Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi (AKBTY) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi
2. Improving business portfolio management of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi
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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi
Strengths of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi are -
Innovation driven organization
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi is one of the most innovative firm in sector.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Organizational Resilience of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Training and development
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi has one of the best training and development program in 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Weaknesses of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 industry using digital technology.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the industry, Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi to provide better information regarding 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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi are -
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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in 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 industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi in the industry. Now Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi can improve the customer journey of consumers in the 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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. Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi are -
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. Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi in the sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 industry and other sectors.
Increasing wage structure of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi
– 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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi prominent markets.
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. Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 industry regulations.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi in industry. The 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi 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 Akbank Turk Anonim Sirketi needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.