To ‘know ourselves’ we need to assess the facts of our current situation as objectively as possible. It’s useful to ask others to help you to do this, since they can see things from different perspectives.
Strengths and Weaknesses – or Characteristics
It’s important to assess the strengths and weaknesses of our business, focusing particularly on strengths, especially strengths which competitors do not have.
Another approach to this ‘internal analysis’ of strengths and weaknesses is to use a more neutral term and list the ‘characteristics’ of you and your enterprise. You can then ask in which creative fields, or in which business situations, or with which particular customers, do these characteristics become strengths.
The ‘PRIMEFACT’ checklist
A useful checklist for listing characteristics in order to identify characteristics that are potential strengths and weaknesses is the PRIMEFACT checklist. This is an acronym for nine factors which provide headings for your analysis of your enterprises:
People
Reputation
Intellectual property
Market information
Ethos
Finances
Agility
Collaborators
Talents.
What to do next
Use the PRIMEFACT checklist to asses the strengths and weaknesses of your business, or its characteristics, for each of the nine parts of the checklist. (Remember that strengths are not absolute but relative to particular situations, customers or creative fields.)
People. What are the strengths and weaknesses of our people? Employees, directors, members, associates, advisers and other stakeholders.
Reputation (or Brand). What is our reputation with our target customers? What are the strengths – or weaknesses – of our brand or brands?
Intellectual Property. What intellectual property do we have? How is it protected? How easily can it be turned into income streams?
Market Information. What information do we have about market segments and market trends? What do we know about individual clients and their specific needs?
Ethos (or Values or Culture). What is our ethos, our values and our organisational culture? Do all stakeholders subscribe to this same ethos?
Finances, ie money. What is the current state of profitability, cashflow and assets? How much money do we have to invest or can we borrow?
Agility (or nimbleness or change-ability). Are we agile enough to seize new opportunities. Are people prepared to change and ready for change? Or are we unable to change?
Collaborators (Alliances, Partnerships and Networks). What are the strengths and weaknesses of our associations with other businesses and organisations (including government)?
Talents (competencies and skills). What are our core competencies. What skills do we have available and what gaps are there? Are we able to learn new skills?