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 – geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, 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 -
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.
Innovation driven organization
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Financial Services sector.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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.
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.
Ability to lead change in Misc. Financial Services
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund is one of the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services industry in Australia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Financial Services industry in Australia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 Misc. Financial Services 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Misc. Financial Services 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
High dependence on SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Misc. Financial Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring in Misc. Financial Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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
SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Misc. Financial Services industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Misc. Financial Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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. SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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.
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.
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.
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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Misc. Financial Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 Misc. Financial Services industry.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Misc. Financial Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund 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 SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Misc. Financial Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Misc. Financial 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 Misc. Financial Services industry are lowering. It can presents SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Misc. Financial Services sector.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.