Mr Blue (207760) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Mr Blue (South Korea)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Mr Blue is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mr Blue

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

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Strengths of Mr Blue | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Mr Blue are -

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Mr Blue in Computer Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Mr Blue 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Mr Blue comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Computer Services industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.

Organizational Resilience of Mr Blue

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

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

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

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Mr Blue 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 recruit top talent

– Mr Blue is one of the leading players in the Computer Services industry in South Korea. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in South Korea. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Digital Transformation in Computer Services industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Mr Blue digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mr Blue 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 Computer Services industry

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

Learning organization

- Mr Blue 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 Mr Blue is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Mr Blue emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Mr Blue has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Computer Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Mr Blue have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Computer Services industry

– Mr Blue has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mr Blue to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Computer Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mr Blue to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

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Weaknesses of Mr Blue | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Mr Blue are -

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Mr Blue has high operating costs in the Computer Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Mr Blue lucrative customers.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Mr Blue is one of the leading players in the Computer Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Computer Services industry in last five years.

Skills based hiring in Computer Services industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Mr Blue 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

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

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of South Korea, Mr Blue needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Lack of clear differentiation of Mr Blue products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mr Blue needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High dependence on Mr Blue ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Mr Blue still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Computer Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Mr Blue has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Mr Blue has some of the most successful models in the Computer Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Mr Blue should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Employees’ less understanding of Mr Blue strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Mr Blue 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Mr Blue, in the dynamic environment of Computer Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mr Blue has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

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Mr Blue Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Mr Blue are -

Using analytics as competitive advantage

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

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 Mr Blue 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mr Blue in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Computer Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mr Blue can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mr Blue operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Computer Services sector.

Loyalty marketing

– Mr Blue 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Mr Blue can develop new processes and procedures in Computer Services industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.

Manufacturing automation

– Mr Blue can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Computer Services sector. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Computer Services industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Mr Blue in the Computer Services industry. Now Mr Blue can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mr Blue 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 Mr Blue to increase its market reach. Mr Blue 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Mr Blue is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Mr Blue can utilize new technology in the field of Computer Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Mr Blue 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 Mr Blue to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Buying journey improvements

– Mr Blue can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Computer Services industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.

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Threats Mr Blue External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Mr Blue are -

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Mr Blue may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Computer Services sector.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Mr Blue is facing in Computer Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Increasing wage structure of Mr Blue

– 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 Mr Blue.

Aging population

– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Mr Blue 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.

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 Mr Blue business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Computer Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Mr Blue 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

– Mr Blue has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Computer Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mr Blue needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Computer Services sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Mr Blue 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 Computer Services industry.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mr Blue in Computer Services industry. The Computer Services industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.

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. Mr Blue 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Computer Services industry are lowering. It can presents Mr Blue with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Computer Services sector.

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 Mr Blue in the Computer Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mr Blue Template, Example

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

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