2SWOT, SWot, or swOT? An Exploration of the Relative Effect of the Internal and External Environments on Organizational Responses to a Strategic Issue

One of the primary tenets of business policy and strategic management since the field’s inception has been that managers should scan both the external and internal environments, to identify both opportunities and threats as well as strengths and weaknesses (Andrews, 1971; Ansoff, 1965; Hofer & Schendel, 1978). Once managers complete this SWOT analysis they are admonished then to formulate and implement strategies that “fit ” the firm’s internal strengths and weaknesses to its external opportunities and threats (Christensen, et. al., 1982). Whether or not managers actually behave in this idealized fashion remains an open question, and some researchers, especially Mintzberg and colleagues, boldly assert that they often do not (Mintzber