As teachers, which one of us hasn’t been through an in-service training process that began with a SWOT exercise related to our school or local authority? SWOT analysis is everybody’s favourite business tool. It is safe to say that about 75% of all Internal Assessments and Extended Essays I assess contain a SWOT. There is also no doubt that the SWOT framework is one that lends itself to structuring a problem or a discussion.
The problem is that a large percentage of SWOTs are poor, both in terms of the preparation of the analysis and in the placement of information in the quadrants.
So what is SWOT analysis? It is a situational analysis summarising where an organisation actually is – its ‘strengths’ and ‘weaknesses’. These are factors over which the business has, at least, some control. A firm may have a lack of skills and experience, but can address this problem through recruitment and training. Indeed, the firm may be renowned for its training – a strength built up over many years. Most students are able to deal with Strengths and Weaknesses and quite rightly recognise these as internal, controllable factors.
However, the most significant issues relate to ‘Opportunities’ and ‘Threats’. Again students correctly identify these as ‘external factors’. However, when they place factors in the ‘Opportunities’ section, these are frequently ‘internal, controllable’ factors.
Students write in the opportunities section things like – ABC organic food producers should…
- expand the business by opening another branch
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“It’s not every day you find an issue where effective diplomacy and development will allow you to save millions of lives, feed the hungry, empower women, advance our national security interests, protect the environment and demonstrate to billions of people that the US cares: cares about you and your welfare. 
