3.3.3.Strategic Fit (SWOT) Analysis (3-6 pages): This section explains the link between Strategic Challenges (O&T) and the organizational competencies (S&W).

o You need to provide a “SWOT summary table” (in the appendix) that recaps the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

SWOT Summary Table

A. List of Opportunities (external)

B. List of Threats (external)

C. List of Strengths (internal)

D. List of Weaknesses (internal)

4

o After strengths and weaknesses are matched with opportunities and threats, strategic directions emerge at their intersections. You need to identify 4-5 such strategic directions. The following matrix describes the 4 types of matching with related questions which may help you identify the strategic directions. Needless to say, not all internal and external factors may match well with each other. Therefore, you need to only focus on the meaningful, relevant, and significant fits.

o You need to provide the “SWOT Matrix Table” (in the appendix) that recaps 4-5 strategic directions.

SWOT Matrix Table: Strategic Directions

A. List of Strengths (internal)

B. List of Weaknesses (internal)

1 – S/O Match Strategic Recommendations

•   Obvious attractive options
•   Likely to produce greatest ROI (Return On
  Investment)
•   Likely to be quickest to implement and
  easiest to justify immediate action- planning or feasibility study

– Executive question: “If we are not already looking at these areas and prioritizing them, then why not?”

2 – W/O Match Strategic Recommendations

•   Potentially attractive options
•   Likely to produce good returns if capability
  and implementation are viable
•   Potentially exciting and rewarding due to
  change, challenge, surprise tactics, and benefits from achieving improvements

– Executive questions: “What’s actually stopping us from taking advantage of these opportunities?”

3 – S/T Match Strategic Recommendations

•   Easy to defend and counter
•   Only basic awareness, planning, and
  implementation required to meet these
  challenges
•   Investment in these issues is generally
  safe and necessary

– Executive question: “Since we are strong here, can any of these threats be turned into opportunities?”

4 – W/T Match Strategic Recommendations

•   Potentially high risk
•   Where risk is low , we must ignore these
  issues and not be distracted by them
•   Where risk is high we must assess capability
  gaps and plan to defend/avert in very specific controlled ways

– Executive question: “Where the risks of these threats are high, do we have specific improvement plans for related weaknesses to minimize the risk of those threats?”