Kim Harris owns and operates a small retail store that sells the outdoor clothing of an American manufacturer to a predominantly college-student market. A large national-chain department store has come to town and started selling similar but lower-priced clothing manufactured in China, Th ailand, and Bangladesh. Kim is losing business to this store. She has asked your instructor to have a student team analyze the situation and propose some strategic alternatives to best deal with this threat. You are on the team.

Questions: How can a SWOT analysis be helpful in addressing Kim’s strategic management problem? How could Porter’s competitive strategies model be helpful as well?