Malakoff Corporation Bhd (MALA) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Electric Utilities
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Malakoff Corporation Bhd (Malaysia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Malakoff Corporation Bhd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Malakoff Corporation Bhd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Malakoff Corporation Bhd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Malakoff Corporation Bhd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Malakoff Corporation Bhd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Malakoff Corporation Bhd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a Electric Utilities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Malakoff Corporation Bhd
Strengths of Malakoff Corporation Bhd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Malakoff Corporation Bhd are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Malakoff Corporation Bhd in the Utilities sector have low bargaining power. Malakoff Corporation Bhd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Malakoff Corporation Bhd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Malakoff Corporation Bhd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Malakoff Corporation Bhd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Electric Utilities industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Malakoff Corporation Bhd digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Electric Utilities industry
– Malakoff Corporation Bhd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Malakoff Corporation Bhd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Electric Utilities industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Malakoff Corporation Bhd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Malakoff Corporation Bhd has one of the best training and development program in Utilities 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Malakoff Corporation Bhd is one of the leading players in the Electric Utilities 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.
Learning organization
- Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Malakoff Corporation Bhd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Malakoff Corporation Bhd
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Malakoff Corporation Bhd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Malakoff Corporation Bhd comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Electric Utilities 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.
Analytics focus
– Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Electric Utilities 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Malakoff Corporation Bhd has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Electric Utilities industry
– Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Malakoff Corporation Bhd are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Electric Utilities industry, Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Malakoff Corporation Bhd is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Malakoff Corporation Bhd vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Malakoff Corporation Bhd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Electric Utilities industry, but Malakoff Corporation Bhd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Malakoff Corporation Bhd to focus more on services in the Electric Utilities industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ less understanding of Malakoff Corporation Bhd strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Malakoff Corporation Bhd don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High dependence on Malakoff Corporation Bhd ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Malakoff Corporation Bhd is one of the leading players in the Electric Utilities industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Electric Utilities industry in last five years.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Malaysia, Malakoff Corporation Bhd needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Malakoff Corporation Bhd is just above the Electric Utilities 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Malakoff Corporation Bhd has some of the most successful models in the Electric Utilities industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Malakoff Corporation Bhd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Malakoff Corporation Bhd, in the dynamic environment of Electric Utilities industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Malakoff Corporation Bhd has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Malakoff Corporation Bhd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Malakoff Corporation Bhd are -
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. Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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. Malakoff Corporation Bhd can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Malakoff Corporation Bhd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Malakoff Corporation Bhd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Electric Utilities sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Malakoff Corporation Bhd can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Electric Utilities 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.
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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Electric Utilities industry. This can help Malakoff Corporation Bhd to build a more holistic ecosystem for Malakoff Corporation Bhd products in the Electric Utilities industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Malakoff Corporation Bhd has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Electric Utilities sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Malakoff Corporation Bhd to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Malakoff Corporation Bhd to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Malakoff Corporation Bhd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.
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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd in the Electric Utilities industry. Now Malakoff Corporation Bhd can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Malakoff Corporation Bhd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Malakoff Corporation Bhd are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Electric Utilities 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. Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.
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. Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Electric Utilities industry are lowering. It can presents Malakoff Corporation Bhd with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Electric Utilities sector.
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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Malakoff Corporation Bhd in Electric Utilities industry. The Electric Utilities 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.
Environmental challenges
– Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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. Malakoff Corporation Bhd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Electric Utilities industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Malakoff Corporation Bhd is facing in Electric Utilities sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.
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. Malakoff Corporation Bhd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Electric Utilities industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Malakoff Corporation Bhd
– 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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Malakoff Corporation Bhd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.