SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Mirae Asset Daewoo (South Korea)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Mirae Asset Daewoo is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption,
increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mirae Asset Daewoo
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Mirae Asset Daewoo can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mirae Asset Daewoo, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Mirae Asset Daewoo can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Mirae Asset Daewoo
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mirae Asset Daewoo
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in South Korea
4. Making a Investment Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Mirae Asset Daewoo
Strengths of Mirae Asset Daewoo | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mirae Asset Daewoo are -
Digital Transformation in Investment Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Mirae Asset Daewoo digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
Learning organization
- Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Mirae Asset Daewoo is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Mirae Asset Daewoo emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mirae Asset Daewoo is one of the leading players in the Investment Services industry in South Korea. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in South Korea. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Mirae Asset Daewoo has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Mirae Asset Daewoo staying ahead in the Investment Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Mirae Asset Daewoo is present in almost all the verticals within the Investment Services industry. This has provided Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
Training and development
– Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
Ability to lead change in Investment Services
– Mirae Asset Daewoo is one of the leading players in the Investment Services industry in South Korea. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Investment Services industry in South Korea but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Mirae Asset Daewoo in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Investment Services industry. The technology infrastructure of South Korea 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Investment Services industry
– Mirae Asset Daewoo is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Mirae Asset Daewoo is one of the most innovative firm in Investment Services sector.
Weaknesses of Mirae Asset Daewoo | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mirae Asset Daewoo are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Mirae Asset Daewoo has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Investment Services industry over the last five years. Mirae Asset Daewoo even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Mirae Asset Daewoo can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Mirae Asset Daewoo is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Mirae Asset Daewoo, in the dynamic environment of Investment Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mirae Asset Daewoo has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on Mirae Asset Daewoo ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Mirae Asset Daewoo has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Mirae Asset Daewoo supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Mirae Asset Daewoo is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Mirae Asset Daewoo vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Mirae Asset Daewoo has some of the most successful models in the Investment Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Mirae Asset Daewoo should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Investment Services industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Mirae Asset Daewoo is one of the leading players in the Investment Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Investment Services industry in last five years.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Mirae Asset Daewoo, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Investment Services 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.
Mirae Asset Daewoo Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Mirae Asset Daewoo are -
Buying journey improvements
– Mirae Asset Daewoo can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Investment 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.
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. Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Mirae Asset Daewoo can develop new processes and procedures in Investment Services industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Mirae Asset Daewoo is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mirae Asset Daewoo 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
– Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mirae Asset Daewoo in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Investment Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mirae Asset Daewoo can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mirae Asset Daewoo operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Investment Services sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Mirae Asset Daewoo to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
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 Mirae Asset Daewoo in the Investment Services industry. Now Mirae Asset Daewoo can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Mirae Asset Daewoo External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Mirae Asset Daewoo are -
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 Mirae Asset Daewoo business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mirae Asset Daewoo in Investment Services industry. The Investment 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Investment Services industry are lowering. It can presents Mirae Asset Daewoo with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Investment Services sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mirae Asset Daewoo has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Investment Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Mirae Asset Daewoo is facing in Investment Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Mirae Asset Daewoo.
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. Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
Environmental challenges
– Mirae Asset Daewoo 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. Mirae Asset Daewoo can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Investment Services 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. Mirae Asset Daewoo needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Investment Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Mirae Asset Daewoo prominent markets.
Regulatory challenges
– Mirae Asset Daewoo 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mirae Asset Daewoo Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Mirae Asset Daewoo 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 Mirae Asset Daewoo needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.