On a correlative and evolutionary SWOT analysis

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to counter-propose a new approach of SWOT analysis, which can be used in the strategic planning of the contemporary organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper, after presenting the conceptual context of the existing (conventional) SWOT analysis, presents the existing criticism within the international literature. Then, it articulates gradually the new evolutionary and correlative SWOT analysis, by using the approaches and the literature of evolutionary economics, and the Stra.Tech.Man approach in business dynamics. In conclusion, it presents the new conceptual framework on which a new correlative SWOT analysis can be based.

Findings

Main finding of this research is that the interpretation of the conventional SWOT analysis tends to study the strengths and the weaknesses of the business with an analytical dichotomy. The conventional SWOT analysis conceptualizes, usually implicitly, the opportunities and threats of the external environment as having the same impact to all the socioeconomic agents, without exception. However, by using a correlative interpretation of SWOT analysis, we understand that the opportunities and threats are always “potential,” depending on the organization’s strategic capability to exercise its comparative strengths and weaknesses.

Originality/value

In the existing literature of SWOT analysis, despite the growing criticism, there is no critique that can give systemic and correlative answers to the articulation of business strategy in SWOT terms. The Stra.Tech.Man approach, also, is a conceptual framework to study the evolutionary adaptation of all the kinds of socioeconomic organizations.

Innovative Networks and the Technopolis Phenomenon: The Case of Sophia-Antipolis

An attempt is made, first, to assess the technopolis project of Sophia-Antipolis, and, second, to propose a qualitative means of understanding local systems of innovation. A quantitative analysis based on the evaluation of the Sophia-Antipolis development indicates success, but seems to be insufficient to give an indication of the economic strength of the project. A theoretical analysis of local systems of production and innovation appears to be necessary; such an analysis is carried out, and ends with the definition of a concept of innovative network that is based on the coordination modes of local activities and the related incentive schemes. This framework is then applied to Sophia-Antipolis, and allows a qualitative assessment of the project, revealing some weaknesses in the local context.