SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for CV Check Ltd (Australia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , CV Check Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that CV Check Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the CV Check Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which CV Check 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 CV Check Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of CV Check Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of CV Check Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Business Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of CV Check Ltd
Strengths of CV Check Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of CV Check Ltd are -
Analytics focus
– CV Check 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 Business Services industry. The technology infrastructure of Australia 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.
Organizational Resilience of CV Check Ltd
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing CV Check Ltd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of CV Check Ltd in the Services sector have low bargaining power. CV Check Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps CV Check Ltd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– CV Check Ltd is present in almost all the verticals within the Business Services industry. This has provided CV Check 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Business Services industry
– CV Check Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled CV Check Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Business Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped CV Check Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- CV Check 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 CV Check Ltd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at CV Check Ltd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– CV Check Ltd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled CV Check Ltd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that CV Check Ltd 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of CV Check Ltd comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Business Services 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.
Training and development
– CV Check Ltd has one of the best training and development program in Services 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the CV Check 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– CV Check Ltd has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Business Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of CV Check Ltd have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of CV Check Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of CV Check Ltd are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at CV Check Ltd, in the dynamic environment of Business Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. CV Check Ltd has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, CV Check Ltd is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help CV Check Ltd to provide better information regarding Business Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Business Services industry, CV Check 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.
High dependence on CV Check Ltd ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of CV Check Ltd still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Business Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though CV Check Ltd has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of CV Check Ltd is just above the Business Services industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, CV Check Ltd 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 Business Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at CV Check 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As CV Check Ltd is one of the leading players in the Business Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Business Services industry in last five years.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of CV Check Ltd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Business Services industry, but CV Check Ltd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help CV Check Ltd to focus more on services in the Business Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Business Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Australia, CV Check Ltd 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 Business Services industry.
Lack of clear differentiation of CV Check Ltd products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, CV Check Ltd needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
CV Check Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of CV Check Ltd are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Business Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for CV Check Ltd in the Business Services industry. Now CV Check Ltd can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, CV Check Ltd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that CV Check Ltd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Business Services sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of CV Check Ltd has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Business Services industry. This can help CV Check Ltd to build a more holistic ecosystem for CV Check Ltd products in the Business Services 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 CV Check 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, CV Check Ltd 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, CV Check Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. CV Check Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Business Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects CV Check Ltd can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– CV Check Ltd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Business Services 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at CV Check 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 Business Services industry.
Leveraging digital technologies
– CV Check 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– CV Check Ltd has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Business Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled CV Check Ltd to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help CV Check Ltd to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help CV Check Ltd to increase its market reach. CV Check Ltd 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for CV Check Ltd 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 CV Check Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of CV Check Ltd are -
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 CV Check Ltd.
Increasing wage structure of CV Check 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 CV Check Ltd.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Business Services industry are lowering. It can presents CV Check Ltd with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Business Services sector.
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 CV Check Ltd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 CV Check Ltd in the Business Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Business Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. CV Check Ltd can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– CV Check 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. CV Check Ltd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Business Services industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– CV Check Ltd 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.
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. CV Check Ltd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Business Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on CV Check 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 Business Services industry and other sectors.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– CV Check 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 Business Services industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that CV Check Ltd is facing in Business Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of CV Check Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at CV Check 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 CV Check 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 CV Check 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 CV Check 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 CV Check Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.