Internal and external orientation Another dimension that captures the level of strategic planning is the internal and external orientation of the company, which is analyzed in the following parts. Ramanujam and Venkatraman (1987, p. 455) argue that:
[...] if a formal planning process is to assist in strategy development, as opposed to being a mere number-crunching exercise, then it must include mechanisms for performing the classical SWOT (i.e. strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis in a meaningful and comprehensive manner.