Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Anglo African Agriculture PLC is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Anglo African Agriculture PLC
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Anglo African Agriculture PLC can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Anglo African Agriculture PLC, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Anglo African Agriculture 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 Anglo African Agriculture PLC can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Anglo African Agriculture PLC
2. Improving business portfolio management of Anglo African Agriculture PLC
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United Kingdom
4. Making a Crops sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Anglo African Agriculture PLC
Strengths of Anglo African Agriculture PLC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Anglo African Agriculture PLC are -
High brand equity
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Anglo African Agriculture PLC to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Crops
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC is one of the leading players in the Crops industry in United Kingdom. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Crops industry in United Kingdom but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Anglo African Agriculture PLC in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Anglo African Agriculture PLC in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Anglo African Agriculture PLC has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Anglo African Agriculture PLC to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Anglo African Agriculture 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 Anglo African Agriculture PLC is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Anglo African Agriculture PLC emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Anglo African Agriculture PLC in Crops industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Crops industry
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Anglo African Agriculture PLC to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Crops industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Anglo African Agriculture PLC to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Crops industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Anglo African Agriculture PLC have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Anglo African Agriculture 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC is one of the leading players in the Crops 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
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC is one of the most innovative firm in Crops sector.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Anglo African Agriculture 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Crops industry
– Anglo African Agriculture 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.
Weaknesses of Anglo African Agriculture PLC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Anglo African Agriculture PLC are -
High bargaining power of channel partners in Crops industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United Kingdom, Anglo African Agriculture 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 Crops industry.
Need for greater diversity
– Anglo African Agriculture 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.
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 Anglo African Agriculture PLC supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Anglo African Agriculture PLC is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Anglo African Agriculture PLC vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Anglo African Agriculture 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 Crops industry over the last five years. Anglo African Agriculture 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Anglo African Agriculture 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 dependence on Anglo African Agriculture PLC ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Anglo African Agriculture PLC still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Crops industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Anglo African Agriculture PLC has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United Kingdom, Anglo African Agriculture PLC needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Anglo African Agriculture PLC is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Crops industry, but Anglo African Agriculture PLC needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Anglo African Agriculture PLC to focus more on services in the Crops industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Crops industry, Anglo African Agriculture 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 Anglo African Agriculture PLC needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Crops industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Anglo African Agriculture PLC can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Anglo African Agriculture PLC is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Anglo African Agriculture PLC, in the dynamic environment of Crops industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Anglo African Agriculture PLC has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Anglo African Agriculture PLC Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Anglo African Agriculture PLC are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Anglo African Agriculture 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Anglo African Agriculture PLC to increase its market reach. Anglo African Agriculture 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Anglo African Agriculture 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 Anglo African Agriculture PLC to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Crops industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Anglo African Agriculture PLC can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Anglo African Agriculture 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 Crops industry.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Anglo African Agriculture PLC can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Anglo African Agriculture 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 Crops industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Crops 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC can develop new processes and procedures in Crops 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.
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. Anglo African Agriculture PLC can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Crops industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Anglo African Agriculture PLC in the Crops industry. Now Anglo African Agriculture PLC can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Anglo African Agriculture PLC is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Anglo African Agriculture PLC can utilize new technology in the field of Crops industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Crops sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Anglo African Agriculture PLC to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Anglo African Agriculture PLC to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Anglo African Agriculture PLC External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Anglo African Agriculture PLC are -
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.
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 Anglo African Agriculture PLC in the Crops sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Anglo African Agriculture PLC needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Crops 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Anglo African Agriculture 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 Crops industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Anglo African Agriculture 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 Anglo African Agriculture PLC.
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. Anglo African Agriculture 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
– Anglo African Agriculture 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Crops industry are lowering. It can presents Anglo African Agriculture PLC with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Crops sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Anglo African Agriculture PLC in Crops industry. The Crops industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Anglo African Agriculture 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 Crops industry.
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 Anglo African Agriculture PLC.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Anglo African Agriculture 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 Crops sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Anglo African Agriculture PLC Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Anglo African Agriculture 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 Anglo African Agriculture 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 Anglo African Agriculture 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 Anglo African Agriculture 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 Anglo African Agriculture PLC needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.