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 – wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, 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 -
Strong track record of project management in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– RM Drip Sprinklers is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
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.
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.
Analytics focus
– RM Drip Sprinklers 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– RM Drip Sprinklers has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. RM Drip Sprinklers 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.
Learning organization
- RM Drip Sprinklers 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 RM Drip Sprinklers is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at RM Drip Sprinklers emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
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.
Innovation driven organization
– RM Drip Sprinklers is one of the most innovative firm in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of RM Drip Sprinklers comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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 RM Drip Sprinklers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of RM Drip Sprinklers are -
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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, RM Drip Sprinklers 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.
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.
Employees’ less understanding of RM Drip Sprinklers strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of RM Drip Sprinklers 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of RM Drip Sprinklers is just above the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of India, RM Drip Sprinklers needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at RM Drip Sprinklers, in the dynamic environment of Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. RM Drip Sprinklers has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, RM Drip Sprinklers is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help RM Drip Sprinklers to provide better information regarding Constr. & Agric. Machinery products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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.
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 -
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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at RM Drip Sprinklers 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, RM Drip Sprinklers is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. RM Drip Sprinklers can utilize new technology in the field of Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
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.
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.
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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for RM Drip Sprinklers to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, RM Drip Sprinklers can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that RM Drip Sprinklers operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
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.
Buying journey improvements
– RM Drip Sprinklers can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, RM Drip Sprinklers 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 RM Drip Sprinklers prominent markets.
Consumer confidence and its impact on RM Drip Sprinklers 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry and other sectors.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that RM Drip Sprinklers is facing in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– RM Drip Sprinklers has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, RM Drip Sprinklers needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 RM Drip Sprinklers.
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.
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.
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.