Title: Strengths vs. Strong Position: Rethinking the Nature of SWOT Analysis
Abstract: The analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) has long been recommendedas the foundation for strategy. In spite of this popularity, the actual procedure remains vaguelyoperationalized, and both descriptive and empirical accounts of its use (as noted here) indicate bothconceptual and procedural problems. After reviewing the development of SWOT in the strategyliterature, examples of SWOT analyses are noted. A variety of criticisms of the SWOT method areexamined, leading to a summary of key principles for SWOT analysis. A new, five-step method forcarrying out SWOT is proposed based on critical customer values and competitor comparisons,producing an assessment of organizational strengths in terms of strong product positioning. Thismethod is illustrated by a case analysis of a graduate degree program. The implications of SWOTanalysis for analyzing threats are considered in some detail, stressing the importance of competitiveintelligence as part of this process.