´t cost thousands of dollars for a single piece. This is a great opportunity for Zara, which does precisely what people want - selling high fashion style for affordable prices.

Fast fashion - as customer behavior is changing, people get bored with everything faster than ever. And this is true for fashion as well - clothes that people would wear for months and years now get substituted with new pieces much more often. Which is another excellent opportunity for Zara as the so-called "fast fashion is on the rise".

Market growth - according to Statista, the growth of the apparel market is steadily increasing by 5-6% every year, which is great news for clothing companies like Zara.

And now, let´s take a look at the external changes that are imposing a threat for this one of our SWOT analysis examples:

Growing competition - the increasing demand for fashion and apparel also means that competition is growing as well. With huge online providers taking over the Internet such as ASOS, Fashion Nova, Shein and others, Zara´s popularity is becoming threatened by other companies. Especially considering the fact that these providers actually offer products from multiple brands at the same place.

Increasing costs - another tendency that could impose a significant threat for Zara are the increasing costs for production and raw material. Which, as a consequence, will probably reduce its revenue and profit margins. Especially considering the fact the prices are already relatively low! For now, Zara has managed to develop a well integrated and efficient supply chain that keeps the cost of raw materials low. But this might not last forever, especially if the prices keep rising.

Regulatory threats - the business industry is gradually getting more and more regulated. On a global scale, governments and legal agencies are regulating all kind of sectors and businesses, and the fashion market is not an exception. This includes labour, quality, customer services, and many other aspects of the industry. All of these regulations might eventually have a negative impact on Zara.

Do you want to learn more about SWOT analysis? You might want to check these articles:

Need more SWOT analysis examples? Check out our article on Coca Cola SWOT analysis.
Made with Easelly, free infographic maker And that was all from me, folks! I hope you liked my in-depth SWOT analysis examples. I think the best way to learn a concept is to see how it is applied in practice. For this reason, I wanted to focus this article from a practical rather than a theoretical perspective. However, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to send me an email at mktoolboxsuite@gmail.com, or just let me know in the comments below! Thank you for taking the time to read my article 3 Great SWOT Analysis Examples with Real Companies, and I hope to see you in the next one!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
3 Great SWOT Analysis Examples with Real Companies - mktoolboxsuite.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Discover how to create a great SWOT analysis for your organization by looking at 3 in-depth SWOT analysis examples with real companies! Learn more:

# data[].attributes.body
SMART goals are something I try to incorporate in all aspects of my life and having this graphic allows me to make sure my goals are meeting the SMART criteria

# data[].attributes.body
Apple and Amazon are two of the biggest corporations in the world and it was interesting to see 2 companies that are different and their dive into the globalized market

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Apple and Amazon are indisputably two of the world's greatest technological giants, and yet their strategies are completely different. While Apple has chosen a globalist model, aimed at a privileged elite, Amazon is focusing on the masses - especially those that feel that the benefits of globalization have passed them by. When the geopolitical recession hits, Jeff Bezos' model looks more likely to come out on top.
Geotechnology as a field has emerged because of a change in the relationship between geopolitics and technology over the last decade. Specifically, the most powerful technology companies' business models have had unintended-but nonetheless direct-geopolitical effects, going from empowering individuals and civil society and undermining authoritarianism (the communications revolution) to eroding civil society, polarizing democracies and strengthening authoritarian regimes (the data revolution). A critical question is what the implications for these shifts mean for these technology companies themselves.

GLOBAL TECHNO-UTOPIA. To answer this question, I've been thinking a lot about Apple versus Amazon, two companies with strategic business models based on completely different worldviews. Apple is about economics; Amazon is about geopolitics. They're both fascinating looks at where the two companies expect the world is heading.

Apple aims to be the high-end global consumer technology solution. The world's best design and a focus on privacy with personal user data in a secure cloud; the anti-Facebook, a company that won't sell your data to partners, with price points out of reach for most of the world's consumers. Essentially, Cupertino is selling a non-dystopian response to a dystopian world-while everyone else is giving away your privacy, Apple users won't have to.

There's an undeniable logic to it-with the rising speed of human displacement coming from artificial intelligence and climate change, a world with far more inequality isn't a world where it makes sense to bet on the middle class. Those who will have enough money will demand a product set that allows them to escape the growing governance challenges that result from a failing public sector. Techno-utopianism, at least for Apple users.

But Apple assumes the world's 1% will continue to act as global consumers. The problem is that none of this works for China. A huge part of Apple's global market, the Chinese have no interest in a long-term model that allows part of their citizens to avoid surveillance and, accordingly, the government-led nudges of their behavior that promote political stability. As China moves to break its dependence on the US in key technologies like semiconductors and smartphone operating systems over the coming 5 years-probably the single most impactful geopolitical decision taken by a government in decades-Apple becomes one of the most vulnerable technology targets for Beijing.

