Abstract
SWOT splits your situation into four lists. Strengths and weaknesses are about you: your skills, money, reputation and habits. Opportunities and threats are about what happens outside your control, like a new competitor or a change in the rules.
The lists don't decide anything on their own. The useful part comes when you set each internal list against each external one, which Heinz Weihrich called the TOWS matrix. A strength next to an opportunity suggests something to push on. A weakness next to a threat shows where you're exposed.
Method
- 01
Write down the goal
Strengths and weaknesses only mean something relative to what you're trying to do. Put the goal at the top.
- 02
List strengths and weaknesses
Look at yourself or your team. Where are you clearly better than others, and where do you keep falling short?
- 03
List opportunities and threats
Look outside: customers, competitors, regulation, the economy, new technology.
- 04
Star the few that count
In each list, mark the two or three items that would change the outcome. Twenty strengths on a page helps nobody.
- 05
Pair the lists into moves
Strengths with opportunities give you things to press. Weaknesses with threats show what to defend. The other two pairings fall in between.
When to use it
- Before a planning round, a launch or a change of direction.
- When a team needs to agree on where it stands before arguing about what to do.
- When you're sizing up a competitor or a job offer.
Common pitfalls
- Starting without a goal, so every item looks equally important.
- Putting outside events in the internal lists. A competitor's launch belongs under threats.
- Stopping once the four boxes are full. The pairing step is where the decisions come from.
- Entries like "good team". Write what the team is good at and how you know.
Origin and references
Attributed to Albert Humphrey and colleagues at SRI; TOWS by Heinz Weihrich (1960s).
- Weihrich, H. (1982). The TOWS matrix: A tool for situational analysis. Long Range Planning, 15(2), 54-66.
- Humphrey, A. (2005). SWOT analysis for management consulting. SRI Alumni Newsletter.