SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Marshall Monteagle PLC (South Africa)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Marshall Monteagle PLC is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Marshall Monteagle PLC
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Marshall Monteagle PLC can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Marshall Monteagle PLC, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Marshall Monteagle PLC 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 Marshall Monteagle PLC can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Marshall Monteagle PLC
2. Improving business portfolio management of Marshall Monteagle PLC
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in South Africa
4. Making a Business Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Marshall Monteagle PLC
Strengths of Marshall Monteagle PLC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Marshall Monteagle PLC are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Business Services industry
– Marshall Monteagle PLC has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Marshall Monteagle PLC to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Business Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Marshall Monteagle PLC to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Marshall Monteagle PLC comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Business Services 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.
High brand equity
– Marshall Monteagle PLC has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Marshall Monteagle PLC to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Marshall Monteagle PLC
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Marshall Monteagle PLC does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Business Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Marshall Monteagle PLC digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Marshall Monteagle PLC 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.
Learning organization
- Marshall Monteagle PLC 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 Marshall Monteagle PLC is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Marshall Monteagle PLC emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Marshall Monteagle PLC has one of the best training and development program in Services industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Marshall Monteagle PLC 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Business Services industry
– Marshall Monteagle PLC is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Marshall Monteagle PLC is one of the leading players in the Business Services 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Marshall Monteagle PLC in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Marshall Monteagle PLC has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Marshall Monteagle PLC to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Marshall Monteagle PLC is present in almost all the verticals within the Business Services industry. This has provided Marshall Monteagle PLC 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 Marshall Monteagle PLC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Marshall Monteagle PLC are -
Employees’ less understanding of Marshall Monteagle PLC strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Marshall Monteagle PLC 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 Marshall Monteagle PLC supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Marshall Monteagle PLC is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Marshall Monteagle PLC vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of South Africa, Marshall Monteagle PLC needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Marshall Monteagle PLC, in the dynamic environment of Business Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Marshall Monteagle PLC has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring in Business Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Marshall Monteagle PLC 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Marshall Monteagle PLC has high operating costs in the Business Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Marshall Monteagle PLC lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Marshall Monteagle PLC 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Marshall Monteagle PLC has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Business 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Marshall Monteagle PLC 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 Business Services industry using digital technology.
High dependence on Marshall Monteagle PLC ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Marshall Monteagle PLC still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Business Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Marshall Monteagle PLC has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Marshall Monteagle PLC is just above the Business Services 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.
Marshall Monteagle PLC Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Marshall Monteagle PLC are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Marshall Monteagle PLC 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Business Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Marshall Monteagle PLC can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Business Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Marshall Monteagle PLC 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. Marshall Monteagle PLC 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Marshall Monteagle PLC in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Business Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Loyalty marketing
– Marshall Monteagle PLC 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Marshall Monteagle PLC to increase its market reach. Marshall Monteagle PLC 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Marshall Monteagle PLC 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Marshall Monteagle PLC has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Business Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Marshall Monteagle PLC to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Marshall Monteagle PLC to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Marshall Monteagle PLC can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Business Services 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Marshall Monteagle PLC 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Marshall Monteagle PLC can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Marshall Monteagle PLC operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Business Services sector.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Business Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Marshall Monteagle PLC in the Business Services industry. Now Marshall Monteagle PLC can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Marshall Monteagle PLC 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 Business Services industry.
Threats Marshall Monteagle PLC External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Marshall Monteagle PLC are -
Regulatory challenges
– Marshall Monteagle PLC 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 Business Services industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Marshall Monteagle PLC 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. Marshall Monteagle PLC can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Business Services industry.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Marshall Monteagle PLC in the Business Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Marshall Monteagle PLC
– 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 Marshall Monteagle PLC.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Business Services industry are lowering. It can presents Marshall Monteagle PLC with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Business Services sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Marshall Monteagle PLC 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Marshall Monteagle PLC 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 Business Services industry.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Marshall Monteagle PLC is facing in Business Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Marshall Monteagle PLC has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Business Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Marshall Monteagle PLC needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Business 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Marshall Monteagle PLC in Business Services industry. The Business Services 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. Marshall Monteagle PLC needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Business Services 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 Marshall Monteagle PLC business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Marshall Monteagle PLC Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Marshall Monteagle PLC 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 Marshall Monteagle PLC 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 Marshall Monteagle PLC 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 Marshall Monteagle PLC 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 Marshall Monteagle PLC needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.