The external blog that I choose is called ‘SWOT ANALYSIS VS PEST ANALYSIS AND WHEN TO USE THEM‘ that is written by Nishadha in his blog. SWOT and PEST analysis are two important tools for strategic management. There are some relations between these two analysis. PEST is an analysis of external factors which is connected to the opportunity and threat parts of SWOT. Nishadha said that SWOT analysis should be used by the management team in the early stages of project planning, because brainstorming is a great way to introduce all the relevant internal and external factors for each section of the analysis.

I agree with him, however recently I always heard the positive things about this analysis, I want to talk about the disadvantages of it. I think SWOT analysis sometimes could be unrealistic because the analysis is subjective. If the manager does not have much experience or knowledge this could lead company to a worry direction. Another disadvantage is that SWOT analysis does not include quantitative factors, so the ‘cost’ of correcting a weakness cannot be compared with the potential ‘profit’ from pursuing an opportunity. According to PEST, Nishadha said that this one should be conducted before beginning a new project or to help conduct market research. I just partially agree with him. In my own idea PEST analysis is for external enviroment, this means it needs to constantly update, because the external world will change rapidly.

Although there could have some disadvantages of them, they are still an indispensable parts for strategy analysis.