SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for RM Drip Sprinklers (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , RM Drip Sprinklers is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of RM Drip Sprinklers
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that RM Drip Sprinklers can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the RM Drip Sprinklers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which RM Drip Sprinklers 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 RM Drip Sprinklers can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of RM Drip Sprinklers
2. Improving business portfolio management of RM Drip Sprinklers
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of RM Drip Sprinklers
Strengths of RM Drip Sprinklers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of RM Drip Sprinklers are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– RM Drip Sprinklers has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of RM Drip Sprinklers have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– RM Drip Sprinklers is one of the leading players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Training and development
– RM Drip Sprinklers has one of the best training and development program in Capital Goods 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.
Digital Transformation in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For RM Drip Sprinklers digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. RM Drip Sprinklers 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.
Ability to lead change in Constr. & Agric. Machinery
– RM Drip Sprinklers is one of the leading players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in India. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in India but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled RM Drip Sprinklers in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of RM Drip Sprinklers in the Capital Goods sector have low bargaining power. RM Drip Sprinklers has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps RM Drip Sprinklers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– RM Drip Sprinklers has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled RM Drip Sprinklers to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of RM Drip Sprinklers
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing RM Drip Sprinklers does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the RM Drip Sprinklers are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of RM Drip Sprinklers in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that RM Drip Sprinklers 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– RM Drip Sprinklers has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled RM Drip Sprinklers to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. The sustainable margins have also helped RM Drip Sprinklers to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses of RM Drip Sprinklers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of RM Drip Sprinklers are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though RM Drip Sprinklers has some of the most successful models in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. RM Drip Sprinklers should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, RM Drip Sprinklers has high operating costs in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract RM Drip Sprinklers lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in India, RM Drip Sprinklers 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
Skills based hiring in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at RM Drip Sprinklers 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, RM Drip Sprinklers 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.
Need for greater diversity
– RM Drip Sprinklers 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of RM Drip Sprinklers is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, but RM Drip Sprinklers needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help RM Drip Sprinklers to focus more on services in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, RM Drip Sprinklers 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As RM Drip Sprinklers is one of the leading players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in last five years.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
RM Drip Sprinklers has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Lack of clear differentiation of RM Drip Sprinklers products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, RM Drip Sprinklers needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
RM Drip Sprinklers Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of RM Drip Sprinklers are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– RM Drip Sprinklers has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled RM Drip Sprinklers to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help RM Drip Sprinklers to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– RM Drip Sprinklers 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.
Manufacturing automation
– RM Drip Sprinklers can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for RM Drip Sprinklers in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, RM Drip Sprinklers 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects RM Drip Sprinklers can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help RM Drip Sprinklers to increase its market reach. RM Drip Sprinklers 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. RM Drip Sprinklers can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. RM Drip Sprinklers 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. RM Drip Sprinklers can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of RM Drip Sprinklers has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This can help RM Drip Sprinklers to build a more holistic ecosystem for RM Drip Sprinklers products in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help RM Drip Sprinklers 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for RM Drip Sprinklers in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. Now RM Drip Sprinklers can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for RM Drip Sprinklers 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 RM Drip Sprinklers to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats RM Drip Sprinklers External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of RM Drip Sprinklers are -
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. RM Drip Sprinklers will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Increasing wage structure of RM Drip Sprinklers
– 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 RM Drip Sprinklers.
Regulatory challenges
– RM Drip Sprinklers needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, RM Drip Sprinklers may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry are lowering. It can presents RM Drip Sprinklers with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
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. RM Drip Sprinklers needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– RM Drip Sprinklers 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
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 RM Drip Sprinklers in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 RM Drip Sprinklers business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– RM Drip Sprinklers 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. RM Drip Sprinklers can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– RM Drip Sprinklers 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 RM Drip Sprinklers in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. The Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of RM Drip Sprinklers Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at RM Drip Sprinklers 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 RM Drip Sprinklers 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 RM Drip Sprinklers 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 RM Drip Sprinklers 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 RM Drip Sprinklers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.