TPC Plus (TPCP) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for TPC Plus (Malaysia)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , TPC Plus is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of TPC Plus

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that TPC Plus can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the TPC Plus, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which TPC Plus 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 TPC Plus can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of TPC Plus
2. Improving business portfolio management of TPC Plus
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Malaysia
4. Making a Fish/Livestock sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of TPC Plus

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Strengths of TPC Plus | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of TPC Plus are -

Analytics focus

– TPC Plus 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 Fish/Livestock 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– TPC Plus is present in almost all the verticals within the Fish/Livestock industry. This has provided TPC Plus 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.

Learning organization

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

High brand equity

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

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of TPC Plus in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. TPC Plus has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps TPC Plus to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Strong track record of project management in the Fish/Livestock industry

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

Successful track record of launching new products

– TPC Plus has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. TPC Plus has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of TPC Plus comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Fish/Livestock 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 lead change in Fish/Livestock

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

Organizational Resilience of TPC Plus

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

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that TPC Plus has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.

Digital Transformation in Fish/Livestock industry

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

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Weaknesses of TPC Plus | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of TPC Plus are -

Need for greater diversity

– TPC Plus 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, TPC Plus 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.

High dependence on TPC Plus ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of TPC Plus still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Fish/Livestock industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though TPC Plus has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Low market penetration in new markets

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

Products dominated business model

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

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, TPC Plus has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Fish/Livestock industry over the last five years. TPC Plus 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.

Employees’ less understanding of TPC Plus strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of TPC Plus 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Fish/Livestock industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Malaysia, TPC Plus 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 Fish/Livestock industry.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As TPC Plus is one of the leading players in the Fish/Livestock industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Fish/Livestock 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 TPC Plus supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, TPC Plus is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left TPC Plus vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at TPC Plus, in the dynamic environment of Fish/Livestock industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. TPC Plus has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

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TPC Plus Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of TPC Plus are -

Loyalty marketing

– TPC Plus 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

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

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for TPC Plus in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Fish/Livestock industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Leveraging digital technologies

– TPC Plus 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at TPC Plus 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 Fish/Livestock industry.

Finding new ways to collaborate

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

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, TPC Plus can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that TPC Plus operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Fish/Livestock sector.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for TPC Plus 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

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

Manufacturing automation

– TPC Plus can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Fish/Livestock 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of TPC Plus has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Fish/Livestock industry. This can help TPC Plus to build a more holistic ecosystem for TPC Plus products in the Fish/Livestock industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

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

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Threats TPC Plus External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of TPC Plus are -

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Fish/Livestock industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. TPC Plus 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

– TPC Plus 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. TPC Plus can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Fish/Livestock industry.

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. TPC Plus needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Fish/Livestock industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– TPC Plus 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for TPC Plus in Fish/Livestock industry. The Fish/Livestock 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.

Increasing wage structure of TPC Plus

– 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 TPC Plus.

Consumer confidence and its impact on TPC Plus 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 Fish/Livestock industry and other sectors.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– TPC Plus 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 Fish/Livestock industry.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, TPC Plus may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Fish/Livestock sector.

Regulatory challenges

– TPC Plus 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 Fish/Livestock industry regulations.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Fish/Livestock industry are lowering. It can presents TPC Plus with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Fish/Livestock sector.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, TPC Plus 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 TPC Plus prominent markets.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of TPC Plus Template, Example

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

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