This will particularly prove the case if the US is successful in choking off the supply of essential hardware and software to Huawei. The world's No. 2 smartphone maker is already rolling out an alternative operating system after its access to Google's Android operating system and related app ecosystem was cut off by the Trump administration. If the US campaign succeeds, and Huawei is forced to retreat and fall back on the Chinese domestic market to survive, Apple's position-as the high-end US prestige smartphone brand in China-will become increasingly vulnerable, whether that is due to its official Chinese retaliation or to an unofficial, nationalist uprising against Apple as a US brand.

Even if that doesn't come to pass, the fracas around the NBA in China (to cite just one example) suggests that Apple could also eventually find itself in an impossible position, struggling to justify its privacy-centric brand rhetoric in the West with its continued presence in China. Already the company has come under fire in the West for removing an app from its store that Hong Kong protesters were using to crowdsource intelligence about police movements. And what's a problem for China in the coming decade will also be a problem for the countries where China has technological dominance: those countries align their economies with Chinese technology and data standards.

BETTING ON THE MASSES. Amazon's worldview couldn't be more different. Jeff Bezos and company are working to dominate the data and logistics required for low-cost retail in the West. Goods on demand faster and cheaper than anyone else can provide them, and an unmatched data ecosystem that grows along with it. Compared to Apple, it's a bet on the other side of growing global inequality-mass consumption of inexpensive goods. But Amazon is also working to become the technology company most aligned with the US government-the Lockheed of the twenty-first century. Potentially, Amazon could come to be the monopoly tech provider of a subsidized American underclass.

It may be easy to write off Bezos's decisions to buy The Washington Post, to acquire the most significant residence in the city, and to move Amazon's new headquarters (HQ2) to Crystal City as a trifle. But it's harder to see those choices as coincidence given Amazon's strategy. Amazon has been looking to ensure they have a leg up on a wide assortment of key US government contracts. This has not proved an entirely smooth process: after all, Amazon lost out to Microsoft on the biggest government IT contract in decades, a $10 billion deal to build a secure cloud for the Pentagon. But Amazon is already the cloud provider to the CIA and is appealing the decision on the Department of Defense contract.

In any case, it's the most government-friendly of the big four consumer-facing US tech giants: Facebook doesn't compete in cloud and Google was forced to back away from a small collaboration on facial recognition with the Defense Department after some employees threatened to quit if there were any possibility that the company would be working with the government on military projects. Recent speed bumps aside, Amazon's business model has leaned towards becoming the indispensable data provider and partner to the US government.

With the move from the World Wide Web to the Internet of Things, the technology fight essentially moves from monopoly verticals towards consolidation; in other words, what matters is whose business is integrated with the most consumption. For the growing ranks of formerly comfortable middle-class Americans whose prospects are dimmed by rising inequality and automation, the US government is likely to have more say over that than anybody else in the Western world. To be clear, that won't be as true with Apple's higher-end clientele, for whom the effect of government regulation will be more removed. But for those left behind, it's another story entirely.

If there's a major structural trend inside the United States today, it's the growing number of people who feel the social contract isn't working for them. Flat wages and systemic underinvestment in infrastructure will need to be resolved. Add to that the post-industrial revolution (i.e. automation displacing and reshaping much of the current labor force), and you have a permanent underclass of citizens that require more intervention from the public sector.

IDENTIFYING THE TECHNOLOGY PROVIDER OF CHOICE. Who is going to be the technology provider of choice for that underclass, subsidized by the US government? Who will be the tech company responsible for public housing? Public schools? Prisons? Who's going to build all this smart infrastructure? When people aren't willing to pay more for privacy (indeed, the exact opposite is true), the US government will need a partner that can ensure that costs are kept manageable. And it's not a huge leap to imagine that the company at the forefront of providing cloud services to big government agencies - and who also happens to operate one of the world's most finely-honed mass-market logistics machines - could one day be tapped to power this new social contract: consumption for the underclass, brought to you by Uncle Sam and Amazon Basics.

Further, Amazon's strategy doesn't rely on the Chinese market (where a few Chinese companies will own the space in monopoly tech verticals). Rather, it relies on the notion that, as China becomes more dominant in a large part of the world, the United States learns from China rather than the other way around. Parts of the US population becoming permanently disenfranchised requires a strategic fix from the US government; if you can't integrate the people, you need to change their governance model. This isn't new-the United States has always been a representative democracy... but not for everyone.

