SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund (STW) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Misc. Financial Services
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund (Australia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund
2. Improving business portfolio management of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Misc. Financial Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund
Strengths of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund in Misc. Financial Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Misc. Financial Services industry
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Misc. Financial Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Financial Services sector.
Learning organization
- SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund staying ahead in the Misc. Financial Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund is present in almost all the verticals within the Misc. Financial Services industry. This has provided SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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.
Digital Transformation in Misc. Financial Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund is one of the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services 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.
Organizational Resilience of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Misc. Financial Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Misc. Financial Services industry, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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.
Employees’ less understanding of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund has high operating costs in the Misc. Financial Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund, in the dynamic environment of Misc. Financial Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 Misc. Financial Services industry using digital technology.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Australia, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Misc. Financial Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Australia, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 Misc. Financial Services industry.
Lack of clear differentiation of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund is just above the Misc. Financial 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund to provide better information regarding Misc. Financial Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Misc. Financial Services industry, but SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund to focus more on services in the Misc. Financial Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund are -
Manufacturing automation
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Misc. Financial Services 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.
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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund to increase its market reach. SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Misc. Financial Services industry. This can help SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund to build a more holistic ecosystem for SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund products in the Misc. Financial Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund can utilize new technology in the field of Misc. Financial Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Misc. Financial 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Misc. Financial Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund in the Misc. Financial Services industry. Now SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Misc. Financial Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 Misc. Financial Services industry and other sectors.
Increasing wage structure of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund
– 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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund.
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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund in the Misc. Financial Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 Misc. Financial Services industry.
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. SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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. SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Misc. Financial Services industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund is facing in Misc. Financial Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Misc. Financial Services sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Misc. Financial Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.