SWOT analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats (VLAIO).

Details

• Source: https://www.vlaio.be/nl/begeleiding-advies/groei-innovatie/je-bedrijf-onder-de-loep/swot-analyse
• Type: tool / template (strategic analysis)
• When to use: (re)positioning, growth planning, preparing a business plan, choosing a focus/strategy

What is a SWOT analysis?

A SWOT analysis is an overview of:

• Strengths and weaknesses of your organisation (internal)
• Opportunities and threats in the market (external)

This exercise helps you quickly see how well your business fits the market and where to prioritise.

Step 1 — Internal analysis (strengths & weaknesses)

Answer (preferably with a small team) questions such as:

Strengths

• What is your organisation really good at?
• What is your differentiator?
• What resources/competences do you have that others don’t (or have less of)?

Weaknesses

• What could be better, slower, or less good compared to alternatives?
• Which skills, resources, or processes are missing?
• Where are you vulnerable (quality, capacity, dependencies)?

Step 2 — External analysis (opportunities & threats)

Opportunities

• Which trends/developments could work in your favour?
• What gaps in the market do you see?
• Which partners, subsidies, platforms, or channels could help you accelerate?

Threats

• What is an immediate threat (competition, regulation, price pressure, supply, …)?
• Which risks could hurt in the longer term if you do nothing?

SWOT confrontation matrix (from analysis to strategy)

A SWOT is most useful when you link conclusions to it. The confrontation matrix connects your most important:

• strengths ↔ opportunities
• strengths ↔ threats
• weaknesses ↔ opportunities
• weaknesses ↔ threats

This makes it visible:

• how you can use strengths to seize opportunities
• how you can use strengths to reduce threats
• which weaknesses you should solve first (or work around)
• which risks you shouldn’t ignore

Practical approach (short step-by-step plan)

1. Define scope (which product/market/segment are you analysing?)
2. Gather input (team + customer/market information)
3. Fill in the 4 quadrants with concrete bullets (avoid vague words)
4. Pick the top 3–5 per quadrant (what weighs most?)
5. Build the confrontation matrix and score the most important combinations
6. Translate into actions (what do we do now and what later?)

Tips

• Keep items evidence-based (e.g. “10 active pilot customers” instead of “good traction”).
• Phrase threats specifically (e.g. “new EU regulation in 2027” instead of “regulation”).
• Use SWOT as a starting point — work priorities into actions/OKRs.

Template

VLAIO provides a blank template on the page:

• SWOT analysis (VLAIO)