As more people get disenfranchised, Apple's globalist model looks to provide for the privileged few, while Amazon's nationalist model provides for the dependent many. In our coming geopolitical recession, Amazon-not Apple-looks like the winning business model to me.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A tale of two companies: Apple and Amazon in the evolving globalization

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Apple and Amazon are indisputably two of the world's greatest technological giants, and yet their strategies are completely different. While Apple has chosen a globalist model, aimed at a privileged elite, Amazon is focusing on the masses - especially those that feel that the benefits of globalization have passed them by.

# data[].attributes.body
This article from Forbes helped to identify key pros and cons with globalization as well as leading to further research into different companies and how they access a globalized market.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A story in the Washington Post said "20 years ago globalization was pitched as a strategy that would raise all boats in poor and rich countries alike. In the U.S. and Europe consumers would have their pick of inexpensive items made by people thousands of miles away whose pay was much lower than theirs. And in time trade barriers would drop to support even more multinationals expansion and economic gains while geo political cooperation would flourish."

There is no question that globalization has been a good thing for many developing countries who now have access to our markets and can export cheap goods. Globalization has also been good for Multi-national corporations and Wall Street. But globalization has not been good for working people (blue or white collar) and has led to the continuing deindustrialization of America.

Globalization is a complicated issue. It is necessary to evaluate the pros and cons before drawing any conclusions.

Pros

Supporters of globalization argue that it has the potential to make this world a better place to live in and solve some of the deep-seated problems like unemployment and poverty.

1. Free trade is supposed to reduce barriers such as tariffs, value added taxes, subsidies, and other barriers between nations. This is not true. There are still many barriers to free trade. The Washington Post story says "the problem is that the big G20 countries added more than 1,200 restrictive export and import measures since 2008

2. The proponents say globalization represents free trade which promotes global economic growth; creates jobs, makes companies more competitive, and lowers prices for consumers.

3. Competition between countries is supposed to drive prices down. In many cases this is not working because countries manipulate their currency to get a price advantage.

4. It also provides poor countries, through infusions of foreign capital and technology, with the chance to develop economically and by spreading prosperity, creates the conditions in which democracy and respect for human rights may flourish. This is an ethereal goal which hasn't been achieved in most countries

5. According to supporters globalization and democracy should go hand in hand. It should be pure business with no colonialist designs.

6. There is now a worldwide market for companies and consumers who have access to products of different countries. True

7. Gradually there is a world power that is being created instead of compartmentalized power sectors. Politics is merging and decisions that are being taken are actually beneficial for people all over the world. This is simply a romanticized view of what is actually happening. True

8. There is more influx of information between two countries, which do not have anything in common between them. True

9. There is cultural intermingling and each country is learning more about other cultures. True

10. Since we share financial interests, corporations and governments are trying to sort out ecological problems for each other. - True, they are talking more than trying.

11. Socially we have become more open and tolerant towards each other and people who live in the other part of the world are not considered aliens. True in many cases.

12. Most people see speedy travel, mass communications and quick dissemination of information through the Internet as benefits of globalization. True

13. Labor can move from country to country to market their skills. True, but this can cause problems with the existing labor and downward pressure on wages.

14. Sharing technology with developing nations will help them progress. True for small countries but stealing our technologies and IP have become a big problem with our larger competitors like China.

15. Transnational companies investing in installing plants in other countries provide employment for the people in those countries often getting them out of poverty. True

16. Globalization has given countries the ability to agree to free trade agreements like NAFTA, South Korea Korus, and The TPP. True but these agreements have cost the U.S. many jobs and always increase our trade deficit

Cons

* The general complaint about globalization is that it has made the rich richer while making the non-rich poorer. "It is wonderful for managers, owners and investors, but hell on workers and nature."

* Globalization is supposed to be about free trade where all barriers are eliminated but there are still many barriers. For instance161 countries have value added taxes (VATs) on imports which are as high as 21.6% in Europe. The U.S. does not have VAT.

* The biggest problem for developed countries is that jobs are lost and transferred to lower cost countries." According to conservative estimates by Robert Scott of the Economic Policy Institute, granting China most favored nation status drained away 3.2 million jobs, including 2.4 million manufacturing jobs. He pegs the net losses due to our trade deficit with Japan ($78.3 billion in 2013) at 896,000 jobs, as well as an additional 682,900 jobs from the Mexico -U.S. trade-deficit run-up from 1994 through 2010."

* Workers in developed countries like the US face pay-cut demands from employers who threaten to export jobs. This has created a culture of fear for many middle class workers who have little leverage in this global game

* Large multi-national corporations have the ability to exploit tax havens in other countries to avoid paying taxes.

