J Smart Co Contractors PLC (SMJ) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Construction Services
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for J Smart Co Contractors PLC (United Kingdom)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , J Smart Co Contractors PLC is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – technology disruption, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of J Smart Co Contractors PLC
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that J Smart Co Contractors PLC can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the J Smart Co Contractors PLC, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which J Smart Co Contractors 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 J Smart Co Contractors PLC can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of J Smart Co Contractors PLC
2. Improving business portfolio management of J Smart Co Contractors PLC
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Construction Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of J Smart Co Contractors PLC
Strengths of J Smart Co Contractors PLC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of J Smart Co Contractors PLC are -
Ability to lead change in Construction Services
– J Smart Co Contractors PLC is one of the leading players in the Construction Services industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Construction Services industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled J Smart Co Contractors PLC 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
– J Smart Co Contractors PLC has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. J Smart Co Contractors 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.
Digital Transformation in Construction Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For J Smart Co Contractors PLC digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. J Smart Co Contractors 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of J Smart Co Contractors PLC in Construction Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management in the Construction Services industry
– J Smart Co Contractors 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of J Smart Co Contractors PLC comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Construction Services 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– J Smart Co Contractors PLC has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – J Smart Co Contractors PLC staying ahead in the Construction Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of J Smart Co Contractors PLC
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing J Smart Co Contractors PLC does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Construction Services industry
– J Smart Co Contractors PLC has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled J Smart Co Contractors PLC to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Construction Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped J Smart Co Contractors PLC to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– J Smart Co Contractors PLC is one of the leading players in the Construction Services 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.
Innovation driven organization
– J Smart Co Contractors PLC is one of the most innovative firm in Construction Services sector.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that J Smart Co Contractors PLC has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Weaknesses of J Smart Co Contractors PLC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of J Smart Co Contractors PLC are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As J Smart Co Contractors PLC is one of the leading players in the Construction Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Construction Services industry in last five years.
Need for greater diversity
– J Smart Co Contractors PLC 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Construction Services industry, J Smart Co Contractors 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that J Smart Co Contractors PLC needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Construction Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at J Smart Co Contractors PLC can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as J Smart Co Contractors PLC is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though J Smart Co Contractors PLC has some of the most successful models in the Construction Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. J Smart Co Contractors PLC should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, J Smart Co Contractors PLC is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help J Smart Co Contractors PLC to provide better information regarding Construction Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of J Smart Co Contractors PLC is just above the Construction Services 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.
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 J Smart Co Contractors PLC supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, J Smart Co Contractors PLC is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left J Smart Co Contractors PLC vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, J Smart Co Contractors 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 Construction Services industry over the last five years. J Smart Co Contractors 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United Kingdom, J Smart Co Contractors PLC needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, J Smart Co Contractors 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.
J Smart Co Contractors PLC Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of J Smart Co Contractors PLC are -
Manufacturing automation
– J Smart Co Contractors PLC can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Construction Services 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, J Smart Co Contractors PLC is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. J Smart Co Contractors PLC can utilize new technology in the field of Construction Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, J Smart Co Contractors PLC 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects J Smart Co Contractors PLC can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– J Smart Co Contractors 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, J Smart Co Contractors PLC can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that J Smart Co Contractors PLC operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Construction Services sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for J Smart Co Contractors 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 Construction Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for J Smart Co Contractors PLC to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for J Smart Co Contractors PLC to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– J Smart Co Contractors 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of J Smart Co Contractors PLC has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Construction Services industry. This can help J Smart Co Contractors PLC to build a more holistic ecosystem for J Smart Co Contractors PLC products in the Construction Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– J Smart Co Contractors PLC can develop new processes and procedures in Construction Services 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, J Smart Co Contractors 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 J Smart Co Contractors 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Construction Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. J Smart Co Contractors 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 J Smart Co Contractors PLC External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of J Smart Co Contractors PLC are -
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. J Smart Co Contractors 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– J Smart Co Contractors PLC has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Construction Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, J Smart Co Contractors PLC needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Construction Services 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that J Smart Co Contractors PLC is facing in Construction Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, J Smart Co Contractors 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 Construction Services sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– J Smart Co Contractors 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 Construction Services industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Construction Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. J Smart Co Contractors PLC can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 J Smart Co Contractors PLC.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– J Smart Co Contractors 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.
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 J Smart Co Contractors PLC business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Construction Services industry are lowering. It can presents J Smart Co Contractors PLC with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Construction Services sector.
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. J Smart Co Contractors PLC needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Construction Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Increasing wage structure of J Smart Co Contractors 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 J Smart Co Contractors PLC.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of J Smart Co Contractors PLC Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at J Smart Co Contractors 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 J Smart Co Contractors 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 J Smart Co Contractors 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 J Smart Co Contractors 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 J Smart Co Contractors PLC needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.