Some business and management classes at UMGC require analyzing a company's external and internal environments for its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as part of building a strategic plan for success. Two UMGC databases in particular include SWOT reports/analyses for many companies:
See below for assistance with Citing a SWOT Analysis from UMGC Library Databases (APA style)
Login to Business Insights: Global with the same user name and password you use to login to your online classes, MyUMGC, or any other UMGC library database.
Select SWOT Reports
From the home page of Business Insights: Global database go to the Companies tab and use the drop down menu to select SWOT Reports.
Click the company name to launch a PDF of the SWOT Report.
Here is a sample front page of a SWOT Report.
Scroll below the front page for the detailed SWOT report. The reports will be several pages long. Here is a sample from the first page of a SWOT Report for 3M Company.
Login to Business Source Complete with the same user name and password you use to login to your online classes, MyUMGC, or any other UMGC library database.
Enter the company name in the search box.
Under Search Options Select Publication Type SWOT Analysis
Below the boxes where you put your search terms in Business Source Complete look at Search Options. On the right under Publication Type select SWOT Analysis.
Opening and reading articles
Click HTML or PDF below the database record to open the full text.
What you are doing:
By clicking HTML or PDF you are going directly to the full text of the article. If you clicked the title of the article instead, you would be taken to a page with more information about the article rather than the article itself. This could include useful information like a summary, subject terms for the main concepts in the article, or the credentials of the author, etc. Google and other search engines do not generally supply this type of information, but library databases do.
Business Insights: Global
Company Name. [SWOT analysis]. (Year, Month). Retrieved from http://www.cengagesites.com/literature/782/gale-business-insights-global-essentials/home/
Business Source Complete
Company Name. [SWOT analysis]. (Year, Month). Retrieved from http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/business-source-complete
What you are doing:
You are including the year and the month of the analysis because more than one SWOT analysis can exist for a company. The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats for a company can change over time. Also you are looking online for the home page of the database. You should use a search engine like Google for this. Do not copy the URL from the browser window when you are in a UMGC library database.