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SWOT Research

This research guide will help students find information needed for a SWOT analysis. It includes databases, websites and videos showing how look for the different factors.

What are Weaknesses?

What are Weaknesses?

 

Weaknesses are internal factors that affect how the business performs.   These factors are within the control of the company to be fixed.    

Finding Sources to Support your Company's Weaknesses

Review each tab in this box to discover what source types will be most useful to you when searching for information on the Weaknesses  for your company. 

 

Read articles from people who are not employed by the company to get an unbiased view of their operations.     Look in a variety of sources, such as business magazines and trade journals.

The  Better Business Bureau or BBB helps people find and recommend businesses, brands and charities they can trust.  The Better Business Bureau (BBB) allows you to look up reviews, find resolved and unresolved claims against a company and, most importantly, get general ratings about a company. 

Comparably is a company review site that allows users to slice and filter company data and compare it to other companies. The site gives an overall company culture score that’s derived from employee ratings and reviews in different categories like leadership, diversity, and compensation. You can see a breakdown of the data and view culture scores by department, how different departments rank the CEO, and more. You can also see how the overall company culture culture score stacks up to other similar-sized companies in the United States, similar-sized companies in the area, and its industry competitors.

Kununu’s mission is to spread transparency through company reviews and data.  In addition to the standard sections regarding the company’s environment, career development, etc., Kununu goes the extra step to include categories you might not think about, like workplace safety, parking accessibility, environmental friendliness, desirable office location, and how challenging the work is.

Here are some suggested search terms to use for determining company weaknesses:

MyCompany and ("customer complaints" or "customer relations")

MyCompany and (advertising or marketing)

MyCompany and (lawsuits or "legal issues")

Questions to Ask To Identify Weaknesses in Your Company