TIME FOR FUN ON (SHOW3) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for TIME FOR FUN ON (Brazil)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , TIME FOR FUN ON is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of TIME FOR FUN ON

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that TIME FOR FUN ON can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the TIME FOR FUN ON, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which TIME FOR FUN ON 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 TIME FOR FUN ON can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of TIME FOR FUN ON
2. Improving business portfolio management of TIME FOR FUN ON
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Brazil
4. Making a Recreational Activities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of TIME FOR FUN ON

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Strengths of TIME FOR FUN ON | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of TIME FOR FUN ON are -

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Recreational Activities industry

– TIME FOR FUN ON has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled TIME FOR FUN ON to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Recreational Activities industry. The sustainable margins have also helped TIME FOR FUN ON to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Organizational Resilience of TIME FOR FUN ON

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

Analytics focus

– TIME FOR FUN ON 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 Recreational Activities 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– TIME FOR FUN ON is one of the leading players in the Recreational Activities 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– TIME FOR FUN ON has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Recreational Activities industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of TIME FOR FUN ON have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Successful track record of launching new products

– TIME FOR FUN ON has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

Innovation driven organization

– TIME FOR FUN ON is one of the most innovative firm in Recreational Activities sector.

Digital Transformation in Recreational Activities industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For TIME FOR FUN ON digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

Strong track record of project management in the Recreational Activities industry

– TIME FOR FUN ON is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– TIME FOR FUN ON has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – TIME FOR FUN ON staying ahead in the Recreational Activities industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of TIME FOR FUN ON in Recreational Activities industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

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Weaknesses of TIME FOR FUN ON | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of TIME FOR FUN ON are -

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, TIME FOR FUN ON has high operating costs in the Recreational Activities industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract TIME FOR FUN ON lucrative customers.

Employees’ less understanding of TIME FOR FUN ON strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

Skills based hiring in Recreational Activities industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of TIME FOR FUN ON, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Recreational Activities 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 cash cycle compare to competitors

TIME FOR FUN ON has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Recreational Activities industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that TIME FOR FUN ON needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Recreational Activities industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at TIME FOR FUN ON can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as TIME FOR FUN ON is planning to shift buying processes online.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, TIME FOR FUN ON has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Recreational Activities industry over the last five years. TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As TIME FOR FUN ON is one of the leading players in the Recreational Activities industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Recreational Activities industry in last five years.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, TIME FOR FUN ON 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 Recreational Activities industry using digital technology.

Need for greater diversity

– TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

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TIME FOR FUN ON Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of TIME FOR FUN ON are -

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. TIME FOR FUN ON can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Developing new processes and practices

– TIME FOR FUN ON can develop new processes and procedures in Recreational Activities 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– TIME FOR FUN ON has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Recreational Activities sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled TIME FOR FUN ON to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help TIME FOR FUN ON to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help TIME FOR FUN ON to increase its market reach. TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of TIME FOR FUN ON has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Recreational Activities industry. This can help TIME FOR FUN ON to build a more holistic ecosystem for TIME FOR FUN ON products in the Recreational Activities industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Leveraging digital technologies

– TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Loyalty marketing

– TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

Buying journey improvements

– TIME FOR FUN ON can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Recreational Activities 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for TIME FOR FUN ON in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Recreational Activities industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Recreational Activities industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. TIME FOR FUN ON 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. TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, TIME FOR FUN ON can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that TIME FOR FUN ON operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Recreational Activities sector.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

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Threats TIME FOR FUN ON External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of TIME FOR FUN ON are -

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, TIME FOR FUN ON may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Recreational Activities sector.

Consumer confidence and its impact on TIME FOR FUN ON 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 Recreational Activities industry and other sectors.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

Environmental challenges

– TIME FOR FUN ON 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. TIME FOR FUN ON can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Recreational Activities 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. TIME FOR FUN ON needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Recreational Activities industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that TIME FOR FUN ON is facing in Recreational Activities sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Recreational Activities industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. TIME FOR FUN ON 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 TIME FOR FUN ON business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Regulatory challenges

– TIME FOR FUN ON 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 Recreational Activities industry regulations.

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. TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– TIME FOR FUN ON has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Recreational Activities industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, TIME FOR FUN ON needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Recreational Activities 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Recreational Activities industry are lowering. It can presents TIME FOR FUN ON with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Recreational Activities sector.

Increasing wage structure of TIME FOR FUN ON

– 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 TIME FOR FUN ON.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of TIME FOR FUN ON Template, Example

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

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