SWOT Confrontation Matrix

The report discusses the SWOT analysis of an education institute of Pakistan named ZS Academic Learning Centre & Consultancy which was established in 2005. The organizational characteristics of the firm are discussed by focusing on entry strategies of Netherlands. The report further elaborates the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with the industry and after that, provides a framework to analyse its output known as Confrontation Matrix. It analyses each component of SWOT analysis and develops four major strategies incorporating the four elements of SWOT to improve the performance of the institute in comparison to its competitors.

Running Head : SWOT Confrontation Matrix
SWOT Confrontation Matrix
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SWOT Confrontation Matrix
Executive Summary
The report discusses the SWOT analysis of an education institute of Pakistan named ZS
Academic Learning Centre & Consultancy which was established in 2005. The
organizational characteristics of the firm are discussed by focusing on entry strategies of
Netherlands. The report further elaborates the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats associated with the industry and after that, provides a framework to analyse its output
known as
Confrontation Matrix. It analyses each component of SWOT analysis and
develops four major strategies incorporating the four elements of SWOT to improve the
performance of the institute in comparison to its competitors.

2SWOT Confrontation Matrix
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
DISCUSSION............................................................................................................................4
CONFRONTATION MATRIX OF ZS ACADEMIC LEARNING CENTRE
&CONSULTANCY.................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................9

3SWOT Confrontation Matrix
INTRODUCTION
The report focuses on analysing organisational characteristics of a company
ZS
Academic Learning Centre & Consultancy. The company‘s Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats are critically evaluated by giving the SWOT Analysis of given
company. The next sections of the report provide a Confrontation matrix of the company to
analyse the output of the SWOT analysis. The report analyses each different combination to
identify major strategic issues faced by the company.

4SWOT Confrontation Matrix
DISCUSSION
ZS Academic Learning Centre &Consultancy is an educational institute formed in
2005. Having its roots in Pakistan, it provides private tuitions to University students to
develop entry strategies into the Netherlands. The report analyses the characteristics of the
institute by providing a SWOT analysis of it as shown below:
STRENGTHS
 It has highly qualified teachers,
some of them having an experience
of Netherlands education system.
 As business investment is low, it has
limited expansion.
 The institute can offer its services
online due to strong online
connections with the outside world.
(Romero-Gutierrez, Jimenez-Liso &
Martinez-Chico 2016).
WEAKNESSES
 More training and resources need to
be provided to employees, even
when hiring for the Netherlands
market.
 Subjects offered and taught are
limited in scope and applicability
that cover a small part of the huge
syllabus of the University.
 The firm is relatively unknown in
the outside market which makes it
inaccessible to foreign students.
(Khalid et al., 2017).
OPPORTUNITIES
 The company has opportunities to
diversify its services beyond
subjects like finance and accounts.
 Students are more interested in
THREATS
 The company faces a number of
competitors while entering into the
new market.
 The planned objectives of the

5SWOT Confrontation Matrix
taking private tuitions of subjects
from the firm due to wide expansion
of the institute in Pakistan as well as
in Netherlands.
 The company can forge partnerships
with other academic institutions for
establishing a prominent position in
the market. (De Waal & Kerklaan
2013).
company may be obstructed by
regulatory and operational
frameworks in the economy.
 The novelty of the company in the
market of Netherlands is a pertinent
threat to its growth and development
in the market.( Stensaker et al.,2014)
After analysing the Company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats; a
Confrontation Matrix needs to be created which will compare these conclusions with each
other .This is the middle step between a company’s SWOT analysis and setting up strategies
to solve problems related to the mentioned company. In this matrix, strengths and weaknesses
of the firm are interlinked or confronted with opportunities and threats to develop a good
marketing strategy for the company to succeed in the market. (Hassanien, 2017).In this
matrix, the main points of each of the four aspects discussed above are placed against each
other to discuss four strategies. These are
Growth Strategy based on opportunities and
strengths,
Defence Strategy based on threats and strengths ,
Improvement Strategy based
on opportunities and weaknesses and
Retreat Strategy based on threats and weaknesses.
(Brooks, Heffner & Henderson 2014). The Confrontation Matrix can be schematically
explained as shown below:

