SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for TCI Express (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , TCI Express is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that TCI Express can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the TCI Express, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which TCI Express 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 TCI Express can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of TCI Express
2. Improving business portfolio management of TCI Express
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Air Courier sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of TCI Express
Strengths of TCI Express | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of TCI Express are -
High brand equity
– TCI Express has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled TCI Express to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– TCI Express is present in almost all the verticals within the Air Courier industry. This has provided TCI Express 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of TCI Express in the Transportation sector have low bargaining power. TCI Express has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps TCI Express to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– TCI Express is one of the most innovative firm in Air Courier sector.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that TCI Express 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the TCI Express are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of TCI Express comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Air Courier 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.
Learning organization
- TCI Express 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 TCI Express is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at TCI Express emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of TCI Express in Air Courier industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– TCI Express has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Air Courier industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of TCI Express have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Air Courier industry
– TCI Express has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled TCI Express to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Air Courier industry. The sustainable margins have also helped TCI Express to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– TCI Express has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – TCI Express staying ahead in the Air Courier industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of TCI Express | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of TCI Express are -
High dependence on TCI Express ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of TCI Express still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Air Courier industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though TCI Express has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of TCI Express is just above the Air Courier 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that TCI Express needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Air Courier industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at TCI Express can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as TCI Express is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at TCI Express, in the dynamic environment of Air Courier industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. TCI Express has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of TCI Express is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Air Courier industry, but TCI Express needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help TCI Express to focus more on services in the Air Courier industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– TCI Express 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Air Courier industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in India, TCI Express 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 Air Courier industry.
Lack of clear differentiation of TCI Express products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, TCI Express needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
TCI Express has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Air Courier industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, TCI Express has high operating costs in the Air Courier industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract TCI Express lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though TCI Express has some of the most successful models in the Air Courier industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. TCI Express should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
TCI Express Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of TCI Express are -
Manufacturing automation
– TCI Express can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Air Courier 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– TCI Express has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Air Courier sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled TCI Express to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help TCI Express to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects TCI Express can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, TCI Express can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
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. TCI Express can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– TCI Express 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for TCI Express 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 TCI Express to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, TCI Express is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. TCI Express can utilize new technology in the field of Air Courier industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Air Courier industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. TCI Express 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. TCI Express 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, TCI Express 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 TCI Express to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 TCI Express 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– TCI Express 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for TCI Express 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.
Threats TCI Express External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of TCI Express are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for TCI Express in Air Courier industry. The Air Courier 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– TCI Express 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 Air Courier industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, TCI Express may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Air Courier sector.
Regulatory challenges
– TCI Express 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 Air Courier industry regulations.
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.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. TCI Express will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
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 TCI Express business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on TCI Express 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 Air Courier industry and other sectors.
Increasing wage structure of TCI Express
– 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 TCI Express.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that TCI Express is facing in Air Courier sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– TCI Express has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Air Courier industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, TCI Express needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Air Courier sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Environmental challenges
– TCI Express 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. TCI Express can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Air Courier industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Air Courier industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. TCI Express can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of TCI Express Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at TCI Express 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 TCI Express 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 TCI Express 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 TCI Express 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 TCI Express needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.