interested parties

Who are the relevant interested parties which can influence your organization’s ability to provide products and services that meet requirements? Customers are an interested party. Does your organization consider certain suppliers / subcontractors relevant interested parties? Perhaps some of them are critical for innovation projects, or for fast delivery, or for flexible operations. Does your organization consider certain parties like influencers or prescribers that act on customers’ expectations? Does your organization consider certain parties like regulatory authorities or trade associations that have power to shape the market? Does your organization depend on banks for investment? Does your organization work with franchisors? Does your organization works with owners of intellectual property? And what about workers and unions, are they relevant?

I don’t use SWOT analysis for this, I just ask who are the players that can influence customers opinion and expectations, who are the players that can affect the performance of the organization.

Dear ccruz, thank you *very* much for your extensive reply and pointing to the “who influences”. This gives me the criterion to decide which interested parties to consider. Thank you.

In formulating my question about internal vs. external “influencers” I was looking for defining the intern part of the question. Most people understand the internal interested parties as those within the organization. In one case, I have seen considering the suppliers, the organization and the customers as the internal interested parties. I found this last a quite interesting approach, that is based, I suppose, on the criterion “who can be controlled”.

In my field (development aid), SWOT is often a requirement from the customer and as such is well known from the technical staff, hence difficult to be avoided. IF SWOT is well known, very few knows the prerequisite to get the content of the SWOT matrix but only once I have seen an extended matrix, that induces me to think that there is methodology to draw deduction from the matrix. Does someone point me to a detailed explanation on how to use a swot matrix?

Have a nice day!

Hi mmidre, Still about the relevant stakeholders, when I read "development aid" I immediately think of the people who will receive the aid, they are the ultimate reason for your organization, and I think of those who finance the performance of your organization (Governments? Patrons? NGOs? …)

About the use of the SWOT analysis I follow a prerequisite before using it (1) and I use it to deduce what kind of actions are possible and aligned with the strategic orientation (2).

(1) – Do not use the SWOT analysis without previously defining the strategic orientation. An opportunity is not intrinsically an opportunity. It is an opportunity in the context of a strategy. I never forget a company that considered the products that they were selling as having a weak point, they were very expensive. I told them, that that classification was absurd because they were selling the top of the market brands in that category, price there is not an issue.

(2) – After building the SWOT matrix I use what some call TOWS analysis and others call Dynamic SWOT.

Consider the relationship betwee n S and O – Can you use some Strenghts to build up on Opportunities?

Consider the relationship between S and T – Can you use some Strenghts to minimize Threats?

Consider the relationship between W and O – Can you act up on Weaknesses to build up on Opportunities?

Consider the relationship between W and T – Can you act to preempt, to minimize the results of the dangerous combination of Weaknesses and Threats?
Hope it helps!