Grand Gulf Energy Ltd (GGE) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Oil & Gas Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Grand Gulf Energy Ltd (Australia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Grand Gulf Energy Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Grand Gulf Energy Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Grand Gulf Energy Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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 Grand Gulf Energy Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Oil & Gas Operations sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd
Strengths of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd is present in almost all the verticals within the Oil & Gas Operations industry. This has provided Grand Gulf Energy Ltd a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd is one of the leading players in the Oil & Gas Operations 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd is one of the most innovative firm in Oil & Gas Operations sector.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Oil & Gas Operations industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Grand Gulf Energy Ltd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management in the Oil & Gas Operations industry
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Oil & Gas Operations industry
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Grand Gulf Energy Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Oil & Gas Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Grand Gulf Energy Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Grand Gulf Energy Ltd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Oil & Gas Operations 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Grand Gulf Energy Ltd staying ahead in the Oil & Gas Operations industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd in the Energy sector have low bargaining power. Grand Gulf Energy Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Grand Gulf Energy Ltd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd are -
Skills based hiring in Oil & Gas Operations industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Grand Gulf Energy Ltd needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Oil & Gas Operations industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Grand Gulf Energy Ltd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Grand Gulf Energy Ltd is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Oil & Gas Operations industry, but Grand Gulf Energy Ltd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Grand Gulf Energy Ltd to focus more on services in the Oil & Gas Operations industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Oil & Gas Operations industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Australia, Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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 Oil & Gas Operations industry.
Need for greater diversity
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Oil & Gas Operations industry, Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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.
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 Grand Gulf Energy Ltd supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Grand Gulf Energy Ltd is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Grand Gulf Energy Ltd vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd is just above the Oil & Gas Operations 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Grand Gulf Energy Ltd has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Oil & Gas Operations 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Grand Gulf Energy Ltd has high operating costs in the Oil & Gas Operations industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Grand Gulf Energy Ltd lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Grand Gulf Energy Ltd is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Grand Gulf Energy Ltd to provide better information regarding Oil & Gas Operations products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Grand Gulf Energy Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Grand Gulf Energy Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Grand Gulf Energy Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Oil & Gas Operations industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Oil & Gas Operations sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Grand Gulf Energy Ltd to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Grand Gulf Energy Ltd to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Grand Gulf Energy Ltd can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Grand Gulf Energy Ltd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Grand Gulf Energy Ltd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Oil & Gas Operations sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Oil & Gas Operations 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Oil & Gas Operations 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 Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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 Grand Gulf Energy Ltd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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 Oil & Gas Operations industry.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Oil & Gas Operations industry. This can help Grand Gulf Energy Ltd to build a more holistic ecosystem for Grand Gulf Energy Ltd products in the Oil & Gas Operations industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd can develop new processes and procedures in Oil & Gas Operations 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.
Threats Grand Gulf Energy Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd are -
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. Grand Gulf Energy Ltd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Oil & Gas Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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 Oil & Gas Operations industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Oil & Gas Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Grand Gulf Energy Ltd needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Oil & Gas Operations 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Grand Gulf Energy Ltd is facing in Oil & Gas Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Grand Gulf Energy Ltd in the Oil & Gas Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Grand Gulf Energy Ltd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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 Oil & Gas Operations industry regulations.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Oil & Gas Operations industry are lowering. It can presents Grand Gulf Energy Ltd with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Oil & Gas Operations sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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 Grand Gulf Energy Ltd prominent markets.
Increasing wage structure of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd
– 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 Grand Gulf Energy Ltd.
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. Grand Gulf Energy Ltd will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Technology 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Grand Gulf Energy Ltd in Oil & Gas Operations industry. The Oil & Gas Operations 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Grand Gulf Energy Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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 Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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 Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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 Grand Gulf Energy Ltd 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 Grand Gulf Energy Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.