TOWS matrix: turn your SWOT into strategies
Build a TOWS matrix: pair strengths and weaknesses with opportunities and threats to write SO, WO, ST and WT strategies. Includes SWOT vs TOWS.
A TOWS (threats, opportunities, weaknesses, strengths) matrix pairs your internal strengths and weaknesses with the external opportunities and threats to write four kinds of strategy: SO (strengths with opportunities), WO (weaknesses with opportunities), ST (strengths with threats) and WT (weaknesses with threats).
It is built from a SWOT list, but the list only names the factors. The TOWS matrix is the step that combines them into strategies. Its output is a set of alternatives, not a score or a ranking.
Your O and T come from your EFE. Try the sample EFE, no account needed.
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What the TOWS matrix is for
The TOWS matrix is a matching-stage tool in the strategy-formulation framework. It turns the findings of the input stage into strategy alternatives you can compare later.
- It is fed by your EFE matrix (the opportunities and threats) and your IFE matrix (the strengths and weaknesses).
- It feeds the decision stage, where the QSPM scores the alternatives against each other.
SWOT vs TOWS: the difference
They use the same four ingredients, and the names are often used loosely for the same exercise. The difference is what you do with the lists.
- A SWOT list is an inventory: four lists of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It describes the situation and stops there.
- TOWS is a matrix that crosses the lists. Each cell asks how one internal factor and one external factor together suggest an action, so its output is strategies.
- The TOWS name starts with the external factors, a nudge to look outward first. Heinz Weihrich introduced it in 1982. David's textbook calls the same matching tool the SWOT matrix.
So if your paper has a SWOT list, you have the inputs. The TOWS matrix is the table that makes the strategies and shows which factors each one rests on.
What you need before you start
You need four short lists, each factor specific and traceable to your audits: opportunities and threats from the external audit and your EFE, strengths and weaknesses from the internal audit and your IFE. Give every factor an id such as S1 or O2 so each strategy can say what it rests on.
A strategy that rests on a factor you cannot source is hard to defend, so check the lists before you start matching.
Step 1: Set out the four factor lists
List the key external opportunities and threats, then the key internal strengths and weaknesses, each with its id. Keep each list short enough to match against: the sample has 3 strengths, 3 weaknesses, 3 opportunities and 3 threats.
Step 2: Write the SO and WO strategies
Match internal strengths with external opportunities and record the result as SO strategies: use a strength to take advantage of an opportunity. Then match weaknesses with opportunities for WO strategies: improve a weakness by taking advantage of an opportunity.
Write each strategy as an action, then add the factor pair it comes from in brackets. A strategy can rest on more than one factor of the same kind.
Step 3: Write the ST and WT strategies
Match strengths with threats for ST strategies: use a strength to avoid or reduce the impact of a threat. Match weaknesses with threats for WT strategies: defensive moves that reduce a weakness and avoid a threat.
Not every cell has to hold the same number of strategies, and some pairings will produce nothing. Do not force one.
Step 4: Tag each strategy and check coverage
Make sure every strategy carries its factor pair and that each pair makes sense: both factors should really lead to the action. Then scan for factors that no strategy uses. For each one, either take it off your lists (and your EFE or IFE), or you have a gap to fill.
- Every strategy names its factor pair.
- Every strategy is an action, not a restatement of a factor.
- The four quadrants are labeled SO, WO, ST and WT.
“Which of these strategies are you recommending, and why?”
The TOWS matrix lists alternatives; it does not rank them. Say that, then point to the QSPM in your paper, where the alternatives are scored against the same key factors, and show the scores behind your choice.
Worked example: Tala Provisions (fictional)
Tala Provisions, Inc. is a fictional coffee roaster. Its opportunities and threats are the rows of the sample EFE, and its strengths and weaknesses are made up for this guide. First the four lists, then the matrix.
