WLM Industria e Comercio (WLMM4) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Misc. Capital Goods
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for WLM Industria e Comercio (Brazil)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , WLM Industria e Comercio is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of WLM Industria e Comercio
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that WLM Industria e Comercio can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the WLM Industria e Comercio, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which WLM Industria e Comercio 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 WLM Industria e Comercio can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of WLM Industria e Comercio
2. Improving business portfolio management of WLM Industria e Comercio
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Brazil
4. Making a Misc. Capital Goods sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of WLM Industria e Comercio
Strengths of WLM Industria e Comercio | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of WLM Industria e Comercio are -
Diverse revenue streams
– WLM Industria e Comercio is present in almost all the verticals within the Misc. Capital Goods industry. This has provided WLM Industria e Comercio 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.
Learning organization
- WLM Industria e Comercio 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 WLM Industria e Comercio is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at WLM Industria e Comercio emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Misc. Capital Goods industry
– WLM Industria e Comercio 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)
– WLM Industria e Comercio has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – WLM Industria e Comercio staying ahead in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the WLM Industria e Comercio 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– WLM Industria e Comercio has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Misc. Capital Goods industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of WLM Industria e Comercio have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of WLM Industria e Comercio in the Capital Goods sector have low bargaining power. WLM Industria e Comercio has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps WLM Industria e Comercio to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– WLM Industria e Comercio has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled WLM Industria e Comercio to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Misc. Capital Goods
– WLM Industria e Comercio is one of the leading players in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in Brazil. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in Brazil but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled WLM Industria e Comercio in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Misc. Capital Goods industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For WLM Industria e Comercio digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. WLM Industria e Comercio has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Misc. Capital Goods industry
– WLM Industria e Comercio has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled WLM Industria e Comercio to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Misc. Capital Goods industry. The sustainable margins have also helped WLM Industria e Comercio to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– WLM Industria e Comercio is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Weaknesses of WLM Industria e Comercio | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of WLM Industria e Comercio are -
Lack of clear differentiation of WLM Industria e Comercio products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, WLM Industria e Comercio needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As WLM Industria e Comercio is one of the leading players in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in last five years.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of WLM Industria e Comercio is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, but WLM Industria e Comercio needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help WLM Industria e Comercio to focus more on services in the Misc. Capital Goods industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, WLM Industria e Comercio has high operating costs in the Misc. Capital Goods industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract WLM Industria e Comercio lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– WLM Industria e Comercio 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 bargaining power of channel partners in Misc. Capital Goods industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Brazil, WLM Industria e Comercio 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, WLM Industria e Comercio is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help WLM Industria e Comercio to provide better information regarding Misc. Capital Goods 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 WLM Industria e Comercio, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Skills based hiring in Misc. Capital Goods industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at WLM Industria e Comercio 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though WLM Industria e Comercio has some of the most successful models in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. WLM Industria e Comercio should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, WLM Industria e Comercio has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the Misc. Capital Goods industry using digital technology.
WLM Industria e Comercio Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of WLM Industria e Comercio are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of WLM Industria e Comercio has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Misc. Capital Goods industry. This can help WLM Industria e Comercio to build a more holistic ecosystem for WLM Industria e Comercio products in the Misc. Capital Goods industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at WLM Industria e Comercio can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Misc. Capital Goods industry.
Manufacturing automation
– WLM Industria e Comercio can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects WLM Industria e Comercio can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help WLM Industria e Comercio to increase its market reach. WLM Industria e Comercio 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for WLM Industria e Comercio 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, WLM Industria e Comercio 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Misc. Capital Goods industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. WLM Industria e Comercio can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for WLM Industria e Comercio 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 WLM Industria e Comercio to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, WLM Industria e Comercio is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. WLM Industria e Comercio can utilize new technology in the field of Misc. Capital Goods industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– WLM Industria e Comercio 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 WLM Industria e Comercio 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, WLM Industria e Comercio can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that WLM Industria e Comercio operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Misc. Capital Goods sector.
Threats WLM Industria e Comercio External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of WLM Industria e Comercio are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Misc. Capital Goods industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. WLM Industria e Comercio can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– WLM Industria e Comercio has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Misc. Capital Goods industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, WLM Industria e Comercio needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Misc. Capital Goods 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.
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. WLM Industria e Comercio needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Misc. Capital Goods 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, WLM Industria e Comercio 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 WLM Industria e Comercio prominent markets.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that WLM Industria e Comercio is facing in Misc. Capital Goods sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– WLM Industria e Comercio can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the Misc. Capital Goods industry.
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. WLM Industria e Comercio 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for WLM Industria e Comercio in Misc. Capital Goods industry. The Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, WLM Industria e Comercio may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Misc. Capital Goods sector.
Increasing wage structure of WLM Industria e Comercio
– 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 WLM Industria e Comercio.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Misc. Capital Goods industry are lowering. It can presents WLM Industria e Comercio with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Misc. Capital Goods sector.
Environmental challenges
– WLM Industria e Comercio 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. WLM Industria e Comercio can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Misc. Capital Goods industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of WLM Industria e Comercio Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at WLM Industria e Comercio 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 WLM Industria e Comercio 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 WLM Industria e Comercio 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 WLM Industria e Comercio 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 WLM Industria e Comercio needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.