Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Easy Repay Finance & Investment is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Easy Repay Finance & Investment
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Easy Repay Finance & Investment can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Easy Repay Finance & Investment, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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 Easy Repay Finance & Investment can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Easy Repay Finance & Investment
2. Improving business portfolio management of Easy Repay Finance & Investment
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Hong Kong
4. Making a Healthcare Facilities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Easy Repay Finance & Investment
Strengths of Easy Repay Finance & Investment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Easy Repay Finance & Investment are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Easy Repay Finance & Investment comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Healthcare Facilities 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 Easy Repay Finance & Investment
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Easy Repay Finance & Investment does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Easy Repay Finance & Investment has one of the best training and development program in Healthcare 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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.
Learning organization
- Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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 Easy Repay Finance & Investment is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Easy Repay Finance & Investment emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Easy Repay Finance & Investment has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Easy Repay Finance & Investment in Healthcare Facilities industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Easy Repay Finance & Investment in the Healthcare sector have low bargaining power. Easy Repay Finance & Investment has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Easy Repay Finance & Investment to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Healthcare Facilities
– Easy Repay Finance & Investment is one of the leading players in the Healthcare Facilities industry in Hong Kong. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Healthcare Facilities industry in Hong Kong but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Easy Repay Finance & Investment in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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 Healthcare Facilities industry. The technology infrastructure of Hong Kong 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Easy Repay Finance & Investment has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Healthcare Facilities industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Easy Repay Finance & Investment have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Easy Repay Finance & Investment is one of the leading players in the Healthcare Facilities industry in Hong Kong. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Hong Kong. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses of Easy Repay Finance & Investment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Easy Repay Finance & Investment are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Easy Repay Finance & Investment needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Healthcare Facilities industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Easy Repay Finance & Investment can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Easy Repay Finance & Investment is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Easy Repay Finance & Investment has high operating costs in the Healthcare Facilities industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Easy Repay Finance & Investment lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hong Kong, Easy Repay Finance & Investment needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Easy Repay Finance & Investment has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the Healthcare Facilities industry using digital technology.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Easy Repay Finance & Investment supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Easy Repay Finance & Investment is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Easy Repay Finance & Investment vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Easy Repay Finance & Investment has some of the most successful models in the Healthcare Facilities industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Easy Repay Finance & Investment should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ less understanding of Easy Repay Finance & Investment strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Easy Repay Finance & Investment is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Healthcare Facilities industry, but Easy Repay Finance & Investment needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Easy Repay Finance & Investment to focus more on services in the Healthcare Facilities industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Easy Repay Finance & Investment has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Healthcare Facilities industry over the last five years. Easy Repay Finance & Investment even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Lack of clear differentiation of Easy Repay Finance & Investment products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Easy Repay Finance & Investment needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Easy Repay Finance & Investment is one of the leading players in the Healthcare Facilities industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Healthcare Facilities industry in last five years.
Easy Repay Finance & Investment Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Easy Repay Finance & Investment are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Easy Repay Finance & Investment to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Easy Repay Finance & Investment to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Easy Repay Finance & Investment has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Healthcare Facilities industry. This can help Easy Repay Finance & Investment to build a more holistic ecosystem for Easy Repay Finance & Investment products in the Healthcare Facilities industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Easy Repay Finance & Investment has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Healthcare Facilities sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Easy Repay Finance & Investment to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Easy Repay Finance & Investment to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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 Healthcare Facilities industry.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Easy Repay Finance & Investment to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Easy Repay Finance & Investment can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Healthcare Facilities industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Easy Repay Finance & Investment can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Easy Repay Finance & Investment can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Easy Repay Finance & Investment can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Healthcare Facilities 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Easy Repay Finance & Investment to increase its market reach. Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Easy Repay Finance & Investment can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Easy Repay Finance & Investment operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Healthcare Facilities sector.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Healthcare Facilities industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Easy Repay Finance & Investment in the Healthcare Facilities industry. Now Easy Repay Finance & Investment can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Healthcare Facilities industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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. Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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.
Threats Easy Repay Finance & Investment External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Easy Repay Finance & Investment are -
Increasing wage structure of Easy Repay Finance & Investment
– 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 Easy Repay Finance & Investment.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Easy Repay Finance & Investment demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in Healthcare Facilities industry and other sectors.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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 Healthcare Facilities industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Healthcare Facilities industry are lowering. It can presents Easy Repay Finance & Investment with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Healthcare Facilities sector.
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. Easy Repay Finance & Investment needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Healthcare Facilities 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, Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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 Easy Repay Finance & Investment prominent markets.
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 Easy Repay Finance & Investment.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Easy Repay Finance & Investment is facing in Healthcare Facilities sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Environmental challenges
– Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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. Easy Repay Finance & Investment can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Healthcare Facilities industry.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Easy Repay Finance & Investment business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Easy Repay Finance & Investment in the Healthcare Facilities sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Easy Repay Finance & Investment Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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 Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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 Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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 Easy Repay Finance & Investment 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 Easy Repay Finance & Investment needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
