Astronics Corp Cl B (ATROB) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Astronics Corp Cl B (United States)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Astronics Corp Cl B is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Astronics Corp Cl B

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Astronics Corp Cl B can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Astronics Corp Cl B, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Astronics Corp Cl B 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Astronics Corp Cl B can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Astronics Corp Cl B
2. Improving business portfolio management of Astronics Corp Cl B
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Aerospace & Defense sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Astronics Corp Cl B

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Strengths of Astronics Corp Cl B | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Astronics Corp Cl B are -

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Astronics Corp Cl B has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Astronics Corp Cl B staying ahead in the Aerospace & Defense industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Astronics Corp Cl B has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Aerospace & Defense industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Astronics Corp Cl B have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Digital Transformation in Aerospace & Defense industry

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

– Astronics Corp Cl B has one of the best training and development program in Capital Goods 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 Astronics Corp Cl B in the Capital Goods sector have low bargaining power. Astronics Corp Cl B has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Astronics Corp Cl B to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Learning organization

- Astronics Corp Cl B 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 Astronics Corp Cl B is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Astronics Corp Cl B emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Astronics Corp Cl B comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Aerospace & Defense 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.

Strong track record of project management in the Aerospace & Defense industry

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

Diverse revenue streams

– Astronics Corp Cl B is present in almost all the verticals within the Aerospace & Defense industry. This has provided Astronics Corp Cl B 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Astronics Corp Cl B 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Astronics Corp Cl B is one of the most innovative firm in Aerospace & Defense sector.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Aerospace & Defense industry

– Astronics Corp Cl B has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Astronics Corp Cl B to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Aerospace & Defense industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Astronics Corp Cl B to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

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Weaknesses of Astronics Corp Cl B | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Astronics Corp Cl B are -

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Astronics Corp Cl B 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 Aerospace & Defense industry using digital technology.

Products dominated business model

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

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Astronics Corp Cl B 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.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Astronics Corp Cl B has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Aerospace & Defense industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Employees’ less understanding of Astronics Corp Cl B strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Astronics Corp Cl B 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, Astronics Corp Cl B needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Skills based hiring in Aerospace & Defense industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Astronics Corp Cl B 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Aerospace & Defense industry, Astronics Corp Cl B 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Astronics Corp Cl B, in the dynamic environment of Aerospace & Defense industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Astronics Corp Cl B has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Aligning sales with marketing

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

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 Astronics Corp Cl B supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Astronics Corp Cl B is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Astronics Corp Cl B vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

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Astronics Corp Cl B Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Astronics Corp Cl B are -

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Astronics Corp Cl B has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Aerospace & Defense sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Astronics Corp Cl B to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Astronics Corp Cl B 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. Astronics Corp Cl B 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 Astronics Corp Cl B to increase its market reach. Astronics Corp Cl B 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Astronics Corp Cl B 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Astronics Corp Cl B 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Astronics Corp Cl B can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Aerospace & Defense 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Astronics Corp Cl B can develop new processes and procedures in Aerospace & Defense 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Astronics Corp Cl B 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 Astronics Corp Cl B to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Astronics Corp Cl B has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Aerospace & Defense industry. This can help Astronics Corp Cl B to build a more holistic ecosystem for Astronics Corp Cl B products in the Aerospace & Defense industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Astronics Corp Cl B 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 Aerospace & Defense industry.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Astronics Corp Cl B 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.

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Threats Astronics Corp Cl B External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Astronics Corp Cl B 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 Astronics Corp Cl B business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Astronics Corp Cl B is facing in Aerospace & Defense sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Astronics Corp Cl B 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 Aerospace & Defense industry and other sectors.

Regulatory challenges

– Astronics Corp Cl B 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 Aerospace & Defense industry regulations.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Astronics Corp Cl B may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Aerospace & Defense sector.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Aerospace & Defense industry are lowering. It can presents Astronics Corp Cl B with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Aerospace & Defense sector.

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. Astronics Corp Cl B 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.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Aerospace & Defense industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Astronics Corp Cl B can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Astronics Corp Cl B 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 Aerospace & Defense industry.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Astronics Corp Cl B in Aerospace & Defense industry. The Aerospace & Defense 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.

Increasing wage structure of Astronics Corp Cl B

– 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 Astronics Corp Cl B.

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 Astronics Corp Cl B in the Aerospace & Defense sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Astronics Corp Cl B 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Astronics Corp Cl B Template, Example

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

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