SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Visibilia Editor (Italy)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Visibilia Editor is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Visibilia Editor can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Visibilia Editor, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Visibilia Editor 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 Visibilia Editor can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Visibilia Editor
2. Improving business portfolio management of Visibilia Editor
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Italy
4. Making a Business Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Visibilia Editor
Strengths of Visibilia Editor | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Visibilia Editor are -
High brand equity
– Visibilia Editor has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Visibilia Editor to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Visibilia Editor 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 Visibilia Editor is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Visibilia Editor emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Business Services industry
– Visibilia Editor 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 Visibilia Editor in Business Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Visibilia Editor
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Visibilia Editor does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Business Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Visibilia Editor digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Visibilia Editor 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Visibilia Editor has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Visibilia Editor 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Visibilia Editor has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Business Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Visibilia Editor have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Business Services industry
– Visibilia Editor has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Visibilia Editor to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Business Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Visibilia Editor to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Visibilia Editor 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Visibilia Editor is present in almost all the verticals within the Business Services industry. This has provided Visibilia Editor 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Visibilia Editor is one of the leading players in the Business Services industry in Italy. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Italy. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses of Visibilia Editor | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Visibilia Editor are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Visibilia Editor needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Business Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Visibilia Editor can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Visibilia Editor is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Visibilia Editor products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Visibilia Editor needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Visibilia Editor has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
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 Visibilia Editor supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Visibilia Editor is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Visibilia Editor vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Visibilia Editor is just above the Business Services industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Visibilia Editor has some of the most successful models in the Business Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Visibilia Editor should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Visibilia Editor is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Business Services industry, but Visibilia Editor needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Visibilia Editor to focus more on services in the Business Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Italy, Visibilia Editor needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Visibilia Editor, in the dynamic environment of Business Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Visibilia Editor has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Business Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Italy, Visibilia Editor is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the Business Services industry.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Visibilia Editor has high operating costs in the Business Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Visibilia Editor lucrative customers.
Visibilia Editor Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Visibilia Editor are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Visibilia Editor is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Visibilia Editor can utilize new technology in the field of Business Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Visibilia Editor 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 Visibilia Editor to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Visibilia Editor in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Business Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Loyalty marketing
– Visibilia Editor 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Visibilia Editor has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Business Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Visibilia Editor to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Visibilia Editor to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Visibilia Editor 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Business Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Visibilia Editor in the Business Services industry. Now Visibilia Editor can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Business Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Visibilia Editor can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Visibilia Editor can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Buying journey improvements
– Visibilia Editor can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Business Services 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 Visibilia Editor 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.
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. Visibilia Editor can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Visibilia Editor to increase its market reach. Visibilia Editor 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Visibilia Editor 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 Visibilia Editor to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Visibilia Editor External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Visibilia Editor are -
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Visibilia Editor.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Visibilia Editor in Business Services industry. The Business Services 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.
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. Visibilia Editor 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Visibilia Editor has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Business Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Visibilia Editor needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Business Services 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Business Services industry are lowering. It can presents Visibilia Editor with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Business Services sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Business Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Visibilia Editor 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, Visibilia Editor may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Business Services sector.
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. Visibilia Editor needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Business Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Visibilia Editor business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Visibilia Editor in the Business Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Visibilia Editor 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 Visibilia Editor prominent markets.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Visibilia Editor 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 Business Services industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Visibilia Editor Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Visibilia Editor 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 Visibilia Editor 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 Visibilia Editor 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 Visibilia Editor 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 Visibilia Editor needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.