Pomifrutas (FRTA3) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Crops
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Pomifrutas (Brazil)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Pomifrutas is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Pomifrutas can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pomifrutas, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pomifrutas 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 Pomifrutas can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Pomifrutas
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pomifrutas
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Brazil
4. Making a Crops sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Pomifrutas
Strengths of Pomifrutas | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pomifrutas are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Pomifrutas has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Crops industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Pomifrutas have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Pomifrutas has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Pomifrutas to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Crops industry
– Pomifrutas has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Pomifrutas to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Crops industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Pomifrutas to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Pomifrutas 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Crops industry
– Pomifrutas is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Pomifrutas is present in almost all the verticals within the Crops industry. This has provided Pomifrutas 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Pomifrutas in Crops industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Pomifrutas 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 Crops 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Pomifrutas in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Pomifrutas has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pomifrutas to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Pomifrutas is one of the most innovative firm in Crops sector.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Pomifrutas has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Pomifrutas 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.
Organizational Resilience of Pomifrutas
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Pomifrutas does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses of Pomifrutas | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Pomifrutas are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Pomifrutas 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 Crops industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Pomifrutas is one of the leading players in the Crops industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Crops industry in last five years.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Pomifrutas is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Crops industry, but Pomifrutas needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Pomifrutas to focus more on services in the Crops industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Pomifrutas has high operating costs in the Crops industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Pomifrutas lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Pomifrutas 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Pomifrutas, in the dynamic environment of Crops industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Pomifrutas 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, Pomifrutas is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Pomifrutas to provide better information regarding Crops products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on Pomifrutas ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Pomifrutas still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Crops industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Pomifrutas has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Crops industry, Pomifrutas 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.
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 Pomifrutas supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Pomifrutas is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Pomifrutas vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Pomifrutas has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Crops industry over the last five years. Pomifrutas 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.
Pomifrutas Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Pomifrutas are -
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Pomifrutas can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Crops industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Pomifrutas can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Crops industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Pomifrutas 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. Pomifrutas 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 Pomifrutas 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 Pomifrutas to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pomifrutas to increase its market reach. Pomifrutas 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Crops industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Pomifrutas in the Crops industry. Now Pomifrutas 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 Pomifrutas can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Pomifrutas 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 Pomifrutas in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Crops industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pomifrutas is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Pomifrutas can utilize new technology in the field of Crops industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Pomifrutas can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Crops 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Pomifrutas can develop new processes and procedures in Crops 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Pomifrutas 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 Pomifrutas to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Pomifrutas External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Pomifrutas are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Pomifrutas 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 Pomifrutas prominent markets.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Pomifrutas has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Crops industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pomifrutas needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Crops 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 Pomifrutas in the Crops sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Pomifrutas high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Environmental challenges
– Pomifrutas 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. Pomifrutas can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Crops industry.
Increasing wage structure of Pomifrutas
– 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 Pomifrutas.
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 Pomifrutas business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Pomifrutas in Crops industry. The Crops 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Pomifrutas 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 Crops industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Crops industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Pomifrutas can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Crops industry are lowering. It can presents Pomifrutas with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Crops sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Pomifrutas 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 Crops industry and other sectors.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Pomifrutas 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 Crops industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Pomifrutas Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Pomifrutas 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 Pomifrutas 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 Pomifrutas 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 Pomifrutas 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 Pomifrutas needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.