Purpose: Strategic planning is an organization’s process of describing its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to track this strategy. SWOT analysis is one of the most commonly used techniques for strategic planning. SWOT examines the strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) agents of the community together with opportunities (O) and threats (T), for selecting and implementing the best strategy which helps in achieving its goals. The purpose of this paper is to enhance the performance of SWOT analysis regarding the quantitative side of strategies, select the best strategy from different strategies and deal effectively with vague and incompatible information, which occurs usually in actual life. Design/methodology/approach: This study used the neutrosophic analytic hierarchy process (AHP) incorporated with SWOT analysis. Findings: By adding the neutrosophic AHP to SWOT analysis, the performance of SWOT analysis is enhanced through determining the quantitative values and dealing with vague and inconsistent information effectively leading to improved decisions. Research limitations/implications: The developed integrated methodology is validated in a real-life case of Starbucks company. For the case study of Starbucks company, the proposed model helps in determining different strategic plans and, further, ranking these plans effectively, which will help the company to compete with its competitors and develop itself by obtaining a competitive advantage over its competitors in an uncertain business environment. Practical implications: In the case study of Starbucks company, the proposed model helps to determine the different strategic plans, rank these plans which help the company compete with its competitors, develop itself and grow. Originality/value: This research is the first to address SWOT analysis with neutrosophic AHP. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.