SWOT analysis

Definition

A framework examining Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, beloved by consultants who charge thousands to list obvious things in four quadrants.

Example Usage

Our SWOT analysis revealed that our strength is pizza Fridays and our biggest threat is literally everything else.

Origin

Developed at Stanford in the 1960s-70s by Albert Humphrey

Fun Fact

Despite being taught in every business school for fifty years, SWOT analyses are remarkably bad at predicting actual business outcomes.

Source: Strategic planning and business school terminology

Related Terms

Intermediate

governance

The elaborate system of rules, processes, and committees that organizations create to ensure accountability, which paradoxically often makes it impossible to figure out who's actually responsible for anything. Good governance means having enough oversight to prevent chaos; too much governance means spending six months getting approval to order new staplers. It's the corporate equivalent of checks and balances, except the checks never clear and nobody can balance the budget.

💼 Corporate / Business

Beginner

leader

The person who gets credit when things go right and should take blame when they go wrong, though the actual distribution rarely works that way. In corporate settings, it's someone with the authority to make decisions and the responsibility to explain them in all-hands meetings. They're distinguished from managers by having vision, charisma, or at minimum, a corner office.

💼 Corporate / Business

Intermediate

Socialize

To share an idea informally before making it official, essentially pre-selling your proposal through hallway conversations and coffee chats. Politics disguised as collaboration.

💼 Corporate / Business

Beginner

management

The organizational layer responsible for making decisions, attending meetings about meetings, and explaining why changes are necessary while resisting any actual change. They're the people who set goals, allocate resources, and then wonder why their strategic vision doesn't survive contact with reality. Good management is invisible; bad management is the reason everyone's resume is updated.

💼 Corporate / Business

Beginner

logistics

The unglamorous but essential art of getting the right stuff to the right place at the right time without everything going catastrophically wrong. It's the behind-the-scenes choreography that makes modern life possible—from Amazon deliveries to military operations. Supply chain wizards who master logistics are the reason you can order toilet paper at 2 AM and have it by noon.

💼 Corporate / Business

Beginner

offshoring

Relocating business operations or manufacturing to another country to reduce costs, typically labor expenses. A euphemism for 'we found people who'll do your job for less money in a different time zone.'

💼 Corporate / Business

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