Liberty Two Degrees (L2DJ) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Real Estate Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Liberty Two Degrees (South Africa)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Liberty Two Degrees is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Liberty Two Degrees
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Liberty Two Degrees can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Liberty Two Degrees, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Liberty Two Degrees 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 Liberty Two Degrees can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Liberty Two Degrees
2. Improving business portfolio management of Liberty Two Degrees
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in South Africa
4. Making a Real Estate Operations sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Liberty Two Degrees
Strengths of Liberty Two Degrees | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Liberty Two Degrees are -
Learning organization
- Liberty Two Degrees 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 Liberty Two Degrees is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Liberty Two Degrees emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Real Estate Operations industry
– Liberty Two Degrees has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Liberty Two Degrees to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Real Estate Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Liberty Two Degrees to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Real Estate Operations
– Liberty Two Degrees is one of the leading players in the Real Estate Operations industry in South Africa. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Real Estate Operations industry in South Africa but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Liberty Two Degrees in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management in the Real Estate Operations industry
– Liberty Two Degrees is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Liberty Two Degrees has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Liberty Two Degrees to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Real Estate Operations industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Liberty Two Degrees digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Liberty Two Degrees 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Liberty Two Degrees has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Liberty Two Degrees 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Liberty Two Degrees is one of the leading players in the Real Estate Operations industry in South Africa. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in South Africa. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Liberty Two Degrees
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Liberty Two Degrees does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Liberty Two Degrees is one of the most innovative firm in Real Estate Operations sector.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Liberty Two Degrees 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Liberty Two Degrees is present in almost all the verticals within the Real Estate Operations industry. This has provided Liberty Two Degrees 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 Liberty Two Degrees | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Liberty Two Degrees are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Liberty Two Degrees is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Real Estate Operations industry, but Liberty Two Degrees needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Liberty Two Degrees to focus more on services in the Real Estate Operations industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Liberty Two Degrees 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Liberty Two Degrees strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Liberty Two Degrees 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 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 Liberty Two Degrees supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Liberty Two Degrees is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Liberty Two Degrees vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Liberty Two Degrees has high operating costs in the Real Estate Operations industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Liberty Two Degrees lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Liberty Two Degrees 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Liberty Two Degrees products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Liberty Two Degrees needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Liberty Two Degrees 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 Real Estate Operations industry using digital technology.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Real Estate Operations industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in South Africa, Liberty Two Degrees 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 Real Estate Operations industry.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Liberty Two Degrees, in the dynamic environment of Real Estate Operations industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Liberty Two Degrees has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on Liberty Two Degrees ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Liberty Two Degrees still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Real Estate Operations industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Liberty Two Degrees has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Liberty Two Degrees Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Liberty Two Degrees are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Liberty Two Degrees has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Real Estate Operations sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Liberty Two Degrees to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Liberty Two Degrees to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Real Estate Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Liberty Two Degrees 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. Liberty Two Degrees 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Liberty Two Degrees can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Real Estate Operations 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Liberty Two Degrees to increase its market reach. Liberty Two Degrees 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Liberty Two Degrees 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Liberty Two Degrees 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Liberty Two Degrees 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 Liberty Two Degrees to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Liberty Two Degrees 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 Liberty Two Degrees to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Real Estate Operations industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Liberty Two Degrees in the Real Estate Operations industry. Now Liberty Two Degrees can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Real Estate Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Liberty Two Degrees can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Liberty Two Degrees is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Liberty Two Degrees can utilize new technology in the field of Real Estate Operations 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 Liberty Two Degrees in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Real Estate Operations industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Liberty Two Degrees 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.
Threats Liberty Two Degrees External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Liberty Two Degrees are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Real Estate Operations industry are lowering. It can presents Liberty Two Degrees with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Real Estate Operations sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Liberty Two Degrees 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Liberty Two Degrees 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 Real Estate Operations industry regulations.
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 Liberty Two Degrees in the Real Estate Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Liberty Two Degrees 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. Liberty Two Degrees can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Real Estate Operations industry.
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 Liberty Two Degrees business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Liberty Two Degrees in Real Estate Operations industry. The Real Estate Operations industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Liberty Two Degrees needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Real Estate Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Liberty Two Degrees has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Real Estate Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Liberty Two Degrees needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Real Estate Operations 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 Liberty Two Degrees 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 Real Estate Operations industry and other sectors.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Liberty Two Degrees 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 Real Estate Operations industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Liberty Two Degrees is facing in Real Estate Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Liberty Two Degrees Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Liberty Two Degrees 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 Liberty Two Degrees 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 Liberty Two Degrees 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 Liberty Two Degrees 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 Liberty Two Degrees needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
