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 – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, 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 -

High brand equity

– TIME FOR FUN ON has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled TIME FOR FUN ON to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Training and development

– TIME FOR FUN ON has one of the best training and development program in Services industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.

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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of TIME FOR FUN ON in the Services sector have low bargaining power. TIME FOR FUN ON has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps TIME FOR FUN ON to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

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.

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.

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.

Diverse revenue streams

– TIME FOR FUN ON is present in almost all the verticals within the Recreational Activities industry. This has provided TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

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.

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.

Ability to lead change in Recreational Activities

– TIME FOR FUN ON is one of the leading players in the Recreational Activities industry in Brazil. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Recreational Activities industry in Brazil but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled TIME FOR FUN ON in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

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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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of TIME FOR FUN ON is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Recreational Activities industry, but TIME FOR FUN ON needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help TIME FOR FUN ON to focus more on services in the Recreational Activities industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at TIME FOR FUN ON, in the dynamic environment of Recreational Activities industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. TIME FOR FUN ON has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, TIME FOR FUN ON is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help TIME FOR FUN ON to provide better information regarding Recreational Activities products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Recreational Activities industry, TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of TIME FOR FUN ON is just above the Recreational Activities 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.

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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 -

Finding new ways to collaborate

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 TIME FOR FUN ON 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.

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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, TIME FOR FUN ON can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help TIME FOR FUN ON to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

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.

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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 -

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for TIME FOR FUN ON in Recreational Activities industry. The Recreational Activities 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, TIME FOR FUN ON 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 TIME FOR FUN ON prominent markets.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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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