SWOT AnalysisPrompt.

Act as an experienced business strategist and evidence-based SWOT analysis specialist.

TASK:
Create a practical SWOT analysis for the business, product, project or decision below.

The goal is not to produce a generic four-box list. The analysis should distinguish internal factors from external factors, show what evidence supports each point, prioritize what matters most, connect the findings to strategy and identify what still needs validation.

Do not invent market facts, competitor behavior, customer preferences, financial results, capabilities, risks or opportunities.

Clearly separate:

- confirmed facts
- reasonable hypotheses
- assumptions
- unknowns requiring research

BUSINESS / SUBJECT:
[Business, product, project, department, idea or decision.]

OBJECTIVE:
[What decision or strategic question should the SWOT support?]

MARKET:
[Country / region / industry if relevant.]

CUSTOMER:
[Target customer or audience.]

PRODUCT / SERVICE:
[What is being offered.]

CURRENT POSITION:
[Describe current situation.]

KNOWN STRENGTHS:
[Internal advantages already known.]

KNOWN WEAKNESSES:
[Internal limitations already known.]

KNOWN OPPORTUNITIES:
[External opportunities already known.]

KNOWN THREATS:
[External threats already known.]

COMPETITOR INFORMATION:
[Known competitors or alternatives.]

CUSTOMER INFORMATION:
[Known customer needs, behavior, feedback or pain points.]

FINANCIAL INFORMATION:
[Revenue, cost, margin, budget or other known data if relevant.]

OPERATIONAL INFORMATION:
[People, systems, processes, capacity, suppliers, quality, etc.]

MARKETING / SALES INFORMATION:
[Channels, conversion, brand, sales performance, etc.]

RESOURCES / CAPABILITIES:
[Skills, assets, technology, relationships, experience, intellectual property, etc.]

CONSTRAINTS:
[Budget, time, regulation, capacity, geography, dependencies, etc.]

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
[Any additional instructions.]

SWOT ANALYSIS REQUIREMENTS:

1. DEFINE THE PURPOSE
Before creating the SWOT, clearly state:

Decision / objective:
Scope:
Time horizon:
Business unit / product / market covered:

Avoid analyzing areas outside the stated scope.

2. APPLY THE INTERNAL VS EXTERNAL RULE
Classify:

STRENGTHS = Internal positive factors.
WEAKNESSES = Internal negative factors.
OPPORTUNITIES = External favorable factors.
THREATS = External unfavorable factors.

Do not place the same factor in several categories without explaining why.

3. DISTINGUISH CONTROL
For every factor identify whether it is:

Directly controllable
Partially controllable
Not controllable

This helps prevent external conditions from being mislabeled as internal weaknesses.

4. ASSESS EVIDENCE
For each factor provide:

Factor:
Category:
Evidence:
Evidence status:
Strategic relevance:

Evidence status should be:

Confirmed
Supported but incomplete
Hypothesis
Unknown

Do not present a hypothesis as fact.

5. IDENTIFY STRENGTHS
Consider internal areas such as:

Skills
Experience
Brand
Customer relationships
Processes
Technology
Cost position
Quality
Location
Distribution
Data
Speed
Service
Intellectual property
Team
Supplier relationships
Cash position
Operational capability

Only include factors that create a meaningful advantage.

6. AVOID GENERIC STRENGTHS
Do not automatically list:

Good customer service
Experienced team
High quality
Strong brand

unless there is evidence or a clear basis.

7. TEST EACH STRENGTH
Ask:

Does this actually create customer or business value?
Is it difficult for competitors to match?
Is it still relevant?
Can it support the stated objective?

Remove weak or meaningless strengths.

8. IDENTIFY WEAKNESSES
Consider internal limitations such as:

Skill gaps
Capacity
High cost
Poor process
Dependency
Low awareness
Weak data
Low conversion
Slow service
Limited funding
Technology limitation
Poor documentation
Single supplier dependency

Do not invent weaknesses simply to balance the matrix.

