Alacra provides professionally written SWOT analyses for many firms from Morningstar and Business Monitor, among others. In addition to other industry research, you may find these outside SWOT analyses helpful when developing your own SWOT for competitive analysis, whether it is a firm or a product line.

The reports offered on AlacraStore may lead you to competing firms or new Opportunities you were previously unaware of. Outside confirmation (or rejection) of hunches or groupthink can help you choose the best strategy for a new product launch or other initiative.

When developing a SWOT analysis, information about strengths and weaknesses usually originates inside the organization -- employee and customer surveys, analyses of resources, and capabilities or core competencies. Information about Opportunities and Threats usually comes from secondary, outside sources -- the political and economic environment, the industry, or the competitive situation.

• Strengths include strong brand names, patents, reputation and cost advantages.
• Weaknesses include weak brand names, lack of patent protection and production inefficiencies.
• Opportunities include improving political or economic conditions, technological advancements that can accelerate production or market penetration.
• Threats include the emergence of a new competitor, political or economic instability and new regulation.