Charles Taylor (CTR) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Insurance (Miscellaneous)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Charles Taylor (United Kingdom)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Charles Taylor is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Charles Taylor can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Charles Taylor, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Charles Taylor 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 Charles Taylor can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Charles Taylor
2. Improving business portfolio management of Charles Taylor
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Insurance (Miscellaneous) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Charles Taylor
Strengths of Charles Taylor | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Charles Taylor are -
Digital Transformation in Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Charles Taylor digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Charles Taylor 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Charles Taylor is one of the most innovative firm in Insurance (Miscellaneous) sector.
Organizational Resilience of Charles Taylor
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Charles Taylor does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry
– Charles Taylor is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry
– Charles Taylor has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Charles Taylor to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Charles Taylor to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Charles Taylor in Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Charles Taylor has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Charles Taylor to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Charles Taylor in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. Charles Taylor has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Charles Taylor to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Charles Taylor has one of the best training and development program in Financial 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Charles Taylor comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) 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 Insurance (Miscellaneous)
– Charles Taylor is one of the leading players in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Charles Taylor 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
– Charles Taylor has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Charles Taylor 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.
Weaknesses of Charles Taylor | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Charles Taylor are -
High dependence on Charles Taylor ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Charles Taylor still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Charles Taylor has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Charles Taylor is just above the Insurance (Miscellaneous) 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Charles Taylor is one of the leading players in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry in last five years.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry, Charles Taylor 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Charles Taylor has high operating costs in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Charles Taylor lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Charles Taylor 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 Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry using digital technology.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Charles Taylor has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Charles Taylor, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Insurance (Miscellaneous) 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Charles Taylor 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Charles Taylor needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Charles Taylor can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Charles Taylor is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Charles Taylor 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.
Charles Taylor Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Charles Taylor are -
Buying journey improvements
– Charles Taylor can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Charles Taylor 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 Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Charles Taylor in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry. Now Charles Taylor can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Charles Taylor to increase its market reach. Charles Taylor 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Charles Taylor is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Charles Taylor can utilize new technology in the field of Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Charles Taylor has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry. This can help Charles Taylor to build a more holistic ecosystem for Charles Taylor products in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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, Charles Taylor can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Charles Taylor operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Insurance (Miscellaneous) sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Charles Taylor 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 Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry.
Manufacturing automation
– Charles Taylor can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Insurance (Miscellaneous) 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Charles Taylor can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Charles Taylor has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Insurance (Miscellaneous) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Charles Taylor to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Charles Taylor to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Charles Taylor 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 Charles Taylor in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Charles Taylor External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Charles Taylor are -
Increasing wage structure of Charles Taylor
– 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 Charles Taylor.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Charles Taylor may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Insurance (Miscellaneous) sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Charles Taylor 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 Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry.
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 Charles Taylor business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Charles Taylor 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 Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Charles Taylor 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. Charles Taylor can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry.
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 Charles Taylor.
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 Charles Taylor in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Charles Taylor 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 Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry and other sectors.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Charles Taylor is facing in Insurance (Miscellaneous) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Charles Taylor can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Charles Taylor Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Charles Taylor 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 Charles Taylor 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 Charles Taylor 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 Charles Taylor 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 Charles Taylor needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.