SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for UOA REIT (Malaysia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , UOA REIT is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that UOA REIT can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the UOA REIT, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which UOA REIT 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 UOA REIT can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of UOA REIT
2. Improving business portfolio management of UOA REIT
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a Real Estate Operations sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of UOA REIT
Strengths of UOA REIT | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of UOA REIT are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– UOA REIT has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – UOA REIT staying ahead in the Real Estate Operations industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of UOA REIT
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing UOA REIT does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– UOA REIT has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled UOA REIT to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– UOA REIT has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Real Estate Operations industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of UOA REIT have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Real Estate Operations
– UOA REIT is one of the leading players in the Real Estate Operations industry in Malaysia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Real Estate Operations industry in Malaysia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled UOA REIT in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– UOA REIT is one of the leading players in the Real Estate Operations 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 UOA REIT comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Real Estate Operations 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.
Learning organization
- UOA REIT 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 UOA REIT is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at UOA REIT emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– UOA REIT is present in almost all the verticals within the Real Estate Operations industry. This has provided UOA REIT 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the UOA REIT 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Real Estate Operations industry
– UOA REIT has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled UOA REIT to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Real Estate Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped UOA REIT to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of UOA REIT in Real Estate Operations industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses of UOA REIT | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of UOA REIT are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Real Estate Operations industry, UOA REIT 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, UOA REIT needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Real Estate Operations industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Malaysia, UOA REIT 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 Real Estate Operations industry.
Lack of clear differentiation of UOA REIT products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, UOA REIT needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, UOA REIT is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help UOA REIT to provide better information regarding Real Estate Operations products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that UOA REIT needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Real Estate Operations industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at UOA REIT can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as UOA REIT is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on UOA REIT ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of UOA REIT still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Real Estate Operations industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though UOA REIT has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though UOA REIT has some of the most successful models in the Real Estate Operations industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. UOA REIT should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of UOA REIT is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Real Estate Operations industry, but UOA REIT needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help UOA REIT to focus more on services in the Real Estate Operations industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of UOA REIT, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Real Estate Operations 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As UOA REIT is one of the leading players in the Real Estate Operations industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Real Estate Operations industry in last five years.
UOA REIT Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of UOA REIT are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for UOA REIT 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 UOA REIT to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, UOA REIT can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that UOA REIT operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Real Estate Operations sector.
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. UOA REIT can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– UOA REIT has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Real Estate Operations sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled UOA REIT to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help UOA REIT 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 UOA REIT to increase its market reach. UOA REIT 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– UOA REIT 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of UOA REIT has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Real Estate Operations industry. This can help UOA REIT to build a more holistic ecosystem for UOA REIT products in the Real Estate Operations 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 UOA REIT in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Real Estate Operations industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, UOA REIT 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 UOA REIT to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, UOA REIT 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Real Estate Operations industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for UOA REIT in the Real Estate Operations industry. Now UOA REIT can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at UOA REIT 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 Real Estate Operations industry.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Real Estate Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. UOA REIT can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats UOA REIT External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of UOA REIT are -
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– UOA REIT has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Real Estate Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, UOA REIT needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Real Estate Operations 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.
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 UOA REIT.
Regulatory challenges
– UOA REIT 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 Real Estate Operations industry regulations.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Real Estate Operations industry are lowering. It can presents UOA REIT with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Real Estate Operations sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, UOA REIT 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 UOA REIT prominent markets.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that UOA REIT is facing in Real Estate Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. UOA REIT needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Real Estate Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 UOA REIT in the Real Estate Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 UOA REIT 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 Real Estate Operations industry and other sectors.
Environmental challenges
– UOA REIT 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. UOA REIT can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Real Estate Operations industry.
Increasing wage structure of UOA REIT
– 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 UOA REIT.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of UOA REIT Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at UOA REIT 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 UOA REIT 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 UOA REIT 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 UOA REIT 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 UOA REIT needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.