Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Israel
4. Making a Iron & Steel sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries
Strengths of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Iron & Steel 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.
Learning organization
- Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Iron & Steel industry
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries is present in almost all the verticals within the Iron & Steel industry. This has provided Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Iron & Steel industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Iron & Steel industry
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Iron & Steel industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Iron & Steel industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries is one of the most innovative firm in Iron & Steel sector.
Analytics focus
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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 Iron & Steel industry. The technology infrastructure of Israel 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.
Weaknesses of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries to provide better information regarding Iron & Steel products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Iron & Steel industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ less understanding of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Iron & Steel 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries, in the dynamic environment of Iron & Steel industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Iron & Steel industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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.
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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Iron & Steel industry, Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries is just above the Iron & Steel 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Iron & Steel industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Israel, Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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 Iron & Steel industry.
Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries are -
Loyalty marketing
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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 Iron & Steel industry.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Iron & Steel sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries can develop new processes and procedures in Iron & Steel 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Iron & Steel 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Iron & Steel 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.
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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries to increase its market reach. Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Iron & Steel sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Iron & Steel industry. This can help Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries to build a more holistic ecosystem for Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries products in the Iron & Steel industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Iron & Steel industry are lowering. It can presents Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Iron & Steel sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries prominent markets.
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.
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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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.
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. Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Iron & Steel industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries.
Regulatory challenges
– Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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 Iron & Steel industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Iron & Steel industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Iron & Steel sector.
Increasing wage structure of Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries
– 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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries.
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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries in the Iron & Steel sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries in Iron & Steel industry. The Iron & Steel 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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries 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 Mendelson Infrastruct & Industries needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.