Focused SWOT: Diagnosing critical strengths and weaknesses

Alex Coman, Boaz Ronen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

60 Scopus citations

Abstract

Despite the problems involved in its use, SWOT (strengths-weaknesses- opportunities-threats) analysis remains a major strategic tool for listing the strengths and weaknesses of an organisation, for recording the major strengths and translating them into value. This paper presents a straightforward methodology for making a structured analysis of strengths and weaknesses, based on an analysis of important value-creating events and the strengths and weaknesses that caused these events. The focused SWOT methodology distils the strengths and weaknesses into core competences and core problems, by using the core-competence tree and the current-reality tree. The core competences and core problems are then linked into a plan of action aimed at preserving and leveraging the organisation's core competences, while defending against exposure to core problems. Applications of the methodology are presented and it is demonstrated in a detailed case study.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5677-5689
Number of pages13
JournalInternational Journal of Production Research
Volume47
Issue number20
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2009

Keywords

  • Core-competence tree
  • SWOT
  • Strategy
  • Theory of constraints (TOC)

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