Focused SWOT: diagnosing critical strengths and weaknesses |
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Authors: | Alex Coman |
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Affiliation: | Academic College of Tel Aviv-Jaffa , Tel Aviv, Israel |
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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. |
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Keywords: | theory of constraints (TOC) SWOT strategy core-competence tree |
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