TY - CHAP
T1 - The FREE (Firm Resources and External Environment) Framework as an Alternative to SWOT
T2 - An Abstract
AU - Madhavaram, Sreedhar
AU - Hunt, Shelby D.
AU - Bicen, Pelin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Academy of Marketing Science.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - For more than five decades, SWOT analysis has remained popular with business and marketing strategy educators and practitioners. However, it also attracts severe criticisms from business and marketing strategy academics and practitioners. In fact, some recommendations call for abandoning the use of SWOT for analysis. In this research, we review the literature on SWOT to delineate advantages or uses, disadvantages or concerns, and recommendations or recommended alternatives. On the foundations resource-based (R-B) strategy and resource-advantage (R-A) theory, we introduce a new framework that can be viewed as an alternative to the SWOT framework. The FREE (Firm Resources and External Environment) framework requires analysis in two parts: analyzing the firm’s resources and analyzing the external environment using the five environmental factors (the societal resources on which firms draw, the societal institutions that frame the rules of the game, the actions of competitors, the behaviors of consumers and suppliers, and public policy decisions). A discussion of the advantages of FREE framework over the SWOT framework is provided.
AB - For more than five decades, SWOT analysis has remained popular with business and marketing strategy educators and practitioners. However, it also attracts severe criticisms from business and marketing strategy academics and practitioners. In fact, some recommendations call for abandoning the use of SWOT for analysis. In this research, we review the literature on SWOT to delineate advantages or uses, disadvantages or concerns, and recommendations or recommended alternatives. On the foundations resource-based (R-B) strategy and resource-advantage (R-A) theory, we introduce a new framework that can be viewed as an alternative to the SWOT framework. The FREE (Firm Resources and External Environment) framework requires analysis in two parts: analyzing the firm’s resources and analyzing the external environment using the five environmental factors (the societal resources on which firms draw, the societal institutions that frame the rules of the game, the actions of competitors, the behaviors of consumers and suppliers, and public policy decisions). A discussion of the advantages of FREE framework over the SWOT framework is provided.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125285817&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-66023-3_20
DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-66023-3_20
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85125285817
T3 - Developments in Marketing Science: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science
SP - 49
BT - Developments in Marketing Science
PB - Springer Nature
ER -