SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for FII RIOB RC (Brazil)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , FII RIOB RC is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that FII RIOB RC can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the FII RIOB RC, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which FII RIOB RC 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 FII RIOB RC can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of FII RIOB RC
2. Improving business portfolio management of FII RIOB RC
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Brazil
4. Making a NA sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of FII RIOB RC
Strengths of FII RIOB RC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of FII RIOB RC are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of FII RIOB RC in the NA sector have low bargaining power. FII RIOB RC has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps FII RIOB RC to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the FII RIOB RC 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.
Ability to lead change in NA
– FII RIOB RC is one of the leading players in the NA industry in Brazil. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the NA industry in Brazil but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled FII RIOB RC in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– FII RIOB RC has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled FII RIOB RC to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– FII RIOB RC has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – FII RIOB RC staying ahead in the NA industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– FII RIOB RC is one of the most innovative firm in NA sector.
Digital Transformation in NA industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For FII RIOB RC digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. FII RIOB RC 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of FII RIOB RC comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the NA 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in NA industry
– FII RIOB RC has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled FII RIOB RC to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the NA industry. The sustainable margins have also helped FII RIOB RC to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that FII RIOB RC has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Organizational Resilience of FII RIOB RC
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing FII RIOB RC does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– FII RIOB RC has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive NA industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of FII RIOB RC have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of FII RIOB RC | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of FII RIOB RC are -
Skills based hiring in NA industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at FII RIOB RC 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, FII RIOB RC 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 NA industry using digital technology.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, FII RIOB RC has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the NA industry over the last five years. FII RIOB RC 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of FII RIOB RC, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact NA 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of FII RIOB RC is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the NA industry, but FII RIOB RC needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help FII RIOB RC to focus more on services in the NA industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners in NA industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Brazil, FII RIOB RC 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 NA industry.
Lack of clear differentiation of FII RIOB RC products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, FII RIOB RC needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As FII RIOB RC is one of the leading players in the NA industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the NA industry in last five years.
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 FII RIOB RC supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, FII RIOB RC is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left FII RIOB RC vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, FII RIOB RC is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help FII RIOB RC to provide better information regarding NA products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Employees’ less understanding of FII RIOB RC strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of FII RIOB RC 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.
FII RIOB RC Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of FII RIOB RC are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– FII RIOB RC has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in NA sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled FII RIOB RC to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help FII RIOB RC to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the NA industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. FII RIOB RC 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. FII RIOB RC 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects FII RIOB RC can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– FII RIOB RC can improve the customer journey of consumers in the NA 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for FII RIOB RC in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the NA 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 FII RIOB RC 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.
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. FII RIOB RC can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– FII RIOB RC 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at FII RIOB RC 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 NA industry.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help FII RIOB RC to increase its market reach. FII RIOB RC 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, FII RIOB RC 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 FII RIOB RC to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in NA industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. FII RIOB RC can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, FII RIOB RC 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.
Threats FII RIOB RC External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of FII RIOB RC are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, FII RIOB RC may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of NA sector.
Environmental challenges
– FII RIOB RC 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. FII RIOB RC can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the NA industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that FII RIOB RC is facing in NA sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for FII RIOB RC in NA industry. The NA 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, FII RIOB RC 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 FII RIOB RC prominent markets.
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 FII RIOB RC business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to NA industry are lowering. It can presents FII RIOB RC with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the NA sector.
Regulatory challenges
– FII RIOB RC 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 NA industry regulations.
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. FII RIOB RC 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– FII RIOB RC 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 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
– FII RIOB RC 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 NA industry.
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 FII RIOB RC.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of FII RIOB RC Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at FII RIOB RC 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 FII RIOB RC 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 FII RIOB RC 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 FII RIOB RC 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 FII RIOB RC needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.