Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd (HOG) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Oil & Gas Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd (Australia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Oil & Gas Operations sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd
Strengths of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd are -
Innovation driven organization
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd is one of the most innovative firm in Oil & Gas Operations sector.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd staying ahead in the Oil & Gas Operations industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Oil & Gas Operations industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Oil & Gas Operations 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 recruit top talent
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd is one of the leading players in the Oil & Gas Operations 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.
Learning organization
- Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd in the Energy sector have low bargaining power. Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd has one of the best training and development program in Energy 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Oil & Gas Operations industry
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Oil & Gas Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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 Oil & Gas Operations 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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd are -
Employees’ less understanding of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Oil & Gas Operations industry, Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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 Oil & Gas Operations industry using digital technology.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd has some of the most successful models in the Oil & Gas Operations industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Oil & Gas Operations industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Oil & Gas Operations industry, but Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd to focus more on services in the Oil & Gas Operations industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Oil & Gas Operations industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd to provide better information regarding Oil & Gas Operations products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Oil & Gas Operations 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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.
Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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. Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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, Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Oil & Gas Operations sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd to increase its market reach. Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Oil & Gas Operations 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Oil & Gas Operations sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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 Oil & Gas Operations industry.
Buying journey improvements
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Oil & Gas Operations 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Oil & Gas Operations 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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Oil & Gas Operations industry. This can help Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd to build a more holistic ecosystem for Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd products in the Oil & Gas Operations industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd can develop new processes and procedures in Oil & Gas Operations 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.
Threats Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd is facing in Oil & Gas Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd prominent markets.
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. Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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.
Environmental challenges
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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. Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Oil & Gas Operations industry.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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 Oil & Gas Operations industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Oil & Gas Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Oil & Gas Operations 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Oil & Gas Operations 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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Oil & Gas Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd in the Oil & Gas Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd 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 Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.