Cashbil (CSBJ) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Home Improvement)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Cashbil (South Africa)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Cashbil is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Cashbil can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cashbil, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cashbil 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 Cashbil can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Cashbil
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cashbil
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in South Africa
4. Making a Retail (Home Improvement) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cashbil
Strengths of Cashbil | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cashbil are -
Ability to lead change in Retail (Home Improvement)
– Cashbil is one of the leading players in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry in South Africa. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry in South Africa but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Cashbil in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cashbil 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Cashbil comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Retail (Home Improvement) 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cashbil in Retail (Home Improvement) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Cashbil is one of the most innovative firm in Retail (Home Improvement) sector.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cashbil 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 Retail (Home Improvement) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cashbil digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cashbil 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cashbil is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Home Improvement) industry. This has provided Cashbil 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.
Training and development
– Cashbil 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry
– Cashbil 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
– Cashbil has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cashbil 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.
Learning organization
- Cashbil 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 Cashbil is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Cashbil emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses of Cashbil | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cashbil are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cashbil 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cashbil is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry, but Cashbil needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cashbil to focus more on services in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Cashbil needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Cashbil can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cashbil is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Retail (Home Improvement) industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in South Africa, Cashbil 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 Retail (Home Improvement) industry.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cashbil is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Cashbil to provide better information regarding Retail (Home Improvement) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Cashbil is one of the leading players in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry in last five years.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry, Cashbil 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Cashbil is just above the Retail (Home Improvement) 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.
Skills based hiring in Retail (Home Improvement) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cashbil 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of South Africa, Cashbil needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Cashbil supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Cashbil is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cashbil vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Cashbil Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Cashbil are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cashbil 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cashbil 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 Cashbil to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Cashbil can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cashbil 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 (Home Improvement) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cashbil 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 (Home Improvement) industry.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cashbil can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cashbil operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Home Improvement) sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cashbil can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Cashbil can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Retail (Home Improvement) 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cashbil 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 Cashbil to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Retail (Home Improvement) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Cashbil 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
– Cashbil 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cashbil 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cashbil is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Cashbil can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Home Improvement) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats Cashbil External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Cashbil are -
Regulatory challenges
– Cashbil 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 (Home Improvement) industry regulations.
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. Cashbil needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Home Improvement) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Home Improvement) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Cashbil 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
– Cashbil 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. Cashbil can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry.
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 Cashbil in the Retail (Home Improvement) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cashbil in Retail (Home Improvement) industry. The Retail (Home Improvement) 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.
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. Cashbil 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.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Cashbil business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cashbil has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cashbil needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Retail (Home Improvement) 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cashbil 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 (Home Improvement) industry and other sectors.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Cashbil 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 (Home Improvement) sector.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Retail (Home Improvement) industry are lowering. It can presents Cashbil with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Retail (Home Improvement) sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cashbil Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Cashbil 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 Cashbil 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 Cashbil 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 Cashbil 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 Cashbil needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
