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Bernhard Keim
Business Consultant, Germany
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Be Careful with SWOT Analysis. Issues and Risks of SWOT
I am not that happy with SWOT Analysis. My issue does not concern the tool itself, but the way it is often used. People like to make some statements with it, but the list in each of its quadrants can be endless. Everything is true, but what does really matter from all the points listed? So be careful with cherry picking (giving selective attention to particular things) to draw conclusions from a SWOT-Analysis.
Here's an example of what I mean. Let's think about the situation of a horse shoe manufacturer 110 years ago:
- Strengths: how did it help you to be the best horse shoe manufacturer?
- Weaknesses: did it make a difference for your future, that your marketing was weak?
- Opportunities: there were a lot of competitors you could buy for little money.
- Threats: there are automobiles coming up, but how can these loud and unreliable vehicles affect the business?
If you had been the boss of such a company: what might your reaction have been?
Now think of today: are you sure that your company is not acting like the horse shoe manufacturer? Too often SWOT makes people think more sophisticated, but inside the box.
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Jaap de Jonge
Editor, Netherlands
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Risks of SWOT Analysis: Biases
I agree Bernard. Giving selective attention to par...
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James Antwi
HR Consultant, Ghana
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How to Avoid Biases in SWOT Analysis
Quite often SWOT is used for generating a ''shop l...
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Dr. Alan Williams
Professor, Thailand
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Be Careful of SWOT Analysis
I insist that all my department managers attend ev...
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David Stehlik
Professor, United States
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History Exonerates the Horseshoe Company
Bernhard makes a great point. His concern can be c...
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Paul Bailey
Consultant, Canada
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Tendency in SWOT to Overly Focus on the Negative
Great comments from everyone.
I have found that f...
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Johannes Crol
Consultant, Switzerland
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Use Trends for External Analysis!
I don't like opportunities and threats as implicit...
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Charles Alter
Consultant, United States
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Use SWOT as a Starting Point
I have successfully used SWOT analysis as a starti...
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Murali Sundararaju
Coach, India
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SWOT Analysis Using Collective Intelligence
Great comments by everyone and great learning.
I ...
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Connie James
Professor
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Avoid Strategies in SWOTs
I agree if you anchor opportunities in industry tr...
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Musagwiza
Manager, Zimbabwe
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SWOT Analysis is not Complete on Itself
I agree this tool should be used in combination wi...
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Connie James
Professor
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Reduce Bias in SWOT
The 1-2 page SWOTs we do, have ±50 citations that ...
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Trevor Hudson
Consultant, United Kingdom
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Use SWOT in Combination with Other Tools
In my view, for all the reasons outlined above, SW...
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Gregory McGuire
Business Consultant
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SWOT is a Summary Tool
I use SWOT Analysis as a summary tool. Merely usin...
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Huw Morris
Management Consultant, United Kingdom
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A SWOT Needs to Be Informed by Other Analysis
I have seen very few insightful SWOT analyses. Tho...
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Jeny
Partner, China
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Very Often, SWOT Analysis Becomes a Formality
I have seen many SWOT analyses become a routine an...
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Bernhard Keim
Business Consultant, Germany
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SWOT Analysis Provides Little Gain for Strategy
SWOT Analysis just tells you what you should know ...
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Johan Bergstroem
HR Consultant, Sweden
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SWOT Step 2 Threat Assesment
I agree with @Bernhard Keim, SWOT is basically but...
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David Stehlik
Professor, United States
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How many hours, on average, such SWOT report takes to compile?
@Connie James: Thanks. That's a great distinction...
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Chris Hoe
Director, Australia
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SWOT a Primitive Tool, but…
@Bernhard Keim: Analysis is done to tell you what ...
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Augusto Carreira
Partner, Portugal
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Frankly, it Entertains a Lot!
I once worked as a Business Unit Director for a la...
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Pedro Ferrao
Teacher, Portugal
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SWOT Follow-up: Intersecting SW with OT
In order to find strategies and actions, you must ...
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Sridhar Gopal
Management Consultant, India
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Liked This SOAR
@Paul Bailey: I concur with the idea that the appl...
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Charles Alter
Consultant, United States
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Determining SWOT Priorities
@Connie James: Excellent approach and a way of fo...
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Eyad
Manager, Jordan
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Uncertainty and SWOT
I have a similar point of view. I see that round t...
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najib mohammed Saif
Turnaround Manager, Yemen
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SWOT is Just a First Step, Not the Final One
Thank you Mr Bernhard for your SWOT advice.
@All:...
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Pradeep Sinha
Management Consultant, India
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Combining SWOT with PESTLE
I have found that SWOT combined with PESTLE gives ...
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Maurice Hogarth
Consultant, United Kingdom
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GIGO & SWOT Analysis
Processes are designed for rational use. As long a...
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Connie James
Professor
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Hours Needed for a Well-researched SWOT
@DSTEHL: In reply to your question, ±10 hours for ...
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