Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber (IKEN) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Food Processing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber (Malaysia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber
2. Improving business portfolio management of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a Food Processing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber
Strengths of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber are -
Strong track record of project management in the Food Processing industry
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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.
Analytics focus
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Food Processing 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.
Ability to lead change in Food Processing
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber is one of the leading players in the Food Processing industry in Malaysia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Food Processing industry in Malaysia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber is one of the most innovative firm in Food Processing sector.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber staying ahead in the Food Processing industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Food Processing industry
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Food Processing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Food Processing industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber is one of the leading players in the Food Processing 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.
Organizational Resilience of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber is present in almost all the verticals within the Food Processing industry. This has provided Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber, in the dynamic environment of Food Processing industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Food Processing industry, but Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber to focus more on services in the Food Processing industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Food Processing industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Food Processing industry using digital technology.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Food Processing industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Lack of clear differentiation of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring in Food Processing industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Food Processing industry over the last five years. Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Food Processing industry, Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber is just above the Food Processing 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.
Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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, Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Food Processing sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Food Processing 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, Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber can utilize new technology in the field of Food Processing industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Food Processing sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Food Processing industry.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber can develop new processes and procedures in Food Processing 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.
Threats Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber prominent markets.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Food Processing industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Food Processing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Food Processing 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Food Processing industry regulations.
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. Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Food Processing industry are lowering. It can presents Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Food Processing sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber is facing in Food Processing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Food Processing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber
– 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 Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Food Processing industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber 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 Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.