Public Bank (PUBM) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Money Center Banks
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Public Bank (Malaysia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Public Bank is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Public Bank can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Public Bank, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Public Bank 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 Public Bank can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Public Bank
2. Improving business portfolio management of Public Bank
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a Money Center Banks sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Public Bank
Strengths of Public Bank | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Public Bank are -
Organizational Resilience of Public Bank
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Public Bank does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Public Bank is one of the most innovative firm in Money Center Banks sector.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Money Center Banks industry
– Public Bank has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Public Bank to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Money Center Banks industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Public Bank to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Public Bank 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 Public Bank is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Public Bank emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Public Bank comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Money Center Banks 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.
Digital Transformation in Money Center Banks industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Public Bank digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Public Bank 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.
High brand equity
– Public Bank has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Public Bank to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Public Bank 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Public Bank has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Money Center Banks industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Public Bank have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Public Bank has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Public Bank 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Public Bank in Money Center Banks 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 Money Center Banks industry
– Public Bank 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 Public Bank | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Public Bank are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Public Bank is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Money Center Banks industry, but Public Bank needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Public Bank to focus more on services in the Money Center Banks industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Public Bank 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Public Bank, in the dynamic environment of Money Center Banks industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Public Bank has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring in Money Center Banks industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Public Bank has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Money Center Banks industry, Public Bank 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Public Bank, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Money Center Banks industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Money Center Banks industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Malaysia, Public Bank 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 Money Center Banks industry.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Public Bank needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Money Center Banks industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Public Bank can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Public Bank is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Malaysia, Public Bank needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Public Bank supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Public Bank is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Public Bank vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Public Bank is one of the leading players in the Money Center Banks industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Money Center Banks industry in last five years.
Public Bank Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Public Bank are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Public Bank 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Public Bank to increase its market reach. Public Bank 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.
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. Public Bank can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Public Bank 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Public Bank can develop new processes and procedures in Money Center Banks 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Public Bank is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Public Bank can utilize new technology in the field of Money Center Banks industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Public Bank 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 Public Bank to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Public Bank 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Public Bank can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Public Bank operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Money Center Banks sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Public Bank 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 Public Bank to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Public Bank can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Money Center Banks 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
– Public Bank can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Money Center Banks 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Public Bank has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Money Center Banks industry. This can help Public Bank to build a more holistic ecosystem for Public Bank products in the Money Center Banks industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Public Bank External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Public Bank are -
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 Public Bank business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Public Bank 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Public Bank in Money Center Banks industry. The Money Center Banks 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.
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. Public Bank 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.
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 Public Bank.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Public Bank 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 Money Center Banks industry.
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. Public Bank needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Money Center Banks industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Public Bank 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 Money Center Banks industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Money Center Banks industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Public Bank can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Money Center Banks industry are lowering. It can presents Public Bank with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Money Center Banks sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Public Bank has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Money Center Banks industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Public Bank needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Money Center Banks 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.
Increasing wage structure of Public Bank
– 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 Public Bank.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Public Bank Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Public Bank 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 Public Bank 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 Public Bank 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 Public Bank 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 Public Bank needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.