In strategic planning, what does SWOT stand for?

In strategic planning, SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

SWOT analysis is a framework for examining an organization, project, product, or proposed decision. Strengths and weaknesses are generally internal factors, such as a strong brand or limited production capacity. Opportunities and threats are generally external factors, such as a growing market or a new competitor.

The framework is commonly associated with business strategy and is often displayed as a four-part grid. It helps teams organize observations before choosing priorities, but it does not automatically produce a strategy or prove that an assumption is correct.

A frequent mistake is confusing opportunities with strengths. A strength is an existing internal advantage; an opportunity is a favorable possibility in the external environment. SWOT is also sometimes expanded into a TOWS matrix, which emphasizes matching internal factors with external actions.