Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Anglo African Agriculture PLC is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, 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 -
Training and development
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC has one of the best training and development program in Consumer/Non-Cyclical 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC is one of the most innovative firm in Crops sector.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Anglo African Agriculture 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
– Anglo African Agriculture 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 Crops 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.
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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC is present in almost all the verticals within the Crops industry. This has provided Anglo African Agriculture 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.
Organizational Resilience of Anglo African Agriculture PLC
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Anglo African Agriculture PLC does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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.
Digital Transformation in Crops industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Anglo African Agriculture PLC digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Anglo African Agriculture 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.
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.
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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Anglo African Agriculture PLC has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Crops industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
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.
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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Anglo African Agriculture PLC has some of the most successful models in the Crops industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Anglo African Agriculture PLC should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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.
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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Anglo African Agriculture PLC is one of the leading players in the Crops industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Crops industry in last five years.
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.
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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Anglo African Agriculture PLC products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Anglo African Agriculture PLC needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Anglo African Agriculture PLC is just above the Crops 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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Crops industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Anglo African Agriculture 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. Anglo African Agriculture 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Buying journey improvements
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Crops 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.
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.
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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Anglo African Agriculture PLC has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Crops industry. This can help Anglo African Agriculture PLC to build a more holistic ecosystem for Anglo African Agriculture PLC products in the Crops industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Anglo African Agriculture PLC has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Crops industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Anglo African Agriculture PLC needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Crops 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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Anglo African Agriculture PLC is facing in Crops 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, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.