SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Compuage Infocom (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Compuage Infocom is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Compuage Infocom can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Compuage Infocom, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Compuage Infocom 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 Compuage Infocom can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Compuage Infocom
2. Improving business portfolio management of Compuage Infocom
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Computer Peripherals sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Compuage Infocom
Strengths of Compuage Infocom | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Compuage Infocom are -
Learning organization
- Compuage Infocom 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 Compuage Infocom is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Compuage Infocom emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Compuage Infocom is one of the most innovative firm in Computer Peripherals sector.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Compuage Infocom in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. Compuage Infocom has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Compuage Infocom to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Compuage Infocom is one of the leading players in the Computer Peripherals 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Compuage Infocom comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Computer Peripherals 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.
Ability to lead change in Computer Peripherals
– Compuage Infocom is one of the leading players in the Computer Peripherals industry in India. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Computer Peripherals industry in India but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Compuage Infocom in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Compuage Infocom has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Compuage Infocom staying ahead in the Computer Peripherals industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Compuage Infocom has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Computer Peripherals industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Compuage Infocom have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Computer Peripherals industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Compuage Infocom digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Compuage Infocom 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.
Organizational Resilience of Compuage Infocom
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Compuage Infocom does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Compuage Infocom 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Computer Peripherals industry
– Compuage Infocom is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses of Compuage Infocom | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Compuage Infocom are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Compuage Infocom is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Compuage Infocom to provide better information regarding Computer Peripherals products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Compuage Infocom is one of the leading players in the Computer Peripherals industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Computer Peripherals industry in last five years.
High dependence on Compuage Infocom ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Compuage Infocom still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Computer Peripherals industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Compuage Infocom has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Compuage Infocom, in the dynamic environment of Computer Peripherals industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Compuage Infocom has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Compuage Infocom 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Compuage Infocom products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Compuage Infocom needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Compuage Infocom needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Computer Peripherals industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Compuage Infocom can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Compuage Infocom is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Computer Peripherals industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in India, Compuage Infocom 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 Computer Peripherals industry.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Compuage Infocom is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Computer Peripherals industry, but Compuage Infocom needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Compuage Infocom to focus more on services in the Computer Peripherals industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Compuage Infocom has high operating costs in the Computer Peripherals industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Compuage Infocom lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Compuage Infocom has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Computer Peripherals industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Compuage Infocom Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Compuage Infocom are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Compuage Infocom to increase its market reach. Compuage Infocom 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Compuage Infocom in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Computer Peripherals industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Compuage Infocom has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Computer Peripherals industry. This can help Compuage Infocom to build a more holistic ecosystem for Compuage Infocom products in the Computer Peripherals industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Compuage Infocom can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Computer Peripherals 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Compuage Infocom is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Compuage Infocom can utilize new technology in the field of Computer Peripherals industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Compuage Infocom has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Computer Peripherals sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Compuage Infocom to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Compuage Infocom to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Compuage Infocom 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 Compuage Infocom to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Compuage Infocom 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Compuage Infocom can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Compuage Infocom operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Computer Peripherals sector.
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 Compuage Infocom 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Computer Peripherals industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Compuage Infocom can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Compuage Infocom can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Compuage Infocom 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 Computer Peripherals industry.
Threats Compuage Infocom External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Compuage Infocom are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Compuage Infocom is facing in Computer Peripherals sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Compuage Infocom in the Computer Peripherals sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Compuage Infocom.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Computer Peripherals industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Compuage Infocom can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Compuage Infocom 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 Computer Peripherals industry.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Compuage Infocom 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Compuage Infocom in Computer Peripherals industry. The Computer Peripherals 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.
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
– Compuage Infocom 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. Compuage Infocom can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Computer Peripherals industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Compuage Infocom has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Computer Peripherals industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Compuage Infocom needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Computer Peripherals 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.
Increasing wage structure of Compuage Infocom
– 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 Compuage Infocom.
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 Compuage Infocom business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Compuage Infocom Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Compuage Infocom 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 Compuage Infocom 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 Compuage Infocom 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 Compuage Infocom 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 Compuage Infocom needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.