The quickest way to introduce you to SWOT and Balanced Scorecard

SWOT Analysis: A common tool used in business studies and workplace contexts is the well-known SWOT analysis. SWOT can inform action and business development and help implement strategies, particularly in the workplace.

SWOT stands for “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats” (Preston 2012, p.30). The framework categorised the internal and external aspects influencing a business in a particular period and gives an overview of its position over its competitors. SWOT provides a very strategic solution for evaluating businesses’ environment; it serves non-profits to assess the quality of the service offered and to identify the “foundations for the realisation” of organisational issues (Helms and Nixon, 2010).

Balanced ScoreCard: Since 1992, the performance management methodology of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) has provided executives with a clear illustration for setting corporate strategies and organisational objectives (Kaplan and Norton 2004). The power of using BSC relies on the interpreter’s ability to use better the four perspectives within the framework and comprehend how their homogeneity contributes to the organisation as a whole (Kaplan and Norton, cited in Weinstein and Bukovinsky, 2009). These perspectives are, Customer, Business Process, Learning and Growth and Resources (Financial) Perspectives.

In the cultural sector, cultural entrepreneurs can also make smart use of this framework to gain valuable tools for managing the industry’s revolutionary changes. For non-charitable organisations, BSC can also serve as a guide for actionable measures of the charity’s strategic priorities – in other words, to help measure what matters – the charity’s impact.