AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E (AXS_pe) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing,
increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E
2. Improving business portfolio management of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E
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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E
Strengths of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E in industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in
– AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E is one of the leading players in the industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E in the sector have low bargaining power. AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Analytics focus
– AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 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.
Weaknesses of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E are -
High dependence on AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E, in the dynamic environment of industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Need for greater diversity
– AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the industry, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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. AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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. AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E to increase its market reach. AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E to build a more holistic ecosystem for AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Loyalty marketing
– AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E in the industry. Now AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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
– AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E prominent markets.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of sector.
Increasing wage structure of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E
– 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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
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. AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E 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 AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd Pref E needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.