Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , ABG Sundal Collier is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of ABG Sundal Collier
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that ABG Sundal Collier can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the ABG Sundal Collier, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which ABG Sundal Collier 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 ABG Sundal Collier can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of ABG Sundal Collier
2. Improving business portfolio management of ABG Sundal Collier
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Investment Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of ABG Sundal Collier
Strengths of ABG Sundal Collier | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of ABG Sundal Collier are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of ABG Sundal Collier in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. ABG Sundal Collier has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps ABG Sundal Collier to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that ABG Sundal Collier 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– ABG Sundal Collier has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – ABG Sundal Collier staying ahead in the Investment Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of ABG Sundal Collier comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Investment Services 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.
Ability to lead change in Investment Services
– ABG Sundal Collier is one of the leading players in the Investment Services industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Investment Services industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled ABG Sundal Collier in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– ABG Sundal Collier has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled ABG Sundal Collier to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- ABG Sundal Collier 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 ABG Sundal Collier is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at ABG Sundal Collier emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– ABG Sundal Collier has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Investment Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of ABG Sundal Collier have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Investment Services industry
– ABG Sundal Collier has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled ABG Sundal Collier to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Investment Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped ABG Sundal Collier to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– ABG Sundal Collier is one of the most innovative firm in Investment Services sector.
Diverse revenue streams
– ABG Sundal Collier is present in almost all the verticals within the Investment Services industry. This has provided ABG Sundal Collier 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Investment Services industry
– ABG Sundal Collier 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 ABG Sundal Collier | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of ABG Sundal Collier are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, ABG Sundal Collier has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Investment Services industry over the last five years. ABG Sundal Collier 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 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 ABG Sundal Collier supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, ABG Sundal Collier is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left ABG Sundal Collier vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of ABG Sundal Collier is just above the Investment Services 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of ABG Sundal Collier is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Investment Services industry, but ABG Sundal Collier needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help ABG Sundal Collier to focus more on services in the Investment Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, ABG Sundal Collier is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help ABG Sundal Collier to provide better information regarding Investment Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– ABG Sundal Collier 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Investment Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United Kingdom, ABG Sundal Collier 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 Investment Services industry.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Investment Services industry, ABG Sundal Collier 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of ABG Sundal Collier, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Investment Services 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of ABG Sundal Collier products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, ABG Sundal Collier needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As ABG Sundal Collier is one of the leading players in the Investment Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Investment Services industry in last five years.
ABG Sundal Collier Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of ABG Sundal Collier 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. ABG Sundal Collier can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, ABG Sundal Collier can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that ABG Sundal Collier operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Investment Services sector.
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 ABG Sundal Collier 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Investment Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. ABG Sundal Collier 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. ABG Sundal Collier 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
– ABG Sundal Collier has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Investment Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled ABG Sundal Collier to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help ABG Sundal Collier to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for ABG Sundal Collier in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Investment Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Developing new processes and practices
– ABG Sundal Collier can develop new processes and procedures in Investment Services 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects ABG Sundal Collier can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for ABG Sundal Collier 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.
Buying journey improvements
– ABG Sundal Collier can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Investment Services 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.
Loyalty marketing
– ABG Sundal Collier 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of ABG Sundal Collier has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Investment Services industry. This can help ABG Sundal Collier to build a more holistic ecosystem for ABG Sundal Collier products in the Investment Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help ABG Sundal Collier to increase its market reach. ABG Sundal Collier 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 ABG Sundal Collier External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of ABG Sundal Collier are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Investment Services industry are lowering. It can presents ABG Sundal Collier with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Investment Services sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, ABG Sundal Collier 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 ABG Sundal Collier prominent markets.
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 ABG Sundal Collier business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for ABG Sundal Collier in Investment Services industry. The Investment Services 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.
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. ABG Sundal Collier needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Investment Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– ABG Sundal Collier 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. ABG Sundal Collier can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Investment Services industry.
Regulatory challenges
– ABG Sundal Collier 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 Investment Services industry regulations.
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 ABG Sundal Collier.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Investment Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. ABG Sundal Collier can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– ABG Sundal Collier has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Investment Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, ABG Sundal Collier needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Investment Services 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.
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. ABG Sundal Collier 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– ABG Sundal Collier 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that ABG Sundal Collier is facing in Investment Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of ABG Sundal Collier Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at ABG Sundal Collier 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 ABG Sundal Collier 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 ABG Sundal Collier 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 ABG Sundal Collier 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 ABG Sundal Collier needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.