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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.6in 0pt 0.5in; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">SWOT analysis, which delves into a business' strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, is used widely in firms and classrooms to distill fragmentary facts and figures into concise depictions of the strategic landscape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Yet despite its popularity and longevity, the SWOT approach to situation assessment often is ineffective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This article begins with a brief critique of the SWOT framework &shy;and typical SWOT analysis guidelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Thereafter, Defensive/Offensive Evaluation (DOE) is advanced as an effective alternative to SWOT analysis. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Because DOE is more theory-driven, it poses keener questions and promises more illuminating answers.</span></span></p>

PurposeThe reported study was designed to provide insight into gift cards as gifts and their place among gifts of cash and goods. It also was designed to identify promising avenues for further research.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using a structured questionnaire administered to a convenience sample of 317 respondents of both sexes who varied greatly in age.FindingsEffective liquidity served largely as the basis for categorizing gift cards. The greater a card's effective liquidity, the more its economic impact on the recipient resembles that of cash. The results indicated the following: face value affects recipient preference for effective liquidity; the giver‐getter relationship affects recipient preference for effective liquidity; the gift cards givers give tend to have less effective liquidity than those they prefer to get; some gift cards are more appropriate gifts than others and some, but not all, gift cards are more appropriate gifts than cash; and people feel less guilt when paying for personal luxuries with gift cards than with cash.Research limitationsThe study was largely exploratory insofar as its breadth greatly exceeded its depth and findings derived from a convenience sample.Originality/valueThe study introduced effective liquidity as a basis for assessing similarities and differences between gift cards and gifts of cash and goods. Findings enhance scholarly understanding of gift cards and their place among gifts of cash and goods. Moreover, they afford insights into marketing gift cards and into promising paths for further research.

Policy makers are trying to narrow the widening gap between the demand and the supply of transplantable organs. They are doing so largely without contributions from consumer affairs specialists. This article establishes the need for involvement of consumer affairs scholars and suggests directions for further empirical and critical inquiry. Substantive research must be grounded more firmly in established theoretical constructs and behavioral theories.