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Stobart (STOB) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Stobart (United Kingdom)


Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Stobart is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Stobart


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Stobart can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Stobart, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Stobart 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 Stobart can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Stobart
2. Improving business portfolio management of Stobart
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Railroads sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Stobart




Strengths of Stobart | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Stobart are -

Learning organization

- Stobart 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 Stobart is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Stobart emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

High brand equity

– Stobart has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Stobart to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Railroads industry

– Stobart has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Stobart to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Railroads industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Stobart to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Strong track record of project management in the Railroads industry

– Stobart is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Stobart in Railroads industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Ability to lead change in Railroads

– Stobart is one of the leading players in the Railroads industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Railroads industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Stobart in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Diverse revenue streams

– Stobart is present in almost all the verticals within the Railroads industry. This has provided Stobart 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Stobart has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Railroads industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Stobart have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Digital Transformation in Railroads industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Stobart digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Stobart 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 recruit top talent

– Stobart is one of the leading players in the Railroads 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Stobart comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Railroads 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Stobart 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.



02468Edita Food Emis Group Blackrock World Mining Empiric Student Property PLC Ao World Stobart
Net Promoter Score



Weaknesses of Stobart | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Stobart are -

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Stobart 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 Railroads industry using digital technology.

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 Stobart supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Stobart is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Stobart vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Stobart has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Railroads industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Need for greater diversity

– Stobart 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Stobart has some of the most successful models in the Railroads industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Stobart should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Skills based hiring in Railroads industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Stobart 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Railroads industry, Stobart 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 Stobart ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Stobart still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Railroads industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Stobart has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Stobart needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Railroads industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Stobart can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Stobart is planning to shift buying processes online.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Stobart is just above the Railroads 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Stobart products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Stobart needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.




Stobart Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The opportunities of Stobart are -

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Stobart 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 Stobart to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Stobart 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 Railroads industry.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Stobart 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 Stobart to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Buying journey improvements

– Stobart can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Railroads 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Stobart can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Railroads 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.

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 Stobart 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Stobart 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Stobart can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Stobart operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Railroads sector.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Stobart is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Stobart can utilize new technology in the field of Railroads industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Stobart 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Stobart to increase its market reach. Stobart 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Stobart can develop new processes and procedures in Railroads 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.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Railroads industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Stobart in the Railroads industry. Now Stobart can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.




Threats Stobart External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats of Stobart are -

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 Stobart.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Stobart may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Railroads sector.

Environmental challenges

– Stobart 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. Stobart can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Railroads industry.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Stobart 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 Stobart prominent markets.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Stobart is facing in Railroads sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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 Stobart business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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.

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 wage structure of Stobart

– 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 Stobart.

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 Stobart in the Railroads sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Stobart in Railroads industry. The Railroads 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Stobart 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 Railroads industry.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Railroads industry are lowering. It can presents Stobart with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Railroads sector.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Stobart Template, Example


Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Stobart 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 Stobart 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 Stobart 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 Stobart 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 Stobart needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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