SWOT Analysis

Threats are factors that can potentially harm a company. A threat combined with weakness is a risk. Examples include:

• Rising material costs
• Increasing competition
• Tight labor supply
• Failure to get approvals
• Legal/regulatory issues 
• Supply chain breakdowns
• Weather/natural disasters

Additional examples are listed in this article, 24 Examples of SWOT Threats. 

The databases on this page provide market research outlining competitive outlook and risk factors to help determine a company's threats. When searching them, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What new regulations threaten the company's operations? 
2. What do the company's competitors do well? 
3. What consumer trends threaten the company's business?

Case studies often highlight how a company handled a threat in order to stay viable. 

Some Harvard Business Review case studies (not all) are available through Business Source Premier. Type JN "Harvard Business Review" and case study in the search box.  

Two places that offer free, open access case studies:

• MIT Learning Edge -  A free learning resource for management educators and students from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, with a focus on entrepreneurship, leadership/ethics, operations management, strategy, sustainability and system dynamics.
• Stanford Graduate School of Business - available for free to registered educators at thecasecentre.org. Topics include entrepreneurship, strategic management, social innovation, global supply chain, and international business.

Also try:

• Google Scholar - type "business case studies" into the search bar. You can then filter by date or relevance and/or narrow these results by adding key words for a particular topic or industry such as management or banking to your search.
• Sage Business (Rutgers restricted database) includes access to a variety of business resources, including:
  • Business Cases - best practices in a variety of business disciplines 
  • Business Foundations - an overview of major business theories and their applications 
  • Research Methods Video: Market Research - a range of key research methods skills, techniques, and theories for carrying out effective and impactful market research

• IBISWorld research reports provide trends, statistics, and analysis on market size, market share of competitors, and industry growth rates for over 1,000 industry sectors operating in the U.S., China and globally. The U.S. content is further divided into state reports and economic profiles. Also includes procurement reports discussing price drivers and trends, total cost of ownership, supply market characteristics, supply chain risks and market share concentration

• MarketLine provides original industry, company, market analysis, and country reports and data based on published research and primary and secondary data sources, including 3,500 industry profiles and market data on 150 consumer products in over 60 countries. 

• Mergent Online contains industry sector comparisons and analysis via the Industry Analysis tab at the top. You can also search for industry reports by clicking on the Investext tab. 

• Mintel Reports are product and industry market research reports covering both the U.S. and global markets in numerous niche areas. They contain comprehensive marketing and consumer research data, including information on trends, demographics, and the competitive landscape. 

• Statista integrates statistical data on a wide variety of topics and industries from over 18,000 sources, including market reports, trade publications, scientific journals, and government databases.