BIMB (BIMB) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
S&Ls/Savings Banks
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for BIMB (Malaysia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , BIMB is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that BIMB can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the BIMB, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which BIMB 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 BIMB can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of BIMB
2. Improving business portfolio management of BIMB
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a S&Ls/Savings Banks sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of BIMB
Strengths of BIMB | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of BIMB are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the BIMB 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that BIMB 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.
Training and development
– BIMB has one of the best training and development program in Financial 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
– BIMB is one of the most innovative firm in S&Ls/Savings Banks sector.
Organizational Resilience of BIMB
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing BIMB does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in S&Ls/Savings Banks
– BIMB is one of the leading players in the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry in Malaysia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry in Malaysia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled BIMB in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– BIMB 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 S&Ls/Savings Banks industry. The technology infrastructure of Malaysia 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– BIMB has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – BIMB staying ahead in the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– BIMB is one of the leading players in the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry in Malaysia. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Malaysia. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– BIMB is present in almost all the verticals within the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry. This has provided BIMB 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 S&Ls/Savings Banks industry
– BIMB has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled BIMB to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry. The sustainable margins have also helped BIMB to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- BIMB 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 BIMB is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at BIMB emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses of BIMB | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of BIMB are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though BIMB has some of the most successful models in the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. BIMB should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on BIMB ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of BIMB still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in S&Ls/Savings Banks industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though BIMB has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As BIMB is one of the leading players in the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry in last five years.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, BIMB has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry using digital technology.
Skills based hiring in S&Ls/Savings Banks industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at BIMB 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in S&Ls/Savings Banks industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Malaysia, BIMB 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 S&Ls/Savings Banks industry.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry, BIMB 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Malaysia, BIMB needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at BIMB, in the dynamic environment of S&Ls/Savings Banks industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. BIMB 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 BIMB products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, BIMB needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of BIMB is just above the S&Ls/Savings Banks 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.
BIMB Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of BIMB are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at BIMB 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 S&Ls/Savings Banks industry.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, BIMB is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. BIMB can utilize new technology in the field of S&Ls/Savings Banks industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for BIMB 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.
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. BIMB can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, BIMB can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that BIMB operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in S&Ls/Savings Banks sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, BIMB 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.
Manufacturing automation
– BIMB can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in S&Ls/Savings 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects BIMB can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, BIMB 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 BIMB to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for BIMB in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– BIMB has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in S&Ls/Savings Banks sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled BIMB to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help BIMB to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help BIMB to increase its market reach. BIMB 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.
Loyalty marketing
– BIMB 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.
Threats BIMB External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of BIMB are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– BIMB 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– BIMB has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, BIMB needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the S&Ls/Savings 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– BIMB 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. BIMB can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in S&Ls/Savings Banks industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. BIMB can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, BIMB may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of S&Ls/Savings Banks sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that BIMB is facing in S&Ls/Savings Banks sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on BIMB 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 S&Ls/Savings Banks industry and other sectors.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for BIMB in S&Ls/Savings Banks industry. The S&Ls/Savings 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.
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. BIMB needs to understand the core reasons impacting the S&Ls/Savings Banks industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– BIMB 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 S&Ls/Savings Banks industry.
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. BIMB 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of BIMB Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at BIMB 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 BIMB 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 BIMB 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 BIMB 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 BIMB needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
