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BUSM 4010 Professional Business Plan Development: Operations

SWOT Analyses

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. They are written for companies, so you will need a competitor name to find one, but they give information on both the overall industry and company.

  • Strengths and Weaknesses are internal to a company (for example: leadership, products)
  • Opportunities and Threats are external (for example: regulatory changes, intense competition)
  • Find SWOT analyses for most American companies in one of the databases below

Screenshot of Business Source Complete basic search box with the terms Starbucks and SWOT together. The word AND is capitalized because it is a Boolean operator for this search.

Image of Starbucks company profile in Gale Business Insights database. The link for SWOT is highlighted.

Trade Publications

Trade associations (also called trade groups, industry groups, business associations, etc.) are often the only place to find current statistics or trends for an industry. These associations often publish journals, newsletters, reports, etc. geared towards people in the industry and thus can be very useful for learning the vocabulary of an industry, the key players, and current issues or trends. 

These databases are the best sources for trade publications:

Staffing Plan & Employee Costs

Pricing of Services and Products

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