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120 Examples of Business Weaknesses

John Spacey, updated on May 06, 2024

Business weaknesses are competitive disadvantages that prevent an organization from outcompeting, creating value and achieving efficiency. Each weakness is an opportunity to improve from your current performance. As such, it is common to brainstorm weakness as part of strategic planning activities such as swot analysis. In this context, the following are commonly identified business weaknesses.

An unscalable business model	Business model unsustainable
Communication overhead	Compliance violations
Culture of inefficiency	Culture of mediocrity
Customers perceive products as inferior to competition	Damaged reputation
Debt	Disconnected from changing values of society
Disconnected from culture	Disconnected from customers
Disconnected from markets	Environment of corporate narcissism
Failure of imagination	Failure to address root cause of problems
Failure to change	Failure to communicate
Failure to deliver to commitments	Failure to engage customers
Failure to innovate	Failure to monitor processes
Failure to monitor risk	Flawed business model
High cost of capital	High overhead cost
High unit cost	Inability to measure processes effectively
Inability to recruit talent	Inaccurate estimates
Inadequate product quality	Inconsistent direction
Inconvenient locations	Inefficient processes
Inefficient systems	Inefficient tools
Inexperience	Information security vulnerabilities
Lack distribution channels	Lack industry relationships
Lack of calculated risk taking	Lack of cash
Lack of commitment	Lack of know-how
Lack of measurement	Lack of organization
Lack of resilience	Lack of risk management
Lack of training	Lack partners
Lack project management maturity	Lacking key capabilities
Legacy technology	Limited capacity
Long cash conversion cycle	Loss of key talent
Low brand awareness	Low brand recognition
Low customer satisfaction	Low employee satisfaction
Low energy efficiency	Low market penetration
Low market penetration	Low performance of employees
Low performance of executive management	Low performance of partners
Low product availability	Low product variety
Low rate of return	Low return on invested capital
Low revenue diversification	Low throughput teams
Management disconnected from operational realities	Measuring the wrong things
Miscommunication	Negative brand image
Negative internal politics	Operations unsustainable
Organizational maturity is lacking	Overreliance on a single product
Poor control of processes	Poor customer experience
Poor customer relationships	Poor customer reviews
Poor data quality	Poor decision making capabilities
Poor forecasting	Poor product design
Poor quality control	Poor relationships with investors
Poor strategy	Poor usability
Problems go unsolved for extended periods of time	Process bottlenecks
Product design is uninspiring	Product performance issues
Product reliability issues	Productivity is low
Products lack features	Products unsustainable
Project cost overruns	Project schedule overruns
Resistance to change	Resource constraints
Risk exposure	Slow processes
Slow time to market	Strategy not aligned across organization
System failures	Target market too broad
Target market too small	Teams fail to cooperate
Teams fail to share capabilities & resources	Teams fail to share knowledge
Too much red tape	Uncompetitive price
Unprofitable products	Unstable systems
Unstable technology	Weak financial position

Overview

Business weaknesses are internal shortfalls, issues, limitations and risks that face a business. This includes issues with your business model, corporate culture, processes, systems, products, strategy and capabilities as an organization.