SWOT Analysis on Marine Transport Companies of Iran: a Case Study

Strengths – weaknesses – opportunities – threats (SWOT) analysis is one of the well-known management tools for strategic planning. Although papers published in different journals have discussed different subject that used SWOT analysis, it is found that there are no researches which applied SWOT analysis in the marine transport companies in Iran. On the other hand the economic and social effect of the sea on its neighbours live is undeniable. Consequently, the objective of this paper is to analyse the internal and external environment of the marine transport company in Iran with SWOT analysis method and then to give a number of solutions and strategies for promoting the development of marine transport companies. Firstly, a general review of SWOT analysis is presented, next, the research method conducted through 5 steps; include research and data collection, questionnaire design and survey, brainstorming, SWOT analysis and strategy recommendations. Results indicated that Iranians government encourages the development of these companies and positively support them, but the sanctions in recent years, created a difficult and complex situation for these companies.