6SWOT Confrontation Matrix
CONFRONTATION MATRIX OF ZS ACADEMIC LEARNING CENTRE
&CONSULTANCY
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
STRENGTHS
O
1
O
2
O
3
O
4
S
1
1 3
S
2
S
3
3 2
S
4
T
1
T
2
T
3
T
4
3
1 2
WEAKNESSES W
1
W
2
2 2 1
W
3
1 3
W
4
2 3 2
1
3 1

7SWOT Confrontation Matrix
By analysing the above Confrontation Matrix, the report explains the best internal options
(strengths or weaknesses) ranked 3 in each section of the above matrix as follows:
[1]
S3O1 : This combination of strength and opportunity is best suited for the firm due
to the fact that subject diversification can lead to strong student interactions
throughout the world. (Addams & Allfred 2013).
[2]
S1O2: This Strength and Opportunity combination is best for the company as
interested students of Pakistan and Netherlands wanting to take tuitions can get good
guidance and results . This is due to the presence of highly qualified teachers having
a strong Netherlands education base. (Chen, 2014).
[3]
W3O3 : This combination of Weakness and Opportunity is best suited for the
company as developing partnerships with foreign academic institutions will make it
known and accessible to students worldwide. (Sarsby, 2016).
[4]
W3T1 : This combination of Weakness and Threat is best suited for the company
as facing competitors while entering the new market will make the firm be known to
outsiders and eliminate the fear of novelty in students’ mindsets. (Brooks, Heffner &
Henderson, 2014).
[5]
W1T2: This combination of Weakness and Threat is best suited for the firm as the
obstruction of regulatory frameworks will limit the amount of training and resources
needed , which will benefit the company. (De Waal & Kerklaan, 2013).
[6]
S1T3 : This combination of Strength and Threat is best suited for the firm as
presence of skilled teachers of Netherlands will nullify the newness of the company in
Netherlands by educating students and improving growth of the firm. (Hassanien,
2017).

8SWOT Confrontation Matrix
CONCLUSION
The report discusses the SWOT analysis of the education institute ZS Academic
Learning Centre & Consultancy and further combines its various elements to form a
Confrontation Matrix which discusses four different types of strategies namely Growth
Strategy, Improvement Strategy, Defence Strategy and Retreat Strategy. The growth strategy
can help to expand business by connecting with worldwide academic centres and help in
knowledge diversification by online studies. The improvement strategy can help people to
know the business and increase student base. The defence strategy helps to infuse
Netherlands based teachers to teach students while the retreat strategy helps in saving
resources and providing study materials to local students. (Sarsby, 2016).

9SWOT Confrontation Matrix
REFERENCES
Addams, L., & Allfred, A. T. (2013). The first step in proactively managing students' careers:
Teaching self-SWOT analysis. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 17(4),
43-51.
Brooks, G., Heffner, A., & Henderson, D. (2014). A SWOT analysis of competitive
knowledge from social media for a small start-up business. Review of Business
Information Systems (RBIS), 18(1), 23-34.
Chen, M. (2014). SWOT analysis and strategies to support college physical education
through distance education. World Transactions on Engineering and Technology
Education, 12(4), 671-674.
De Waal, A. A., & Kerklaan, L. (2013). Developing an evidence-based management
approach for creating high performing higher education institutions (No. 2013/18).
Hassanien, M. A. (2017). Strategic Planning in Higher Education, a Need for Innovative
Model. Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science, 1-11.
Khalid, J., Ali, A. J., Khaleel, M., & Islam, M. S. (2017). Towards Global Knowledge
Society; A SWOT Analysis of Higher Education of Pakistan in Context of
Internationalization. Journal of Business, 2(2), 08-15.
Romero-Gutierrez, M., Jimenez-Liso , M. R., & Martinez-Chico, M. (2016). SWOT analysis
to evaluate the programme of a joint online/onsite master's degree in environmental
education through the students’ perceptions. Evaluation and program planning, 54,
41-49.
Sarsby, A. (2016). SWOT analysis. Lulu. com.

10SWOT Confrontation Matrix
Shahijan, M. K., Rezaei, S., & Preece, C. N. (2016). Developing a framework of
internationalisation for higher education institutions in Malaysia: a SWOT
analysis. International Journal of Management in Education, 10(2), 145-173.
Stensaker, B., Frølich, N., Huisman, J., Waagene, E., Scordato, L., & Pimentel Bótas, P.
(2014). Factors affecting strategic change in higher education. Journal of Strategy
and Management, 7(2), 193-207.