SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Fitters Diversified (Malaysia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Fitters Diversified is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Fitters Diversified
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Fitters Diversified can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fitters Diversified, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fitters Diversified 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 Fitters Diversified can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Fitters Diversified
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fitters Diversified
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a Security Systems & Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Fitters Diversified
Strengths of Fitters Diversified | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Fitters Diversified are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Fitters Diversified has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Fitters Diversified staying ahead in the Security Systems & Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Fitters Diversified is present in almost all the verticals within the Security Systems & Services industry. This has provided Fitters Diversified 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.
Analytics focus
– Fitters Diversified 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 Security Systems & Services 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Fitters Diversified comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Security Systems & Services 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Fitters Diversified is one of the most innovative firm in Security Systems & Services sector.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Security Systems & Services industry
– Fitters Diversified has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Fitters Diversified to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Security Systems & Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Fitters Diversified to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Security Systems & Services
– Fitters Diversified is one of the leading players in the Security Systems & Services industry in Malaysia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Security Systems & Services industry in Malaysia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Fitters Diversified in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Fitters Diversified 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Fitters Diversified has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Security Systems & Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Fitters Diversified have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Fitters Diversified has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Fitters Diversified to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Fitters Diversified 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 Fitters Diversified is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Fitters Diversified emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Fitters Diversified has one of the best training and development program in Services 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.
Weaknesses of Fitters Diversified | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Fitters Diversified are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Malaysia, Fitters Diversified 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 Fitters Diversified, in the dynamic environment of Security Systems & Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Fitters Diversified 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 Fitters Diversified is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Security Systems & Services industry, but Fitters Diversified needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Fitters Diversified to focus more on services in the Security Systems & Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Security Systems & Services industry, Fitters Diversified 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Fitters Diversified 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Fitters Diversified 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 Security Systems & Services industry using digital technology.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Fitters Diversified has high operating costs in the Security Systems & Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Fitters Diversified lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Fitters Diversified needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Security Systems & Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Fitters Diversified can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Fitters Diversified is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring in Security Systems & Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Fitters Diversified 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Fitters Diversified strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Fitters Diversified 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 Fitters Diversified products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Fitters Diversified needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Fitters Diversified Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Fitters Diversified are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Fitters Diversified in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Security Systems & Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Fitters Diversified can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Fitters Diversified operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Security Systems & Services sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Fitters Diversified 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Fitters Diversified 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 Fitters Diversified 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
– Fitters Diversified can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Security Systems & Services 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.
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. Fitters Diversified can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Fitters Diversified 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Fitters Diversified can develop new processes and procedures in Security Systems & Services 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Fitters Diversified can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Security Systems & Services 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Fitters Diversified 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
– Fitters Diversified has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Security Systems & Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Fitters Diversified to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Fitters Diversified to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Fitters Diversified 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 Fitters Diversified to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Fitters Diversified External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Fitters Diversified are -
Regulatory challenges
– Fitters Diversified 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 Security Systems & Services industry regulations.
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 Fitters Diversified in the Security Systems & Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Fitters Diversified business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Fitters Diversified 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 Fitters Diversified prominent markets.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Fitters Diversified 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 Security Systems & Services industry and other sectors.
Increasing wage structure of Fitters Diversified
– 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 Fitters Diversified.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Fitters Diversified in Security Systems & Services industry. The Security Systems & Services 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 Security Systems & Services industry are lowering. It can presents Fitters Diversified with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Security Systems & Services sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Fitters Diversified may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Security Systems & Services sector.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Environmental challenges
– Fitters Diversified 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. Fitters Diversified can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Security Systems & Services industry.
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. Fitters Diversified 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Fitters Diversified is facing in Security Systems & Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Fitters Diversified Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Fitters Diversified 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 Fitters Diversified 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 Fitters Diversified 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 Fitters Diversified 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 Fitters Diversified needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
