SWOT Analysis has been a global standard for how companies do strategic planning for over 50 years. THE SWOT acronym stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
Your Strengths and Weaknesses are based on internal factors - things that you can control and that will be helpful or favorable to achieving your objective. Internal factors could include your personnel, patents, access to resources, etc.
Your Opportunities and Threats are based on external factors - things that you typically can’t control and that will be harmful or unfavorable to achieving your objective. External factors can include changes to political environments, economic changes, social changes, and technological changes.
After 50 years the SWOT Analysis still remains the go-to method for companies, teams, and individuals to identify their competitive niche and key internal and external factors important to achieving specific organizational objectives. Make sure your SWOT Analysis objective applies to everyone involved in the process - so you many need to focus your analysis more narrowly such as analyzing a specific product, feature, business unit, acquisition, or department goal.
