Sumatec Resources Bhd (SUTR) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Sumatec Resources Bhd (Malaysia)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Sumatec Resources Bhd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc

---

---

---

---

Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sumatec Resources Bhd

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Sumatec Resources Bhd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sumatec Resources Bhd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sumatec Resources 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 Sumatec Resources Bhd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Sumatec Resources Bhd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sumatec Resources Bhd
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 Sumatec Resources Bhd

---

Strengths of Sumatec Resources Bhd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Sumatec Resources Bhd are -

Organizational Resilience of Sumatec Resources Bhd

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Sumatec Resources Bhd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

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

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Sumatec Resources Bhd 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.

Digital Transformation in Water Transportation industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sumatec Resources Bhd digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sumatec Resources Bhd 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.

Superior customer experience

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

Learning organization

- Sumatec Resources 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 Sumatec Resources Bhd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Sumatec Resources Bhd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Water Transportation industry

– Sumatec Resources Bhd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sumatec Resources Bhd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Water Transportation industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sumatec Resources Bhd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Innovation driven organization

– Sumatec Resources Bhd is one of the most innovative firm in Water Transportation sector.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Sumatec Resources Bhd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Sumatec Resources Bhd 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.

Strong track record of project management in the Water Transportation industry

– Sumatec Resources 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.

High brand equity

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

Diverse revenue streams

– Sumatec Resources Bhd is present in almost all the verticals within the Water Transportation industry. This has provided Sumatec Resources 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 Sumatec Resources Bhd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Sumatec Resources Bhd are -

Products dominated business model

– Even though Sumatec Resources Bhd has some of the most successful models in the Water Transportation industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Sumatec Resources Bhd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Ability to respond to the competition

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

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Water Transportation industry, Sumatec Resources 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 bargaining power of channel partners in Water Transportation industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Malaysia, Sumatec Resources Bhd is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the Water Transportation industry.

Skills based hiring in Water Transportation industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sumatec Resources 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.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Sumatec Resources Bhd 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 Sumatec Resources Bhd lucrative customers.

Need for greater diversity

– Sumatec Resources Bhd 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 harness new channels of communication

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

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Sumatec Resources Bhd is just above the Water Transportation 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.

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

Lack of clear differentiation of Sumatec Resources Bhd products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sumatec Resources Bhd needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

---

Sumatec Resources Bhd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Sumatec Resources Bhd are -

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Sumatec Resources Bhd has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Water Transportation sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Sumatec Resources Bhd to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sumatec Resources Bhd to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sumatec Resources 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.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Water Transportation industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Sumatec Resources 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. Sumatec Resources 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Sumatec Resources 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 Water Transportation industry.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sumatec Resources Bhd to increase its market reach. Sumatec Resources 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, Sumatec Resources Bhd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sumatec Resources Bhd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Water Transportation sector.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Developing new processes and practices

– Sumatec Resources Bhd 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.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Water Transportation industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Sumatec Resources Bhd in the Water Transportation industry. Now Sumatec Resources Bhd can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Water Transportation industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Sumatec Resources Bhd can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Sumatec Resources Bhd 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sumatec Resources 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 Water Transportation industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

---

Threats Sumatec Resources Bhd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Sumatec Resources Bhd are -

Shortening product life cycle

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

Consumer confidence and its impact on Sumatec Resources Bhd 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.

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 Sumatec Resources Bhd.

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 Sumatec Resources Bhd in the Water Transportation sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Water Transportation industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Sumatec Resources Bhd can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Environmental challenges

– Sumatec Resources 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. Sumatec Resources Bhd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Water Transportation industry.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sumatec Resources Bhd 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.

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. Sumatec Resources Bhd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Water Transportation 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Sumatec Resources 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 Water Transportation industry regulations.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Sumatec Resources 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 Water Transportation industry.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Sumatec Resources Bhd has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Water Transportation industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sumatec Resources Bhd needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Water Transportation 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.

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. Sumatec Resources 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.

---

Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sumatec Resources Bhd Template, Example

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

--- ---