SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Doosan Bobcat Inc (South Korea)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Doosan Bobcat Inc is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Doosan Bobcat Inc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Doosan Bobcat Inc can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Doosan Bobcat Inc, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Doosan Bobcat Inc can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Doosan Bobcat Inc
2. Improving business portfolio management of Doosan Bobcat Inc
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in South Korea
4. Making a Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Doosan Bobcat Inc
Strengths of Doosan Bobcat Inc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Doosan Bobcat Inc are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Doosan Bobcat Inc 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.
Ability to lead change in Constr. & Agric. Machinery
– Doosan Bobcat Inc is one of the leading players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in South Korea. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in South Korea but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Doosan Bobcat Inc in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Doosan Bobcat Inc has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Doosan Bobcat Inc staying ahead in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Doosan Bobcat Inc
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Doosan Bobcat Inc does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Doosan Bobcat Inc is one of the leading players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Doosan Bobcat Inc in the Capital Goods sector have low bargaining power. Doosan Bobcat Inc has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Doosan Bobcat Inc to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Doosan Bobcat Inc digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Doosan Bobcat Inc 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
- Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Doosan Bobcat Inc is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Doosan Bobcat Inc emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– Doosan Bobcat Inc is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Doosan Bobcat Inc has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Doosan Bobcat Inc 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Doosan Bobcat Inc has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Doosan Bobcat Inc have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of Doosan Bobcat Inc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Doosan Bobcat Inc are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of South Korea, Doosan Bobcat Inc needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Doosan Bobcat Inc has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry over the last five years. Doosan Bobcat Inc 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Doosan Bobcat Inc 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Doosan Bobcat Inc is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Doosan Bobcat Inc to provide better information regarding Constr. & Agric. Machinery products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Doosan Bobcat Inc, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in South Korea, Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Doosan Bobcat Inc, in the dynamic environment of Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Doosan Bobcat Inc has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Doosan Bobcat Inc has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Doosan Bobcat Inc supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Doosan Bobcat Inc is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Doosan Bobcat Inc vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Doosan Bobcat Inc products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Doosan Bobcat Inc needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Doosan Bobcat Inc 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.
Doosan Bobcat Inc Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Doosan Bobcat Inc are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Doosan Bobcat Inc is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Doosan Bobcat Inc can utilize new technology in the field of Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Doosan Bobcat Inc to increase its market reach. Doosan Bobcat Inc 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Doosan Bobcat Inc 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. Doosan Bobcat Inc 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Doosan Bobcat Inc can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Doosan Bobcat Inc can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Doosan Bobcat Inc operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Doosan Bobcat Inc 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Doosan Bobcat Inc in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Doosan Bobcat Inc can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
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 Doosan Bobcat Inc 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Doosan Bobcat Inc in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. Now Doosan Bobcat Inc can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Doosan Bobcat Inc External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Doosan Bobcat Inc are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Doosan Bobcat Inc may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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. Doosan Bobcat Inc needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Doosan Bobcat Inc can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Doosan Bobcat Inc business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Doosan Bobcat Inc 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.
Increasing wage structure of Doosan Bobcat Inc
– 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 Doosan Bobcat Inc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Doosan Bobcat Inc 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Doosan Bobcat Inc has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Doosan Bobcat Inc needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Doosan Bobcat Inc prominent markets.
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 Doosan Bobcat Inc in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Doosan Bobcat Inc Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Doosan Bobcat Inc 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 Doosan Bobcat Inc needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.