Clas Ohlson B (0GQE) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Home Improvement)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Clas Ohlson B (United Kingdom)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Clas Ohlson B is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Clas Ohlson B can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Clas Ohlson B, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Clas Ohlson B 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 Clas Ohlson B can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Clas Ohlson B
2. Improving business portfolio management of Clas Ohlson B
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Retail (Home Improvement) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Clas Ohlson B
Strengths of Clas Ohlson B | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Clas Ohlson B are -
Training and development
– Clas Ohlson B has one of the best training and development program in Services industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
High brand equity
– Clas Ohlson B has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Clas Ohlson B to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Clas Ohlson B
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Clas Ohlson B does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Clas Ohlson B 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
– Clas Ohlson B is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Home Improvement) industry. This has provided Clas Ohlson B 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Clas Ohlson B in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Clas Ohlson B has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Clas Ohlson B to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Retail (Home Improvement)
– Clas Ohlson B is one of the leading players in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Clas Ohlson B in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Clas Ohlson B is one of the leading players in the Retail (Home Improvement) 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Clas Ohlson B in Retail (Home Improvement) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Home Improvement) industry
– Clas Ohlson B has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Clas Ohlson B to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Clas Ohlson B to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Retail (Home Improvement) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Clas Ohlson B digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Clas Ohlson B 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry
– Clas Ohlson B is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses of Clas Ohlson B | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Clas Ohlson B are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Clas Ohlson B is one of the leading players in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry in last five years.
Employees’ less understanding of Clas Ohlson B strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Clas Ohlson B 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.
Skills based hiring in Retail (Home Improvement) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Clas Ohlson B 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Clas Ohlson B is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Clas Ohlson B to provide better information regarding Retail (Home Improvement) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Clas Ohlson B needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Clas Ohlson B can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Clas Ohlson B is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Clas Ohlson B, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Retail (Home Improvement) 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United Kingdom, Clas Ohlson B needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry, Clas Ohlson B 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 Clas Ohlson B supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Clas Ohlson B is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Clas Ohlson B vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Clas Ohlson B 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 (Home Improvement) industry over the last five years. Clas Ohlson B 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 Clas Ohlson B has some of the most successful models in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Clas Ohlson B should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Clas Ohlson B Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Clas Ohlson B are -
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. Clas Ohlson B can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Clas Ohlson B 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Clas Ohlson B 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Clas Ohlson B to increase its market reach. Clas Ohlson B 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Retail (Home Improvement) industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Clas Ohlson B in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry. Now Clas Ohlson B can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Clas Ohlson B 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. Clas Ohlson B 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Clas Ohlson B can develop new processes and procedures in Retail (Home Improvement) 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Clas Ohlson B 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 (Home Improvement) industry.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Clas Ohlson B has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Retail (Home Improvement) industry. This can help Clas Ohlson B to build a more holistic ecosystem for Clas Ohlson B products in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Clas Ohlson B 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 (Home Improvement) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Clas Ohlson B can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Clas Ohlson B operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Home Improvement) sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Clas Ohlson B has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Retail (Home Improvement) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Clas Ohlson B to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Clas Ohlson B to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Retail (Home Improvement) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Clas Ohlson B can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Clas Ohlson B External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Clas Ohlson B are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Home Improvement) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Clas Ohlson B can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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 Clas Ohlson B in the Retail (Home Improvement) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Clas Ohlson B 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 Clas Ohlson B prominent markets.
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. Clas Ohlson B needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Home Improvement) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Clas Ohlson B is facing in Retail (Home Improvement) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Clas Ohlson B 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. Clas Ohlson B can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Retail (Home Improvement) industry are lowering. It can presents Clas Ohlson B with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Retail (Home Improvement) 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 Clas Ohlson B.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Clas Ohlson B 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Clas Ohlson B 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 Retail (Home Improvement) industry and other sectors.
Regulatory challenges
– Clas Ohlson B 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 (Home Improvement) industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Clas Ohlson B 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 (Home Improvement) industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Clas Ohlson B Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Clas Ohlson B 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 Clas Ohlson B 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 Clas Ohlson B 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 Clas Ohlson B 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 Clas Ohlson B needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.