In a SWOT Analysis, opportunities are written in the bottom left quadrant. They highlight the external opportunities that you or your organization need to address to meet your goals.
Examples of opportunities for a SWOT analysis might include training, internships, or career moves. Opportunity examples for businesses include market growth, new technologies, or new investments.
SWOT Analysis Opportunity Examples for Students and Individuals
Training, internships, new teachers, a promotion at work.
- I know there is some upcoming training in my workplace that I can take to upskill.
- There is an upcoming internship as part of my college degree where I can develop skills and make social contacts that can help me reach my goals.
- I have a new teacher who can help me to get over some hurdles I’m struggling with.
- I may be able to move to a new employer soon who provides better pay and support.
- I may get a promotion soon which can really help me meet my stated goals on the SWOT analysis.
New colleague, new laptop, new software, an online course.
- I am going out for coffee with an old mentor of mine who might be able to help me find new ways to meet my goals.
- I have purchased some new software that may be able to streamline and improve my processes once I have learned how to use it.
- I have a new laptop that will allow me to do my work from anywhere which will improve my productivity.
- I will have a new colleague at my workplace who will be very helpful in taking some of the workloads.
- I have found an online course that addresses the hurdles that I am facing in meeting my goals.
A second chance, coming into money, moving cities.
- I found a training seminar last year really beneficial and there will be a repeat of past training this year that will help me refresh and consolidate my knowledge.
- I will have access to recordings of my course’s lecture materials that will be an opportunity to review the content and study harder.
- If I fail, I will get a second chance next year which will effectively mean I have two lives in trying to meet the goal I have set myself.
- I may get money in the form of an endowment in the near future that will really help take off some pressure and help me meet my goals.
- I will be moving into the city soon which will help me get closer to public services and minimize travel time.
Opportunities to improve fitness, new transport route, library resources, practice exams.
- I think there is an opportunity to improve my fitness which will hopefully make me feel more refreshed, confident, and ready to tackle challenges.
- A new transport route is opening up near me which will make getting to and from work and school faster and will free up more time to focus on my goals.
- I have new team members coming onto my team soon who might bring fresh perspectives and new expertise.
- I think the resources in the public library might open up some new opportunities such as providing study spaces and reference books I can use to study better.
- Some upcoming practice exams are going to really help me to get ready for the actual test.
Free time, building a team, specialization opportunities, career fair.
- I have some upcoming free time that I might be able to allocate toward trying to meet my goals.
- I get to build my own team for work (or school!) which means I’ll be able to assemble a group of people with the right skills to help me meet my goals.
- I will get the opportunity to specialize in my chosen area of interest at university which can help me to meet my goals.
- I will be reading a new book that may offer some great solutions to my problems.
- There is an upcoming career fair that will give me an opportunity to find new career paths and make connections with potential new employers.
Chats with family members, a conference, work from home, workplace perks.
- I have submitted a range of college applications and I may get into a college to upskill, which may help me to meet my goals.
- I may be able to lean on my family members (sister, brother, parents) for help if I get stuck on an upcoming task.
- There is an upcoming conference that my employer will pay me to attend. This is an opportunity to learn, make contacts, and present my work.
- My workplace has perks that could help. For example, my workplace will pay for training if I can demonstrate that they will help me achieve my goas.
- I am going to be allowed to work from home for the next few months which will reduce travel time and allow me to work in a more comfortable environment.
New boss, resume writing workshop, vacation to refresh, study aids.
- I will have a new boss at my workplace soon who might be able to provide new types of support that I’m not able to predict yet.
- I have a resume writing workshop coming up that can help me upgrade my resume and potentially help me to progress in my career.
- An upcoming vacation may help me reset my mind and get me in a state to really start tackling my goals soon.
- I have found some study aids including software that helps prevent me from getting distracted while I work.
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SWOT Analysis Opportunity Examples for Businesses and Organizations
Economic growth, new employees, population growth, media attention.
- There is the possibility of economic growth on the horizon which could help improve our prospects.
- We will be gaining new employees who may be able to bring fresh ideas into the company.
- Our country’s population growth will help increase the number of prospective buyers in the coming years.
- There has been a spike in interest in products related to ours within our industry recently, which we could capitalize on.
- We have attracted media attention recently and may do so in the future which can help us to meet our quarterly goals.
New investors, changes in the law, tax cuts, new website.
- We believe we could attract new investors in the future who could help with research and development.
- We will be changing head office locations to a better location that will attract high-quality staff and reduce travel times for our current staff.
- We foresee changes in the law that will reduce bureaucratic red tape and facilitate faster business growth
- Potential tax cuts proposed by the government will lower the cost of running the business and improve the economic climate.
- We expect a change in the board of directors which will bring new blood into the higher-up decision making and renew our company’s vision.
- We will be building out a new website later this year that may increase conversions and more effectively position our product in the market.
- We think we’ll be in a position to expand into new markets in the coming 12 months which will increase our reach.
Lowered costs, changing contracts, market trends.
