Apart from providing a clear picture of the internal and external factors that affect the strategic position of an organisation, researchers and scholars agree that SWOT analysis is a vital tool that enables the management to establish the relationship between their organisations and the environment in which they operate (Helms & Nixon 2010; Živković et al. 2015). In this regard, Helms and Nixon (2010) observe that due to its simplicity, the management of businesses and organisations can quickly use SWOT analysis to evaluate they relate to their environment based on different internal and external issues. Živković et al. (2015) further emphasise that the management and other organisational stakeholders can easily organise the acquire information on how the organisation relates its industry environment in a SWOT matrix. From such a matrix, the management can be in a position to make quick strategic decision, thus enhancing the position of their organisations in the environment in which they operate. Arguing from the perspective of both Helms and Nixon (2010) and Živković et al. (2015), there is a need to note that SWOT analysis is tool that helps organisations formulate and implement a profitable fit between an organisation and its industry environment.
除了清楚地了解影响组织战略地位的内部和外部因素外，研究人员和学者一致认为，SWOT分析是一种重要的工具，使管理层能够建立其组织与其运营环境之间的关系（Helms&Nixon 2010；Živković等人，2015）。在这方面，Helms和Nixon（2010）观察到，由于其简单性，企业和组织的管理层可以快速使用SWOT分析，根据不同的内部和外部问题评估它们与环境的关系。Živković等人（2015年）进一步强调，管理层和其他组织利益相关者可以轻松组织会议，获取有关组织如何在SWOT矩阵中关联其行业环境的信息。从这样一个矩阵中，管理层可以快速做出战略决策，从而提高其组织在运营环境中的地位。从Helms和Nixon（2010）和Živković等人（2015）的角度来看，需要注意的是，SWOT分析是帮助组织制定和实施组织与其行业环境之间的盈利匹配的工具。
SWOT Analysis: Criticism SWOT分析：批评
Despite its role in providing insights on an organisation’s internal and external factors that impacts its strategic position, there a number of researchers and scholars who postulates that this tool has weaknesses that undermines its capability to be used in strategy formulation and implementation. To begin with, one of the major criticisms of SWOT analysis regards its simplistic approach to strategy formulation and implementation. In reference to Panagiotou (2003), whereas in the past businesses could successful rely on SWOT analysis to develop their strategy, this is not the case in the modern world where strategy formulation and implementation has evolved into a complex process. Speaking from this point of view, whereas gaining insights on different internal and external factors that impacts an organisation is necessary, the management needs to go beyond this simplistic perception to integrate other complex issues in their strategy formulation process, which is often beyond the capability of the SWOT analysis model.
尽管该工具在洞察影响其战略地位的组织内部和外部因素方面发挥着重要作用，但仍有许多研究人员和学者认为，该工具存在一些弱点，从而削弱了其用于战略制定和实施的能力。首先，SWOT分析的一个主要批评是其对战略制定和实施的简单化方法。参考Panagiotou（2003），过去企业可以成功地依靠SWOT分析来制定战略，但在现代世界，战略制定和实施已演变为一个复杂的过程，情况并非如此。从这一角度讲，尽管有必要深入了解影响组织的不同内部和外部因素，但管理层需要超越这种简单的认知，将其他复杂问题纳入其战略制定过程，这通常超出SWOT分析模型的能力。
Another criticism on SWOT analysis as a strategy model regards its actual role in strategy formulation and implementation. Notably, whereas there is no doubt that SWOT analysis plays a critical role in shedding light on an organisation’s internal and external environment, this strategic concept does not provide direction to organisations on what ought to be done after its analysis has been conducted (Panagiotou, 2003). In other words, organisations can still fail to formulate and implement an effective strategy even after using carrying out a SWOT analysis since this model does not offer guidance on the kind of strategic approach that ought to be adopted. For example, if the management identifies stiff competition as the main threat that their organisation face, SWOT analysis does not provide a strategic direction on how such threat should be dealt with. This therefore, means that such an organisation could easily adopt a strategy that it ineffective in addressing stiff competition threats. Furthermore, in some cases, SWOT analysis can provide an ambiguous picture regarding an organisation’s internal and external environment (Grant, 2016). For example, one car manufacturer may perceive an element such as global warming as a threat to his business because of rising taxes to discourage people from purchasing cars , while to another car manufacturer, this might be perceived as an opportunity to innovate and develop electric cars that have low impact on the global warming. This implies that despite its benefits, there are cases where it blinds the decision makers, thus undermining their ability to perceive opportunities and in some cases threats to their organisations.
对SWOT分析作为一种战略模式的另一种批评是，它在战略制定和实施中的实际作用。值得注意的是，尽管SWOT分析无疑在揭示组织的内部和外部环境方面起着关键作用，但这一战略概念并没有为组织在进行分析后应该做什么提供指导（Panagiotou，2003）。换句话说，即使使用SWOT分析，组织仍可能无法制定和实施有效的战略，因为该模型不能提供应采用的战略方法的指导。例如，如果管理层将激烈竞争确定为其组织面临的主要威胁，则SWOT分析无法提供应对此类威胁的战略方向。因此，这意味着这样一个组织可以很容易地采取一种在应对激烈竞争威胁方面无效的战略。此外，在某些情况下，SWOT分析可以提供关于组织内部和外部环境的模糊图像（Grant，2016）。例如，一家汽车制造商可能会将全球变暖等因素视为对其业务的威胁，因为提高税收阻止人们购买汽车，而对另一家汽车制造商来说，这可能被视为创新和开发对全球变暖影响较小的电动汽车的机会。这意味着，尽管它有好处，但在某些情况下，它会蒙蔽决策者，从而削弱他们感知机会的能力，在某些情况下，还会威胁到他们的组织。
Porter’s Five Forces Model 波特五力模型
Another strategic concept that is widely used to help businesses and organisations formulate their strategies is the Porter’s Five Forces model. Arguably, contrary to the SWOT analysis concepts, whose analysis considers both the internal and external factor that impacts an organisation, the Porter’s Five Forces considers entirely the external environment of an organisation. According to Schermerhorn (2009), Michael Porter identified five critical forces that could influence the strategic position of an organisation because of their influence in the market. These forces are competition in the industry, power of customers, power of suppliers, potential of new entrants into the industry, and threat of substitute products (Schermerhorn 2009, p. 146). With this in mind, the Porter’s Five Forces model focuses on empowering the decision makers in organisations with insights on their external environment, that is, the industry in which they operate in, and as such, enable them channel organisational resources to areas that matter the most.
另一个广泛用于帮助企业和组织制定战略的战略概念是波特的五力模型。可以说，与SWOT分析概念相反，SWOT分析概念的分析同时考虑了影响组织的内部和外部因素，波特的五种力量完全考虑了组织的外部环境。根据Schermerhorn（2009），Michael Porter确定了五种可能影响组织战略地位的关键力量，因为它们在市场中的影响力。这些力量包括行业竞争、客户力量、供应商力量、行业新进入者的潜力以及替代产品的威胁（Schermerhorn 2009，第146页）。考虑到这一点，波特的五力模型侧重于让组织中的决策者能够洞察其外部环境，即其经营所在的行业，从而使他们能够将组织资源引导到最重要的领域。