SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Banca Popolare Sondrio (Italy)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Banca Popolare Sondrio is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Banca Popolare Sondrio
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Banca Popolare Sondrio can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Banca Popolare Sondrio, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 Banca Popolare Sondrio can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Banca Popolare Sondrio
2. Improving business portfolio management of Banca Popolare Sondrio
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Italy
4. Making a Regional Banks sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Banca Popolare Sondrio
Strengths of Banca Popolare Sondrio | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Banca Popolare Sondrio are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Banca Popolare Sondrio in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. Banca Popolare Sondrio has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Banca Popolare Sondrio to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management in the Regional Banks industry
– Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 Banca Popolare Sondrio in Regional Banks industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Banca Popolare Sondrio is present in almost all the verticals within the Regional Banks industry. This has provided Banca Popolare Sondrio 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Banca Popolare Sondrio 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.
Digital Transformation in Regional Banks industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Banca Popolare Sondrio digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Banca Popolare Sondrio 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
– Banca Popolare Sondrio is one of the most innovative firm in Regional Banks sector.
Training and development
– Banca Popolare Sondrio has one of the best training and development program in Financial 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.
Analytics focus
– Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 Regional Banks industry. The technology infrastructure of Italy 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.
Learning organization
- Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 Banca Popolare Sondrio is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Banca Popolare Sondrio emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Regional Banks
– Banca Popolare Sondrio is one of the leading players in the Regional Banks industry in Italy. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Regional Banks industry in Italy but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Banca Popolare Sondrio in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Regional Banks industry
– Banca Popolare Sondrio has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Banca Popolare Sondrio to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Regional Banks industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Banca Popolare Sondrio to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses of Banca Popolare Sondrio | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Banca Popolare Sondrio are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Banca Popolare Sondrio needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Regional Banks industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Banca Popolare Sondrio can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Banca Popolare Sondrio is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Banca Popolare Sondrio has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Regional Banks industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Banca Popolare Sondrio, in the dynamic environment of Regional Banks industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Banca Popolare Sondrio has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Banca Popolare Sondrio has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Regional Banks industry over the last five years. Banca Popolare Sondrio 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.
High dependence on Banca Popolare Sondrio ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Banca Popolare Sondrio still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Regional Banks industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Banca Popolare Sondrio has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring in Regional Banks industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Banca Popolare Sondrio is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Banca Popolare Sondrio to provide better information regarding Regional Banks products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 Banca Popolare Sondrio supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Banca Popolare Sondrio is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Banca Popolare Sondrio vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Banca Popolare Sondrio is just above the Regional Banks 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Banca Popolare Sondrio is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Regional Banks industry, but Banca Popolare Sondrio needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Banca Popolare Sondrio to focus more on services in the Regional Banks industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Banca Popolare Sondrio Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Banca Popolare Sondrio are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Banca Popolare Sondrio has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Regional Banks industry. This can help Banca Popolare Sondrio to build a more holistic ecosystem for Banca Popolare Sondrio products in the Regional Banks industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Banca Popolare Sondrio has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Regional Banks sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Banca Popolare Sondrio to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Banca Popolare Sondrio to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Regional Banks industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Banca Popolare Sondrio can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Banca Popolare Sondrio 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Regional Banks industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Banca Popolare Sondrio in the Regional Banks industry. Now Banca Popolare Sondrio can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Banca Popolare Sondrio 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, Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 Banca Popolare Sondrio to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Banca Popolare Sondrio to increase its market reach. Banca Popolare Sondrio 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.
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. Banca Popolare Sondrio can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Banca Popolare Sondrio 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Banca Popolare Sondrio to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Banca Popolare Sondrio to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Banca Popolare Sondrio 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Banca Popolare Sondrio is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Banca Popolare Sondrio can utilize new technology in the field of Regional Banks industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats Banca Popolare Sondrio External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Banca Popolare Sondrio are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Banca Popolare Sondrio in Regional Banks industry. The Regional Banks 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Banca Popolare Sondrio may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Regional Banks sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Banca Popolare Sondrio 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Regional Banks industry are lowering. It can presents Banca Popolare Sondrio with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Regional Banks sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 Regional Banks industry regulations.
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 Banca Popolare Sondrio business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 Regional Banks industry and other sectors.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 Regional Banks industry.
Environmental challenges
– Banca Popolare Sondrio 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. Banca Popolare Sondrio can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Regional Banks industry.
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 Banca Popolare Sondrio in the Regional Banks sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Banca Popolare Sondrio.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Regional Banks industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Banca Popolare Sondrio can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Banca Popolare Sondrio Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 Banca Popolare Sondrio 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 Banca Popolare Sondrio needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.