9. DISTINGUISH ROOT WEAKNESS FROM SYMPTOM
Example:

Symptom:
Late deliveries.

Possible weakness:
Poor order planning.

Do not claim the root cause unless evidence supports it.

10. IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES
Consider external changes such as:

Customer demand
Market growth
New segment
Technology
Regulation
Distribution
Partnership
Competitor weakness
Changing behavior
New channel
Geographic expansion
Supplier development

Do not describe an internal action as an opportunity.

Incorrect:
"Improve our website."

Better external opportunity:
"Growing customer use of online purchasing."

Internal response:
"Improve the website to capture the opportunity."

11. TEST OPPORTUNITY REALITY
For each opportunity ask:

What evidence suggests it exists?
Which customer or market does it affect?
How large or important could it be?
What capability is required to capture it?
How quickly could it change?

Do not invent market size.

12. IDENTIFY THREATS
Consider external factors such as:

Competitor entry
Price pressure
Regulation
Supply disruption
Customer behavior change
Technology change
Economic pressure
Substitution
Labor shortage
Currency movement
Platform dependency
Supplier concentration

13. AVOID OVERSTATING THREATS
Do not label every uncertainty as a threat.

Separate:

Actual threat
Emerging threat
Potential risk
Unknown requiring monitoring

14. IDENTIFY STATUS-QUO RISK
Consider whether doing nothing creates risk.

Examples:

Customer expectations changing
Cost increasing
Technology becoming outdated
Competitors improving

15. REMOVE DUPLICATES
Combine overlapping factors.

Example:

"Low brand awareness"
and
"Customers do not know us"

may represent the same weakness.

16. MAKE EACH FACTOR SPECIFIC
Avoid:

"Competition"

Prefer:

"Several established competitors already have stronger distribution relationships."

Only if supported by evidence.

17. EXPLAIN BUSINESS IMPACT
For every major factor explain:

Why it matters
What it affects
Potential consequence

18. PRIORITIZE FACTORS
Score each important factor using:

Impact: 1–5
Confidence: 1–5
Urgency: 1–5

If these scores are inferred, label them as provisional.

19. CALCULATE PRIORITY SCORE
Where useful:

Priority Score = Impact × Confidence × Urgency

Explain that this is a prioritization aid, not objective truth.

20. DO NOT USE FALSE PRECISION
Avoid decimal-heavy or overly precise scoring without evidence.

21. IDENTIFY TOP FACTORS
Select approximately:

Top 3 strengths
Top 3 weaknesses
Top 3 opportunities
Top 3 threats

Use strategic importance, not list order.

22. IDENTIFY CRITICAL ASSUMPTIONS
For each major unverified factor provide:

Assumption:
Why it matters:
How to validate:
What changes if wrong:

23. BUILD THE SWOT MATRIX
Create four sections:

STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS

Each entry should include a short explanation.

24. BUILD SO STRATEGIES
Strength + Opportunity.

Ask:

How can existing strengths be used to capture external opportunities?

For each strategy provide:

Strength used
Opportunity targeted
Strategic action
Expected benefit

25. BUILD ST STRATEGIES
Strength + Threat.

Ask:

How can strengths reduce exposure to external threats?

26. BUILD WO STRATEGIES
Weakness + Opportunity.

Ask:

What weakness must be improved to capture an opportunity?

27. BUILD WT STRATEGIES
Weakness + Threat.

Ask:

Where could an internal weakness increase exposure to an external threat?

Identify defensive or risk-reduction actions.

28. AVOID FORCED COMBINATIONS
Do not create SO/ST/WO/WT strategies that have no logical connection.

29. IDENTIFY STRATEGIC THEMES
Group related findings into themes such as:

Growth
Cost
Customer
Operations
Technology
Capability
Risk
Market access

30. IDENTIFY COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Where evidence supports it, identify strengths that may create meaningful differentiation.

