WGU C714 Task 2: Step-by-Step SWOT Analysis & Strategic Recommendations Guide

Updated on: Sep 7, 2026

C714/D081 Task 2 evaluates whether you can build a SWOT analysis from actual scenario evidence and then use it to develop strategic recommendations, not whether you know what the letters S, W, O, and T stand for. Part A asks you to identify business risks and complete a SWOT analysis grounded in your specific scenario. Part B asks you to write about the significance of that analysis and walk through your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in detail. Part C asks for strategic recommendations that come directly from your SWOT findings, and C1 asks you to justify one of them.

The connective tissue matters more than any individual section: your SWOT should drive your recommendations, not sit next to them as an unrelated exercise. This guide walks through how to build that connection for your own scenario, using a repeatable method rather than a script to copy.

C714/D081 naming note: many online student resources still refer to this assessment as C714 Task 2. Current WGU materials identify the course as D081, Innovative and Strategic Thinking. Your current WGU course template, scenario, and rubric always take precedence over older online examples, including this one.

Before You Start: Verify Your Current C714/D081 Version

1. Open your current WGU course (C714 or D081).
2. Open the Performance Assessment area.
3. Download the current Task 2 template.
4. Read the current scenario in full.
5. Review the current rubric.
6. Confirm the assessment code and version shown on your documents.
7. Treat those documents, not any third-party website, as your source of truth.

Older C714/D081 examples circulating online, including older Gradevia content, can describe outdated scenarios, different companies, or requirements that no longer match your current task. Confirm your own materials before relying on any specific detail from any guide.

At a Glance

What C714/D081 Task 2 Is Really Asking You to Do

Underneath the section labels, the task asks you to:

1. Identify relevant business risks.
2. Analyze internal strengths.
3. Analyze internal weaknesses.
4. Analyze external opportunities.
5. Analyze external threats.
6. Use those findings to formulate strategic recommendations.
7. Justify one recommendation using your SWOT findings specifically.

This is not a generic SWOT-definition exercise. Every finding has to trace back to your scenario, and every recommendation has to trace back to your SWOT. A technically correct definition of what a threat is, unconnected to your company’s actual situation, doesn’t satisfy the rubric.

The Core SWOT Formula

Use this structure for every entry in your SWOT and every claim you make about it:

LABEL → CASE EVIDENCE → EXPLANATION → STRATEGIC IMPACT

Illustrative example, not a WGU submission:

Weak: “The company has advanced technology.”

Stronger: “The company’s investment in advanced processing technology is an internal strength because it gives the company an existing operational capability it can leverage when evaluating expansion, reducing the incremental cost of scaling production compared to a competitor starting from an older technology base.”

The weak version labels a fact. The stronger version names the fact, ties it to a specific mechanism, and explains what it enables strategically. That third step, strategic impact, is what separates a description from an analysis, and it’s the piece most first-draft SWOT entries are missing.

How to Answer Part A: Business Risks

For each risk you identify, work through: the risk, whether it’s internal or external, the scenario evidence supporting it, what could happen to the company, and why that consequence matters strategically.

There’s no universally correct pair of risks. Choose the risks your specific scenario most clearly supports, not the ones that sound most dramatic or the ones an old example used for a different company. Don’t invent facts your scenario doesn’t contain; if you’re reaching to make a risk sound more serious than the evidence supports, it’s the wrong risk to lead with.

A risk you can defend with two or three sentences of specific evidence is more useful to the rubric than a risk that sounds significant but only has a single vague scenario detail behind it. If you’re deciding between two candidate risks, favor the one that connects most directly to a decision the company is actually facing, since that connection is what you’ll build on in Part B and Part C.

Internal vs. External: Don’t Mix These Up

Internal means factors the company possesses, controls, or can directly influence: its technology, its culture, its financial position, its leadership. External means conditions in the market or environment outside the company’s direct control: competitor behavior, regulatory changes, consumer trends, economic conditions.

A common misclassification is treating a market condition, like a competitor’s pricing move or a shifting consumer preference, as an internal weakness. It isn’t. The company doesn’t control the market; it can only respond to it. If you’re unsure which quadrant something belongs in, ask whether the company could change this fact unilaterally. If yes, it’s internal. If no, it’s external.

B1: Explaining the Significance of the SWOT Analysis

B1 is not asking for a textbook definition of SWOT. It’s asking why this specific company, at this specific point in its situation, benefits from this analysis.

