SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Titagarh Wagons (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Titagarh Wagons is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Titagarh Wagons can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Titagarh Wagons, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Titagarh Wagons 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 Titagarh Wagons can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Titagarh Wagons
2. Improving business portfolio management of Titagarh Wagons
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Titagarh Wagons
Strengths of Titagarh Wagons | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Titagarh Wagons are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Titagarh Wagons comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
High brand equity
– Titagarh Wagons has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Titagarh Wagons to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Titagarh Wagons has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Titagarh Wagons 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Titagarh Wagons 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Titagarh Wagons in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Titagarh Wagons has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Titagarh Wagons staying ahead in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Titagarh Wagons in the Capital Goods sector have low bargaining power. Titagarh Wagons has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Titagarh Wagons to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Titagarh Wagons 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Learning organization
- Titagarh Wagons 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 Titagarh Wagons is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Titagarh Wagons emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– Titagarh Wagons has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Titagarh Wagons to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Titagarh Wagons to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Titagarh Wagons
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Titagarh Wagons does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Titagarh Wagons is one of the most innovative firm in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
Weaknesses of Titagarh Wagons | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Titagarh Wagons are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Titagarh Wagons has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry over the last five years. Titagarh Wagons 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Titagarh Wagons has high operating costs in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Titagarh Wagons lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of India, Titagarh Wagons needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Titagarh Wagons has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Titagarh Wagons needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Titagarh Wagons can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Titagarh Wagons is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Titagarh Wagons supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Titagarh Wagons is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Titagarh Wagons vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Titagarh Wagons products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Titagarh Wagons needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Titagarh Wagons, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Titagarh Wagons is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Titagarh Wagons to provide better information regarding Constr. & Agric. Machinery products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Titagarh Wagons is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, but Titagarh Wagons needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Titagarh Wagons to focus more on services in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on Titagarh Wagons ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Titagarh Wagons still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Titagarh Wagons has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Titagarh Wagons Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Titagarh Wagons are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Titagarh Wagons 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. Titagarh Wagons 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Titagarh Wagons has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This can help Titagarh Wagons to build a more holistic ecosystem for Titagarh Wagons products in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Titagarh Wagons 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 Titagarh Wagons to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Titagarh Wagons to increase its market reach. Titagarh Wagons 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Titagarh Wagons 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Titagarh Wagons 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.
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 Titagarh Wagons 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Titagarh Wagons has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Titagarh Wagons to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Titagarh Wagons to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Titagarh Wagons can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Titagarh Wagons operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Titagarh Wagons can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Titagarh Wagons 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Titagarh Wagons in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. Now Titagarh Wagons can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Titagarh Wagons 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.
Threats Titagarh Wagons External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Titagarh Wagons are -
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Titagarh Wagons.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Titagarh Wagons in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. The Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Titagarh Wagons 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry regulations.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Titagarh Wagons in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry are lowering. It can presents Titagarh Wagons with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Titagarh Wagons 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.
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.
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 Titagarh Wagons business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Titagarh Wagons can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Titagarh Wagons may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
Environmental challenges
– Titagarh Wagons 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. Titagarh Wagons can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
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. Titagarh Wagons needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Titagarh Wagons has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Titagarh Wagons needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Titagarh Wagons Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Titagarh Wagons 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 Titagarh Wagons 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 Titagarh Wagons 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 Titagarh Wagons 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 Titagarh Wagons needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.