Do not automatically call every strength a competitive advantage.

31. TEST SUSTAINABILITY
Ask:

Can competitors copy it?
How quickly?
Does it rely on one person or supplier?
Does customer value support it?

32. IDENTIFY CAPABILITY GAPS
For opportunities, identify required:

Skills
People
Technology
Funding
Partners
Processes
Capacity
Data

33. IDENTIFY DEPENDENCIES
For each strategic action identify major dependencies.

Examples:

Approval
Funding
Technology
Supplier
Recruitment
Data
Customer research

34. IDENTIFY CONSTRAINTS
Consider:

Budget
Time
Capacity
Regulation
Contract
Technology
Skill

Do not recommend strategies that ignore known constraints.

35. IDENTIFY RISK
For each major strategic option provide:

Risk:
Likelihood:
Impact:
Mitigation:

Use qualitative levels unless real probability data exists.

36. DISTINGUISH SWOT FROM RISK REGISTER
SWOT should identify strategic threats and weaknesses.

Detailed operational risks can be listed separately if useful.

37. CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE
Ask:

Which strengths does the customer actually value?
Which weaknesses affect customer experience?
Which opportunities reflect changing customer needs?
Which threats could change customer choice?

38. FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE
Where data exists assess impact on:

Revenue
Margin
Cost
Cash flow
Investment
Profitability

Do not invent financial impact.

39. OPERATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Assess:

Capacity
Process
Quality
People
Systems
Suppliers
Lead time
Reliability

40. MARKET PERSPECTIVE
Assess:

Demand
Competition
Substitution
Channel
Pricing
Entry barriers

41. TECHNOLOGY PERSPECTIVE
Assess:

Automation
Digital adoption
Cyber risk
Platform dependency
Obsolescence
AI adoption

Only where relevant.

42. REGULATORY PERSPECTIVE
Identify regulatory factors only from supplied or reliable evidence.

Do not invent laws or compliance requirements.

43. SUPPLIER PERSPECTIVE
Where relevant assess:

Supplier concentration
Lead time
Cost
Quality
Alternative supply
Dependency

44. PEOPLE PERSPECTIVE
Assess internal:

Skills
Leadership
Capacity
Retention
Training
Succession

Do not make unsupported claims about employee morale.

45. SHORT-TERM VS LONG-TERM
Classify important factors as:

Immediate
Near-term
Long-term

46. REVERSIBILITY
For major strategic actions identify:

Easy to reverse
Moderately reversible
Hard to reverse

47. QUICK WINS
Identify actions that:

Use existing strengths
Require relatively low effort
Address a meaningful issue

Do not label trivial work as strategic quick wins.

48. BIG BETS
Identify potentially high-impact actions requiring greater commitment.

Explain evidence and risk requirements.

49. NO-REGRET ACTIONS
Where possible identify actions that are useful under several plausible future scenarios.

50. AVOID ACTION OVERLOAD
Do not turn every SWOT item into a separate project.

Prioritize.

51. CREATE AN IMPACT-EFFORT VIEW
For recommended actions classify:

High impact / Low effort
High impact / High effort
Low impact / Low effort
Low impact / High effort

Use provisional classification where evidence is incomplete.

52. RECOMMEND PRIORITY ACTIONS
For each priority action provide:

Action
Reason
SWOT link
Priority
Owner role
Timeframe
Dependency
Success measure

Do not invent names.

If dates are unknown use:

"Timing to be agreed."

53. DEFINE OWNER ROLES
Use roles such as:

Marketing Manager
Operations Lead
Founder
Finance Manager
Sales Lead

Only when the role logically exists from context.

Otherwise use:

"Owner to be assigned."

54. DEFINE SUCCESS MEASURES
Use measurable outcomes where data exists.

Do not create arbitrary KPI targets.

55. IDENTIFY VALIDATION TASKS
Some SWOT factors require research before action.

Examples:

Customer interviews
Competitor review
Cost analysis
Capacity analysis
Supplier review
Market research

56. PRIORITIZE VALIDATION
Use:

P1 — Could change strategy significantly.
P2 — Important.
P3 — Useful.

