Santos Brasil Participacoes (STBP3) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Santos Brasil Participacoes (Brazil)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Santos Brasil Participacoes is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Santos Brasil Participacoes

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Santos Brasil Participacoes can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Santos Brasil Participacoes, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Santos Brasil Participacoes 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Santos Brasil Participacoes can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Santos Brasil Participacoes
2. Improving business portfolio management of Santos Brasil Participacoes
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Brazil
4. Making a Misc. Transportation sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Santos Brasil Participacoes

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Strengths of Santos Brasil Participacoes | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Santos Brasil Participacoes are -

Organizational Resilience of Santos Brasil Participacoes

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Santos Brasil Participacoes does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

High brand equity

– Santos Brasil Participacoes has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Santos Brasil Participacoes to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Santos Brasil Participacoes is one of the leading players in the Misc. Transportation industry in Brazil. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Brazil. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Digital Transformation in Misc. Transportation industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Santos Brasil Participacoes digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Santos Brasil Participacoes 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Misc. Transportation industry

– Santos Brasil Participacoes has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Santos Brasil Participacoes to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Misc. Transportation industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Santos Brasil Participacoes to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Santos Brasil Participacoes has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Misc. Transportation industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Santos Brasil Participacoes have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Ability to lead change in Misc. Transportation

– Santos Brasil Participacoes is one of the leading players in the Misc. Transportation industry in Brazil. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Transportation industry in Brazil but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Santos Brasil Participacoes in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Analytics focus

– Santos Brasil Participacoes 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 Misc. Transportation industry. The technology infrastructure of Brazil 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Santos Brasil Participacoes 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.

Training and development

– Santos Brasil Participacoes has one of the best training and development program in Transportation 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Santos Brasil Participacoes comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Misc. Transportation 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Santos Brasil Participacoes has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Santos Brasil Participacoes staying ahead in the Misc. Transportation industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

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Weaknesses of Santos Brasil Participacoes | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Santos Brasil Participacoes are -

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Santos Brasil Participacoes 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 Misc. Transportation industry using digital technology.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Santos Brasil Participacoes 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 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 Santos Brasil Participacoes supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Santos Brasil Participacoes is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Santos Brasil Participacoes vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Lack of clear differentiation of Santos Brasil Participacoes products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Santos Brasil Participacoes needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Santos Brasil Participacoes has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Misc. Transportation industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Santos Brasil Participacoes is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Santos Brasil Participacoes to provide better information regarding Misc. Transportation products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Santos Brasil Participacoes is just above the Misc. Transportation 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.

Employees’ less understanding of Santos Brasil Participacoes strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Santos Brasil Participacoes 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 Misc. Transportation industry, Santos Brasil Participacoes 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.

High dependence on Santos Brasil Participacoes ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Santos Brasil Participacoes still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Misc. Transportation industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Santos Brasil Participacoes has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Santos Brasil Participacoes, in the dynamic environment of Misc. Transportation industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Santos Brasil Participacoes has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

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Santos Brasil Participacoes Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Santos Brasil Participacoes are -

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Santos Brasil Participacoes is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Santos Brasil Participacoes can utilize new technology in the field of Misc. Transportation industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Misc. Transportation industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Santos Brasil Participacoes can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Santos Brasil Participacoes to increase its market reach. Santos Brasil Participacoes 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 Santos Brasil Participacoes 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 Misc. Transportation industry.

Buying journey improvements

– Santos Brasil Participacoes can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Misc. Transportation 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Santos Brasil Participacoes 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Santos Brasil Participacoes 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Santos Brasil Participacoes can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Santos Brasil Participacoes has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Misc. Transportation industry. This can help Santos Brasil Participacoes to build a more holistic ecosystem for Santos Brasil Participacoes products in the Misc. Transportation industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Santos Brasil Participacoes 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Santos Brasil Participacoes 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 Santos Brasil Participacoes to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Santos Brasil Participacoes has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Misc. Transportation sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Santos Brasil Participacoes to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Santos Brasil Participacoes 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. Santos Brasil Participacoes can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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Threats Santos Brasil Participacoes External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Santos Brasil Participacoes are -

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. Santos Brasil Participacoes 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Santos Brasil Participacoes 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Misc. Transportation industry are lowering. It can presents Santos Brasil Participacoes with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Misc. Transportation sector.

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 Santos Brasil Participacoes business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Santos Brasil Participacoes is facing in Misc. Transportation sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Santos Brasil Participacoes has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Misc. Transportation industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Santos Brasil Participacoes needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Misc. Transportation 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Santos Brasil Participacoes may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Misc. Transportation sector.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Santos Brasil Participacoes 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 Misc. Transportation industry.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Santos Brasil Participacoes in Misc. Transportation industry. The Misc. Transportation 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.

Environmental challenges

– Santos Brasil Participacoes 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. Santos Brasil Participacoes can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Misc. Transportation industry.

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. Santos Brasil Participacoes needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Misc. Transportation industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Regulatory challenges

– Santos Brasil Participacoes 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 Misc. Transportation industry regulations.

New competition

– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Santos Brasil Participacoes in the Misc. Transportation sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Santos Brasil Participacoes Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Santos Brasil Participacoes 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 Santos Brasil Participacoes 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 Santos Brasil Participacoes 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 Santos Brasil Participacoes 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 Santos Brasil Participacoes needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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