Any  external  circumstance  or  trend  which  will  unfavorably influence the interests of the donors in the research topic of the proposal, the applicants or the area in which the research might be conducted The steps to make SWOT a strategic and operational tool involve:

• Preparing the ground (define the planning object and the mission of the
  planning team);
• Conduct  the  analysis  by  visualizing  of  strengths,  weaknesses, opportunities and threats on a flipchart or whiteboard;
• Strategy discussion (relate results to the missionstatement and derive strategy elements);
• Operational planning (results and strategy elements are transformed into planning documents).