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The Andersons (ANDE) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for The Andersons (United States)


Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , The Andersons is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Andersons


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that The Andersons can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the The Andersons, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which The Andersons 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 The Andersons can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of The Andersons
2. Improving business portfolio management of The Andersons
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Crops sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of The Andersons




Strengths of The Andersons | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of The Andersons are -

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the The Andersons 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.

High brand equity

– The Andersons has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled The Andersons to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Strong track record of project management in the Crops industry

– The Andersons is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Organizational Resilience of The Andersons

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing The Andersons does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Ability to lead change in Crops

– The Andersons is one of the leading players in the Crops industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Crops industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled The Andersons in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Highly skilled collaborators

– The Andersons 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 The Andersons have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Digital Transformation in Crops industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For The Andersons digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. The Andersons 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.

Training and development

– The Andersons has one of the best training and development program in Consumer/Non-Cyclical 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of The Andersons in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. The Andersons has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps The Andersons to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Analytics focus

– The Andersons 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 United States 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– The Andersons has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. The Andersons 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– The Andersons is present in almost all the verticals within the Crops industry. This has provided The Andersons 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.






Weaknesses of The Andersons | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of The Andersons are -

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that The Andersons needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Crops industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at The Andersons can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as The Andersons is planning to shift buying processes online.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Crops industry, The Andersons 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though The Andersons has some of the most successful models in the Crops industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. The Andersons should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, The Andersons is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help The Andersons to provide better information regarding Crops products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Need for greater diversity

– The Andersons 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, The Andersons 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. The Andersons 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As The Andersons 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 The Andersons is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Crops industry, but The Andersons needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help The Andersons to focus more on services in the Crops industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Employees’ less understanding of The Andersons strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of The Andersons 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, The Andersons 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, The Andersons 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.




The Andersons Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The opportunities of The Andersons are -

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, The Andersons 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.

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 The Andersons in the Crops industry. Now The Andersons can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

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. The Andersons can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– The Andersons has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Crops sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled The Andersons to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help The Andersons to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects The Andersons can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Manufacturing automation

– The Andersons can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Crops 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– The Andersons 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for The Andersons 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.

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 The Andersons 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at The Andersons 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 Crops industry.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for The Andersons 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 The Andersons to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

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. The Andersons can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, The Andersons 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 The Andersons 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 The Andersons External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats of The Andersons are -

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Crops industry are lowering. It can presents The Andersons with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Crops sector.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that The Andersons is facing in Crops sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Increasing wage structure of The Andersons

– 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 The Andersons.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for The Andersons 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.

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 The Andersons business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– The Andersons 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.

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. The Andersons 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.

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 The Andersons.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, The Andersons may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Crops sector.

Environmental challenges

– The Andersons 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. The Andersons can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Crops industry.

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. The Andersons can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Consumer confidence and its impact on The Andersons 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.

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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Andersons Template, Example


Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at The Andersons 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 The Andersons 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 The Andersons 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 The Andersons 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 The Andersons needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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