- We think we could create an email list to appeal to repeat buyers which will lower customer acquisition costs.
- We think we could put out customer surveys to our existing email list that could help us clarify our goals and how to achieve them.
- We have an opportunity to lower the costs of upstream products by finding new suppliers.
- The upcoming labor negotiations will lead to a change in worker contracts that we hope will lead to mutual benefits such as increased workforce flexibility and work-from-home arrangements.
- Market trends show increasing interest in our industry over time which may benefit us in the medium-term.
Upcoming internship, training, brainstorming sessions, specialization, adding products.
- We could leverage an upcoming internship program to identify new talent at the beginning of their careers.
- We think we could implement training days that could potentially help our staff increase productivity and motivation.
- We have an opportunity to put in place staff brainstorming sessions that we believe could open up new possibilities for product expansion that we haven’t foreseen yet.
- We have the opportunity to position ourselves as specialists in the market over the coming years as our brand recognition slowly grows.
- We have the opportunity to increase our product range if we receive a new influx of capital which could attract new buyers and bring loyal customers back to buy from us again.
Privatization for capital influx, mergers and acquisitions, research breakthroughs, diversification of the workforce.
- We have the opportunity to privatize our company to free up capital for further growth in the years to come.
- We think we could merge with some of our competitors to become a larger company with the benefit of becoming an economy of scale.
- We think we could acquire smaller competitors and bring their trademarks and patents into our company, which could help us grow further.
- We believe that our research and development team could achieve research breakthroughs that could improve efficiency in the long term.
- We think there is an opportunity to increase diversity in our workforce in future hiring campaigns. This will help our team make decisions that appeal to a wider audience.
What is a SWOT Analysis?
SWOT is an acronym that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and costs. A SWOT analysis contains four quarters – one for each category. By filling in the SWOT matrix, you can reflect on ways to help meet your goals.
- Strengths are internal factors about you or your business that could help you to acheive your goals. This could include personal strengths, or, the strengths of your company or organization.
- Weaknesses are internal factors that could prevent you from achieving your goals. This could include personal weaknesses such as lack of motivation or weaknesses of your company or organization.
- Opportunities are external factors that could enable you to achieve your goals. You might have opportunities for training, increasing your revenue, or fast-tracking success.
- Threats are external factors that you need to look out for in case they prevent you from achieving your goals. Knowing the potential threats will mean you can avoid them or minimize their effects.
SWOT Analysis Questions to Ask
Goal: Write down what your goal is.
Strengths (Internal) – What do you do well (in relation to your goal)? – What study skills do you currently have? – What academic writing and research skills do you currently have? – What workforce skills do you currently have? – What soft skills do you currently have? – What hard skills do you currently have? | Weaknesses (Internal) – What do you think you’re not very good at (in relation to your goal)? – What do you struggle with when studying? – What are your weaknesses in regards to academic writing and researching? – What workforce readiness skills do you lack? – What soft skills do you lack? – What hard skills do you lack? |
Opportunities (External) – Are there upcoming seminars, classes, or lectures that can help you improve? – Do you have access to resources to help you improve? – Do you have access to people or friends who can help you out? | Threats (External) – What contextual factors might get in the way of your goals? – What obstacles can you predict that might interfere with your plans? – What factors out of your direct control might interfere with your plans? – What resources do you lack that might cause problems? |
Example SWOT Analysis for Tesla
Goal: To maintain and grow market share in the electric vehicle industry.
Strengths – Very strong brand reputation. – Seen as a premier brand in the industry. – Technological advantage over competitors. – Strong and efficient infrastructure for vehicle production. | Weaknesses – Elon Musk is a divisive figure. – Heavily invested in just one type of vehicle (EVs). – Perceived as an expensive brand. – Lack of charging ports for EVs around the country. |
Opportunities – New product lines can be rolled out. – Government laws promoting EV production can help the company grow. – The research and development team could identify more ways to increase productivity. | Threats – Other brands are now starting to enter the EV market. – International trade could be disrupted by trade disputes. – Inflation may cause prices of parts upstream to increase. |
You can also read our full article on completed personal SWOT analysis examples.
History of the SWOT Analysis
The SWOT matrix was first created by Albert Humphrey from the Stanford Research Institute in the 1960s. Albert Humphrey created the four-part SWOT analysis as a way to help people reflect and brainstorm about the best ways to achieve their goals. The SWOT matrix looks at the following four categories:
- Strengths: Internal factors that could be beneficial. See more strengths examples for a SWOT analysis.
- Weaknesses: Internal factors that could be detrimental. See more weakness examples for a SWOT analysis.
- Opportunities: External factors that could be beneficial.
- Threats: External factors that could be detrimental. See more threats examples for a SWOT analysis.
Conclusion
Everyone’s SWOT analysis will be different. You could use the above examples of opportunities for a SWOT analysis to stimulate thinking about opportunities for your own SWOT matrix. If you choose to take some of the above examples, pick and choose ones that really resonate with you and are truthful reflections of opportunities that could realistically fit into your goals.
Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]