38 Examples for an External SWOT

John Spacey, January 26, 2023

An external swot is the process of identifying external opportunities and threats as part of a SWOT analysis. Strengths and weaknesses are internal elements of your SWOT that solely relate to your capabilities and position. Opportunities and weakness are external elements of your SWOT that solely relate to external factors. The following are illustrative examples.

Opportunities

SWOT opportunities are external factors that are potentially advantageous to you. The most common mistake in SWOT analysis is to list plans for improvement here as opposed to external conditions. The following examples may help to clarify the types of things that qualify as a SWOT opportunity.

Changing customer preferences	Consumer trends
Customer demand	Economic and political stability
Economic growth	Failures and weaknesses of your competition
Favorable demographic changes	Low interest rates
New business models	New customer needs
New technologies	New ways to market your products
New ways to scale your business	Possible partners
Reduced competition	Reduced costs
Reduced laws and regulations	Reduced trade barriers

Threats

Threats are external factors that are potentially negative for you.

Competitive pricing	Competitive strengths of your competition
Cybersecurity threats	Decreased consumer spending
Decreased demand	Disruption to your business model
Exchange rate volatility	High interest rates
High quality of the competition	Increased input costs
Legal disputes	Marketing prowess of the competiton
Natural disasters	New competitors
New regulations	Political instability
Price wars	Recessions
Strong brand of the competition	Supply disruptions