Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd (SELM) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Apparel/Accessories
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
technology disruption, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Apparel/Accessories sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd
Strengths of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd in Apparel/Accessories industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Apparel/Accessories 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd is one of the leading players in the Apparel/Accessories 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.
High brand equity
– Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd in the Consumer Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Apparel/Accessories industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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
– Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd is present in almost all the verticals within the Apparel/Accessories industry. This has provided Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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)
– Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd staying ahead in the Apparel/Accessories 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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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.
Organizational Resilience of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Apparel/Accessories 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.
Weaknesses of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Apparel/Accessories industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Need for greater diversity
– Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of India, Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd has some of the most successful models in the Apparel/Accessories industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Apparel/Accessories industry, Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Skills based hiring in Apparel/Accessories industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Apparel/Accessories industry using digital technology.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd to provide better information regarding Apparel/Accessories 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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Apparel/Accessories industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd can develop new processes and procedures in Apparel/Accessories 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Apparel/Accessories industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Apparel/Accessories 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Apparel/Accessories industry.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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.
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. Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Apparel/Accessories sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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, Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Apparel/Accessories sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Apparel/Accessories industry. This can help Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd to build a more holistic ecosystem for Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd products in the Apparel/Accessories industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Apparel/Accessories industry are lowering. It can presents Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Apparel/Accessories sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Apparel/Accessories sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Apparel/Accessories industry.
Environmental challenges
– Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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. Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Apparel/Accessories industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Apparel/Accessories industry and other sectors.
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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd is facing in Apparel/Accessories sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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. Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Apparel/Accessories industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Apparel/Accessories industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd
– 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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd 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 Sel Manufacturing Co Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.