KSK Power Ventur PLC (KSK) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Electric Utilities
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for KSK Power Ventur PLC (United Kingdom)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , KSK Power Ventur PLC is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of KSK Power Ventur PLC
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that KSK Power Ventur PLC can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the KSK Power Ventur PLC, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which KSK Power Ventur 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 KSK Power Ventur PLC can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of KSK Power Ventur PLC
2. Improving business portfolio management of KSK Power Ventur PLC
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Electric Utilities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of KSK Power Ventur PLC
Strengths of KSK Power Ventur PLC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of KSK Power Ventur PLC are -
High brand equity
– KSK Power Ventur PLC has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled KSK Power Ventur PLC to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the KSK Power Ventur 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.
Organizational Resilience of KSK Power Ventur PLC
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing KSK Power Ventur PLC does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Electric Utilities industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For KSK Power Ventur PLC digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. KSK Power Ventur 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– KSK Power Ventur PLC has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. KSK Power Ventur 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– KSK Power Ventur PLC is present in almost all the verticals within the Electric Utilities industry. This has provided KSK Power Ventur 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Electric Utilities industry
– KSK Power Ventur PLC has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled KSK Power Ventur PLC to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Electric Utilities industry. The sustainable margins have also helped KSK Power Ventur PLC to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that KSK Power Ventur 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– KSK Power Ventur PLC is one of the leading players in the Electric Utilities 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.
Learning organization
- KSK Power Ventur PLC 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 KSK Power Ventur PLC is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at KSK Power Ventur PLC emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of KSK Power Ventur PLC in the Utilities sector have low bargaining power. KSK Power Ventur PLC has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps KSK Power Ventur PLC to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– KSK Power Ventur PLC has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Electric Utilities industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of KSK Power Ventur PLC have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of KSK Power Ventur PLC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of KSK Power Ventur PLC are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
KSK Power Ventur PLC has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Electric Utilities industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of KSK Power Ventur PLC is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Electric Utilities industry, but KSK Power Ventur PLC needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help KSK Power Ventur PLC to focus more on services in the Electric Utilities industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that KSK Power Ventur PLC needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Electric Utilities industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at KSK Power Ventur PLC can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as KSK Power Ventur PLC is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Electric Utilities industry, KSK Power Ventur 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.
High dependence on KSK Power Ventur PLC ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of KSK Power Ventur PLC still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Electric Utilities industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though KSK Power Ventur PLC has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at KSK Power Ventur PLC, in the dynamic environment of Electric Utilities industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. KSK Power Ventur PLC has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 KSK Power Ventur PLC supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, KSK Power Ventur PLC is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left KSK Power Ventur PLC vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Need for greater diversity
– KSK Power Ventur 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United Kingdom, KSK Power Ventur PLC needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, KSK Power Ventur 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, KSK Power Ventur PLC has high operating costs in the Electric Utilities industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract KSK Power Ventur PLC lucrative customers.
KSK Power Ventur PLC Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of KSK Power Ventur PLC are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Electric Utilities industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for KSK Power Ventur PLC in the Electric Utilities industry. Now KSK Power Ventur PLC can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– KSK Power Ventur 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.
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 KSK Power Ventur 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.
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. KSK Power Ventur PLC can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Electric Utilities industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. KSK Power Ventur PLC can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help KSK Power Ventur PLC to increase its market reach. KSK Power Ventur PLC 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Electric Utilities industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. KSK Power Ventur 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. KSK Power Ventur 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for KSK Power Ventur 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 Electric Utilities industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– KSK Power Ventur PLC can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Electric Utilities 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– KSK Power Ventur 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for KSK Power Ventur PLC to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, KSK Power Ventur PLC is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. KSK Power Ventur PLC can utilize new technology in the field of Electric Utilities industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for KSK Power Ventur 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 KSK Power Ventur PLC to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats KSK Power Ventur PLC External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of KSK Power Ventur PLC are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that KSK Power Ventur PLC is facing in Electric Utilities sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– KSK Power Ventur PLC has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Electric Utilities industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, KSK Power Ventur PLC needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Electric Utilities 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.
Environmental challenges
– KSK Power Ventur 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. KSK Power Ventur PLC can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Electric Utilities industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Electric Utilities industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. KSK Power Ventur PLC can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 KSK Power Ventur PLC in the Electric Utilities sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on KSK Power Ventur 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 Electric Utilities industry and other sectors.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Electric Utilities industry are lowering. It can presents KSK Power Ventur PLC with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Electric Utilities 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 KSK Power Ventur PLC.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, KSK Power Ventur 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 Electric Utilities sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– KSK Power Ventur 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, KSK Power Ventur 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 KSK Power Ventur PLC prominent markets.
Regulatory challenges
– KSK Power Ventur 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 Electric Utilities industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of KSK Power Ventur PLC Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at KSK Power Ventur 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 KSK Power Ventur 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 KSK Power Ventur 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 KSK Power Ventur 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 KSK Power Ventur PLC needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.