SWOT analysis is a means of evaluating the internal and external factors that impact an organization in order to formulate business strategy. The technique takes its name from the four elements it evaluates: (1) the company's strengths (S), (2) its weaknesses (W), (3) the opportunities in its competitive environment (O), and (4) the threats in its competitive environment (T). SWOT analysis was developed by Kenneth R. Andrews (1916–2005) in the early 1970s, and it continues to be used with only minor modification and development into the twenty-first century.