SWOT analysis template (Word and PowerPoint)

What it is

SWOT analysis sorts what matters to a decision into four boxes: strengths and weaknesses (inside the organization) and opportunities and threats (outside it). It has been used in business planning for decades, and accounts of who devised it differ.

The grid is the easy part. The value is in the points you choose, the evidence behind them and what you do next. This template builds that into the structure: a scope table, the four boxes with prompts, a pairing step and a priorities table.

Who it is for

Team leads and managers preparing a plan, founders and small-business owners, consultants and analysts, and students. Use the Word file to do the work and the PowerPoint file to present it. They hold the same content.

When to use it, and when not to

• Use it before a decision with a clear scope: entering a market, launching a product, choosing between options, or setting priorities for the year.
• Use it to give a group one structure and one set of words for a discussion.
• Do not use it to describe a whole company with no question attached. The points will be generic.
• Do not use it instead of research. A SWOT organizes evidence. For the outside view, pair it with a PESTEL scan or a five forces assessment.

What is inside

The Word document has a how-to box, a scope table, the four boxes (each with prompts and five numbered lines), a pairing table, a priorities table, assumptions and a quality checklist.

The PowerPoint deck has eight 16:9 slides: title, scope, the grid, evidence slides for inside and outside, pairings, priorities and an appendix. Every slide has an instruction line to delete and fuller speaker notes.

How to fill it in

1. Write the decision in the scope table. If you cannot, stop and settle the question first.
2. Fill each box with the five most important points. For each, write the evidence: a number, a customer comment, a document.
3. Check each point sits in the right box. If it is about you, it is a strength or weakness. If it is about the world around you, it is an opportunity or threat.
4. Judge strengths and weaknesses against your alternatives, not in the abstract.
5. Pair points across boxes and name them, for example Strength 2 with Opportunity 1.
6. Rank the priorities, then name an owner, a next step and a date for each.
7. Delete the instructions and prompts before you share.

Worked example (an illustration)

Illustration only. The bakery and every point below are made up, to show what specific, evidenced points look like. They are not real data.

A made-up neighborhood bakery is deciding whether to open a second shop.

• Pursue. Use the head baker's training (Strength 2) to staff a wholesale line for the cafes (Opportunity 2), before taking on a second shop.
• Limit. Do not sign a second lease until the oven limit (Weakness 1) is solved: with rising rent (Threat 1), a half-used shop would cost too much.

The result is a decision, wholesale first and a second shop later, not a list of eight observations.

Common mistakes

• Writing points that are true of any organization. “Good team” fails the test of being better than the alternatives.
• Mixing inside and outside. A new competitor is a threat. Your weak brand is a weakness.
• Listing 20 points per box. Choose the ones that would change the decision.
• Stopping at the grid. Without pairings and priorities, nothing happens.
• Doing it alone. Get at least one person who disagrees with you to review it.

Download

Free to download. The numbers in the file are made up, so replace them.

Use and limits

Free to use and adapt for your own work. If you publish or share it, a link back is appreciated.

Sources and further reading

Sources are linked so you can check them. Statements that vary by employer, or that accounts disagree about, are hedged in the text. Found a mistake? Email support@forwardeployed.work and we will correct the page and update its date.

1. SWOT analysis. Encyclopedia entry.
2. Strategic management. Encyclopedia entry.