JSC VTB Bank DRC (VTBRq) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for JSC VTB Bank DRC (United Kingdom)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , JSC VTB Bank DRC is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that JSC VTB Bank DRC can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the JSC VTB Bank DRC, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which JSC VTB Bank DRC 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 JSC VTB Bank DRC can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of JSC VTB Bank DRC
2. Improving business portfolio management of JSC VTB Bank DRC
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of JSC VTB Bank DRC
Strengths of JSC VTB Bank DRC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of JSC VTB Bank DRC are -
Ability to lead change in
– JSC VTB Bank DRC is one of the leading players in the industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled JSC VTB Bank DRC in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– JSC VTB Bank DRC 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 industry. The technology infrastructure of United Kingdom 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that JSC VTB Bank DRC 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of JSC VTB Bank DRC in industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– JSC VTB Bank DRC has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled JSC VTB Bank DRC to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped JSC VTB Bank DRC to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– JSC VTB Bank DRC has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. JSC VTB Bank DRC 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– JSC VTB Bank DRC has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of JSC VTB Bank DRC have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– JSC VTB Bank DRC is one of the leading players in the industry in United Kingdom. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in United Kingdom. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management in the industry
– JSC VTB Bank DRC is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– JSC VTB Bank DRC has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled JSC VTB Bank DRC to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the JSC VTB Bank DRC 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– JSC VTB Bank DRC is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided JSC VTB Bank DRC 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 JSC VTB Bank DRC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of JSC VTB Bank DRC are -
Skills based hiring in industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at JSC VTB Bank DRC 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at JSC VTB Bank DRC, in the dynamic environment of industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. JSC VTB Bank DRC has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, JSC VTB Bank DRC has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. JSC VTB Bank DRC 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.
High dependence on JSC VTB Bank DRC ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of JSC VTB Bank DRC still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though JSC VTB Bank DRC has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the industry, JSC VTB Bank DRC 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, JSC VTB Bank DRC has high operating costs in the industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract JSC VTB Bank DRC lucrative customers.
Employees’ less understanding of JSC VTB Bank DRC strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of JSC VTB Bank DRC 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.
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 JSC VTB Bank DRC supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, JSC VTB Bank DRC is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left JSC VTB Bank DRC 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, JSC VTB Bank DRC is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help JSC VTB Bank DRC to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United Kingdom, JSC VTB Bank DRC 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 industry.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that JSC VTB Bank DRC needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at JSC VTB Bank DRC can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as JSC VTB Bank DRC is planning to shift buying processes online.
JSC VTB Bank DRC Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of JSC VTB Bank DRC are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, JSC VTB Bank DRC 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.
Loyalty marketing
– JSC VTB Bank DRC 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, JSC VTB Bank DRC is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. JSC VTB Bank DRC can utilize new technology in the field of 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 industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for JSC VTB Bank DRC in the industry. Now JSC VTB Bank DRC can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for JSC VTB Bank DRC 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 JSC VTB Bank DRC to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of JSC VTB Bank DRC has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help JSC VTB Bank DRC to build a more holistic ecosystem for JSC VTB Bank DRC products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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, JSC VTB Bank DRC can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that JSC VTB Bank DRC operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in sector.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. JSC VTB Bank DRC 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. JSC VTB Bank DRC 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for JSC VTB Bank DRC in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. JSC VTB Bank DRC can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– JSC VTB Bank DRC has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled JSC VTB Bank DRC to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help JSC VTB Bank DRC to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 JSC VTB Bank DRC 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 JSC VTB Bank DRC to increase its market reach. JSC VTB Bank DRC 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 JSC VTB Bank DRC External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of JSC VTB Bank DRC are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents JSC VTB Bank DRC with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that JSC VTB Bank DRC is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. JSC VTB Bank DRC needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. JSC VTB Bank DRC can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. JSC VTB Bank DRC 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.
Regulatory challenges
– JSC VTB Bank DRC 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 industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of JSC VTB Bank DRC
– 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 JSC VTB Bank DRC.
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 JSC VTB Bank DRC business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, JSC VTB Bank DRC may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of sector.
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 JSC VTB Bank DRC in the sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 JSC VTB Bank DRC.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of JSC VTB Bank DRC Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at JSC VTB Bank DRC 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 JSC VTB Bank DRC 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 JSC VTB Bank DRC 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 JSC VTB Bank DRC 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 JSC VTB Bank DRC needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
