SWOT analysis
SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, and Threats present to an organization. It involves specifying the objective of
the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are
favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective.
Use of SWOT Analysis
The usefulness of SWOT analysis is not limited to profit-seeking organizations. SWOT analysis
may be used in any decision-making situation when a desired end-state (objective) has been
defined. Examples include: non-profit organizations, governmental units, and individuals.
SWOT analysis may also be used in pre-crisis planning and preventive crisis management.
Orienting SWOTs to an Objective
If SWOT analysis does not start with defining a desired end state or objective, it runs the risk of
being useless1. Identification of SWOTs is essential because subsequent steps in the
recommendations process may be derived from the SWOTs.
Objectives were not presented to the Online Learning Taskforce through the charge process
except for the umbrella statement of “developing a comprehensive strategy for the
development, delivery, and management of online courses using best practices.” Therefore,
each committee needs to define what is being requested in the charge and turn that into their
objective. This does not appear to be a large task since the objectives seem mostly obvious;
you just need to write them down. For example, the charges provided to the Course
Scheduling Committee ‘really’ ask the committee to generate guidelines that will provide ‘the
best course scheduling for online courses and students.’ Therefore, that’s the objective.
Writing down the objectives will give a clear understanding of what a committee hopes to
achieve through its recommendations. Again, the committee must remember to address all
parts of the charge in its analysis even if those parts are footnotes. Some parts of the charge
may not fit well within a SWOT analysis. You will need to use your best good judgment and
view this report from the eyes of an administrator who will be thoroughly reading and
assessing its data.

Strengths:
1) Attributes the organization already possesses that will help in achieving the
objective.
2) Positive internal factors a company can draw on to accomplish its objective.
 Weaknesses:
1) Attributes of the organization that are lacking, too minimal, or harmful to
achieving the objective.
2) Negative internal factors that inhibit a company from accomplishing its objective.
 Opportunities:
1) External conditions that can be exploited in achieving the objective.
o Opportunities external to the company are often confused with strengths
internal to the company. They should be kept separate. (don’t confuses
opportunities with abilities)
 Threats:
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Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swot_analysis#Examples_of_SWOTs
External emerging or present conditions that will hurt the organization if
corrective action is not taken.
2) External conditions that are harmful to achieving the objective.
1)
Creative Use of SWOT analysis: Generating Recommendations
Assuming you have an attainable objective, the SWOTs are used as inputs to the creative
generation of possible strategies or recommendations by asking and answering each of the
following four questions, many times:
1)
2)
3)
4)
How can we Use each Strength?
How can we Stop each Weakness?
How can we Exploit each Opportunity?
How can we Defend against each Threat?
SWOTs are sometimes confused with possible strategies. SWOTs are descriptions of
conditions, while possible strategies define actions (or recommendations). This error is made
especially with reference to opportunity analysis. To avoid this error, it may be useful to think of
opportunities as "auspicious conditions".
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Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swot_analysis#Examples_of_SWOTs