CATWOE stands for Customers-Actors-Transformations-Worldview-Owner-Environment. The CATWOE Analysis was originally developed for business problems, but can also be applied to problems within coastal and marine management. The analysis helps to brainstorm and broaden ones thinking and perspective about a particular problem. This is done, to avoid that the core problem is neglected, only single symptoms are addressed or conclusions are drawn to quickly. Applying CATWOE helps to explore functional relationships between people (stakeholders) that are affected by a particular problem and to understand the complex nature of various actors and their interactions and identify the key problems that need to be solved. The six element of CATWOE are described below with additional questions that should support the analysis:
Customers: Victims or beneficiaries of Transformations (Who is on the receiving end? What problem do they have now? How will they react to new management options? Who are the winners and losers?)
Actors: Those, who would do Transformations
Transformational Processes (T): Conversion of input and output
(What are the inputs and where do they come from? What are the outputs and where to they go to? What are the steps in between?)
Worldview: Meaningful context of Transformations
(What is the bigger picture into which the situation fits (may differ among stakeholders)? What is the real problem for each stakeholder? What is the wider impact of any solution?)
Owners: Those, who can stop Transformations
(Who can help or stop you? What will cause them to get in your way? What will lead them to help?)
Environment: Unchangeable elements outside the system
(What are the external constraints and limitations affecting the success of the solution? What are the ethical limitations, laws, financial constraints, limited resources, regulations? How might these constraint your solutions? How might you get around them?)
Within Coastal Management and SAF the CATWOE Analysis can be applied to: