SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Keynote Corporate Services (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Keynote Corporate Services is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Keynote Corporate Services
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Keynote Corporate Services can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Keynote Corporate Services, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Keynote Corporate Services 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 Keynote Corporate Services can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Keynote Corporate Services
2. Improving business portfolio management of Keynote Corporate Services
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Investment Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Keynote Corporate Services
Strengths of Keynote Corporate Services | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Keynote Corporate Services are -
Analytics focus
– Keynote Corporate Services 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 Investment Services 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Keynote Corporate Services in Investment Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Keynote Corporate Services in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. Keynote Corporate Services has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Keynote Corporate Services to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Keynote Corporate Services has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Investment Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Keynote Corporate Services have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Keynote Corporate Services has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Keynote Corporate Services to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Investment Services industry
– Keynote Corporate Services has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Keynote Corporate Services to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Investment Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Keynote Corporate Services to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Keynote Corporate Services has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Keynote Corporate Services 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 lead change in Investment Services
– Keynote Corporate Services is one of the leading players in the Investment Services industry in India. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Investment Services industry in India but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Keynote Corporate Services 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
– Keynote Corporate Services is one of the leading players in the Investment Services 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.
Digital Transformation in Investment Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Keynote Corporate Services digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Keynote Corporate Services 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Keynote Corporate Services is present in almost all the verticals within the Investment Services industry. This has provided Keynote Corporate Services a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Keynote Corporate Services has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Keynote Corporate Services staying ahead in the Investment Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of Keynote Corporate Services | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Keynote Corporate Services are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Keynote Corporate Services 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 Investment Services industry using digital technology.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Keynote Corporate Services needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Investment Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Keynote Corporate Services can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Keynote Corporate Services is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Keynote Corporate Services is just above the Investment Services industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Keynote Corporate Services, in the dynamic environment of Investment Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Keynote Corporate Services has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring in Investment Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Keynote Corporate Services 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Keynote Corporate Services is one of the leading players in the Investment Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Investment Services industry in last five years.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Keynote Corporate Services 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.
High dependence on Keynote Corporate Services ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Keynote Corporate Services still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Investment Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Keynote Corporate Services has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of India, Keynote Corporate Services needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Keynote Corporate Services has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Investment Services industry over the last five years. Keynote Corporate Services 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Keynote Corporate Services strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Keynote Corporate Services 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.
Keynote Corporate Services Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Keynote Corporate Services are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Keynote Corporate Services 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 Investment Services industry.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Keynote Corporate Services in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Investment Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Keynote Corporate Services has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Investment Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Keynote Corporate Services to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Keynote Corporate Services to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Investment Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Keynote Corporate Services can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Keynote Corporate Services can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Investment Services 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Investment Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Keynote Corporate Services 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. Keynote Corporate Services 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Keynote Corporate Services 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Investment Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Keynote Corporate Services in the Investment Services industry. Now Keynote Corporate Services can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Keynote Corporate Services has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Investment Services industry. This can help Keynote Corporate Services to build a more holistic ecosystem for Keynote Corporate Services products in the Investment Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Keynote Corporate Services can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Keynote Corporate Services 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Keynote Corporate Services can develop new processes and procedures in Investment Services 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Keynote Corporate Services can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Keynote Corporate Services External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Keynote Corporate Services are -
Increasing wage structure of Keynote Corporate Services
– 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 Keynote Corporate Services.
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 Keynote Corporate Services.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Keynote Corporate Services 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 Investment Services 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 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. Keynote Corporate Services needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Investment Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Keynote Corporate Services has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Investment Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Keynote Corporate Services needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Investment Services 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 Keynote Corporate Services business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Keynote Corporate Services is facing in Investment Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Keynote Corporate Services 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Investment Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Keynote Corporate Services can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Keynote Corporate Services 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 Keynote Corporate Services prominent markets.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Investment Services industry are lowering. It can presents Keynote Corporate Services with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Investment Services sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Keynote Corporate Services Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Keynote Corporate Services 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 Keynote Corporate Services 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 Keynote Corporate Services 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 Keynote Corporate Services 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 Keynote Corporate Services needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
