216 Assessing your business model’s overall integrity is crucial, but looking at its components in detail can also reveal interesting paths to innovation and renewal. An effective way to do this is to combine classic strengths, weak- nesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis with the Business Model Canvas. SWOT analysis provides four perspectives from which to assess the elements of a business model, while the Business Model Canvas provides the focus necessary for a structured discussion. SWOT analysis is familiar to many businesspeople. It is used to analyze an organization’s strengths and weaknesses and identify potential opportuni- ties and threats. It is an attractive tool because of its simplicity, yet its use can lead to vague discussions because its very openness offers little direc- tion concerning which aspects of an organization to analyze. A lack of useful outcomes may result, which has lead to a certain SWOT-fatigue among managers. When combined with the Business Model Canvas, though, SWOT enables a focused assessment and evaluation of an organization’s business model and its Building Blocks. SWOT asks four big, simple questions. The fi rst two—what are your organization’s strength and weaknesses?—assess your organization inter- nally. The second two—what opportunities does your organization have and what potential threats does it face?—assess your organization’s posi- tion within its environment. Of these four questions, two look at helpful areas (strengths and opportunities) and two address harmful areas. It is useful to ask these four questions with respect to both the overall business model and each of its nine Building Blocks. This type of SWOT analysis provides a good basis for further discussions, decision-making, and ultimately innovation around business models. detailed swot assessment of each building block What are your business model’s . . . strengths weaknesses opportunities threats — helpful — — harmful — — external — — internal — The following pages contain non-exhaustive sets of questions to help you assess the strengths and weaknesses of each of your business model Building Blocks. Each set can help jumpstart your own assessments. Results from this exercise can become the foundation for business model change and innovation in your organization. bmgen_final.indd 216 6/15/10 5:44 PM