KB 11 Special Purpose (258790) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Misc. Financial Services
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for KB 11 Special Purpose (South Korea)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , KB 11 Special Purpose is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of KB 11 Special Purpose
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that KB 11 Special Purpose can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the KB 11 Special Purpose, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which KB 11 Special Purpose 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 KB 11 Special Purpose can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of KB 11 Special Purpose
2. Improving business portfolio management of KB 11 Special Purpose
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in South Korea
4. Making a Misc. Financial Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of KB 11 Special Purpose
Strengths of KB 11 Special Purpose | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of KB 11 Special Purpose are -
Organizational Resilience of KB 11 Special Purpose
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing KB 11 Special Purpose does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– KB 11 Special Purpose has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled KB 11 Special Purpose to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Misc. Financial Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For KB 11 Special Purpose digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. KB 11 Special Purpose 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– KB 11 Special Purpose is present in almost all the verticals within the Misc. Financial Services industry. This has provided KB 11 Special Purpose 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.
Innovation driven organization
– KB 11 Special Purpose is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Financial Services sector.
Ability to lead change in Misc. Financial Services
– KB 11 Special Purpose is one of the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services industry in South Korea. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Financial Services industry in South Korea but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled KB 11 Special Purpose in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management in the Misc. Financial Services industry
– KB 11 Special Purpose is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– KB 11 Special Purpose has one of the best training and development program in Financial 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of KB 11 Special Purpose comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Misc. Financial 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of KB 11 Special Purpose in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. KB 11 Special Purpose has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps KB 11 Special Purpose to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Misc. Financial Services industry
– KB 11 Special Purpose has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled KB 11 Special Purpose to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Misc. Financial Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped KB 11 Special Purpose to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the KB 11 Special Purpose 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.
Weaknesses of KB 11 Special Purpose | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of KB 11 Special Purpose are -
Employees’ less understanding of KB 11 Special Purpose strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of KB 11 Special Purpose 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, KB 11 Special Purpose is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help KB 11 Special Purpose to provide better information regarding Misc. Financial Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, KB 11 Special Purpose has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of KB 11 Special Purpose is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Misc. Financial Services industry, but KB 11 Special Purpose needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help KB 11 Special Purpose to focus more on services in the Misc. Financial Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of KB 11 Special Purpose is just above the Misc. Financial Services 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of KB 11 Special Purpose products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, KB 11 Special Purpose needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on KB 11 Special Purpose ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of KB 11 Special Purpose still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Misc. Financial Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though KB 11 Special Purpose has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at KB 11 Special Purpose, in the dynamic environment of Misc. Financial Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. KB 11 Special Purpose has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that KB 11 Special Purpose needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Misc. Financial Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at KB 11 Special Purpose can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as KB 11 Special Purpose is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– KB 11 Special Purpose 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. Financial Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in South Korea, KB 11 Special Purpose 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. Financial Services industry.
KB 11 Special Purpose Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of KB 11 Special Purpose 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. KB 11 Special Purpose can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for KB 11 Special Purpose in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Misc. Financial Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for KB 11 Special Purpose 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 KB 11 Special Purpose to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help KB 11 Special Purpose to increase its market reach. KB 11 Special Purpose 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Misc. Financial Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. KB 11 Special Purpose can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– KB 11 Special Purpose can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Misc. Financial 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.
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 KB 11 Special Purpose 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– KB 11 Special Purpose 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, KB 11 Special Purpose 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– KB 11 Special Purpose has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Misc. Financial Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled KB 11 Special Purpose to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help KB 11 Special Purpose to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– KB 11 Special Purpose can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Misc. Financial 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for KB 11 Special Purpose 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of KB 11 Special Purpose has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Misc. Financial Services industry. This can help KB 11 Special Purpose to build a more holistic ecosystem for KB 11 Special Purpose products in the Misc. Financial Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats KB 11 Special Purpose External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of KB 11 Special Purpose are -
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 KB 11 Special Purpose in the Misc. Financial Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of KB 11 Special Purpose
– 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 KB 11 Special Purpose.
Regulatory challenges
– KB 11 Special Purpose 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 Misc. Financial Services industry regulations.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of KB 11 Special Purpose.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– KB 11 Special Purpose has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Misc. Financial Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, KB 11 Special Purpose needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Misc. Financial 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, KB 11 Special Purpose 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 KB 11 Special Purpose prominent markets.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, KB 11 Special Purpose 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. Financial Services sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that KB 11 Special Purpose is facing in Misc. Financial Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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 KB 11 Special Purpose business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– KB 11 Special Purpose 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Misc. Financial Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. KB 11 Special Purpose can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of KB 11 Special Purpose Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at KB 11 Special Purpose 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 KB 11 Special Purpose 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 KB 11 Special Purpose 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 KB 11 Special Purpose 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 KB 11 Special Purpose needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.