Viva Energy Reit (VVR) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Viva Energy Reit (Australia)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Viva Energy Reit is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Viva Energy Reit

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Viva Energy Reit can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Viva Energy Reit, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Viva Energy Reit 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Viva Energy Reit can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Viva Energy Reit
2. Improving business portfolio management of Viva Energy Reit
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Retail (Specialty) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Viva Energy Reit

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Strengths of Viva Energy Reit | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Viva Energy Reit are -

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Viva Energy Reit in Retail (Specialty) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Digital Transformation in Retail (Specialty) industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Viva Energy Reit digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Viva Energy Reit 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Viva Energy Reit is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Specialty) sector.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Viva Energy Reit has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Viva Energy Reit staying ahead in the Retail (Specialty) industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Viva Energy Reit has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Retail (Specialty) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Viva Energy Reit have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Specialty) industry

– Viva Energy Reit is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Ability to lead change in Retail (Specialty)

– Viva Energy Reit is one of the leading players in the Retail (Specialty) industry in Australia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Specialty) industry in Australia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Viva Energy Reit in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Viva Energy Reit in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Viva Energy Reit has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Viva Energy Reit to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Diverse revenue streams

– Viva Energy Reit is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Specialty) industry. This has provided Viva Energy Reit 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.

Organizational Resilience of Viva Energy Reit

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Viva Energy Reit does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Learning organization

- Viva Energy Reit 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 Viva Energy Reit is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Viva Energy Reit emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Viva Energy Reit has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Viva Energy Reit 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.

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Weaknesses of Viva Energy Reit | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Viva Energy Reit are -

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Viva Energy Reit has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Retail (Specialty) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Viva Energy Reit, in the dynamic environment of Retail (Specialty) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Viva Energy Reit has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Viva Energy Reit is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Retail (Specialty) industry, but Viva Energy Reit needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Viva Energy Reit to focus more on services in the Retail (Specialty) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Skills based hiring in Retail (Specialty) industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Viva Energy Reit 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 bargaining power of channel partners in Retail (Specialty) industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Australia, Viva Energy Reit 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 Retail (Specialty) industry.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Viva Energy Reit needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Specialty) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Viva Energy Reit can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Viva Energy Reit is planning to shift buying processes online.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Viva Energy Reit is one of the leading players in the Retail (Specialty) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Specialty) industry in last five years.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Viva Energy Reit is just above the Retail (Specialty) 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Retail (Specialty) industry, Viva Energy Reit 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Viva Energy Reit has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Retail (Specialty) industry over the last five years. Viva Energy Reit even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Viva Energy Reit has some of the most successful models in the Retail (Specialty) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Viva Energy Reit should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

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Viva Energy Reit Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Viva Energy Reit are -

Loyalty marketing

– Viva Energy Reit 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, Viva Energy Reit 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 Viva Energy Reit 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 Viva Energy Reit in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Retail (Specialty) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Viva Energy Reit 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Viva Energy Reit to increase its market reach. Viva Energy Reit 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

– Viva Energy Reit can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Retail (Specialty) 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Viva Energy Reit 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 Retail (Specialty) industry.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Viva Energy Reit has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Retail (Specialty) industry. This can help Viva Energy Reit to build a more holistic ecosystem for Viva Energy Reit products in the Retail (Specialty) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Viva Energy Reit is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Viva Energy Reit can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Specialty) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Reconfiguring business model

– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Viva Energy Reit 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Viva Energy Reit can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Viva Energy Reit operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Specialty) sector.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Retail (Specialty) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Viva Energy Reit 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. Viva Energy Reit 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Viva Energy Reit 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.

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Threats Viva Energy Reit External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Viva Energy Reit are -

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Viva Energy Reit 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 Viva Energy Reit prominent markets.

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. Viva Energy Reit 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.

Increasing wage structure of Viva Energy Reit

– 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 Viva Energy Reit.

Regulatory challenges

– Viva Energy Reit 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 Retail (Specialty) 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 Viva Energy Reit in the Retail (Specialty) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Environmental challenges

– Viva Energy Reit 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. Viva Energy Reit can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Specialty) industry.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Viva Energy Reit has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Retail (Specialty) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Viva Energy Reit needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Retail (Specialty) 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.

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 Viva Energy Reit.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Viva Energy Reit 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 Retail (Specialty) industry.

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.

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. Viva Energy Reit needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Specialty) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Retail (Specialty) industry are lowering. It can presents Viva Energy Reit with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Retail (Specialty) sector.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Viva Energy Reit high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Viva Energy Reit Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Viva Energy Reit 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 Viva Energy Reit 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 Viva Energy Reit 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 Viva Energy Reit 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 Viva Energy Reit needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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