Boustead Heavy Ind (BHIB) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Boustead Heavy Ind (Malaysia)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Boustead Heavy Ind is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Boustead Heavy Ind

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Boustead Heavy Ind can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Boustead Heavy Ind, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Boustead Heavy Ind 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Boustead Heavy Ind can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Boustead Heavy Ind
2. Improving business portfolio management of Boustead Heavy Ind
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a Water Transportation sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Boustead Heavy Ind

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Strengths of Boustead Heavy Ind | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Boustead Heavy Ind are -

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Boustead Heavy Ind 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.

Ability to lead change in Water Transportation

– Boustead Heavy Ind is one of the leading players in the Water Transportation industry in Malaysia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Water Transportation industry in Malaysia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Boustead Heavy Ind in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Strong track record of project management in the Water Transportation industry

– Boustead Heavy Ind is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Learning organization

- Boustead Heavy Ind 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 Boustead Heavy Ind is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Boustead Heavy Ind emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Boustead Heavy Ind in the Transportation sector have low bargaining power. Boustead Heavy Ind has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Boustead Heavy Ind to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Innovation driven organization

– Boustead Heavy Ind is one of the most innovative firm in Water Transportation sector.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Boustead Heavy Ind has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Boustead Heavy Ind staying ahead in the Water Transportation industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Boustead Heavy Ind is one of the leading players in the Water Transportation 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

– Boustead Heavy Ind 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 Water Transportation 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.

Digital Transformation in Water Transportation industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Boustead Heavy Ind digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Boustead Heavy Ind has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.

High brand equity

– Boustead Heavy Ind has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Boustead Heavy Ind to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Boustead Heavy Ind in Water Transportation industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

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Weaknesses of Boustead Heavy Ind | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Boustead Heavy Ind are -

Need for greater diversity

– Boustead Heavy Ind 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Boustead Heavy Ind is one of the leading players in the Water Transportation industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Water Transportation industry in last five years.

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 Boustead Heavy Ind supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Boustead Heavy Ind is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Boustead Heavy Ind vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Boustead Heavy Ind is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Boustead Heavy Ind to provide better information regarding Water Transportation products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Malaysia, Boustead Heavy Ind needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Boustead Heavy Ind, in the dynamic environment of Water Transportation industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Boustead Heavy Ind has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Boustead Heavy Ind has high operating costs in the Water Transportation industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Boustead Heavy Ind lucrative customers.

Employees’ less understanding of Boustead Heavy Ind strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Boustead Heavy Ind 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Boustead Heavy Ind 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 Water Transportation industry using digital technology.

High dependence on Boustead Heavy Ind ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Boustead Heavy Ind still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Water Transportation industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Boustead Heavy Ind has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Boustead Heavy Ind is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Water Transportation industry, but Boustead Heavy Ind needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Boustead Heavy Ind to focus more on services in the Water Transportation industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

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Boustead Heavy Ind Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Boustead Heavy Ind 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. Boustead Heavy Ind can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Boustead Heavy Ind 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 Boustead Heavy Ind to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Boustead Heavy Ind can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Boustead Heavy Ind operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Water Transportation sector.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Boustead Heavy Ind in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Water Transportation industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Developing new processes and practices

– Boustead Heavy Ind can develop new processes and procedures in Water Transportation 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, Boustead Heavy Ind 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Boustead Heavy Ind 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Boustead Heavy Ind can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Water Transportation 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Boustead Heavy Ind to increase its market reach. Boustead Heavy Ind 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Boustead Heavy Ind 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 Boustead Heavy Ind to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Manufacturing automation

– Boustead Heavy Ind can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Water Transportation 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Boustead Heavy Ind is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Boustead Heavy Ind can utilize new technology in the field of Water Transportation industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Boustead Heavy Ind can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

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Threats Boustead Heavy Ind External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Boustead Heavy Ind are -

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 Boustead Heavy Ind.

Regulatory challenges

– Boustead Heavy Ind 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 Water Transportation industry regulations.

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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Boustead Heavy Ind 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 Water Transportation industry and other sectors.

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. Boustead Heavy Ind needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Water Transportation industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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. Boustead Heavy Ind 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.

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 Boustead Heavy Ind business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Boustead Heavy Ind 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 Water Transportation industry.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Boustead Heavy Ind may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Water Transportation sector.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Boustead Heavy Ind in Water Transportation industry. The Water Transportation 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Water Transportation industry are lowering. It can presents Boustead Heavy Ind with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Water Transportation sector.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Boustead Heavy Ind is facing in Water Transportation sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Boustead Heavy Ind 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 Boustead Heavy Ind prominent markets.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Boustead Heavy Ind Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Boustead Heavy Ind 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 Boustead Heavy Ind 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 Boustead Heavy Ind 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 Boustead Heavy Ind 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 Boustead Heavy Ind needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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