| Id | Type | Factor |
|---|---|---|
| S1 | Strength | Small-batch roasting in house, with roast dates on every bag |
| S2 | Strength | Direct supply agreements with farm cooperatives |
| S3 | Strength | Loyal base of café and office accounts |
| W1 | Weakness | Thin online marketing capacity |
| W2 | Weakness | One roasting site for all orders |
| W3 | Weakness | Limited cash for new equipment |
| O1 | Opportunity | Growing specialty-coffee demand among urban professionals |
| O2 | Opportunity | Growth in online and subscription ordering |
| O3 | Opportunity | Mall foot traffic recovering |
| T1 | Threat | Rising import duties on green coffee beans |
| T2 | Threat | Weaker peso raises input costs |
| T3 | Threat | New 3-in-1 competitor pricing |
| Strengths (S) | Weaknesses (W) | |
|---|---|---|
| Opportunities (O) |
|
|
| Threats (T) |
|
|
Take the first SO strategy: “Launch a coffee subscription for office and home buyers” (S1, O1, O2). It uses strength S1 and opportunities O1 and O2. Each strategy in the matrix can be read back to its factors the same way.
Your O and T come from your EFE. Try the sample EFE, no account needed.
How to read the result
The matrix gives you 8 alternatives, 2 SO, 2 WO, 2 ST and 2 WT. There is no total and no best cell. Treat it as a long list from which the decision stage picks, and not every strategy here will be pursued.
Where sources disagree: the order of the letters and the position of the cells differ between textbooks, and some limit each strategy to one internal and one external factor. Both are fine. What matters is that the four quadrants are named and every strategy shows its factors. Strama follows David's layout, with strengths and weaknesses across the top and opportunities and threats down the side.
Common mistakes
Writing a strategy with no factor pair.
Without the pair, nobody can tell which strength or threat the strategy answers, and the matrix is just a list of ideas.
Fix: end every strategy with its pair, for example (S1, O2), and check that both factors exist in your lists.
Mixing inside and outside factors.
A loyal customer base comes from inside the firm and is a strength, not an opportunity. Misfiled factors put strategies in the wrong quadrant.
Fix: for each factor ask whether it comes from inside the firm or from the environment.
Restating a factor as a strategy.
“Online ordering is growing” is an opportunity, not an action.
Fix: start the strategy with a verb: launch, hire, contract, lock in.
Treating the matrix as a ranking.
The TOWS matrix produces alternatives. It does not say which one is best, so a recommendation taken from it has no comparison behind it.
Fix: carry the alternatives to the QSPM, and cite its scores for your recommendation.
Copying the same generic strategies into every company.
“Improve marketing” could sit in any paper. A panel will ask which weakness and which opportunity it answers.
Fix: name the specific pair, and say what the firm would actually do.
What your panel will ask
What is the difference between a SWOT and a TOWS matrix?
A SWOT list sets out the four kinds of factor. The matrix crosses them to produce SO, WO, ST and WT strategies. David calls that matrix the SWOT matrix and others call it TOWS, so use the name your panel uses.
Where do your opportunities and threats come from?
From your external audit and your EFE matrix. Name the sources behind each one, and show that every O and T in the TOWS matrix is a row of your EFE.
How did you decide which strategies to pursue?
The TOWS matrix only generates alternatives. The choice comes from the decision stage, so point to the QSPM and the scores behind the strategies you recommend.
Why does this strategy sit in this quadrant?
Read the factor pair out loud. If both factors are in the right lists, the quadrant follows: S and O is SO, W and T is WT. If one is misfiled, fix the list, not the quadrant.
Where it goes next
Upstream, your opportunities and threats come from the EFE matrix, and the competitive profile matrix can sharpen how you word your strengths, weaknesses and competitive threats. Downstream, the strategy alternatives go to the QSPM in the decision stage, where they are scored against each other.
Your O and T come from your EFE. Try the sample EFE, no account needed.
Where this fits in your paper: the STRAMA paper format guide.
Sources
Method: Fred R. David's strategy-formulation framework, as set out in his Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases. Check the edition your program uses for page references. The TOWS name is from Heinz Weihrich, 1982.
Tala Provisions, Inc., its strengths and weaknesses, and its sources are fictional, made up for this guide. Its opportunities and threats are the sample EFE's rows.
Try the sample EFE
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Related guides
- EFE matrix
Build an External Factor Evaluation (EFE) matrix: weights that sum to 1.0, ratings from 1 to 4, and what the total weighted score tells you.
- Competitive profile matrix
Build a competitive profile matrix (CPM): pick critical success factors, weight them to 1.0, rate each firm 1 to 4, and compare the totals.