SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Sarawak Plantation (Malaysia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Sarawak Plantation is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sarawak Plantation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Sarawak Plantation can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sarawak Plantation, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sarawak Plantation 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 Sarawak Plantation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Sarawak Plantation
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sarawak Plantation
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a Crops sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Sarawak Plantation
Strengths of Sarawak Plantation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sarawak Plantation are -
Innovation driven organization
– Sarawak Plantation is one of the most innovative firm in Crops sector.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sarawak Plantation has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Sarawak Plantation staying ahead in the Crops industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sarawak Plantation 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sarawak Plantation is one of the leading players in the Crops 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.
Analytics focus
– Sarawak Plantation 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 Crops 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sarawak Plantation 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.
Training and development
– Sarawak Plantation has one of the best training and development program in Consumer/Non-Cyclical 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sarawak Plantation in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Sarawak Plantation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sarawak Plantation to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sarawak Plantation is present in almost all the verticals within the Crops industry. This has provided Sarawak Plantation 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sarawak Plantation in Crops industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Sarawak Plantation has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sarawak Plantation to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sarawak Plantation has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Crops industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Sarawak Plantation have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of Sarawak Plantation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sarawak Plantation are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Sarawak Plantation is one of the leading players in the Crops industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Crops industry in last five years.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Sarawak Plantation 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Sarawak Plantation 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sarawak Plantation has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Crops industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Sarawak Plantation, in the dynamic environment of Crops industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sarawak Plantation has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on Sarawak Plantation ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Sarawak Plantation still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Crops industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Sarawak Plantation has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ less understanding of Sarawak Plantation strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Sarawak Plantation 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Sarawak Plantation products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sarawak Plantation needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sarawak Plantation has some of the most successful models in the Crops industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Sarawak Plantation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Malaysia, Sarawak Plantation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring in Crops industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sarawak Plantation 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.
Sarawak Plantation Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Sarawak Plantation are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sarawak Plantation can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Crops industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Sarawak Plantation 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. Sarawak Plantation 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sarawak Plantation is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sarawak Plantation can utilize new technology in the field of Crops industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sarawak Plantation in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Crops 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, Sarawak Plantation 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 Sarawak Plantation to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Sarawak Plantation can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Crops industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Sarawak Plantation in the Crops industry. Now Sarawak Plantation can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sarawak Plantation 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sarawak Plantation to increase its market reach. Sarawak Plantation 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sarawak Plantation 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sarawak Plantation can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sarawak Plantation operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Crops sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sarawak Plantation has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Crops sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Sarawak Plantation to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sarawak Plantation to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Sarawak Plantation can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Crops 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 Sarawak Plantation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Sarawak Plantation are -
Environmental challenges
– Sarawak Plantation 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. Sarawak Plantation can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Crops industry.
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.
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. Sarawak Plantation needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Crops industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sarawak Plantation is facing in Crops sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sarawak Plantation 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 Crops industry and other sectors.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Crops industry are lowering. It can presents Sarawak Plantation with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Crops sector.
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 Sarawak Plantation in the Crops sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sarawak Plantation has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Crops industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sarawak Plantation needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Crops 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.
Increasing wage structure of Sarawak Plantation
– 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 Sarawak Plantation.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sarawak Plantation 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 Crops industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sarawak Plantation 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 Sarawak Plantation prominent markets.
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 Sarawak Plantation.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sarawak Plantation in Crops industry. The Crops 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sarawak Plantation Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Sarawak Plantation 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 Sarawak Plantation 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 Sarawak Plantation 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 Sarawak Plantation 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 Sarawak Plantation needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.