SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for EASYHOTEL PLC (United Kingdom)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , EASYHOTEL PLC is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that EASYHOTEL PLC can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the EASYHOTEL PLC, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which EASYHOTEL PLC 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 EASYHOTEL PLC can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of EASYHOTEL PLC
2. Improving business portfolio management of EASYHOTEL PLC
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Hotels & Motels sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of EASYHOTEL PLC
Strengths of EASYHOTEL PLC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of EASYHOTEL PLC are -
Diverse revenue streams
– EASYHOTEL PLC is present in almost all the verticals within the Hotels & Motels industry. This has provided EASYHOTEL PLC 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the EASYHOTEL PLC 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Hotels & Motels industry
– EASYHOTEL PLC is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of EASYHOTEL PLC in the Services sector have low bargaining power. EASYHOTEL PLC has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps EASYHOTEL PLC to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– EASYHOTEL PLC has one of the best training and development program in Services 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.
Digital Transformation in Hotels & Motels industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For EASYHOTEL PLC digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. EASYHOTEL PLC 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 lead change in Hotels & Motels
– EASYHOTEL PLC is one of the leading players in the Hotels & Motels industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Hotels & Motels industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled EASYHOTEL PLC in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of EASYHOTEL PLC in Hotels & Motels industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– EASYHOTEL PLC is one of the most innovative firm in Hotels & Motels sector.
Analytics focus
– EASYHOTEL PLC 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 Hotels & Motels industry. The technology infrastructure of United Kingdom 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.
High brand equity
– EASYHOTEL PLC has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled EASYHOTEL PLC to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– EASYHOTEL PLC has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Hotels & Motels industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of EASYHOTEL PLC have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of EASYHOTEL PLC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of EASYHOTEL PLC are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, EASYHOTEL PLC 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 Hotels & Motels 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 EASYHOTEL PLC supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, EASYHOTEL PLC is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left EASYHOTEL PLC vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of EASYHOTEL PLC products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, EASYHOTEL PLC needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, EASYHOTEL PLC 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United Kingdom, EASYHOTEL PLC needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring in Hotels & Motels industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at EASYHOTEL PLC 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that EASYHOTEL PLC needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Hotels & Motels industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at EASYHOTEL PLC can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as EASYHOTEL PLC is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, EASYHOTEL PLC is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help EASYHOTEL PLC to provide better information regarding Hotels & Motels products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, EASYHOTEL PLC has high operating costs in the Hotels & Motels industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract EASYHOTEL PLC lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Hotels & Motels industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United Kingdom, EASYHOTEL PLC 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 Hotels & Motels industry.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at EASYHOTEL PLC, in the dynamic environment of Hotels & Motels industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. EASYHOTEL PLC has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
EASYHOTEL PLC Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of EASYHOTEL PLC are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, EASYHOTEL PLC 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 EASYHOTEL PLC to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of EASYHOTEL PLC has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Hotels & Motels industry. This can help EASYHOTEL PLC to build a more holistic ecosystem for EASYHOTEL PLC products in the Hotels & Motels industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– EASYHOTEL PLC has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Hotels & Motels sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled EASYHOTEL PLC to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help EASYHOTEL PLC 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 EASYHOTEL PLC in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Hotels & Motels industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, EASYHOTEL PLC is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. EASYHOTEL PLC can utilize new technology in the field of Hotels & Motels industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Hotels & Motels industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. EASYHOTEL PLC 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. EASYHOTEL PLC 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Hotels & Motels industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for EASYHOTEL PLC in the Hotels & Motels industry. Now EASYHOTEL PLC can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at EASYHOTEL PLC 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 Hotels & Motels industry.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Hotels & Motels industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. EASYHOTEL PLC can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, EASYHOTEL PLC can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that EASYHOTEL PLC operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Hotels & Motels sector.
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. EASYHOTEL PLC can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– EASYHOTEL PLC 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
– EASYHOTEL PLC can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Hotels & Motels 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.
Threats EASYHOTEL PLC External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of EASYHOTEL PLC are -
Regulatory challenges
– EASYHOTEL PLC 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 Hotels & Motels industry regulations.
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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– EASYHOTEL PLC has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Hotels & Motels industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, EASYHOTEL PLC needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Hotels & Motels 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
– EASYHOTEL PLC 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 Hotels & Motels industry.
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 EASYHOTEL PLC in the Hotels & Motels sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of EASYHOTEL PLC
– 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 EASYHOTEL PLC.
Environmental challenges
– EASYHOTEL PLC 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. EASYHOTEL PLC can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Hotels & Motels industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that EASYHOTEL PLC is facing in Hotels & Motels sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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. EASYHOTEL PLC 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
– EASYHOTEL PLC 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.
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 EASYHOTEL PLC.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, EASYHOTEL PLC 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 EASYHOTEL PLC prominent markets.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of EASYHOTEL PLC Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at EASYHOTEL PLC 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 EASYHOTEL PLC 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 EASYHOTEL PLC 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 EASYHOTEL PLC 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 EASYHOTEL PLC needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.