SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Himachal Futuristic (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Himachal Futuristic is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Himachal Futuristic
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Himachal Futuristic can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Himachal Futuristic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Himachal Futuristic 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 Himachal Futuristic can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Himachal Futuristic
2. Improving business portfolio management of Himachal Futuristic
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Communications Equipment sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Himachal Futuristic
Strengths of Himachal Futuristic | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Himachal Futuristic are -
Innovation driven organization
– Himachal Futuristic is one of the most innovative firm in Communications Equipment sector.
High brand equity
– Himachal Futuristic has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Himachal Futuristic to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Communications Equipment industry
– Himachal Futuristic has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Himachal Futuristic to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Communications Equipment industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Himachal Futuristic to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Himachal Futuristic 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 Communications Equipment industry. The technology infrastructure of India 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Communications Equipment industry
– Himachal Futuristic is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Himachal Futuristic has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Himachal Futuristic 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Himachal Futuristic is one of the leading players in the Communications Equipment industry in India. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in India. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Himachal Futuristic has one of the best training and development program in Technology 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 Himachal Futuristic 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 Himachal Futuristic in Communications Equipment industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Communications Equipment
– Himachal Futuristic is one of the leading players in the Communications Equipment industry in India. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Communications Equipment industry in India but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Himachal Futuristic in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Communications Equipment industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Himachal Futuristic digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Himachal Futuristic has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Weaknesses of Himachal Futuristic | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Himachal Futuristic are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Communications Equipment industry, Himachal Futuristic 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Himachal Futuristic, in the dynamic environment of Communications Equipment industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Himachal Futuristic has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Himachal Futuristic 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Himachal Futuristic strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Himachal Futuristic 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of India, Himachal Futuristic needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Himachal Futuristic products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Himachal Futuristic needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Himachal Futuristic is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Communications Equipment industry, but Himachal Futuristic needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Himachal Futuristic to focus more on services in the Communications Equipment industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Himachal Futuristic is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Himachal Futuristic to provide better information regarding Communications Equipment products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Himachal Futuristic has some of the most successful models in the Communications Equipment industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Himachal Futuristic should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on Himachal Futuristic ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Himachal Futuristic still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Communications Equipment industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Himachal Futuristic has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Himachal Futuristic 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 Communications Equipment industry using digital technology.
Himachal Futuristic Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Himachal Futuristic are -
Loyalty marketing
– Himachal Futuristic 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Himachal Futuristic 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Himachal Futuristic is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Himachal Futuristic can utilize new technology in the field of Communications Equipment industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Himachal Futuristic can develop new processes and procedures in Communications Equipment 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 Communications Equipment industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Himachal Futuristic 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. Himachal Futuristic 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.
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. Himachal Futuristic can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Himachal Futuristic 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 Communications Equipment 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 Himachal Futuristic 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 Himachal Futuristic can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Himachal Futuristic has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Communications Equipment industry. This can help Himachal Futuristic to build a more holistic ecosystem for Himachal Futuristic products in the Communications Equipment industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Himachal Futuristic in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Communications Equipment industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Himachal Futuristic has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Communications Equipment sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Himachal Futuristic to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Himachal Futuristic to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Himachal Futuristic can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Communications Equipment industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Threats Himachal Futuristic External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Himachal Futuristic are -
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. Himachal Futuristic needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Communications Equipment industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Communications Equipment industry are lowering. It can presents Himachal Futuristic with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Communications Equipment sector.
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 Himachal Futuristic business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Himachal Futuristic has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Communications Equipment industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Himachal Futuristic needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Communications Equipment 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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Himachal Futuristic may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Communications Equipment sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Himachal Futuristic high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
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. Himachal Futuristic 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.
Environmental challenges
– Himachal Futuristic 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. Himachal Futuristic can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Communications Equipment industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Communications Equipment industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Himachal Futuristic can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Himachal Futuristic in the Communications Equipment sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Himachal Futuristic
– 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 Himachal Futuristic.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Himachal Futuristic Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Himachal Futuristic 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 Himachal Futuristic 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 Himachal Futuristic 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 Himachal Futuristic 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 Himachal Futuristic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.