Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp
2. Improving business portfolio management of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Singapore
4. Making a Retail (Specialty) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp
Strengths of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp are -
Training and development
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Retail (Specialty) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp staying ahead in the Retail (Specialty) industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Specialty) industry. This has provided Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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.
Organizational Resilience of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Specialty) sector.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Specialty) industry
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Specialty) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Specialty) industry
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Retail (Specialty) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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.
Weaknesses of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp to provide better information regarding Retail (Specialty) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp, in the dynamic environment of Retail (Specialty) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring in Retail (Specialty) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Retail (Specialty) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 Retail (Specialty) industry using digital technology.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Retail (Specialty) industry over the last five years. Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Singapore, Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp is one of the leading players in the Retail (Specialty) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Specialty) 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 Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp are -
Buying journey improvements
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Retail (Specialty) 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp can develop new processes and procedures in Retail (Specialty) 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Retail (Specialty) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Retail (Specialty) industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp in the Retail (Specialty) industry. Now Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Retail (Specialty) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 Retail (Specialty) industry.
Manufacturing automation
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (Specialty) 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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, Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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.
Threats Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp are -
Increasing wage structure of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp
– 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 Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp.
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 Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 Retail (Specialty) industry and other sectors.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp is facing in Retail (Specialty) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp in Retail (Specialty) industry. The Retail (Specialty) 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp prominent markets.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Retail (Specialty) sector.
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. Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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.
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 Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp in the Retail (Specialty) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Specialty) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 Retail (Specialty) industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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. Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Specialty) industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp 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 Maxi Cash Financial Services Corp needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.