SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Multifiling Mitra (Indonesia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Multifiling Mitra is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Multifiling Mitra
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Multifiling Mitra can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Multifiling Mitra, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Multifiling Mitra 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 Multifiling Mitra can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Multifiling Mitra
2. Improving business portfolio management of Multifiling Mitra
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Indonesia
4. Making a Schools sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Multifiling Mitra
Strengths of Multifiling Mitra | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Multifiling Mitra are -
Training and development
– Multifiling Mitra 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.
High brand equity
– Multifiling Mitra has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Multifiling Mitra to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Multifiling Mitra 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 Schools industry. The technology infrastructure of Indonesia 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Schools industry
– Multifiling Mitra has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Multifiling Mitra to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Schools industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Multifiling Mitra to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Multifiling Mitra
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Multifiling Mitra 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 Multifiling Mitra comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Schools 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Schools industry
– Multifiling Mitra is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Multifiling Mitra is one of the leading players in the Schools industry in Indonesia. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Indonesia. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Schools
– Multifiling Mitra is one of the leading players in the Schools industry in Indonesia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Schools industry in Indonesia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Multifiling Mitra in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Multifiling Mitra has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Multifiling Mitra 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
- Multifiling Mitra 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 Multifiling Mitra is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Multifiling Mitra emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Schools industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Multifiling Mitra digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Multifiling Mitra 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.
Weaknesses of Multifiling Mitra | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Multifiling Mitra are -
Employees’ less understanding of Multifiling Mitra strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Multifiling Mitra 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.
Skills based hiring in Schools industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Multifiling Mitra 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.
High dependence on Multifiling Mitra ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Multifiling Mitra still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Schools industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Multifiling Mitra has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Multifiling Mitra 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Schools industry, Multifiling Mitra 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Multifiling Mitra is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Schools industry, but Multifiling Mitra needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Multifiling Mitra to focus more on services in the Schools industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Multifiling Mitra is just above the Schools 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Multifiling Mitra has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Schools industry over the last five years. Multifiling Mitra even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Indonesia, Multifiling Mitra needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Multifiling Mitra has high operating costs in the Schools industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Multifiling Mitra lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Multifiling Mitra has some of the most successful models in the Schools industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Multifiling Mitra should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Multifiling Mitra Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Multifiling Mitra are -
Buying journey improvements
– Multifiling Mitra can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Schools 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 Multifiling Mitra can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Multifiling Mitra in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Schools industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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. Multifiling Mitra can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Multifiling Mitra 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Multifiling Mitra 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 Schools industry.
Developing new processes and practices
– Multifiling Mitra can develop new processes and procedures in Schools 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Multifiling Mitra to increase its market reach. Multifiling Mitra 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Multifiling Mitra 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Multifiling Mitra is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Multifiling Mitra can utilize new technology in the field of Schools industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Multifiling Mitra can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Schools 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Multifiling Mitra can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Multifiling Mitra operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Schools sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Multifiling Mitra 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 Multifiling Mitra to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Multifiling Mitra External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Multifiling Mitra are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Schools industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Multifiling Mitra can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Multifiling Mitra needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Schools industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Multifiling Mitra 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 Schools industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Multifiling Mitra 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 Schools industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Multifiling Mitra is facing in Schools sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Multifiling Mitra in Schools industry. The Schools 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.
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 Multifiling Mitra in the Schools sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Multifiling Mitra
– 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 Multifiling Mitra.
Environmental challenges
– Multifiling Mitra 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. Multifiling Mitra can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Schools industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Multifiling Mitra 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 Multifiling Mitra prominent markets.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Multifiling Mitra 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 Schools industry and other sectors.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Multifiling Mitra has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Schools industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Multifiling Mitra needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Schools 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.
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 Multifiling Mitra.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Multifiling Mitra Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Multifiling Mitra 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 Multifiling Mitra 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 Multifiling Mitra 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 Multifiling Mitra 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 Multifiling Mitra needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.