SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Vasa Retail Overseas (India)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Vasa Retail Overseas is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Vasa Retail Overseas
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Vasa Retail Overseas can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Vasa Retail Overseas, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Vasa Retail Overseas 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 Vasa Retail Overseas can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Vasa Retail Overseas
2. Improving business portfolio management of Vasa Retail Overseas
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in India
4. Making a Office Supplies sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Vasa Retail Overseas
Strengths of Vasa Retail Overseas | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Vasa Retail Overseas are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Vasa Retail Overseas is present in almost all the verticals within the Office Supplies industry. This has provided Vasa Retail Overseas 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Vasa Retail Overseas is one of the leading players in the Office Supplies 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.
Ability to lead change in Office Supplies
– Vasa Retail Overseas is one of the leading players in the Office Supplies industry in India. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Office Supplies industry in India but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Vasa Retail Overseas in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Vasa Retail Overseas
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Vasa Retail Overseas does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Vasa Retail Overseas has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Vasa Retail Overseas staying ahead in the Office Supplies industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Vasa Retail Overseas 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 Vasa Retail Overseas is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Vasa Retail Overseas emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Vasa Retail Overseas 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Vasa Retail Overseas has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Vasa Retail Overseas 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Vasa Retail Overseas has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Office Supplies industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Vasa Retail Overseas have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Vasa Retail Overseas has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Vasa Retail Overseas to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Office Supplies industry
– Vasa Retail Overseas has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Vasa Retail Overseas to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Office Supplies industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Vasa Retail Overseas to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Vasa Retail Overseas in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Vasa Retail Overseas has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Vasa Retail Overseas to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of Vasa Retail Overseas | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Vasa Retail Overseas are -
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Vasa Retail Overseas, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Office Supplies industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Vasa Retail Overseas is just above the Office Supplies 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, Vasa Retail Overseas needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Vasa Retail Overseas 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 Office Supplies industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Vasa Retail Overseas 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Vasa Retail Overseas has some of the most successful models in the Office Supplies industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Vasa Retail Overseas should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Vasa Retail Overseas 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Vasa Retail Overseas strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Vasa Retail Overseas 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.
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 Vasa Retail Overseas supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Vasa Retail Overseas is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Vasa Retail Overseas vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Vasa Retail Overseas is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Office Supplies industry, but Vasa Retail Overseas needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Vasa Retail Overseas to focus more on services in the Office Supplies industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Office Supplies industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in India, Vasa Retail Overseas 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 Office Supplies industry.
Vasa Retail Overseas Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Vasa Retail Overseas are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Vasa Retail Overseas to increase its market reach. Vasa Retail Overseas 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Vasa Retail Overseas has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Office Supplies sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Vasa Retail Overseas to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Vasa Retail Overseas to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Vasa Retail Overseas can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Vasa Retail Overseas can develop new processes and procedures in Office Supplies 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, Vasa Retail Overseas is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Vasa Retail Overseas can utilize new technology in the field of Office Supplies industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Vasa Retail Overseas has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Office Supplies industry. This can help Vasa Retail Overseas to build a more holistic ecosystem for Vasa Retail Overseas products in the Office Supplies industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Vasa Retail Overseas can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Vasa Retail Overseas operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Office Supplies sector.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Office Supplies industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Vasa Retail Overseas in the Office Supplies industry. Now Vasa Retail Overseas can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 Vasa Retail Overseas 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Vasa Retail Overseas in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Office Supplies industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Loyalty marketing
– Vasa Retail Overseas 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Vasa Retail Overseas 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 Vasa Retail Overseas to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Vasa Retail Overseas 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.
Threats Vasa Retail Overseas External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Vasa Retail Overseas are -
Environmental challenges
– Vasa Retail Overseas 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. Vasa Retail Overseas can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Office Supplies industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Vasa Retail Overseas is facing in Office Supplies sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Office Supplies industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Vasa Retail Overseas can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Vasa Retail Overseas 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 Office Supplies industry and other sectors.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Vasa Retail Overseas 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 Vasa Retail Overseas business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Vasa Retail Overseas 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 Office Supplies industry regulations.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Office Supplies industry are lowering. It can presents Vasa Retail Overseas with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Office Supplies sector.
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.
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
– Vasa Retail Overseas 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 Office Supplies industry.
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. Vasa Retail Overseas 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.
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 Vasa Retail Overseas.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Vasa Retail Overseas Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Vasa Retail Overseas 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 Vasa Retail Overseas 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 Vasa Retail Overseas 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 Vasa Retail Overseas 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 Vasa Retail Overseas needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
