Strategic Analysis Tools: SWOT, Porter, BCG & Standards

Posted on Feb 2, 2026 in Business Administration and Management (BAM)

5 A SWOT analysis guides you to identify your organization’s strengths and weaknesses (S-W), as well as broader opportunities and threats (O-T). Developing a fuller awareness of the situation helps with both strategic planning and decision-making. The SWOT method was originally developed for business and industry, but it is equally useful in the work of community health and development, education, and even for personal growth.

Porter’s Model of Five Forces

Porter’s Five Forces model is an analysis tool that focuses on five competitive forces in an industry. Porter’s model of Five Forces enables you to analyze the competitive position of your company in the sector in which it operates.

The five forces are:

  • Threat of new entrants (Amenaza de nuevos entrantes)
  • Bargaining power of suppliers (Poder de negociación de los proveedores)
  • Bargaining power of buyers (Poder de negociación de los compradores)
  • Threat of substitute products or services (Amenaza de productos o servicios sustitutos)
  • Rivalry among existing firms (Rivalidad entre las empresas existentes) – Esta es la fuerza central del modelo.

BCG Matrix Analysis

The BCG Matrix analysis classifies businesses or business units as low, medium, or high relative to market growth and market share. Generally, businesses are categorized into:

  • Stars — high growth and high market share.
  • Question marks — high growth but low market share.
  • Cash cows — low growth and high market share.
  • Dogs (pets) — low growth and low market share. These business firms often have a weak market share because of high costs, poor quality, ineffective marketing, etc.

The true nature of the business may not be fully reflected by the matrix.

Michael Porter: Industry and Competitive Actions

Michael Porter:

  1. Analyze the industry structure.
  2. Decide on competitive strategy.
  3. Implement competitive strategy.

General Electric Standards

Profitability standards: These standards indicate how much profit General Electric would like to make in each period.

  1. Profitability standards: These standards indicate how much profit General Electric would like to make in each period.
  2. Market position standards: These standards indicate the percentage of total product market that the company would like to win from competitors.
  3. Productivity standards: These production-oriented standards indicate various acceptable rates at which final products should be generated within the organization.
  4. Product leadership standards: Product leadership standards indicate what levels of product innovation would make people view General Electric products as leaders in the market.
  5. Personnel development standards: Personnel development standards list acceptable progress in this area.
  6. Employee attitude standards: These standards indicate attitudes that General Electric employees should adopt.
  7. Public responsibility standards: All organizations have certain obligations to society. General Electric’s standards in this area indicate acceptable levels of activity within the organization directed toward living up to social responsibilities.
  8. Standards reflecting goal balance: Standards in this area indicate acceptable long-range and short-range goals and the relationship among them.

Michael Porter’s Generic Strategies

These three are: Cost Leadership, Differentiation, and Focus.

Market penetration: this strategy focuses on increasing the volume of sales of existing products to the organization’s existing market.

Product development: this strategy focuses on reaching the existing market with new products.

Market development: this strategy focuses on reaching new markets with existing products in the portfolio.

Product development (alternative): this strategy focuses on reaching new markets with new products; diversification can be either related or unrelated.