Marketing decisions using a SWOT-AHP approach

Abstract

In marketing one of the most fundamental things when creating a strategy is the decision-making process. The decision-making process is one of the most complex procedures based on personal views when prioritizing the given factors before concluding the best approach. When many factors are included, due to their qualitative nature it is often difficult to evaluate them and their importance in the process because of lack in quantitative weights. The SWOT analysis is one of the most used approaches in the marketing field when making strategic decision. Due to its simple and effective way to collect information about the four main elements (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), it is easy to perceive the market position of the company. However, the lack of quantitative data in this analysis makes the results potentially non consistent. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the SWOT analysis can be improved when is also supported by the AHP model which generates quantitative weights and is prioritizing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the SWOT analysis. This type of combined approach can indicate that the consideration given to some of the factors is more important than others, meaning that when making decisions based on these findings the results can be drastically different and more efficient.