“Strategic Implementation” By: Almanita Smith For” John Martin MGT485-0803B-04 SWOT is an acronym used to describe the particular strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that are strategic factors for a company (Hunger & Wheelen, 2007). This technique has become very popular in strategic management but has also suffered many criticisms over the years. Critics say that SWOT analysis: Generate lengthy list Uses no weights to reflect priorities Uses ambiguous words and phrases Have factors that came be placed in two categories (e.g., a strength may also be a weakness) Do not have obligated analysts to verify opinions with data or analysis Only requires a single level of analysis Provides no logical link to strategy implementation In the next paragraph we began to conduct a SWOT analysis on HSBC in the order of the acronym. We will conclude this SWOT analysis with the last portion that handles threats. I have identified several threats that HSBC should be concerned about. The first threat is a very obvious one because of the state of our economy. The spending of average Americans has decreased and the housing market is now suffering. Although less spending could be good for those Americans it’s not for the banks that would be used to get that financing. Also, conducting business over the internet is a threat because customers are at even more risk of identity theft because of the personal information that is constantly transferred over the net. In this section we will discuss the group structure for HSBC. HSBC has a headquarters in London but the rest of the branches are categorized in one of five regions: Europe; Hong Kong; the rest of Asia Pacific; including the Middle East and Africa; North America; and South America. “The units which are comprised to make up the HSBC Group provide a comprehensive range of financial services to personal, commercial, corporate, institutional and investment, and private...