SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for AfroCentric Investment Corp (South Africa)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , AfroCentric Investment Corp is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of AfroCentric Investment Corp
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that AfroCentric Investment Corp can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the AfroCentric Investment Corp, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which AfroCentric Investment 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 AfroCentric Investment Corp can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of AfroCentric Investment Corp
2. Improving business portfolio management of AfroCentric Investment Corp
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in South Africa
4. Making a Healthcare Facilities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of AfroCentric Investment Corp
Strengths of AfroCentric Investment Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of AfroCentric Investment Corp are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that AfroCentric Investment 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Healthcare Facilities industry
– AfroCentric Investment Corp has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled AfroCentric Investment Corp to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Healthcare Facilities industry. The sustainable margins have also helped AfroCentric Investment Corp to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- AfroCentric Investment Corp 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 AfroCentric Investment Corp is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at AfroCentric Investment Corp emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Healthcare Facilities industry
– AfroCentric Investment 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.
Organizational Resilience of AfroCentric Investment Corp
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing AfroCentric Investment Corp does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Healthcare Facilities industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For AfroCentric Investment Corp digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. AfroCentric Investment 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of AfroCentric Investment Corp in the Healthcare sector have low bargaining power. AfroCentric Investment Corp has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps AfroCentric Investment Corp to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– AfroCentric Investment Corp has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. AfroCentric Investment 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.
Ability to lead change in Healthcare Facilities
– AfroCentric Investment Corp is one of the leading players in the Healthcare Facilities industry in South Africa. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Healthcare Facilities industry in South Africa but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled AfroCentric Investment Corp in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– AfroCentric Investment Corp is one of the leading players in the Healthcare Facilities 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of AfroCentric Investment Corp in Healthcare Facilities industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– AfroCentric Investment Corp is present in almost all the verticals within the Healthcare Facilities industry. This has provided AfroCentric Investment 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.
Weaknesses of AfroCentric Investment Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of AfroCentric Investment Corp are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, AfroCentric Investment Corp 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of South Africa, AfroCentric Investment Corp needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that AfroCentric Investment Corp needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Healthcare Facilities industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at AfroCentric Investment Corp can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as AfroCentric Investment Corp is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, AfroCentric Investment Corp has high operating costs in the Healthcare Facilities industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract AfroCentric Investment Corp lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of AfroCentric Investment Corp is just above the Healthcare Facilities 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of AfroCentric Investment Corp, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Healthcare Facilities industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Employees’ less understanding of AfroCentric Investment Corp strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of AfroCentric Investment Corp 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 bargaining power of channel partners in Healthcare Facilities industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in South Africa, AfroCentric Investment Corp 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 Healthcare Facilities industry.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, AfroCentric Investment 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 Healthcare Facilities industry using digital technology.
Need for greater diversity
– AfroCentric Investment 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.
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 AfroCentric Investment Corp supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, AfroCentric Investment Corp is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left AfroCentric Investment Corp vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
AfroCentric Investment Corp Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of AfroCentric Investment Corp are -
Loyalty marketing
– AfroCentric Investment 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for AfroCentric Investment 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 AfroCentric Investment Corp to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for AfroCentric Investment 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, AfroCentric Investment Corp is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. AfroCentric Investment Corp can utilize new technology in the field of Healthcare Facilities industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help AfroCentric Investment Corp to increase its market reach. AfroCentric Investment Corp 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.
Buying journey improvements
– AfroCentric Investment Corp can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Healthcare Facilities 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, AfroCentric Investment 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at AfroCentric Investment 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 Healthcare Facilities industry.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– AfroCentric Investment Corp has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Healthcare Facilities sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled AfroCentric Investment Corp to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help AfroCentric Investment Corp to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. AfroCentric Investment Corp can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 AfroCentric Investment Corp 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.
Manufacturing automation
– AfroCentric Investment Corp can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Healthcare Facilities 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Healthcare Facilities industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. AfroCentric Investment Corp 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. AfroCentric Investment Corp 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.
Threats AfroCentric Investment Corp External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of AfroCentric Investment Corp are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, AfroCentric Investment 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 AfroCentric Investment Corp prominent markets.
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. AfroCentric Investment 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.
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.
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. AfroCentric Investment Corp needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Healthcare Facilities industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– AfroCentric Investment Corp 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 Healthcare Facilities industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for AfroCentric Investment Corp in Healthcare Facilities industry. The Healthcare Facilities 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, AfroCentric Investment 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 Healthcare Facilities sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– AfroCentric Investment 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.
Increasing wage structure of AfroCentric Investment 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 AfroCentric Investment Corp.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Healthcare Facilities industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. AfroCentric Investment Corp can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 AfroCentric Investment Corp business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– AfroCentric Investment 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. AfroCentric Investment Corp can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Healthcare Facilities industry.
Regulatory challenges
– AfroCentric Investment 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 Healthcare Facilities industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of AfroCentric Investment Corp Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at AfroCentric Investment 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 AfroCentric Investment 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 AfroCentric Investment 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 AfroCentric Investment 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 AfroCentric Investment Corp needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.