Man SE ST (0KJB) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Conglomerates
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Man SE ST (United Kingdom)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Man SE ST is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Man SE ST can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Man SE ST, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Man SE ST 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 Man SE ST can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Man SE ST
2. Improving business portfolio management of Man SE ST
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Conglomerates sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Man SE ST
Strengths of Man SE ST | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Man SE ST are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Man SE ST has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Conglomerates industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Man SE ST have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Man SE ST has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Man SE ST 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.
High brand equity
– Man SE ST has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Man SE ST to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Conglomerates industry
– Man SE ST has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Man SE ST to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Conglomerates industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Man SE ST to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Man SE ST 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Man SE ST in the Conglomerates sector have low bargaining power. Man SE ST has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Man SE ST to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Man SE ST 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.
Digital Transformation in Conglomerates industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Man SE ST digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Man SE ST 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.
Ability to lead change in Conglomerates
– Man SE ST is one of the leading players in the Conglomerates industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Conglomerates industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Man SE ST in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Man SE ST 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 Man SE ST is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Man SE ST emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Man SE ST is present in almost all the verticals within the Conglomerates industry. This has provided Man SE ST 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 Man SE ST
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Man SE ST does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses of Man SE ST | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Man SE ST are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Man SE ST, in the dynamic environment of Conglomerates industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Man SE ST has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Conglomerates industry, Man SE ST 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, Man SE ST has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Conglomerates industry over the last five years. Man SE ST 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Man SE ST, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Conglomerates industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Man SE ST has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Conglomerates industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United Kingdom, Man SE ST needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Man SE ST has high operating costs in the Conglomerates industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Man SE ST lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Man SE ST is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Man SE ST to provide better information regarding Conglomerates products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Man SE ST is one of the leading players in the Conglomerates industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Conglomerates industry in last five years.
Lack of clear differentiation of Man SE ST products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Man SE ST needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Man SE ST supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Man SE ST is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Man SE ST vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Man SE ST Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Man SE ST are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Man SE ST has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Conglomerates sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Man SE ST to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Man SE ST to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Man SE ST 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Man SE ST can develop new processes and procedures in Conglomerates 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.
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 Man SE ST 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Man SE ST to increase its market reach. Man SE ST 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Man SE ST 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Man SE ST 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 Conglomerates industry.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Man SE ST can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Man SE ST 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Man SE ST can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Man SE ST operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Conglomerates sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Man SE ST can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Conglomerates 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Conglomerates industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Man SE ST can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Man SE ST 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.
Threats Man SE ST External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Man SE ST are -
Regulatory challenges
– Man SE ST 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 Conglomerates industry regulations.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Man SE ST 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 Man SE ST prominent markets.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Man SE ST in Conglomerates industry. The Conglomerates 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Man SE ST is facing in Conglomerates sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Man SE ST may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Conglomerates sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Man SE ST 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 Conglomerates industry and other sectors.
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 Man SE ST in the Conglomerates sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Man SE ST
– 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 Man SE ST.
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. Man SE ST 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Conglomerates industry are lowering. It can presents Man SE ST with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Conglomerates sector.
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 Man SE ST.
Environmental challenges
– Man SE ST 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. Man SE ST can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Conglomerates industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Man SE ST Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Man SE ST 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 Man SE ST 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 Man SE ST 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 Man SE ST 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 Man SE ST needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.