HSS Hire Group Plc (HSS) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Rental & Leasing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for HSS Hire Group Plc (United Kingdom)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , HSS Hire Group Plc is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of HSS Hire Group Plc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that HSS Hire Group Plc can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the HSS Hire Group Plc, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which HSS Hire Group 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 HSS Hire Group Plc can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of HSS Hire Group Plc
2. Improving business portfolio management of HSS Hire Group Plc
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Rental & Leasing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of HSS Hire Group Plc
Strengths of HSS Hire Group Plc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of HSS Hire Group Plc are -
Innovation driven organization
– HSS Hire Group Plc is one of the most innovative firm in Rental & Leasing sector.
Organizational Resilience of HSS Hire Group Plc
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing HSS Hire Group Plc does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– HSS Hire Group Plc has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. HSS Hire Group Plc 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of HSS Hire Group Plc in the Services sector have low bargaining power. HSS Hire Group Plc has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps HSS Hire Group Plc to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the HSS Hire Group 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.
Analytics focus
– HSS Hire Group 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 Rental & Leasing 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– HSS Hire Group Plc is one of the leading players in the Rental & Leasing 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– HSS Hire Group Plc has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Rental & Leasing industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of HSS Hire Group Plc have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Rental & Leasing industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For HSS Hire Group Plc digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. HSS Hire Group 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.
Training and development
– HSS Hire Group 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.
Ability to lead change in Rental & Leasing
– HSS Hire Group Plc is one of the leading players in the Rental & Leasing industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Rental & Leasing industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled HSS Hire Group Plc in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Rental & Leasing industry
– HSS Hire Group Plc has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled HSS Hire Group Plc to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Rental & Leasing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped HSS Hire Group Plc to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses of HSS Hire Group Plc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of HSS Hire Group Plc are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at HSS Hire Group Plc, in the dynamic environment of Rental & Leasing industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. HSS Hire Group Plc has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though HSS Hire Group Plc has some of the most successful models in the Rental & Leasing industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. HSS Hire Group Plc should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring in Rental & Leasing industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at HSS Hire Group 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.
Employees’ less understanding of HSS Hire Group Plc strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of HSS Hire Group Plc 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, HSS Hire Group Plc has high operating costs in the Rental & Leasing industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract HSS Hire Group Plc lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, HSS Hire Group Plc has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Rental & Leasing industry over the last five years. HSS Hire Group Plc 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Rental & Leasing industry, HSS Hire Group Plc 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, HSS Hire Group Plc is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help HSS Hire Group Plc to provide better information regarding Rental & Leasing products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Rental & Leasing industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United Kingdom, HSS Hire Group 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 Rental & Leasing industry.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that HSS Hire Group Plc needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Rental & Leasing industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at HSS Hire Group Plc can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as HSS Hire Group Plc is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of HSS Hire Group Plc is just above the Rental & Leasing 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.
HSS Hire Group Plc Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of HSS Hire Group Plc are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Rental & Leasing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. HSS Hire Group 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. HSS Hire Group 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.
Buying journey improvements
– HSS Hire Group Plc can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Rental & Leasing 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.
Loyalty marketing
– HSS Hire Group Plc 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– HSS Hire Group Plc has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Rental & Leasing sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled HSS Hire Group Plc to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help HSS Hire Group Plc to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 HSS Hire Group Plc 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– HSS Hire Group Plc can develop new processes and procedures in Rental & Leasing 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, HSS Hire Group Plc can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that HSS Hire Group Plc operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Rental & Leasing sector.
Manufacturing automation
– HSS Hire Group Plc can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Rental & Leasing 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 HSS Hire Group Plc can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of HSS Hire Group Plc has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Rental & Leasing industry. This can help HSS Hire Group Plc to build a more holistic ecosystem for HSS Hire Group Plc products in the Rental & Leasing industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, HSS Hire Group 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 HSS Hire Group 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for HSS Hire Group 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 Rental & Leasing industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Rental & Leasing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. HSS Hire Group Plc can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats HSS Hire Group Plc External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of HSS Hire Group Plc are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, HSS Hire Group Plc may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Rental & Leasing sector.
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 HSS Hire Group Plc.
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.
Increasing wage structure of HSS Hire Group 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 HSS Hire Group Plc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– HSS Hire Group 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 Rental & Leasing industry.
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 HSS Hire Group Plc business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– HSS Hire Group 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Rental & Leasing industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. HSS Hire Group Plc 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. HSS Hire Group Plc needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Rental & Leasing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on HSS Hire Group Plc 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 Rental & Leasing industry and other sectors.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, HSS Hire Group 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 HSS Hire Group 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.
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 HSS Hire Group Plc in the Rental & Leasing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of HSS Hire Group Plc Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at HSS Hire Group 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 HSS Hire Group 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 HSS Hire Group 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 HSS Hire Group 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 HSS Hire Group Plc needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.