SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Thirumalai Chemicals (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Thirumalai Chemicals is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Thirumalai Chemicals
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Thirumalai Chemicals can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Thirumalai Chemicals, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Thirumalai Chemicals can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Thirumalai Chemicals
2. Improving business portfolio management of Thirumalai Chemicals
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Chemical Manufacturing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Thirumalai Chemicals
Strengths of Thirumalai Chemicals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Thirumalai Chemicals are -
Learning organization
- Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Thirumalai Chemicals is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Thirumalai Chemicals emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Chemical Manufacturing
– Thirumalai Chemicals is one of the leading players in the Chemical Manufacturing industry in India. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Chemical Manufacturing industry in India but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Thirumalai Chemicals in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Thirumalai Chemicals is one of the leading players in the Chemical Manufacturing 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Thirumalai Chemicals is one of the most innovative firm in Chemical Manufacturing sector.
Training and development
– Thirumalai Chemicals has one of the best training and development program in Basic Materials 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Chemical Manufacturing industry
– Thirumalai Chemicals is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Chemical Manufacturing industry
– Thirumalai Chemicals has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Thirumalai Chemicals to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Thirumalai Chemicals to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Thirumalai Chemicals in Chemical Manufacturing industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Chemical Manufacturing industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Thirumalai Chemicals digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Thirumalai Chemicals 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Thirumalai Chemicals has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Thirumalai Chemicals staying ahead in the Chemical Manufacturing industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Thirumalai Chemicals 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.
Weaknesses of Thirumalai Chemicals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Thirumalai Chemicals are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of India, Thirumalai Chemicals needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Thirumalai Chemicals has some of the most successful models in the Chemical Manufacturing industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Thirumalai Chemicals should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Thirumalai Chemicals products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Thirumalai Chemicals needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Thirumalai Chemicals is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Thirumalai Chemicals to provide better information regarding Chemical Manufacturing products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Thirumalai Chemicals needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Chemical Manufacturing industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Thirumalai Chemicals can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Thirumalai Chemicals is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Thirumalai Chemicals has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Chemical Manufacturing 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 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 Thirumalai Chemicals supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Thirumalai Chemicals is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Thirumalai Chemicals vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Thirumalai Chemicals is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Chemical Manufacturing industry, but Thirumalai Chemicals needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Thirumalai Chemicals to focus more on services in the Chemical Manufacturing industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Thirumalai Chemicals 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Thirumalai Chemicals has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Chemical Manufacturing industry over the last five years. Thirumalai Chemicals 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry using digital technology.
Thirumalai Chemicals Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Thirumalai Chemicals are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Thirumalai Chemicals 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Thirumalai Chemicals to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Thirumalai Chemicals has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Chemical Manufacturing industry. This can help Thirumalai Chemicals to build a more holistic ecosystem for Thirumalai Chemicals products in the Chemical Manufacturing industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Thirumalai Chemicals can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Chemical Manufacturing 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.
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. Thirumalai Chemicals can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Chemical Manufacturing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Thirumalai Chemicals 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. Thirumalai Chemicals 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Thirumalai Chemicals can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Thirumalai Chemicals can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Thirumalai Chemicals operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Chemical Manufacturing sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Thirumalai Chemicals has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Chemical Manufacturing sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Thirumalai Chemicals to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Thirumalai Chemicals to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Thirumalai Chemicals in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Chemical Manufacturing industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Thirumalai Chemicals 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Thirumalai Chemicals can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Chemical Manufacturing 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 Thirumalai Chemicals External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Thirumalai Chemicals are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry and other sectors.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Thirumalai Chemicals 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Thirumalai Chemicals may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Chemical Manufacturing sector.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Chemical Manufacturing industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Thirumalai Chemicals in the Chemical Manufacturing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Thirumalai Chemicals business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Thirumalai Chemicals 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. Thirumalai Chemicals can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Chemical Manufacturing industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Thirumalai Chemicals in Chemical Manufacturing industry. The Chemical Manufacturing 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Thirumalai Chemicals has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Thirumalai Chemicals needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Chemical Manufacturing 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.
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. Thirumalai Chemicals needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Chemical Manufacturing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Thirumalai Chemicals Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Thirumalai Chemicals 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 Thirumalai Chemicals needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
