Opportunities and Threats
External opportunities provide an organization with a means to improve its performance and competitive advantage in a market environment. Some opportunities can be foreseen, such as being able to expand a franchise into a new city, while some may fall into your lap, such as another country opening up its market to foreign business.
If you can think far enough ahead, you may even be able to create some opportunities, like a chess master being able to calculate the checkmate of his opponent in five moves just by looking at the board. For example, you may be able to see the potential of new products that can be developed from emerging technology. Prime examples of this type of foresight are the social media giants Facebook and Twitter.
External threats are anything from your organization’s outside environment that can adversely affect its performance or achievement of its goals. Ironically, stronger organizations can be exposed to a greater level of threats than weaker organizations, because success breeds envy and competition to take what your organization has achieved.
Examples of external threats include new and existing regulations, new and existing competitors, new technologies that may make your products or services obsolete, unstable political and legal systems in foreign markets, and economic downturns. Sometimes you can turn a threat into an opportunity, such as a new technology that may displace one of your key products but also provides an opportunity for new product development.