Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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 AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR
2. Improving business portfolio management of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR
Strengths of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR are -
High brand equity
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR is one of the most innovative firm in sector.
Highly skilled collaborators
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management in the industry
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the 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 AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR is one of the leading players in the industry in United States. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in United States. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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
- AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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 AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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.
Weaknesses of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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 industry.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR is one of the leading players in the industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ less understanding of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring in industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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.
AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR to build a more holistic ecosystem for AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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 industry.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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 AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR in the industry. Now AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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.
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 AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR can develop new processes and procedures in 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR to increase its market reach. AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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.
Threats AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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 AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR in the sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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 AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR prominent markets.
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 AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the 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.
Environmental challenges
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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. AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR is facing in 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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 AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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 AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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 AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR 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 AmTrust Financial Services Pk ADR needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.