COMPANY SITUATION → STRATEGIC DECISION → WHY SWOT MATTERS

Avoid generic statements like “SWOT helps businesses identify strengths and weaknesses.” That sentence is true of every company in every scenario ever written and demonstrates nothing about this one. Instead, identify what specific decision or juncture the company is facing in your scenario, then explain how a structured SWOT reduces the risk of that decision going wrong, specifically for this company.

B2: Internal Strengths

STRENGTH → EVIDENCE → STRATEGIC VALUE

Pick the strengths your scenario most clearly supports, not as many as you can list. A strong B2 response answers one question for each strength: what does this capability actually allow the company to do? If you can’t answer that question specifically, the strength probably isn’t developed enough to include, or you need to dig further into why it matters.

Illustrative example, not a WGU submission: a strength stated as “the company has strong customer relationships” tells the evaluator nothing they can use. A stronger version identifies what those relationships specifically enable: long-standing contracts with major accounts that create a lower-cost path into a new market, because the company can extend an existing trusted relationship rather than build credibility with an unfamiliar buyer from scratch.

B3: Internal Weaknesses

WEAKNESS → EVIDENCE → STRATEGIC CONSEQUENCE

A weakness isn’t just something the company “could improve.” Plenty of things could theoretically be improved without being strategically significant. A rubric-worthy weakness is an internal limitation that could actually affect the company’s strategic performance, specifically in the context of the decision your scenario is building toward. Explain the consequence, not just the limitation.

Illustrative example, not a WGU submission: a weakness stated as “the company has limited marketing resources” describes a condition without a consequence. A stronger version connects it to what’s actually at stake: limited marketing infrastructure means the company can’t build the brand recognition a new market entry would require, which constrains how quickly it could capture the international opportunity identified elsewhere in the SWOT, even if the underlying product is strong.

B4: External Opportunities and Threats

EXTERNAL FACTOR → EVIDENCE → IMPACT → STRATEGIC IMPLICATION

An opportunity is an external condition the company may be able to exploit. A threat is an external condition that could harm its performance or position. B4 covers both in one prompt, and the strongest responses treat it as one integrated analysis rather than two separate bulleted lists, since a response that just enumerates opportunities and then enumerates threats, without connecting either to the company’s actual position, reads as a list rather than an analysis.

Connect B4 back to B2 and B3:

• Opportunity + Strength: How could the company use an existing internal capability to capture this opportunity?
• Threat + Weakness: Where is the company most exposed, given both the external threat and its own internal limitation?

This connection is also what sets up Part C, since your strongest recommendations will usually come from exactly these intersections.

SWOT Crosswalk: From Findings to Strategic Questions

Combining quadrants suggests different strategic postures, useful as an analytical lens, not a set of mandatory WGU answer categories:

• Strength + Opportunity: a growth strategy, using existing capability to pursue new upside.
• Weakness + Threat: a defensive or risk-reduction strategy, protecting a vulnerable position.
• Strength + Threat: using an existing capability to protect the company’s current position.
• Weakness + Opportunity: building capability before pursuing an opportunity the company isn’t yet equipped for.

Part C: Developing Strategic Recommendations

SWOT FINDING → STRATEGIC PROBLEM OR OPPORTUNITY → RECOMMENDATION → EXPECTED BENEFIT

For each recommendation, work through:

1. What SWOT evidence supports it?
2. What problem does it address, or what opportunity does it capture?
3. What weakness does it reduce, or what threat does it mitigate?
4. Why is this recommendation appropriate for this specific company, not just a generically sound business move?

Illustrative miniature example, not a WGU submission: if a scenario company’s SWOT showed a strength in existing customer relationships with clients expanding internationally, alongside a weakness in financial capacity for large-scale expansion, a recommendation grounded in that specific combination might involve a staged, partnership-based entry into a new market that leverages the existing relationship rather than a capital-intensive standalone expansion the company’s financial position doesn’t support.

Don’t reach for a generic “best practice” recommendation that isn’t actually anchored in your SWOT. If you can’t point to which specific finding drove a recommendation, the connection isn’t strong enough yet.

C1: Justifying One Recommendation

C1 is not a repeat of Part C. It’s a deeper justification of a single recommendation you already made.

