Giorgio Fedon & Figli (FDOP) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Giorgio Fedon & Figli (Italy)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Giorgio Fedon & Figli is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Giorgio Fedon & Figli
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Giorgio Fedon & Figli can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Giorgio Fedon & Figli, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Giorgio Fedon & Figli
2. Improving business portfolio management of Giorgio Fedon & Figli
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Italy
4. Making a sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Giorgio Fedon & Figli
Strengths of Giorgio Fedon & Figli | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Giorgio Fedon & Figli are -
Analytics focus
– Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Giorgio Fedon & Figli has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Giorgio Fedon & Figli in the sector have low bargaining power. Giorgio Fedon & Figli has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Giorgio Fedon & Figli to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Giorgio Fedon & Figli is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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.
Learning organization
- Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Giorgio Fedon & Figli emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Giorgio Fedon & Figli
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Giorgio Fedon & Figli does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Giorgio Fedon & Figli in industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in
– Giorgio Fedon & Figli is one of the leading players in the industry in Italy. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the industry in Italy but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Giorgio Fedon & Figli in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Giorgio Fedon & Figli comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Strong track record of project management in the industry
– Giorgio Fedon & Figli is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Giorgio Fedon & Figli has one of the best training and development program in 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.
Weaknesses of Giorgio Fedon & Figli | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Giorgio Fedon & Figli are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 industry using digital technology.
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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Giorgio Fedon & Figli is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Giorgio Fedon & Figli vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring in industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Giorgio Fedon & Figli has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High dependence on Giorgio Fedon & Figli ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Giorgio Fedon & Figli still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Giorgio Fedon & Figli has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Giorgio Fedon & Figli has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Italy, Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 industry.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Giorgio Fedon & Figli is just above the 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Giorgio Fedon & Figli products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Giorgio Fedon & Figli needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Giorgio Fedon & Figli is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but Giorgio Fedon & Figli needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Giorgio Fedon & Figli to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Giorgio Fedon & Figli has high operating costs in the industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Giorgio Fedon & Figli lucrative customers.
Giorgio Fedon & Figli Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Giorgio Fedon & Figli are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Giorgio Fedon & Figli can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Giorgio Fedon & Figli has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Giorgio Fedon & Figli to build a more holistic ecosystem for Giorgio Fedon & Figli products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Giorgio Fedon & Figli can develop new processes and procedures in 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 industry.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Giorgio Fedon & Figli in the industry. Now Giorgio Fedon & Figli can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Giorgio Fedon & Figli to increase its market reach. Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Giorgio Fedon & Figli can improve the customer journey of consumers in the 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.
Threats Giorgio Fedon & Figli External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Giorgio Fedon & Figli are -
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.
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. Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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.
Environmental challenges
– Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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. Giorgio Fedon & Figli can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Giorgio Fedon & Figli may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 industry regulations.
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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli in the sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 industry and other sectors.
Increasing wage structure of Giorgio Fedon & Figli
– 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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli prominent markets.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Giorgio Fedon & Figli can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Giorgio Fedon & Figli in industry. The 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Giorgio Fedon & Figli is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Giorgio Fedon & Figli Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli 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 Giorgio Fedon & Figli needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
