The Clifton Review  

The Clifton Review is a tri-weekly column that examines the question of the Clifton project along with the evolution of the war between two billionaires. We covered the start of this war with articles describing the battle over easement rights, the mysterious burning of a home, the blocks to rebuilding, and countless questionable court filings.

While the 2018 series salutes fashion mogul Peter Nygård’s Golden Jubilee detailing his rags to riches story, his incredible business success over these past fifty years and an inside look at how he did it, The Clifton Review will also continue to address current affairs as they relate to the good of The Bahamas.  

Identifying Business Strengths & Weaknesses

By P.J. Malone 

While it is understandable that business owners may be anxious to jump into identifying strategies that can save their business from threats, unless there is first a full understanding of the business, they risk not addressing the threats effectively. Solutions can sometimes be found in the detailed study of the business.

Before providing more detailed strategies for averting business threats, it might prove helpful to get more insights and specificson conducting a SWOT analysis of your business (identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the business, as discussed in a previous article), starting with looking more closely at those internal factors related to your business.

For an internal review of the organization, the questions that can be helpful in identifying strengths include the following:

As a reminder, in the example from fashion mogul Peter Nygard’s business, the company’s strength back in the ‘80s wasthat they made a great—in fact, considered the best—polyester product.

Another strength for Nygard’s company was their internal process for product development that allowed them to produce a top notch product.

Is there anything about your business products or processes that make your business the best? Other examples include

Questions that can be helpful in identifying organizational weaknesses include the following:

Nygard’s company weakness that he overcame was that his core product, even though the best on the market, was only one type at that time.

What about your business—is there anything your company is struggling with that can get in the way of your business growth? More examples of business weaknesses include,

Next we’ll take a closer look at how to identify opportunities with the potential to provide a boost to your business.