Malayan United Industries Bhd (MUIB) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Department & Discount)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Malayan United Industries Bhd (Malaysia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Malayan United Industries Bhd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Malayan United Industries Bhd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Malayan United Industries Bhd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Malayan United Industries Bhd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Malayan United Industries 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 Malayan United Industries Bhd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Malayan United Industries Bhd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Malayan United Industries Bhd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a Retail (Department & Discount) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Malayan United Industries Bhd
Strengths of Malayan United Industries Bhd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Malayan United Industries Bhd are -
High brand equity
– Malayan United Industries Bhd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Malayan United Industries Bhd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Malayan United Industries Bhd is one of the leading players in the Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Learning organization
- Malayan United Industries 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 Malayan United Industries Bhd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Malayan United Industries Bhd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Malayan United Industries Bhd in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Malayan United Industries Bhd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Malayan United Industries Bhd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Malayan United Industries 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 Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Malayan United Industries Bhd has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Malayan United Industries 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Malayan United Industries Bhd in Retail (Department & Discount) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Malayan United Industries Bhd has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Retail (Department & Discount) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Malayan United Industries Bhd have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Malayan United Industries Bhd is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Department & Discount) sector.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Malayan United Industries Bhd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Malayan United Industries Bhd staying ahead in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry
– Malayan United Industries Bhd is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Malayan United Industries Bhd is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. This has provided Malayan United Industries 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.
Weaknesses of Malayan United Industries Bhd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Malayan United Industries Bhd are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Malayan United Industries Bhd has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Skills based hiring in Retail (Department & Discount) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Malayan United Industries 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Malayan United Industries Bhd, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Malayan United Industries Bhd strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Malayan United Industries 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Malayan United Industries 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 Retail (Department & Discount) industry over the last five years. Malayan United Industries 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry, Malayan United Industries Bhd 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.
High dependence on Malayan United Industries Bhd ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Malayan United Industries Bhd still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Retail (Department & Discount) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Malayan United Industries Bhd has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Malayan United Industries 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 Retail (Department & Discount) industry using digital technology.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Malayan United Industries Bhd needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Malayan United Industries Bhd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Malayan United Industries Bhd is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Malayan United Industries Bhd is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Malayan United Industries Bhd to provide better information regarding Retail (Department & Discount) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Malayan United Industries Bhd products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Malayan United Industries Bhd needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Malayan United Industries Bhd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Malayan United Industries Bhd are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Malayan United Industries 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 Malayan United Industries 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Malayan United Industries 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 Malayan United Industries Bhd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Malayan United Industries 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 Retail (Department & Discount) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Malayan United Industries Bhd to increase its market reach. Malayan United Industries 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Malayan United Industries Bhd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Malayan United Industries Bhd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Department & Discount) sector.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Malayan United Industries 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. Malayan United Industries 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Malayan United Industries Bhd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Malayan United Industries Bhd can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Department & Discount) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Malayan United Industries Bhd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Malayan United Industries 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Malayan United Industries Bhd 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 Retail (Department & Discount) industry.
Developing new processes and practices
– Malayan United Industries Bhd can develop new processes and procedures in Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Retail (Department & Discount) industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Malayan United Industries Bhd in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. Now Malayan United Industries Bhd can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 Malayan United Industries 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.
Threats Malayan United Industries Bhd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Malayan United Industries Bhd are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Malayan United Industries Bhd in Retail (Department & Discount) industry. The Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Malayan United Industries Bhd has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Malayan United Industries Bhd needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Retail (Department & Discount) 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.
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. Malayan United Industries Bhd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Department & Discount) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Malayan United Industries 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. Malayan United Industries Bhd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Department & Discount) industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Department & Discount) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Malayan United Industries Bhd can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Malayan United Industries Bhd will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Malayan United Industries Bhd 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Malayan United Industries 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 Retail (Department & Discount) industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Malayan United Industries 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 Retail (Department & Discount) sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Malayan United Industries 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 Retail (Department & Discount) 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 Malayan United Industries Bhd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Malayan United Industries 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 Malayan United Industries Bhd.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Malayan United Industries Bhd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Malayan United Industries 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 Malayan United Industries 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 Malayan United Industries 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 Malayan United Industries 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 Malayan United Industries Bhd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.