توسعه استراتژیک و تجزیه و تحلیل SWOT در دانشگاه وارویک

SWOT analysis is an established method for assisting the formulation of strategy. An application to strategy formulation and its incorporation into the strategic development process at the University of Warwick is described. The application links SWOT analysis to resource-based planning, illustrates it as an iterative rather than a linear process and embeds it within the overall planning process. Lessons are drawn both for the University and for the strategy formulation process itself.

The University of Warwick was founded in 1965, and in the thirty-five or so years since has established itself as one of the UK’s leading universities regularly featuring in the top ten of the various league tables constructed by the media (e.g. The Times), and having a turnover of £160 million. Strategic development at the University of Warwick has a mixture of components including: the development annually of a corporate plan for submission to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE); an annual five-year planning process undertaken by the Strategy Committee (a body comprising the principal officers of the University, who form the Steering Committee, and a number of lay (external) members of the University’s governing body, the Council); and the formulation and sometimes adoption of strategic initiatives throughout the year. In the spring of 2001 the Steering Committee considered that the corporate plan was due for a radical overhaul. However, with a new Vice-Chancellor (chief executive) appointed and due to take up his post in the summer, it was agreed that the Steering Committee would have a strategic awayday which would aim to produce recommendations for future consideration. It was agreed that a SWOT analysis would form the core of the awayday, which would be facilitated by the author who was a member of the Steering Committee due to his role as a Pro-Vice-Chancellor. The paper first introduces SWOT analysis and its links to contemporary planning methods such as resource and competency-based planning. This is followed by a description of an application of SWOT analysis at the University. The SWOT analysis is then set in the context of the University’s strategic development process. This featured issue of EJOR is concerned with applications of soft OR approaches, with SWOT analysis mentioned in that context. The author has argued elsewhere (Dyson, 2000) that OR has much to offer in the field of strategy support. It must however be inclusive of methods including hard and soft, but also should not confine itself to methods with a traditional OR label. Dyson and O’Brien (1998) in their book on methods and models for strategic development include chapters on the balanced scorecard, visioning, SWOT analysis, resource and competency-based planning, cognitive mapping, scenario planning, system dynamics, capital investment appraisal and real options as examples of this inclusive approach. This application is offered in that spirit.

In the application at Warwick SWOT analysis was seen as just one input to the planning process. A rich array of factors was generated which triggered a range of potential strategic initiatives. The high scoring factors had a bias towards opportunities and strengths and the strategies proposed were also largely driven by those factors. The University appeared therefore to be pursuing a set of offensive rather than defensive strategies. The planning process itself yielded a rich and balanced range of strategic initiatives covering most of the factors identified as being important, although a small number of factors needed further consideration. The strategies generated by the analysis were highly commensurate with those in place, or subsequently adopted by Strategy Committee. SWOT analysis is often presented as a method of rapidly moving towards an agreed strategy. It can certainly be an aid to generating new strategic initiatives, but a strategic development process also requires considerable analysis and testing of new initiatives before adoption. This testing should be against all the scenarios developed, where they exist, and a financial evaluation would certainly be advisable if not mandatory. SWOT analysis can thus be seen as an injection into an on-going process rather than a process per se. SWOT analysis has an old fashioned feel about it but is a framework which has stood the test of time and can readily incorporate ideas from newer approaches such as resource and competency-based planning and scenario development. Crucially however, it keeps internal and external factors in focus simultaneously. Valuable developments to the SWOT approach involved prioritising the various factors generated and adding a feedback loop in the strategy generation process to ensure that high scoring factors are being addressed by the strategic initiatives. This is crucial in ensuring that significant weaknesses and threats are not overlooked, and that the potential of the organisation is fully realized.