SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Samurai 2K Aerosol (Singapore)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Samurai 2K Aerosol is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Samurai 2K Aerosol
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Samurai 2K Aerosol can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Samurai 2K Aerosol, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Samurai 2K Aerosol can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Samurai 2K Aerosol
2. Improving business portfolio management of Samurai 2K Aerosol
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Singapore
4. Making a Chemical Manufacturing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Samurai 2K Aerosol
Strengths of Samurai 2K Aerosol | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Samurai 2K Aerosol are -
Training and development
– Samurai 2K Aerosol has one of the best training and development program in Basic Materials 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Samurai 2K Aerosol is one of the most innovative firm in Chemical Manufacturing sector.
Learning organization
- Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Samurai 2K Aerosol is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Samurai 2K Aerosol emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Samurai 2K Aerosol has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Samurai 2K Aerosol staying ahead in the Chemical Manufacturing 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry
– Samurai 2K Aerosol is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Chemical Manufacturing
– Samurai 2K Aerosol is one of the leading players in the Chemical Manufacturing industry in Singapore. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Chemical Manufacturing industry in Singapore but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Samurai 2K Aerosol in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Samurai 2K Aerosol in Chemical Manufacturing industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Samurai 2K Aerosol has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Samurai 2K Aerosol to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry. The technology infrastructure of Singapore 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 Samurai 2K Aerosol comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Chemical Manufacturing 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.
Organizational Resilience of Samurai 2K Aerosol
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Samurai 2K Aerosol does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Samurai 2K Aerosol is present in almost all the verticals within the Chemical Manufacturing industry. This has provided Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Samurai 2K Aerosol | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Samurai 2K Aerosol are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Samurai 2K Aerosol products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Samurai 2K Aerosol needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Samurai 2K Aerosol has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Chemical Manufacturing industry over the last five years. Samurai 2K Aerosol 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Chemical Manufacturing industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Singapore, Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Samurai 2K Aerosol is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Chemical Manufacturing industry, but Samurai 2K Aerosol needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Samurai 2K Aerosol to focus more on services in the Chemical Manufacturing industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Samurai 2K Aerosol has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Skills based hiring in Chemical Manufacturing industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Samurai 2K Aerosol 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Samurai 2K Aerosol is just above the Chemical Manufacturing 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 Samurai 2K Aerosol ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Samurai 2K Aerosol still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Chemical Manufacturing industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Samurai 2K Aerosol has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Samurai 2K Aerosol is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Samurai 2K Aerosol to provide better information regarding Chemical Manufacturing products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Samurai 2K Aerosol 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Samurai 2K Aerosol has some of the most successful models in the Chemical Manufacturing industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Samurai 2K Aerosol should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Samurai 2K Aerosol Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Samurai 2K Aerosol are -
Loyalty marketing
– Samurai 2K Aerosol 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Chemical Manufacturing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Samurai 2K Aerosol 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. Samurai 2K Aerosol 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Samurai 2K Aerosol can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Samurai 2K Aerosol operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Chemical Manufacturing sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Samurai 2K Aerosol can develop new processes and procedures in Chemical Manufacturing 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Samurai 2K Aerosol has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Chemical Manufacturing sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Samurai 2K Aerosol to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Samurai 2K Aerosol to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Samurai 2K Aerosol to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Chemical Manufacturing industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Samurai 2K Aerosol in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. Now Samurai 2K Aerosol can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Samurai 2K Aerosol is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Samurai 2K Aerosol can utilize new technology in the field of Chemical Manufacturing industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Samurai 2K Aerosol in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Chemical Manufacturing industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Samurai 2K Aerosol to increase its market reach. Samurai 2K Aerosol 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Samurai 2K Aerosol to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Chemical Manufacturing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Samurai 2K Aerosol can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Samurai 2K Aerosol External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Samurai 2K Aerosol are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry and other sectors.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Samurai 2K Aerosol 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Samurai 2K Aerosol prominent markets.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry.
Environmental challenges
– Samurai 2K Aerosol 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. Samurai 2K Aerosol can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Chemical Manufacturing industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Samurai 2K Aerosol has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Samurai 2K Aerosol needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Chemical Manufacturing 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.
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 Samurai 2K Aerosol.
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 Samurai 2K Aerosol in the Chemical Manufacturing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Samurai 2K Aerosol is facing in Chemical Manufacturing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Chemical Manufacturing industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Samurai 2K Aerosol can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Samurai 2K Aerosol may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Chemical Manufacturing sector.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Chemical Manufacturing industry are lowering. It can presents Samurai 2K Aerosol with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Chemical Manufacturing sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Samurai 2K Aerosol Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Samurai 2K Aerosol 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 Samurai 2K Aerosol needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