RECOMMENDATION → EVIDENCE → BENEFIT → STRATEGIC LOGIC

Explain specifically why this recommendation benefits the company: what it addresses, what it enables, and why the logic holds given the company’s actual position. Don’t invent financial figures, projected revenue, or cost savings your scenario doesn’t provide; if your scenario doesn’t give you numbers, argue the benefit in strategic terms (competitive position, risk reduction, capability building) instead of fabricating ones that sound precise but aren’t grounded in anything.

Illustrative example, not a WGU submission: repeating a recommendation looks like “the company should pursue a staged international expansion because it leverages existing relationships.” That’s a restatement, not a justification. A genuine justification explains the chain: the company’s financial position limits its capacity for a large, capital-intensive expansion; a staged, partnership-based approach reduces the upfront capital required; and because it builds on an existing customer relationship rather than an unfamiliar one, it also reduces the execution risk that a constrained-capital company can least afford to absorb. That’s the level of reasoning C1 is asking for, not a second copy of the recommendation itself.

Illustrative Example: From SWOT Observation to Strategic Analysis

Illustrative example, not a WGU submission. Do not adapt this wording into your own submission.

Weak: “International expansion is an opportunity.”

Stronger: “Existing relationships with major customers that are expanding internationally could create a lower-barrier route into new markets, provided the company can address the operational and regulatory requirements of expansion.”

The weak version names a category. The stronger version explains the specific mechanism (existing customer relationships lowering entry barriers) and names the condition that would have to be true for the opportunity to actually be capturable (addressing operational and regulatory requirements). That combination, mechanism plus condition, is what turns an observation into an analysis a strategy document can actually use.

What to Highlight While Reading the Case

On your first close read, mark:

• existing capabilities
• company limitations
• management or leadership issues
• customers
• competitors
• financial constraints
• market expansion plans
• regulatory issues
• supply-chain conditions
• technology
• employee capabilities
• customer relationships
• market changes

These highlights become your evidence bank. When you sit down to write B2 through B4, you should be pulling from this list, not trying to recall the scenario from memory.

C714 Task 2 Workflow for a Full-Time Working Student

Actual time depends on your familiarity with the scenario and course material; these are sessions to structure your work, not a promised timeline.

• Session 1: Verify your version, read the rubric, read the scenario in full.
• Session 2: Highlight scenario evidence using the categories above.
• Session 3: Complete Part A risks.
• Session 4: Complete the SWOT.
• Session 5: Write B1 through B4.
• Session 6: Develop strategic recommendations.
• Session 7: Write C1.
• Session 8: Add citations and run a final rubric audit.

Work in focused blocks after work rather than trying to complete the whole task in one sitting; the evidence-gathering and drafting stages benefit from being separated, since drafting is faster once your evidence bank is already built.

Why C714/D081 Task 2 Responses Get Returned

1. Using an outdated or wrong version of the scenario.
2. Writing generic SWOT entries that could apply to any company.
3. Confusing internal and external factors.
4. Listing risks without explaining their impact.
5. Listing strengths without explaining their strategic significance.
6. Treating the SWOT as four unrelated lists instead of a connected analysis.
7. Writing a generic B1 that could apply to any company in any situation.
8. Writing recommendations that aren’t clearly tied to the SWOT findings.
9. Repeating a recommendation in C1 instead of justifying it further.
10. Making claims the scenario doesn’t support.
11. Relying too heavily on language copied from the case study or course material.
12. Submitting a completed template without a corresponding written analysis.
13. Ignoring the current WGU template or rubric in favor of an old example’s structure.

Originality and Academic Integrity

Use your own original wording throughout. Paraphrase source material rather than quoting it at length, and cite anything you paraphrase or summarize from an outside source. Don’t copy another student’s C714/D081 answer, and don’t submit this guide’s examples, or any other guide’s examples, as your own work; they’re built to be generic and instructional, and reusing them risks both an originality flag and a rubric failure, since they aren’t grounded in your specific scenario.

If your current WGU template instructs you to remove the original task instructions before submitting, follow that instruction. Review your current WGU originality and similarity guidance before you submit; specific thresholds can change, so confirm the current standard in your course rather than relying on a number from an old guide.

Do You Need Sources for C714/D081 Task 2?

