Malakoff Corporation Bhd (MALA) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / 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 – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc

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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.

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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

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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.

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.

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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Malakoff Corporation Bhd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Malakoff Corporation Bhd staying ahead in the Electric Utilities industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Malakoff Corporation Bhd in Electric Utilities industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Malakoff Corporation Bhd has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Electric Utilities industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Malakoff Corporation Bhd have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Ability to lead change in Electric Utilities

– Malakoff Corporation Bhd is one of the leading players in the Electric Utilities industry in Malaysia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Electric Utilities industry in Malaysia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Malakoff Corporation Bhd in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.

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.

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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 -

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Malakoff Corporation Bhd, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Electric Utilities 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.

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.

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.

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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Malakoff Corporation Bhd has high operating costs in the Electric Utilities industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Malakoff Corporation Bhd lucrative customers.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Electric Utilities industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Malaysia, Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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 Electric Utilities industry.

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.

Need for greater diversity

– Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Malakoff Corporation Bhd needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Electric Utilities industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Malakoff Corporation Bhd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Malakoff Corporation Bhd is planning to shift buying processes online.

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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 -

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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Malakoff Corporation Bhd to increase its market reach. Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Electric Utilities industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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. Malakoff Corporation Bhd 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.

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.

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.

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.

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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 -

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Malakoff Corporation Bhd has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Electric Utilities industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Malakoff Corporation Bhd needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Electric Utilities 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Malakoff Corporation Bhd can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate Malakoff Corporation Bhd prominent markets.

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.

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.

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 Malakoff Corporation Bhd.

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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.

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