57. IDENTIFY BLIND SPOTS
Ask what may be missing because the analysis relies only on internal information.

Potential gaps:

Customer evidence
Competitor data
Market trends
Financial analysis
Supplier data
Operational data

58. CHALLENGE MANAGEMENT ASSUMPTIONS
Where statements are unsupported, do not automatically accept them.

Example:

"We have the best quality."

Ask:

What evidence demonstrates this?

59. IDENTIFY CONTRADICTIONS
If supplied information conflicts, list the conflict rather than choosing one version.

60. CONSIDER SCENARIOS
Where uncertainty is high, consider:

Favorable scenario
Base scenario
Adverse scenario

Do not invent probabilities.

61. TEST STRATEGY ROBUSTNESS
Ask:

Would the recommended strategy still make sense if a major assumption changes?

62. IDENTIFY EARLY WARNING SIGNALS
For significant threats identify indicators to monitor.

Examples:

Supplier lead time
Competitor price movement
Customer churn
Cost increase
Regulatory announcement

63. STRATEGIC FIT
Evaluate whether proposed actions align with:

Objective
Capabilities
Resources
Positioning
Customer value

64. AVOID COPYING COMPETITORS
A competitor action is not automatically the correct strategy.

Assess fit.

65. AVOID SWOT BIAS
Watch for:

Overconfidence
Confirmation bias
Wishful thinking
Competitor fixation
Internal blind spots

66. EVIDENCE STRENGTH
For each critical factor assign:

Strong
Moderate
Weak

Explain briefly.

67. CONFIDENCE LEVEL
Rate the overall SWOT:

High
Medium
Low

based on evidence completeness.

68. MANAGEMENT SUMMARY
Provide:

Objective
Most important strength
Most important weakness
Best opportunity
Largest threat
Recommended strategic priority
Biggest assumption
Immediate next action

69. ONE-PAGE SWOT
Provide a concise four-quadrant version after the detailed analysis.

70. DECISION IMPLICATION
Explain what the SWOT means for the original objective.

Do not finish with only descriptive observations.

71. ACTION PLAN
Convert the strongest findings into a short prioritized action plan.

72. FINAL QUALITY CHECK
Before finalizing verify:

- strengths and weaknesses are internal
- opportunities and threats are external
- unsupported factors are labeled
- generic statements were removed
- duplicate factors were merged
- factors are prioritized
- strategy links to SWOT evidence
- constraints were considered
- actions are realistic
- no market data was invented
- no competitor information was invented
- no financial results were invented
- important research gaps are visible

OUTPUT FORMAT:

1. Objective & Scope
2. Evidence Review
3. SWOT Matrix
4. Detailed Strengths
5. Detailed Weaknesses
6. Detailed Opportunities
7. Detailed Threats
8. Priority SWOT Factors
9. SO Strategies
10. ST Strategies
11. WO Strategies
12. WT Strategies
13. Strategic Themes
14. Priority Actions
15. Risks & Dependencies
16. Assumptions
17. Research / Validation Gaps
18. Early Warning Signals
19. One-Page SWOT
20. Management Summary
21. Confidence Level
22. Final Strategic Recommendation

IMPORTANT:
- Strengths and weaknesses must be internal.
- Opportunities and threats must be external.
- Do not invent business, customer, market, competitor or financial facts.
- Label hypotheses and assumptions clearly.
- Do not create generic SWOT filler just to balance all four quadrants.
- Prioritize strategic importance over the number of items.
- Connect SWOT findings to actual decisions and actions.
- Do not assume every strength is a competitive advantage.
- Do not assume every external change is an opportunity or threat.
- Challenge unsupported management assumptions.
- Recommend validation before acting on weak evidence.
- Treat SWOT as a decision-support tool, not as a decorative four-box exercise.