SWOT is an acronym that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
SWOT information is an analysis of a business or project to determine all factors and variables affecting its success or failure.
SWOT information highlights both internal and external factors to an objective or goal:
Internal factors: strengths and weaknesses
External factors: opportunities and threats
A SWOT analysis can be applied to a company, a product, a place, an industry, or a person.
How do I find SWOT information?
Some databases offer published SWOT analyses for published companies. These can be useful sources but should always be evaluated. They can be incomplete, outdated or wrong.
Search for the phrase "swot analysis" in one of the suggested tools. Searching only for SWOT may bring up false results.
Include additional search terms that reflect the industry or market you are interested in. For example "swot analysis" AND leadership, or "swot analysis" AND engineering.
When creating your own SWOT, consider the following:
Strengths: Gather information about the company or organization. Company profiles and financial information can be helpful.
Weaknesses: Understand the company or organization in context through an analysis of their performance and practices.
Opportunities: Begin with industry information and identify trends.
Threats: Look at the competition and environment. Are there economic conditions, political issues or regulations that affect operation?
A specialized business searching interface for Business Source Complete. Allows users to search by business-specific fields such as Market Research Reports, SWOT analysis or securities IDs.
