Using the Analytic Network Process(ANP) with SWOT Analysis

The food and beverage industry is very competitive in Taiwan. It is very important to investigate both internal and external environment factors in the first planning process and marketing strategy. SWOT analysis is a commonly used tool and it is a systematic way which provides advice for the decision-maker. This Study applied the method of A'WOT which is developed by Kurttila et al.(2000) who combined the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) and SWOT analysis into one. SWOT analysis is to explore the strengths and weaknesses in its internal environment and opportunities, threats in the external environment. Because of the dependency among the SWOT factors, the proposed algorithm applied the analytic network process (ANP) which allows the dependency among the strategic factors as well as AHP. The expert interview was conducted for the A'WOT analysis. The aim of this study was to determine the priorities of the SWOT factor which was converted into SO, ST, WO, and WT strategies. The result shows that SO strategy "build the brand" is the best policy for the restaurant on marketing in Hsin Chu, Taiwan. Also the result will back reference to the restaurant managers. These results will be given to the restaurant managers for future reference.