XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd (XPD) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Recreational Products
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd (Australia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which XPD Soccer Gear Group 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 XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Recreational Products sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd
Strengths of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd are -
Diverse revenue streams
– XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd is present in almost all the verticals within the Recreational Products industry. This has provided XPD Soccer Gear Group 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.
Training and development
– XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd has one of the best training and development program in Consumer Cyclical 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.
Learning organization
- XPD Soccer Gear Group 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 XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– XPD Soccer Gear Group 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 Recreational Products 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.
Ability to lead change in Recreational Products
– XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd is one of the leading players in the Recreational Products industry in Australia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Recreational Products industry in Australia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd staying ahead in the Recreational Products industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd in the Consumer Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the XPD Soccer Gear Group 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd is one of the leading players in the Recreational Products industry in Australia. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Australia. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Recreational Products industry
– XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Recreational Products industry. The sustainable margins have also helped XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd in Recreational Products industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Recreational Products industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Australia, XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd has some of the most successful models in the Recreational Products industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Recreational Products industry, XPD Soccer Gear Group 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd has high operating costs in the Recreational Products industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring in Recreational Products industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at XPD Soccer Gear Group 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd is just above the Recreational Products 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, XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Recreational Products industry over the last five years. XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the Recreational Products industry using digital technology.
XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Recreational Products industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Recreational Products sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd 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
– XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd can develop new processes and procedures in Recreational Products 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.
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 XPD Soccer Gear Group 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.
Buying journey improvements
– XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Recreational Products 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Recreational Products industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd in the Recreational Products industry. Now XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd to increase its market reach. XPD Soccer Gear Group 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd 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 XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Recreational Products industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for XPD Soccer Gear Group 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Recreational Products industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd are -
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. XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Recreational Products industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– XPD Soccer Gear Group 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 Recreational Products industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Recreational Products industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd.
Increasing wage structure of XPD Soccer Gear Group 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 XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Recreational Products industry are lowering. It can presents XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Recreational Products sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd in Recreational Products industry. The Recreational Products 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd 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 XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd prominent markets.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– XPD Soccer Gear Group 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on XPD Soccer Gear Group 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 Recreational Products industry and other sectors.
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.
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. XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at XPD Soccer Gear Group 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 XPD Soccer Gear Group 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 XPD Soccer Gear Group 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 XPD Soccer Gear Group 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 XPD Soccer Gear Group Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
