SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for UUV Aquabotix (Australia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , UUV Aquabotix is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that UUV Aquabotix can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the UUV Aquabotix, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which UUV Aquabotix 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 UUV Aquabotix can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of UUV Aquabotix
2. Improving business portfolio management of UUV Aquabotix
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Aerospace & Defense sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of UUV Aquabotix
Strengths of UUV Aquabotix | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of UUV Aquabotix are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Aerospace & Defense industry
– UUV Aquabotix has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled UUV Aquabotix to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Aerospace & Defense industry. The sustainable margins have also helped UUV Aquabotix to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Aerospace & Defense
– UUV Aquabotix is one of the leading players in the Aerospace & Defense industry in Australia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Aerospace & Defense industry in Australia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled UUV Aquabotix in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– UUV Aquabotix has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. UUV Aquabotix 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
– UUV Aquabotix has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Aerospace & Defense industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of UUV Aquabotix have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– UUV Aquabotix 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 Aerospace & Defense 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the UUV Aquabotix 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.
Learning organization
- UUV Aquabotix 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 UUV Aquabotix is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at UUV Aquabotix emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– UUV Aquabotix is one of the most innovative firm in Aerospace & Defense sector.
Ability to recruit top talent
– UUV Aquabotix is one of the leading players in the Aerospace & Defense 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.
High brand equity
– UUV Aquabotix has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled UUV Aquabotix to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of UUV Aquabotix comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Aerospace & Defense 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)
– UUV Aquabotix has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – UUV Aquabotix staying ahead in the Aerospace & Defense industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of UUV Aquabotix | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of UUV Aquabotix are -
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 UUV Aquabotix supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, UUV Aquabotix is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left UUV Aquabotix vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, UUV Aquabotix has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the Aerospace & Defense industry using digital technology.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Australia, UUV Aquabotix needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ less understanding of UUV Aquabotix strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of UUV Aquabotix 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, UUV Aquabotix has high operating costs in the Aerospace & Defense industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract UUV Aquabotix lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that UUV Aquabotix needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Aerospace & Defense industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at UUV Aquabotix can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as UUV Aquabotix is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, UUV Aquabotix 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at UUV Aquabotix, in the dynamic environment of Aerospace & Defense industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. UUV Aquabotix has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of UUV Aquabotix is just above the Aerospace & Defense 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 dependence on UUV Aquabotix ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of UUV Aquabotix still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Aerospace & Defense industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though UUV Aquabotix has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of UUV Aquabotix, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Aerospace & Defense 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.
UUV Aquabotix Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of UUV Aquabotix are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for UUV Aquabotix 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– UUV Aquabotix can develop new processes and procedures in Aerospace & Defense 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Aerospace & Defense industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. UUV Aquabotix 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. UUV Aquabotix 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– UUV Aquabotix has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Aerospace & Defense sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled UUV Aquabotix to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help UUV Aquabotix to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– UUV Aquabotix can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Aerospace & Defense 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, UUV Aquabotix 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 UUV Aquabotix to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, UUV Aquabotix is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. UUV Aquabotix can utilize new technology in the field of Aerospace & Defense 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 Aerospace & Defense industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for UUV Aquabotix in the Aerospace & Defense industry. Now UUV Aquabotix can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– UUV Aquabotix 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, UUV Aquabotix can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that UUV Aquabotix operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Aerospace & Defense sector.
Buying journey improvements
– UUV Aquabotix can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Aerospace & Defense 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.
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. UUV Aquabotix can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for UUV Aquabotix in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Aerospace & Defense industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats UUV Aquabotix External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of UUV Aquabotix are -
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.
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 UUV Aquabotix business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– UUV Aquabotix 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 Aerospace & Defense industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on UUV Aquabotix 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 Aerospace & Defense industry and other sectors.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– UUV Aquabotix 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.
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 UUV Aquabotix.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– UUV Aquabotix has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Aerospace & Defense industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, UUV Aquabotix needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Aerospace & Defense 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.
Environmental challenges
– UUV Aquabotix 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. UUV Aquabotix can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Aerospace & Defense industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Aerospace & Defense industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. UUV Aquabotix can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of UUV Aquabotix
– 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 UUV Aquabotix.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Aerospace & Defense industry are lowering. It can presents UUV Aquabotix with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Aerospace & Defense sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that UUV Aquabotix is facing in Aerospace & Defense 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, UUV Aquabotix may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Aerospace & Defense sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of UUV Aquabotix Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at UUV Aquabotix 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 UUV Aquabotix 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 UUV Aquabotix 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 UUV Aquabotix 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 UUV Aquabotix needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.