Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, read Carlson's textbook Chapters $1$ and $3.$ In addition, read COVID$-19$ SWOT Analysis: SWOT Analysis in a PandemicLinks to an external site. and How a SWOT Analysis Leads to Actionable Business StrategiesLinks to an external site..

In $2020$ the world witnessed the impact of a pandemic from both a personal perspective and a business one. When Covid hit many small companies were not able to survive due to many reasons, some of which include financial, economic, loss of staff, loss of demand for the product, etc. The economic crisis impacted many people, in ways many never saw coming. As so many lost their jobs they turned to entrepreneurship and working from home. Today it is easier than ever to start a business. The idea of working in a store is a thing of the past as many companies transition to home businesses. There is$,$ however, an important question we should all ask ourselves in relation to the pandemic which is$,$ why did some companies survive while others closed their doors forever? The importance of having an ongoing contingency plan with any business and the ability to quickly change directions to meet the current needs is certainly a lesson many companies learned while facing the challenges of Covid.

For this discussion, you are first asked to select a small business that is in operation today. Note if you have your own small business, you can use that for this discussion. The second part of this discussion is asking you to complete a SWOT AnalysisLinks to an external site. of this business post$-$pandemic. Below are some guidelines to help you with this discussion.

Strengths $$ Identify things that the company is doing today that are strong and marketable for the company.

Weaknesses $$ This needs to be very detailed in identifying areas that the company is weak in$.$ Keep in mind that past the pandemic many companies are struggling with keeping employees, managing staff, etc. Listing a lot of weaknesses does not make your company look weak, it shows that you have applied sometimes thinking about all the areas that can impact your business.

Opportunities $$ Think about your weaknesses and how you can move them into opportunities. The goal of a SWOT analysis is to move weaknesses to opportunities and one day to strengths.

Threats $$ think about all the areas that can threaten your business. Think outside the box on this one. Typically, there is not much we can do about threats, but in this analysis, you should also provide contingency plans in terms of how these threats can impact your business and how you will work around them.