Uchi Technologies Bhd (UCHI) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Semiconductors
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Uchi Technologies Bhd (Malaysia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Uchi Technologies Bhd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Uchi Technologies Bhd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Uchi Technologies Bhd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Uchi Technologies Bhd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Uchi Technologies 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 Uchi Technologies Bhd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Uchi Technologies Bhd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Uchi Technologies Bhd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a Semiconductors sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Uchi Technologies Bhd
Strengths of Uchi Technologies Bhd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Uchi Technologies Bhd are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Uchi Technologies Bhd in Semiconductors industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Uchi Technologies Bhd
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Uchi Technologies Bhd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Uchi Technologies Bhd is present in almost all the verticals within the Semiconductors industry. This has provided Uchi Technologies Bhd 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Uchi Technologies Bhd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Uchi Technologies Bhd staying ahead in the Semiconductors industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Uchi Technologies Bhd has one of the best training and development program in Technology 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Uchi Technologies Bhd has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Uchi Technologies 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Uchi Technologies Bhd is one of the leading players in the Semiconductors 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.
High brand equity
– Uchi Technologies Bhd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Uchi Technologies Bhd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Uchi Technologies Bhd has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Semiconductors industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Uchi Technologies Bhd have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Uchi Technologies 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
- Uchi Technologies 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 Uchi Technologies Bhd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Uchi Technologies Bhd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Uchi Technologies 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 Semiconductors 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.
Weaknesses of Uchi Technologies Bhd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Uchi Technologies Bhd are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Malaysia, Uchi Technologies Bhd needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Uchi Technologies Bhd 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 Semiconductors industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Uchi Technologies Bhd is one of the leading players in the Semiconductors industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Semiconductors industry in last five years.
High dependence on Uchi Technologies Bhd ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Uchi Technologies Bhd still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Semiconductors industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Uchi Technologies Bhd has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Uchi Technologies Bhd has high operating costs in the Semiconductors industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Uchi Technologies Bhd lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring in Semiconductors industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Uchi Technologies Bhd 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Uchi Technologies Bhd has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Semiconductors industry over the last five years. Uchi Technologies Bhd even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Uchi Technologies Bhd, in the dynamic environment of Semiconductors industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Uchi Technologies Bhd has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Uchi Technologies Bhd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Semiconductors industry, but Uchi Technologies Bhd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Uchi Technologies Bhd to focus more on services in the Semiconductors industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Uchi Technologies Bhd products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Uchi Technologies Bhd needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Uchi Technologies Bhd needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Semiconductors industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Uchi Technologies Bhd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Uchi Technologies Bhd is planning to shift buying processes online.
Uchi Technologies Bhd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Uchi Technologies Bhd are -
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. Uchi Technologies Bhd can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Uchi Technologies Bhd can develop new processes and procedures in Semiconductors 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Uchi Technologies Bhd can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Uchi Technologies Bhd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Uchi Technologies Bhd can utilize new technology in the field of Semiconductors industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Uchi Technologies Bhd has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Semiconductors industry. This can help Uchi Technologies Bhd to build a more holistic ecosystem for Uchi Technologies Bhd products in the Semiconductors industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Semiconductors industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Uchi Technologies Bhd in the Semiconductors industry. Now Uchi Technologies Bhd can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Uchi Technologies Bhd can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Semiconductors 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Uchi Technologies Bhd has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Semiconductors sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Uchi Technologies Bhd to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Uchi Technologies Bhd to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Uchi Technologies Bhd 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Semiconductors industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Uchi Technologies Bhd can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Uchi Technologies 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 Semiconductors industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Uchi Technologies 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Uchi Technologies Bhd 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 Uchi Technologies Bhd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Uchi Technologies Bhd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Uchi Technologies Bhd are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Uchi Technologies 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 Semiconductors industry and other sectors.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Uchi Technologies 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 Semiconductors industry.
Increasing wage structure of Uchi Technologies 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 Uchi Technologies Bhd.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Uchi Technologies Bhd in the Semiconductors sector and impact the bottomline 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Semiconductors industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Uchi Technologies Bhd can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Uchi Technologies 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 Semiconductors industry regulations.
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 Uchi Technologies Bhd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Uchi Technologies 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. Uchi Technologies Bhd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Semiconductors industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Uchi Technologies 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 Semiconductors sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Uchi Technologies 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 Uchi Technologies Bhd prominent markets.
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. Uchi Technologies Bhd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Semiconductors industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Uchi Technologies Bhd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Uchi Technologies 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 Uchi Technologies 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 Uchi Technologies 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 Uchi Technologies 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 Uchi Technologies Bhd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.