SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Accuracy Shipping (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Accuracy Shipping is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Accuracy Shipping
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Accuracy Shipping can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Accuracy Shipping, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Accuracy Shipping 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 Accuracy Shipping can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Accuracy Shipping
2. Improving business portfolio management of Accuracy Shipping
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Airline sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Accuracy Shipping
Strengths of Accuracy Shipping | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Accuracy Shipping are -
Ability to lead change in Airline
– Accuracy Shipping is one of the leading players in the Airline industry in India. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Airline industry in India but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Accuracy Shipping in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Airline industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Accuracy Shipping digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Accuracy Shipping 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Accuracy Shipping is one of the most innovative firm in Airline sector.
Strong track record of project management in the Airline industry
– Accuracy Shipping is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Accuracy Shipping has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Accuracy Shipping staying ahead in the Airline industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Accuracy Shipping has one of the best training and development program in Transportation 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 brand equity
– Accuracy Shipping has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Accuracy Shipping to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Accuracy Shipping in Airline industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Airline industry
– Accuracy Shipping has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Accuracy Shipping to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Airline industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Accuracy Shipping to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Accuracy Shipping
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Accuracy Shipping does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Accuracy Shipping has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Accuracy Shipping 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 Accuracy Shipping | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Accuracy Shipping are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Accuracy Shipping, in the dynamic environment of Airline industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Accuracy Shipping has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Accuracy Shipping is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Airline industry, but Accuracy Shipping needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Accuracy Shipping to focus more on services in the Airline industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Airline industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in India, Accuracy Shipping 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 Airline industry.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Accuracy Shipping is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Accuracy Shipping to provide better information regarding Airline products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ less understanding of Accuracy Shipping strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Accuracy Shipping 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Accuracy Shipping has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Airline industry over the last five years. Accuracy Shipping 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Accuracy Shipping needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Airline industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Accuracy Shipping can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Accuracy Shipping is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on Accuracy Shipping ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Accuracy Shipping still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Airline industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Accuracy Shipping has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Accuracy Shipping has high operating costs in the Airline industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Accuracy Shipping lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring in Airline industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Accuracy Shipping has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Accuracy Shipping products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Accuracy Shipping needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Accuracy Shipping Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Accuracy Shipping are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Accuracy Shipping can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Accuracy Shipping can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Airline 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Airline industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Accuracy Shipping can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Accuracy Shipping can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Accuracy Shipping can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Accuracy Shipping 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 Airline industry.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Accuracy Shipping has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Airline sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Accuracy Shipping to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Accuracy Shipping to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Accuracy Shipping 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Accuracy Shipping can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Airline 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Accuracy Shipping has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Airline industry. This can help Accuracy Shipping to build a more holistic ecosystem for Accuracy Shipping products in the Airline industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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, Accuracy Shipping can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Accuracy Shipping operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Airline sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Accuracy Shipping to increase its market reach. Accuracy Shipping 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Accuracy Shipping 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 Accuracy Shipping to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Accuracy Shipping External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Accuracy Shipping are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Accuracy Shipping may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Airline sector.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Airline industry are lowering. It can presents Accuracy Shipping with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Airline sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Accuracy Shipping 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.
Increasing wage structure of Accuracy Shipping
– 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 Accuracy Shipping.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Accuracy Shipping is facing in Airline sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Accuracy Shipping can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate Accuracy Shipping prominent markets.
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 Accuracy Shipping.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Accuracy Shipping 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 Airline industry and other sectors.
Environmental challenges
– Accuracy Shipping 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. Accuracy Shipping can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Airline industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Accuracy Shipping has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Airline industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Accuracy Shipping needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Airline 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.
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 Accuracy Shipping business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Accuracy Shipping needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Airline industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Accuracy Shipping 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 Airline industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Accuracy Shipping Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Accuracy Shipping 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 Accuracy Shipping 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 Accuracy Shipping 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 Accuracy Shipping 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 Accuracy Shipping needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
