Is There A SWOT Analysis Sample For The Purchasing Department?

SWOT analysis is a standard business theory that helps to outline various qualities of a business including:

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

The first letter of each word making the term SWOT. The theory of SWOT analysis is generic and can be applied to any business or company or to a specific department within a company. In this instance a purchasing department could use SWOT analysis to outline their own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

The website http://swotanalysisexample.com/ seems to offer many examples of SWOT analysis although I am afraid that I cannot find an example of SWOT analysis that is specific to a purchasing department. But because SWOT analysis is so generic you would be able to look at some general examples of SWOT analysis and then you will have a good idea of what you need to be looking for in SWOT analysis for a purchasing department.

To give you a fictional example, a purchasing department may be looking to improve the amount of stock it receives each month and wants to look at SWOT analysis to see what can be done to achieve this. This could be done by the following:

• The strength could be the staff; they are friendly, motivated and productive.
• The weakness could be the fact that the purchasing department has to work to a strict budget so any changes will have to be closely monitored.
• The opportunity could be a new supplier that has just opened and seems to be offering stock for a cheaper price than your existing supplier.
• The threat could be that the supplier is not reputable so a great deal of faith will need to be put in the supplier initially.

With this analysis, the purchasing department may be in a better place to see the bigger picture and make a decision based on the analysis they have.