Rutgers Business Policy and Strategy Practice Exam

The main idea is how SWOT and TOWS differ in what they do with the factors they identify. SWOT is a descriptive framework: you list internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats to understand the current situation. It’s a check of where you stand and what could affect you.

TOWS, on the other hand, takes that same set of factors and turns it into actionable strategy. It pairs internal and external factors to generate concrete options. You create four types of strategies by matching:

- Strengths with opportunities (SO): use strengths to seize opportunities.

- Weaknesses with opportunities (WO): improve weaknesses to capitalize on opportunities.

- Strengths with threats (ST): use strengths to defend against threats.

- Weaknesses with threats (WT): mitigate weaknesses to reduce vulnerability to threats.

That transition from simply listing factors to forming concrete strategic options is what sets TOWS apart from SWOT. In short, SWOT diagnoses the situation; TOWS prescribes strategic actions based on that diagnosis.