SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Aviation Latecoere (United Kingdom)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Aviation Latecoere is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Aviation Latecoere
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Aviation Latecoere can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Aviation Latecoere, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Aviation Latecoere 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 Aviation Latecoere can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Aviation Latecoere
2. Improving business portfolio management of Aviation Latecoere
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Aerospace & Defense sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Aviation Latecoere
Strengths of Aviation Latecoere | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Aviation Latecoere are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Aerospace & Defense industry
– Aviation Latecoere has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Aviation Latecoere to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Aerospace & Defense industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Aviation Latecoere to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Aviation Latecoere in the Capital Goods sector have low bargaining power. Aviation Latecoere has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Aviation Latecoere to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Aviation Latecoere has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Aviation Latecoere 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.
Organizational Resilience of Aviation Latecoere
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Aviation Latecoere does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Aviation Latecoere is one of the leading players in the Aerospace & Defense 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Aviation Latecoere is present in almost all the verticals within the Aerospace & Defense industry. This has provided Aviation Latecoere 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.
High brand equity
– Aviation Latecoere has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Aviation Latecoere to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Aviation Latecoere has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Aviation Latecoere 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Aviation Latecoere 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.
Learning organization
- Aviation Latecoere 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 Aviation Latecoere is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Aviation Latecoere emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Aviation Latecoere is one of the most innovative firm in Aerospace & Defense sector.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Aviation Latecoere 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.
Weaknesses of Aviation Latecoere | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Aviation Latecoere are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Aviation Latecoere 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 Aviation Latecoere lucrative customers.
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 Aviation Latecoere supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Aviation Latecoere is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Aviation Latecoere vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Aviation Latecoere has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Aerospace & Defense industry over the last five years. Aviation Latecoere 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Aviation Latecoere strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Aviation Latecoere 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Aviation Latecoere 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Aviation Latecoere 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Aviation Latecoere products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Aviation Latecoere needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring in Aerospace & Defense industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Aviation Latecoere 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 Aviation Latecoere, in the dynamic environment of Aerospace & Defense industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Aviation Latecoere has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Aviation Latecoere 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 Aviation Latecoere can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Aviation Latecoere is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Aviation Latecoere has some of the most successful models in the Aerospace & Defense industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Aviation Latecoere should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aviation Latecoere Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Aviation Latecoere are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Aviation Latecoere 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 Aviation Latecoere to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Aviation Latecoere 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Aviation Latecoere 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Aviation Latecoere 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.
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. Aviation Latecoere can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Aviation Latecoere 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.
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 Aviation Latecoere in the Aerospace & Defense industry. Now Aviation Latecoere can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Aviation Latecoere 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 Aviation Latecoere to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Aviation Latecoere to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Aviation Latecoere is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Aviation Latecoere 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Aviation Latecoere 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Aviation Latecoere can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Aviation Latecoere operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Aerospace & Defense 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 Aviation Latecoere 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Aerospace & Defense industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Aviation Latecoere can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Aviation Latecoere External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Aviation Latecoere are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Aerospace & Defense industry are lowering. It can presents Aviation Latecoere with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Aerospace & Defense sector.
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 Aviation Latecoere business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Aviation Latecoere 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
– Aviation Latecoere 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 Aviation Latecoere 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Aviation Latecoere 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, Aviation Latecoere 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.
Environmental challenges
– Aviation Latecoere 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. Aviation Latecoere 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. Aviation Latecoere can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Aviation Latecoere needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Aerospace & Defense industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Aviation Latecoere has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Aerospace & Defense industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Aviation Latecoere 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Aviation Latecoere 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Aviation Latecoere 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 Aviation Latecoere prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Aviation Latecoere Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Aviation Latecoere 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 Aviation Latecoere 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 Aviation Latecoere 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 Aviation Latecoere 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 Aviation Latecoere needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
