Adcorp Australia Ltd (AAU) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Advertising
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Adcorp Australia Ltd (Australia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Adcorp Australia Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing energy prices,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Adcorp Australia Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Adcorp Australia Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Adcorp Australia Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Adcorp Australia 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 Adcorp Australia Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Adcorp Australia Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Adcorp Australia Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Advertising sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Adcorp Australia Ltd
Strengths of Adcorp Australia Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Adcorp Australia Ltd are -
Organizational Resilience of Adcorp Australia Ltd
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Adcorp Australia Ltd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Adcorp Australia Ltd in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Adcorp Australia Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Adcorp Australia Ltd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Advertising
– Adcorp Australia Ltd is one of the leading players in the Advertising industry in Australia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Advertising industry in Australia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Adcorp Australia Ltd in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management in the Advertising industry
– Adcorp Australia 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Adcorp Australia Ltd 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Adcorp Australia Ltd is one of the most innovative firm in Advertising sector.
Digital Transformation in Advertising industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Adcorp Australia Ltd digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Adcorp Australia Ltd 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Advertising industry
– Adcorp Australia Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Adcorp Australia Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Advertising industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Adcorp Australia Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Adcorp Australia Ltd 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 Adcorp Australia Ltd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Adcorp Australia Ltd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Adcorp Australia Ltd 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 Advertising 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Adcorp Australia Ltd comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Advertising 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Adcorp Australia Ltd is present in almost all the verticals within the Advertising industry. This has provided Adcorp Australia 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.
Weaknesses of Adcorp Australia Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Adcorp Australia Ltd are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Adcorp Australia Ltd has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Advertising industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Need for greater diversity
– Adcorp Australia 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Adcorp Australia Ltd is one of the leading players in the Advertising industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Advertising industry in last five years.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Australia, Adcorp Australia Ltd needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring in Advertising industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Adcorp Australia 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 Adcorp Australia Ltd needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Advertising industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Adcorp Australia Ltd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Adcorp Australia Ltd is planning to shift buying processes online.
Employees’ less understanding of Adcorp Australia Ltd strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Adcorp Australia Ltd 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Adcorp Australia Ltd 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 bargaining power of channel partners in Advertising industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Australia, Adcorp Australia 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 Advertising industry.
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 Adcorp Australia Ltd supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Adcorp Australia Ltd is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Adcorp Australia Ltd vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Adcorp Australia Ltd is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Adcorp Australia Ltd to provide better information regarding Advertising products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Adcorp Australia Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Adcorp Australia Ltd are -
Loyalty marketing
– Adcorp Australia Ltd 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Adcorp Australia Ltd can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Adcorp Australia Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Adcorp Australia Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Advertising industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Advertising industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Adcorp Australia Ltd in the Advertising industry. Now Adcorp Australia Ltd can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Adcorp Australia Ltd in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Advertising industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Adcorp Australia 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, Adcorp Australia Ltd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Adcorp Australia Ltd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Advertising sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Adcorp Australia Ltd has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Advertising industry. This can help Adcorp Australia Ltd to build a more holistic ecosystem for Adcorp Australia Ltd products in the Advertising industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Adcorp Australia 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 Advertising industry.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Adcorp Australia 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Adcorp Australia Ltd 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 Adcorp Australia Ltd to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Adcorp Australia Ltd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Advertising 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Adcorp Australia 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 Adcorp Australia Ltd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Adcorp Australia Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Adcorp Australia Ltd are -
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 Adcorp Australia Ltd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Advertising industry are lowering. It can presents Adcorp Australia Ltd with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Advertising sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Adcorp Australia Ltd may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Advertising sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Adcorp Australia Ltd 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 Advertising industry and other sectors.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Adcorp Australia Ltd in Advertising industry. The Advertising 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.
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.
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. Adcorp Australia 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.
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 Adcorp Australia Ltd.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Adcorp Australia 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 Advertising industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Adcorp Australia Ltd 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. Adcorp Australia Ltd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Advertising industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Advertising industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Adcorp Australia Ltd can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Adcorp Australia Ltd 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Adcorp Australia Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Adcorp Australia 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 Adcorp Australia 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 Adcorp Australia 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 Adcorp Australia 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 Adcorp Australia Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.