SWOT Analysis Guide

Developed by Lydia Tsintzou

Abstract

SWOT consists a strategic management tool (Helms & Nixon, 2010), mainly used to identify risks during the data analysis process (Project Management Institute, 2017). The acronym of the 4-box strategy development framework stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and is possible to be applied to different industries, such as commerce, production, planning and voluntary organizations (Sarsby, 2016). The first emergence of the term in the literature is traced back to 1960 to investigate what went wrong with corporate planning, funded by the Fortune 500 companies while creating a new system to support management change. Over the past decade, SWOT research has focused on analyzing organizations for recommended strategic actions.

As with every tool or technique, SWOT has also its advantages and limitations. On the one hand, it is an interactional analysis technique that makes macro evaluations possible, in a road from the general perspective and solutions to the more detailed, uncovering opportunities. On the other hand, it has been criticized as prone to bias with questioned validity due to the quantity of different identified factors or failure to easily include dynamic and structural changes in a world based on competition.

The following article aims to investigate the process of conducting a SWOT analysis through a literature review, in order to present a short guide for its implementation. By analyzing the potentials of this tool’s usage, some practical implications are presented, mainly relevant to the combination of SWOT with other strategic planning tools. In addition, the author’s reflections are presented in an attempt to discuss the value and potential improvements in the use of the tool.