MKT-300-C1: Marketing Management Assignments Week 4 — Milestone 3: SWOT Analysis
- Week 4 — Milestone 3: SWOT Analysis
100 Points
Requirement: Up to 1 file allowed
100 points · One PDF per student, 2–3 pages
Assess the strategic position of your Final Marketing Plan topic, then say what that assessment means you should do.
A SWOT matrix on its own gives no strategic advice. The value comes from pairing an internal factor with an external one and drawing out what the organization must do differently. This milestone asks for both the matrix and that synthesis.
THE TOOLS YOU NEED
Everything required is below. Chapter 3 of the course readings covers each idea in more depth if you want it.
The four categories and their internal/external boundaries:
- Strengths — INTERNAL. Resources, capabilities and competencies your organisation controls that create advantage.
- Weaknesses — INTERNAL. Limitations, resource gaps or performance deficits your organisation controls that create vulnerability.
- Opportunities — EXTERNAL. Trends, market gaps, regulatory changes or shifts in buyer needs that exist independently of you and could be captured.
- Threats — EXTERNAL. Competitor moves, macro-environment pressures, supply constraints or regulatory burdens that exist independently of you and must be defended against.
The internal/external boundary is the integrity test of a SWOT. The most common error is listing a favorable external trend as a strength because it seems positive. Ask: does my organization control this? If not, it is external, no matter how good it is for you.
Where external evidence comes from (PESTLE)
Political · Economic · Sociocultural · Technological · Legal · Environmental
Use these six lenses to find opportunities and threats you would otherwise miss.
Strategic implications: turning the matrix into direction
A strategic implication is a reasoned consequence that emerges from pairing an internal factor with an external one. Three steps:
1. Identify a high-impact intersection: pair a dominant internal factor with a major external one.
2. Match capability to reality: can you capture the growth, must you mitigate the risk, or do you need to repair an internal gap first?
3. Formulate the implication: state what the organisation must do differently.
Worked example — Tesla
Internal strength: proprietary charging infrastructure.
External threat: low-cost international competitors entering key markets.
Implication: use the charging network as a defensive moat by opening access to rival drivers for recurring service revenue while keeping the fastest charging speeds and best pricing exclusive to Tesla owners.
Notice that the implication names an action, not a feeling about the pairing.
WHAT TO SUBMIT
Include these five sections:
1. Your topic in one sentence: The company, product or service from your approved concept proposal.
2. Your SWOT matrix: A clearly labelled table with four quadrants. Three to five items per quadrant. Each item needs two things: a specific statement, and the evidence behind it (a source, a figure, a competitor action, or an observation from your research). “Strong brand” is not an item. “Instagram following of 84,000 with a 6% engagement rate, roughly triple the category average” is.
3. Classification check: A short paragraph confirming you have kept internal and external separate. If any item was difficult to classify, say which and how you decided.
4. Three strategic implications: Pick three high-impact intersections and work each one through. Include at least: • One strength paired with an opportunity (where can you attack?), and • One weakness paired with a threat (where are you exposed?). The third is yours to choose. For each, name the two factors, then state in two or three sentences what your organisation must do differently as a result.
5. What this means for the milestones ahead: Two or three sentences on how these implications will shape your target market, positioning, pricing and promotion decisions.
WHAT LOSES MARKS
- Vague items. Don’t say things like “Strong brand,” “competitive market,” or “growing industry.” If it could appear in any team’s SWOT, it says nothing about yours.
- External trends filed as strengths. A growing market is an opportunity. Your ability to serve it is a strength. Keep them apart.
- Assertions with no evidence. Every item needs something to back it up.
- A matrix with no implications. The matrix is the intermediate step, not the deliverable.
- Implications that restate the pairing. “We should use our strength to pursue this opportunity” is not an implication. Name the action.
This is a working analysis. Revisit and refine it as your understanding of the market and competitors evolves.
SUBMISSION AND AI USE
Submission — One PDF per student. Bullets and short paragraphs are preferred over continuous prose.
AI use — limited and transparent. You may use AI tools for support: reviewing background information on a market, organising your findings, or checking clarity. You may not use AI to generate the SWOT analysis or make strategic judgements on your behalf. The judgement must be yours alone.
If you use AI, add two or three sentences at the end describing how. You will not be penalized for disclosing. If you didn’t use AI for this assignment, include a sentence saying so.
Grading Criteria
Points
Specificity and Evidence
30
Internal / External Classification
20
Strategic Implications
30
Forward Connection and Presentation
20