SWOT Analysis

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

SWOT Analysis is a tool to find out the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that are to be expected in a project or in a business venture or in something similar. It means that the marketing environment (internal and external to the organization or individual) is looked at. The technique was developed by Albert Humphrey, who led a research project at Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s using data from the Fortune 500 companies.

[edit] SWOT-Model as a Matrix

The dimensions of the SWOT model of analysis are displayed as a matrix as follows:

SWOT-
analysis
Internal analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
E
x
t
e
r
n
a
l

A
n
a
l
y
s
e
Opportunities S-O-Strategies:
Develop new methods which are suitable to the company's strength.
W-O-Strategies:
Eliminate weaknesses to enable new opportunities.
Threats S-T-Strategies:
Use strength to defend threats.
W-T-Strategies:
Develop strategies, to avoid that weaknesses could be targeted by threats.


[edit] Performing the SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is part of the Harvard Policy Model, which has been developed as part of the business policy courses taught at the Harvard Business School since the 1920s.

[edit] External links