SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Bardella Pref (Brazil)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Bardella Pref is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Bardella Pref can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bardella Pref, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bardella Pref 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 Bardella Pref can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Bardella Pref
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bardella Pref
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Brazil
4. Making a Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Bardella Pref
Strengths of Bardella Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bardella Pref are -
Innovation driven organization
– Bardella Pref is one of the most innovative firm in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Bardella Pref has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Bardella Pref have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Bardella Pref has one of the best training and development program in Capital Goods 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.
High brand equity
– Bardella Pref has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bardella Pref to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Bardella Pref is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. The technology infrastructure of 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
– Bardella Pref is one of the leading players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bardella Pref 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 Bardella Pref comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– Bardella Pref has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bardella Pref to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bardella Pref to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Constr. & Agric. Machinery
– Bardella Pref is one of the leading players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in Brazil. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in Brazil but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Bardella Pref in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bardella Pref digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bardella Pref 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Bardella Pref in the Capital Goods sector have low bargaining power. Bardella Pref has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Bardella Pref to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of Bardella Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bardella Pref are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Bardella Pref is just above the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, Bardella Pref 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Bardella Pref, in the dynamic environment of Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Bardella Pref has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Brazil, Bardella Pref is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Bardella Pref has high operating costs in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Bardella Pref lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Bardella Pref products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Bardella Pref needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Bardella Pref needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Bardella Pref can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bardella Pref is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on Bardella Pref ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Bardella Pref still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Bardella Pref has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bardella Pref has some of the most successful models in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Bardella Pref should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Bardella Pref supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Bardella Pref is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Bardella Pref vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ less understanding of Bardella Pref strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Bardella Pref 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.
Bardella Pref Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Bardella Pref are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Bardella Pref has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Bardella Pref to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Bardella Pref to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bardella Pref 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Bardella Pref can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Loyalty marketing
– Bardella Pref 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Bardella Pref 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. Bardella Pref 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Bardella Pref 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 Bardella Pref to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bardella Pref 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Bardella Pref can develop new processes and procedures in Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bardella Pref is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Bardella Pref can utilize new technology in the field of Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bardella Pref to increase its market reach. Bardella Pref 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bardella Pref 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 Bardella Pref to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bardella Pref in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bardella Pref can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Bardella Pref External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Bardella Pref are -
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 Bardella Pref business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Bardella Pref needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Bardella Pref
– 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 Bardella Pref.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bardella Pref has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bardella Pref needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
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 Bardella Pref in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry are lowering. It can presents Bardella Pref with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Bardella Pref can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Bardella Pref needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bardella Pref 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry and other sectors.
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. Bardella Pref 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bardella Pref can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
Environmental challenges
– Bardella Pref 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. Bardella Pref can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bardella Pref 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 Bardella Pref prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bardella Pref Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Bardella Pref 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 Bardella Pref 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 Bardella Pref 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 Bardella Pref 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 Bardella Pref needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