There’s a difference between three types of material you might reference: scenario evidence (facts from your case study, which don’t need external citation but do need to be accurately represented), course concepts (frameworks like SWOT itself, which you can reference by name), and external research (outside academic or professional sources you choose to bring in). Follow your current task instructions for what’s actually required.

If you do use external academic sources, cite them accurately in APA 7. Don’t overload a scenario-specific analysis with references just to appear more rigorous; one or two well-chosen sources that actually strengthen a specific claim are more useful than a long reference list of tangentially related citations.

If you’re also working on C714 Task 1, that task uses a different rubric and a different set of prompts (organizational culture, structure, mission and vision, and market entry through design thinking); don’t assume the two tasks share requirements. Once you’ve completed Task 2, the sequence continues into C714 Task 3, which builds on the strategic groundwork from Task 2.

The thread running through every section here is the same one from the introduction: your SWOT is only as useful as the recommendations it produces, and your recommendations are only defensible if they trace back to specific findings. A technically complete SWOT template sitting next to a set of generic recommendations will read as two disconnected assignments rather than one strategic analysis. Build the connection deliberately, section by section, and confirm it against your current rubric before you submit.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is WGU C714 Task 2? A performance assessment where you build a SWOT analysis from your assigned scenario and use it to develop and justify strategic recommendations.

Is C714 the same as D081? Yes. Many student resources still use the C714 naming; current WGU materials identify the course as D081, Innovative and Strategic Thinking.

What does D081 Task 2 cover? Business risk identification, a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), written analysis of that SWOT’s significance and findings, and strategic recommendations with a justification for one of them.

How do I answer Part A? Identify business risks your scenario clearly supports, classify each as internal or external, cite the specific evidence behind it, and explain the potential impact and why that impact matters strategically.

What is the difference between an internal and external risk? Internal factors are ones the company possesses, controls, or can directly influence. External factors are market or environmental conditions outside the company’s direct control.

How do I identify strengths and weaknesses? Look for internal capabilities and limitations in your scenario, then ask what each one actually enables or constrains strategically, not just whether it sounds positive or negative.

How do I identify opportunities and threats? Look for external conditions, market trends, competitor actions, regulatory shifts, that could help or harm the company’s position, then connect them back to the company’s specific strengths and weaknesses.

How many SWOT factors should I include? Enough to satisfy your current rubric with relevant, well-supported observations; there’s no fixed number confirmed in current task instructions, so quality of analysis matters more than hitting a specific count.

Do I need a SWOT chart? Use whatever template your current WGU course provides for Part A; follow that format rather than improvising your own.

How do I answer B1? Explain why the SWOT analysis specifically matters to your company’s current strategic situation, not what SWOT analysis is in general.

How do I connect B2 and B3 to the case? Ground every strength and weakness in specific scenario evidence, and explain what each one enables or constrains for this particular company’s strategic options.

How should I approach B4? Write it as one integrated analysis of opportunities and threats rather than two separate lists, and connect each to the strengths and weaknesses you already identified.

How do I develop strategic recommendations? Trace each recommendation back to a specific SWOT finding or combination of findings, and be able to explain exactly what problem it solves or what opportunity it captures.

How do I answer C1? Go deeper on one recommendation from Part C: explain the evidence behind it, the benefit it provides, and the strategic logic connecting the two, rather than restating the recommendation itself.

Do I need APA citations? For anything quoted, paraphrased, or summarized from an outside source, yes. Confirm your current task’s specific citation requirements rather than assuming a fixed rule.

How can I complete D081 Task 2 while working full-time? Break the work into focused sessions (outlined above) rather than attempting it in one sitting, and build your evidence bank from the scenario before you start drafting.

Can I use an old C714 example I found online? Only for a general sense of structure and depth, not as a template. Scenario differences mean an old example may not match your company or situation at all, and reusing its specific wording risks both a version mismatch and an originality concern.

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References

• Benzaghta, M. A., Elwalda, A., Mousa, M. M., Erkan, I., & Rahman, M. (2021). SWOT analysis applications: An integrative literature review. Journal of Global Business Insights, 6(1), 55-73. https://doi.org/10.5038/2640-6489.6.1.1148
• Lohrke, F. T., Mazzei, M. J., & Frownfelter-Lohrke, C. (2022). Should it stay or should it go? Developing an enhanced SWOT framework for teaching strategy formulation. Journal of Management Education, 46(2), 345-382. https://doi.org/10.1177/10525629211021143