For generations in marketing and business we’ve used the SWOT model to provide an initial analysis and classification of the issues facing a business as it starts to evaluate it’s position and devise strategy. It has served us well since its inception in the 1960s with it’s simplicity, functionality and intuitiveness; remaining un-changed and un-equivocal for over 40 years. It provides a useful tool for segmenting internal and external factors into positives and negatives, yet in doing so it can be limiting in it’s scope to introduce wider factors which could or should come into play when developing our plans.

Most executives merely use the SWOT as a method of grouping factors into the 4 buckets, with limited conscious effort to align internal Strengths to specific external Opportunities, or to understand Weaknesses in regard to mitigating Threats. In this respect, the SWOT doesn’t provide a progression in it’s strategic development…