Stellar Capital Partners Ltd (SCPJ) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
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Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Stellar Capital Partners Ltd (South Africa)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Stellar Capital Partners Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Stellar Capital Partners Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Stellar Capital Partners Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Stellar Capital Partners Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in South Africa
4. Making a Investment Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd
Strengths of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd in Investment Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Investment Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Stellar Capital Partners Ltd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Investment Services
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd is one of the leading players in the Investment Services industry in South Africa. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Investment Services industry in South Africa but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Stellar Capital Partners Ltd in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Investment Services industry
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Stellar Capital Partners Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Investment Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Stellar Capital Partners Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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.
High brand equity
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Stellar Capital Partners Ltd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd has one of the best training and development program in Financial 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. Stellar Capital Partners Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Stellar Capital Partners Ltd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Stellar Capital Partners Ltd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Stellar Capital Partners Ltd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd is present in almost all the verticals within the Investment Services industry. This has provided Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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.
Weaknesses of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd are -
Skills based hiring in Investment Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Stellar Capital Partners Ltd, in the dynamic environment of Investment Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Stellar Capital Partners Ltd has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Investment Services industry, but Stellar Capital Partners Ltd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Stellar Capital Partners Ltd to focus more on services in the Investment Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on Stellar Capital Partners Ltd ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Investment Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Stellar Capital Partners Ltd has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Stellar Capital Partners Ltd needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Investment Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Stellar Capital Partners Ltd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Stellar Capital Partners Ltd is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Stellar Capital Partners Ltd strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Investment Services industry, Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Stellar Capital Partners Ltd needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Investment Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in South Africa, Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Investment Services industry.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Stellar Capital Partners Ltd has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Investment Services industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Stellar Capital Partners Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd are -
Manufacturing automation
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Investment Services 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Stellar Capital Partners Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Stellar Capital Partners Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Investment Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Investment Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Stellar Capital Partners Ltd in the Investment Services industry. Now Stellar Capital Partners Ltd can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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.
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 Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Investment Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Stellar Capital Partners Ltd to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Stellar Capital Partners Ltd to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Stellar Capital Partners Ltd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Stellar Capital Partners Ltd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Investment Services sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Stellar Capital Partners Ltd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Investment Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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. Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Stellar Capital Partners Ltd to increase its market reach. Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Investment Services industry.
Loyalty marketing
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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.
Threats Stellar Capital Partners Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Investment Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Stellar Capital Partners Ltd needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Investment Services 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Stellar Capital Partners Ltd is facing in Investment Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Investment Services industry regulations.
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 Stellar Capital Partners Ltd.
Environmental challenges
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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. Stellar Capital Partners Ltd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Investment Services industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Investment Services industry and other sectors.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Stellar Capital Partners Ltd may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Investment Services sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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.
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 Stellar Capital Partners Ltd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Investment Services industry.
Increasing wage structure of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd
– 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 Stellar Capital Partners Ltd.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Stellar Capital Partners Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Stellar Capital Partners Ltd 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 Stellar Capital Partners Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.