SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Cleanaway Waste (Australia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Cleanaway Waste is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption,
there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Cleanaway Waste can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cleanaway Waste, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cleanaway Waste operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Cleanaway Waste can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Cleanaway Waste
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cleanaway Waste
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Trucking sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cleanaway Waste
Strengths of Cleanaway Waste | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cleanaway Waste are -
Analytics focus
– Cleanaway Waste is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the Trucking industry. The technology infrastructure of Australia is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Ability to lead change in Trucking
– Cleanaway Waste is one of the leading players in the Trucking industry in Australia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Trucking industry in Australia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Cleanaway Waste in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Trucking industry
– Cleanaway Waste has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cleanaway Waste to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Trucking industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cleanaway Waste to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cleanaway Waste is present in almost all the verticals within the Trucking industry. This has provided Cleanaway Waste a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Training and development
– Cleanaway Waste has one of the best training and development program in Transportation industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cleanaway Waste has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cleanaway Waste has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cleanaway Waste has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cleanaway Waste in Trucking industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Cleanaway Waste comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Trucking industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Organizational Resilience of Cleanaway Waste
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Cleanaway Waste does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cleanaway Waste is one of the leading players in the Trucking industry in Australia. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Australia. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Cleanaway Waste is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Cleanaway Waste is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Cleanaway Waste emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses of Cleanaway Waste | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cleanaway Waste are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cleanaway Waste is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Trucking industry, but Cleanaway Waste needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cleanaway Waste to focus more on services in the Trucking industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Trucking industry, Cleanaway Waste needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Employees’ less understanding of Cleanaway Waste strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Cleanaway Waste don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cleanaway Waste has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cleanaway Waste has some of the most successful models in the Trucking industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Cleanaway Waste should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on Cleanaway Waste ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Cleanaway Waste still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Trucking industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Cleanaway Waste has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Australia, Cleanaway Waste needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Trucking industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Australia, Cleanaway Waste is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the Trucking industry.
Skills based hiring in Trucking industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cleanaway Waste has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Cleanaway Waste has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Cleanaway Waste is just above the Trucking industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Cleanaway Waste Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Cleanaway Waste are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Cleanaway Waste can develop new processes and procedures in Trucking industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Trucking industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Cleanaway Waste can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Cleanaway Waste can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cleanaway Waste to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cleanaway Waste in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Trucking industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cleanaway Waste can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cleanaway Waste operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Trucking sector.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Trucking industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Cleanaway Waste in the Trucking industry. Now Cleanaway Waste can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Cleanaway Waste can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cleanaway Waste can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Trucking industry.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cleanaway Waste is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Cleanaway Waste can utilize new technology in the field of Trucking industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Cleanaway Waste has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cleanaway Waste can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help Cleanaway Waste to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cleanaway Waste to increase its market reach. Cleanaway Waste will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Manufacturing automation
– Cleanaway Waste can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Trucking sector. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Threats Cleanaway Waste External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Cleanaway Waste are -
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Cleanaway Waste.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Cleanaway Waste needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Trucking industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cleanaway Waste can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate Cleanaway Waste prominent markets.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Trucking industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Cleanaway Waste can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Cleanaway Waste needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Cleanaway Waste can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Trucking industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Trucking industry are lowering. It can presents Cleanaway Waste with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Trucking sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cleanaway Waste in Trucking industry. The Trucking industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing wage structure of Cleanaway Waste
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Cleanaway Waste.
Regulatory challenges
– Cleanaway Waste needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Trucking industry regulations.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Cleanaway Waste in the Trucking sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cleanaway Waste can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the Trucking industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cleanaway Waste is facing in Trucking sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Cleanaway Waste may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Trucking sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cleanaway Waste Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Cleanaway Waste needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of Cleanaway Waste is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of Cleanaway Waste is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Cleanaway Waste to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Cleanaway Waste needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.