Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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 ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref
2. Improving business portfolio management of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Consumer Financial Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref
Strengths of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Consumer Financial Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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.
Analytics focus
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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 Consumer Financial Services 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref is one of the most innovative firm in Consumer Financial Services sector.
Organizational Resilience of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref staying ahead in the Consumer Financial Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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 ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Consumer Financial Services industry
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Consumer Financial Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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 Consumer Financial Services industry using digital technology.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref is just above the Consumer 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.
High dependence on ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Consumer Financial Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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.
Employees’ less understanding of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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, ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref to provide better information regarding Consumer Financial Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Consumer Financial Services industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Lack of clear differentiation of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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. ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref to increase its market reach. ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Consumer Financial Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Developing new processes and practices
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref can develop new processes and procedures in Consumer Financial Services 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, ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Consumer Financial Services sector.
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 ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Consumer 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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.
Buying journey improvements
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Consumer 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Consumer Financial Services industry. This can help ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref to build a more holistic ecosystem for ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref products in the Consumer Financial Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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.
Threats ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref are -
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. ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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 ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref prominent markets.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Consumer Financial Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Consumer 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.
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 ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref in Consumer Financial Services industry. The Consumer Financial Services 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Consumer Financial Services sector.
Regulatory challenges
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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 Consumer Financial Services industry regulations.
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. ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Consumer Financial Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Consumer Financial Services industry are lowering. It can presents ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Consumer Financial Services sector.
Environmental challenges
– ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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. ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Consumer Financial Services industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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 ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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 ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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 ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref 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 ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc Pb Pref needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
