Strategy
SWOT
Last reviewedWhat is SWOT?
A list of internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats.
When should you use SWOT?
A quick first scan in strategy work, or to summarize findings for a client.
What are its limits?
It does not rank anything or lead to a decision on its own, so it is rarely a good case structure.
How do you tailor it to a case?
Link each strength to an opportunity and each weakness to a threat, and turn those links into options you can size.
Where does it come from?
The origin is unclear; it is usually linked to business planning work in the 1960s.
Use a framework as a source of ideas, then put a structure built for this specific problem on the table. Reciting a framework by name is a common way to lose marks.