Developing Sustainable Competitive Strategies in the Beauty Service Industry: A SWOT-AHP Approach

The purpose of this study is to provide concrete growth strategies and practical development methods in the beauty service industry. This study consists of a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) analysis from the literature review and in-depth interviews with experts of the beauty service industry in South Korea. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is applied to the finalized SWOT matrix to incorporate experts’ ideas. The combined high priority factors present four types of strategic alternatives: Strength–Opportunity (SO), Strength–Threat (ST), Weakness–Opportunity (WO), and Weakness–Threat (WT). This study applies an environmental analysis framework from the management strategy field to construct a sophisticated SWOT matrix. Furthermore, this study quantifies the importance of SWOT components through AHP to determine priorities to lay the groundwork for timely and sustainable strategy development in the beauty service industry. Based on the SWOT-AHP analysis, this study suggests that beauty service companies should pay attention to the lack of profitability and employee stress with high turnover rates caused by poor working conditions and emotional labor. In addition, the Korean government should gradually shift away from the lack of an effective legal system to grow the beauty industry.