* Multinational corporations are accused of social injustice, unfair working conditions (including slave labor wages, living and working conditions), as well as lack of concern for environment, mismanagement of natural resources, and ecological damage.

* Multinational corporations, which were previously restricted to commercial activities, are increasingly influencing political decisions. Many think there is a threat of corporations ruling the world because they are gaining power, due to globalization.

* Building products overseas in countries like China puts our technologies at risk of being copied or stolen, which is in fact happening rapidly

* The anti-globalists also claim that globalization is not working for the majority of the world. "During the most recent period of rapid growth in global trade and investment, 1960 to 1998, inequality worsened both internationally and within countries. The UN Development Program reports that the richest 20 percent of the world's population consume 86 percent of the world's resources while the poorest 80 percent consume just 14 percent. "

* Some experts think that globalization is also leading to the incursion of communicable diseases. Deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS are being spread by travelers to the remotest corners of the globe.

* Globalization has led to exploitation of labor. Prisoners and child workers are used to work in inhumane conditions. Safety standards are ignored to produce cheap goods. There is also an increase in human trafficking.

* Social welfare schemes or "safety nets" are under great pressure in developed countries because of deficits, job losses, and other economic ramifications of globalization.

Globalization is an economic tsunami that is sweeping the planet. We can't stop it but there are many things we can do to slow it down and make it more equitable.

What is missing?

Leadership - We need politicians who are willing to confront the cheaters. One of our biggest problems is that 7 of our trading partners manipulate their currencies to gain unfair price advantage which increases their exports and decreases their imports. This is illegal under WTO rules so there is a sound legal basis to put some kind of tax on their exports until they quit cheating.

Balanced Trade - Most of our trading partners can balance their trade budgets and even run a surplus. We have not made any effort to balance our trade budget and have run a deficit for more than 30 years resulting in an $11 trillion deficit. The trade deficit is the single biggest job killer in our economy, particularly manufacturing jobs. We need the government to develop a plan to begin to balance our trade deficit even though this is not a political priority in either party.

Trade Agreements - Both the NAFTA and the South Korean Korus trade agreements might have been good for Wall Street and the multi-national corporations but they eliminated jobs in America and expanded our trade deficit. The upcoming Trans Pacific Trade Agreement will do the same thing and Congress should not fast track this bad agreement for a dozen reasons.

Enforcing the rules - China ignores trade rules and WTO laws with reckless abandon. Besides currency manipulation they subsidize their state owned companies to target our markets, and provide funding to their state owned companies that dump their products in America. They also steal our technologies, sell counterfeit versions of our products, and impose tariffs and other barriers anytime they want - as we do nothing to stop them. China does not deserve to be on our most favored nation list and we need to tax their exports to us until they stop these illegal activities.

What is good for third world countries, like Kenya, or countries with tremendous growth, like China, has not been good for American workers. Globalization is deindustrializing America as we continue to outsource both manufacturing blue collar and white collar jobs. Supporters of globalization have made the case that it is good because it has brought low priced imported goods, but they have not matched the decline of wages in the middle class and will not offset the loss of many family wage jobs

Globalization is like being overwhelmed by a snow avalanche. You can't stop it - you can only swim in the snow and hope to stay on top. I would like to make the argument that the US should try a lot harder to swim in the snow and stay on top. We can't stop globalization but there are many policies and strategies we can use to make it more equitable. We can enforce the trade laws, force the competition to play by the same rules, and stop giving our competitors the tools (technology and R& D) to ultimately win the global war.

Mike Collins is the author of Saving American Manufacturing. His website is www.mpcmgt.com.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A story in the Washington Post said "20 years ago globalization was pitched as a strategy that would raise all boats in poor and rich countries alike. In the U.S. and Europe consumers would have their pick of inexpensive items made by people thousands of miles away whose pay was [...]

# data[].attributes.body
This graphic helped in breaking down globalization and making it more digestible

# data[].attributes.body
This article from Harvard Business Review put into perspective the real reason's companies focus on ethics and show that it is not really about the actual actions but the appearance that matters to them

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It's not that managers dislike the idea of doing the right thing... ">

A version of this article appeared in the May-June 1993 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning's online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Leading People. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.

What you need to know about being in charge.

Learn More & See All Courses

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It's not that managers dislike the idea of doing the right thing...

# data[].attributes.body
This cartoon really struck me because it says "diversity is good" while it shows all older white men in the room. It goes to show that as diverse as companies try to be there is much more progress that needs to be made.

# data[].attributes.body
This image helped in aiding in identifying and correlating the functions of management

# data[].attributes.body
This image helped bring together the key words of what management is all about.