Invicta (IVTJ) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Constr. & Agric. Machinery
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Invicta (South Africa)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Invicta is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Invicta can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Invicta, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Invicta 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 Invicta can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Invicta
2. Improving business portfolio management of Invicta
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in South Africa
4. Making a Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Invicta
Strengths of Invicta | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Invicta are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Invicta is one of the leading players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Invicta has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Invicta staying ahead in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Invicta has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Invicta 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.
Analytics focus
– Invicta 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. The technology infrastructure of South Africa 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Invicta in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– Invicta is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Invicta
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Invicta does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Invicta has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Invicta have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Invicta is one of the most innovative firm in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Invicta comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Invicta is present in almost all the verticals within the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This has provided Invicta 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Invicta 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.
Weaknesses of Invicta | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Invicta are -
High dependence on Invicta ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Invicta still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Invicta has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Invicta 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Invicta is one of the leading players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in last five years.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Invicta has high operating costs in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Invicta lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Invicta, in the dynamic environment of Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Invicta has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Invicta supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Invicta is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Invicta vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Invicta has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Invicta 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 bargaining power of channel partners in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in South Africa, Invicta 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
Employees’ less understanding of Invicta strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Invicta 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, Invicta 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.
Invicta Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Invicta are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Invicta in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Invicta 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Invicta 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
– Invicta can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Invicta has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Invicta to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Invicta to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Invicta to increase its market reach. Invicta 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Invicta is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Invicta can utilize new technology in the field of Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
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. Invicta can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Invicta 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. Invicta 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, Invicta can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Invicta operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Invicta 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, Invicta 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 Invicta to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Invicta 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
Threats Invicta External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Invicta are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Invicta 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, Invicta may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Invicta is facing in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Invicta 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.
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. Invicta needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Invicta business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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 Invicta.
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 Invicta in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Invicta 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry and other sectors.
Environmental challenges
– Invicta 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. Invicta can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
Increasing wage structure of Invicta
– 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 Invicta.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Invicta 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Invicta Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Invicta 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 Invicta 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 Invicta 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 Invicta 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 Invicta needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
