A swot analysis: Bangladesh economic perspective

SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. A SWOT analysis is a strategic balance sheet of an organization; that is the strengths of the organization, the weaknesses of the organization, the opportunities facing the organization and the threats facing the organization. The purpose of the SWOT analysis is to provide information on strengths and weaknesses in relation to the opportunities and threats.

The SWOT method was originally developed for business and industry, but it is equally useful in the work of community health and development, education, and even for personal growth. The strengths of this method are its simplicity and application to a variety of levels of operation.

When to use SWOT

A SWOT analysis can offer helpful perspectives at any stage of an effort. It might use to:

·         Exploring avenues for new initiatives

·         Making decisions about execution strategies for a new policy

·         Identifying possible areas for change in a program

·         Refining and redirecting efforts mid plan.

The elements of a SWOT analysis:

A SWOT analysis focuses entirely on the four elements included in the acronym, allowing organizations to identify the factors influencing strategy. Knowing these positive and negative elements can help companies more effectively communicate what parts of a plan need to be recognized.

Internal factors

The first two letters in the acronym, S (Strengths) and W (Weaknesses), refer to internal factors (think: reputation, patents, location). Which means the resources and experience readily available to you. As example:

·         Financial resources, such as funding, sources of income and investment opportunities

·         Physical resources, such as your company's location, facilities and equipment

·         Human resources, such as employees, volunteers and target audiences

·         Access to natural resources, trademarks, patents and copyrights

·         Current processes, such as employee programs, department hierarchies and software systems.

External factors

The last two letters in the acronym, O (Opportunities) and T (Threats), refer to external factors (think: suppliers, competitors, prices). External forces influence and affect every company, organization and individual. External factors typically reference things you do not control. Such as:

·         Market trends, like new products and technology or shifts in audience needs

·         Economic trends, such as local, national and international financial trends

·         Funding, such as donations, legislature and other sources

·         Demographics, such as a target audience's age, race, gender and culture

·         Relationships with suppliers and partners

·         Political, environmental and economic regulations.

SWOT analysis template

Here is a SWOT Analysis template with some examples filled in:

Strengths	Weaknesses
·         Political support ·         Funding available ·         Market experience ·         Strong leadership	·         Project is very complex ·         Likely to be costly ·         May have environmental impact ·         Staff resources are already stretched
Opportunities	Threats
·         Project may improve local economy ·         Will improve safety ·         Project will boost company's public image	·         Environmental constraints ·         Time delays ·         Opposition to change

A SWOT analysis on BANGLADESH perspectives:

Bangladesh is one of the poor and most densely populated country in the world with around 160 million people .The country was under British and Pakistani colonial rule over 200 years. The country became independent in 1971. The land of the country is devoted mainly to cultivation.

Soon after become independent Henry Kissinger (former infamous foreign minister of USA) called Bangladesh “International Basket Case” but now a day’s scenario has changed. Though By most standards, Bangladesh looks like a disaster but yet Bangladesh has done better than most countries at improving the basic standard of living of its people.

Bangladesh has improved a lot for understanding it you need not to be an economist just look at the national budget. In 1972-73 very first year of independence the national budget of Bangladesh was Taka 786 crore and in 2015-16 (on going fiscal year) national budget is Taka 2.95 trillion. The amount of budget tells us about improvement and progress.  

Strengths of Bangladesh Economy:

v  Huge man power

v  Agriculture

v  RMG Industry

v  Textile Industry

v  Service Sector

v  Capital Market

v  Remittances

v  Sea port

Weaknesses of Bangladesh Economy:

v  Lack of capital

v  Insufficient infrastructure

v  Lack of quality education

v  Lack of new technology

v  Poor power supplies

v  Slow implementation of economic reforms

v  High illiteracy rate

v  Frequent natural calamities

Opportunities of Bangladesh Economy:

v  Low production cost

v  Availability of labor

v   Tread friendly Govt. policy

v  Bangladesh has too many historical and scenic place which is world famous (Cox’s bazar, Sundarbans, Paharpur buddha bihar, ect). If we can attract foreigners to visit these spots it will help to earn foreign currency. So it’s a real great opportunity to build up a good tourism sector all over the country.

v  Bangladesh is a big market as a huge number of people live in this small country. So if we can assure safety and protection for multinational organizations they will come here to business, as a result our unemployment would diminish.

Threats of Bangladesh Economy:

v  Corruption

v  Poverty  

v  Inept bureaucracy

v  Political instability

v  Unrest in industry sector

v  Money laundering

v  Vulnerability in agriculture sector

v  Power shortage

v  Terrorism

v  Due to climate change Bangladesh experiencing different types of natural disasters. So government is to invest more money in environment sector and has to reduce investment in other sectors. That hampers national economy.

Recommendations:

Considering the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Bangladesh economy my recommendations are as follows:

v  Government has to make bureaucracy skillful. Without adroit bureaucracy national economy will never develop because it is bureaucrats who execute government’s decision. Prominent economist AKBAR ALI KHAN wrote in his book named “Economics of altruism” “পরার্থপরতার অর্থনীতি” ‘it is totally impossible to make and execute a plan properly with a corrupt and unskilled bureaucracy.’

v  Government has to ensure political stability.

v  Create job opportunity for unemployed.

v  Introduce technical education and arrange proper training for general people thus they can turn themselves into manpower. 

v  Monetary policy should be more effective so that investment rises but inflation can be reduced.

v  More focus should be given to food security. Development of agricultural should be boost up. Private and public sector should be work together to increase production of fertilizer, pesticide, seeds, agriculture machines etc.

v  Money laundering must be stopped.

v  Should take expansionary fiscal policy, it helps to create job opportunity for unemployed.

v  Uninterrupted power supply must be ensured.

v  Take full advantage of all sea ports.

v  Actions must be taken against corruption.

Conclusion:

Bangladesh is a developing country which in the recent past has been experiencing better development growth. In every sectors Bangladesh made spectacular progress. Soon after liberation of Bangladesh former infamous foreign minister of USA Henry Kissinger labeled Bangladesh as ‘international basket case.’ But today it is proved that we are not ‘basket case’. Bangladesh made very well in achieving millennium development goals, we meet almost all of the goals of MGD. If democracy continues and we can sustain our growth, within very short time we will emerge as a developed country. But it won’t be very easy. To attain it, government has to ensure political stability and business friendly environment and most importantly government must stop interfere in privet sector.

I will end my writing with a quotation of WILL ROGERS “The business of government is to keep the government out of business- that is, unless business needs government aid.”

Bangladesh government should keep it in mind. Government must stop giving subsidies to state run companies and hand over it to private sector if loss continues.