SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for SHL Consolidated (Malaysia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , SHL Consolidated is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that SHL Consolidated can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the SHL Consolidated, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which SHL Consolidated 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 SHL Consolidated can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of SHL Consolidated
2. Improving business portfolio management of SHL Consolidated
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 SHL Consolidated
Strengths of SHL Consolidated | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of SHL Consolidated are -
High brand equity
– SHL Consolidated has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled SHL Consolidated to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– SHL Consolidated is one of the most innovative firm in Real Estate Operations sector.
Analytics focus
– SHL Consolidated 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 Real Estate Operations 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of SHL Consolidated in the Services sector have low bargaining power. SHL Consolidated has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps SHL Consolidated to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– SHL Consolidated 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 SHL Consolidated have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– SHL Consolidated has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – SHL Consolidated 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the SHL Consolidated 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
– SHL Consolidated has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled SHL Consolidated to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Real Estate Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped SHL Consolidated to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– SHL Consolidated is present in almost all the verticals within the Real Estate Operations industry. This has provided SHL Consolidated 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– SHL Consolidated has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. SHL Consolidated 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of SHL Consolidated in Real Estate Operations industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- SHL Consolidated 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 SHL Consolidated is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at SHL Consolidated emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses of SHL Consolidated | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of SHL Consolidated are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, SHL Consolidated has high operating costs in the Real Estate Operations industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract SHL Consolidated lucrative customers.
High dependence on SHL Consolidated ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of SHL Consolidated 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 SHL Consolidated has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As SHL Consolidated 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Malaysia, SHL Consolidated needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 SHL Consolidated supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, SHL Consolidated is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left SHL Consolidated vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Real Estate Operations industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Malaysia, SHL Consolidated 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, SHL Consolidated 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of SHL Consolidated is just above the Real Estate Operations 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at SHL Consolidated, in the dynamic environment of Real Estate Operations industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. SHL Consolidated has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that SHL Consolidated 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 SHL Consolidated can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as SHL Consolidated is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of SHL Consolidated is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Real Estate Operations industry, but SHL Consolidated needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help SHL Consolidated to focus more on services in the Real Estate Operations industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
SHL Consolidated Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of SHL Consolidated are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Real Estate Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. SHL Consolidated 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. SHL Consolidated 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help SHL Consolidated to increase its market reach. SHL Consolidated 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, SHL Consolidated 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 SHL Consolidated to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for SHL Consolidated 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– SHL Consolidated can develop new processes and procedures in Real Estate Operations 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, SHL Consolidated 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for SHL Consolidated 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.
Manufacturing automation
– SHL Consolidated can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Real Estate Operations sector. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, SHL Consolidated can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that SHL Consolidated operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Real Estate Operations sector.
Loyalty marketing
– SHL Consolidated 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.
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. SHL Consolidated can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of SHL Consolidated has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Real Estate Operations industry. This can help SHL Consolidated to build a more holistic ecosystem for SHL Consolidated products in the Real Estate Operations industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– SHL Consolidated can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Real Estate Operations 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.
Threats SHL Consolidated External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of SHL Consolidated are -
Environmental challenges
– SHL Consolidated 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. SHL Consolidated can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Real Estate Operations industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, SHL Consolidated may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Real Estate Operations sector.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Real Estate Operations industry are lowering. It can presents SHL Consolidated 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– SHL Consolidated 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 Real Estate Operations industry.
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 SHL Consolidated.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that SHL Consolidated is facing in Real Estate Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on SHL Consolidated 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for SHL Consolidated in Real Estate Operations industry. The Real Estate Operations 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.
Regulatory challenges
– SHL Consolidated 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.
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 SHL Consolidated business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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. SHL Consolidated needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Real Estate Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– SHL Consolidated high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of SHL Consolidated Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at SHL Consolidated 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 SHL Consolidated 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 SHL Consolidated 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 SHL Consolidated 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 SHL Consolidated needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
