SWOT and PEST Analysis - Essay Sample

Introduction

During project planning, it is crucial to understand the external and internal factors which could affect the project. Among the excellent and most common methods of the strategic plan are PEST and SWOT ANALYSIS. A PEST analysis gives excellent details concerning future and present challenges in political, economic, social, and technological elements which influence an organization (Ho, 2014). While a SWOT analysis is an evaluation of an industry's internal strengths, weaknesses, improvement and growth opportunities, and the threats provided from the external environment (Gurel & Tat, 2017). Both a PEST and SWOT analysis could prepare an organization for strategy formation.: and even though there are several strengths to both of these types of reviews, they also have challenges and limitations as discussed below.

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SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is useful in a healthcare organization since the 'Strengths' analysis lists the main competencies which give an organization advantage over others in the health sector (Clarke, 2019). 'Weakness' assessment reviews internal deficiencies relative to the competition. While the 'Opportunities' aspect analyses the growing markets as the threat's framework works to identify the external factors which could harm the project in future. The main strengths of SWOT analysis are that it is easy to use, timely and cost-efficient, and focuses on the main vital features affecting an organization (Gurel & Tat, 2017). A SWOT could be challenging and faces limitations since it could produce too much information that might not be useful, could generate several ideas but will not help in identifying the best, it does not offer alternative decisions or solutions, and it also fails to prioritise issues.

PEST Analysis

PEST analysis reviews the critical factors - Political, Economic, Social, and Technological - during research before starting a new project. The political aspect looks at the regulations, taxes, political issues, and employment laws. Economic elements comprise of monetary policy and currency exchange. Social features include current trends, consumer demographics, and distribution. Technological influences include the analysis of the technology available which positively influences the organization. Its strength lies in its ability to focus on the company level as well as the external aspects on a global and national level (Ho, 2014). The challenges in this analysis are the failure of considering the organization's internal factors.

Comparing and Contrasting the SWOT and PEST Analysis

PEST and SWOT analyses relate since they both aim at environmental aspects which might influence a project. They both apply group thinking to identify surrounding features. Nevertheless, there are certain significant variations between the frameworks of analysis which ought to be understood before using either strategy effectively. PEST analysis directly focuses more on the external macro environmental elements and why there is a decline or growth in the market whereas SWOT aims at both external and internal factors (Ho, 2014).

Conclusion

By learning all this information, it could be probable to quickly plan a fruitful healthcare project which is prepared to work under particular challenges successfully and evade failure. It is thus a good idea for a healthcare organization to work through the SWOT analysis with a professional team in the initial stages of planning a project although it is considered best practice to blend PEST and SWOT analysis before project planning. Analysing the environmental features affecting an organization from two different approaches makes it easier to figure out the aspects which indeed correlate with the company's performance, instead of mere coincidence.

References

Clarke, C. (2019). Strategic Planning in Healthcare. In Textbook of Medical Administration and Leadership (pp. 31-46). Springer, Singapore.doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-5454-9_3

Gurel, E., & Tat, M. (2017). SWOT Analysis: A Theoretical Review. Journal of International Social Research, 10(51). doi: 10.17719/jisr.2017.1832

Ho, J. K. K. (2014). Formulation of A Systemic PEST Analysis for Strategic Analysis. European Academic Research, 2(5), 6478-6492. doi:10.1.1.433.5631&rep=rep1&type=pdf