SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for FII OLIMPIA (Brazil)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , FII OLIMPIA is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that FII OLIMPIA can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the FII OLIMPIA, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which FII OLIMPIA 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 OLIMPIA can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of FII OLIMPIA
2. Improving business portfolio management of FII OLIMPIA
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 OLIMPIA
Strengths of FII OLIMPIA | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of FII OLIMPIA are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– FII OLIMPIA is one of the leading players in the NA industry in Brazil. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Brazil. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in NA industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For FII OLIMPIA digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. FII OLIMPIA 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.
Organizational Resilience of FII OLIMPIA
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing FII OLIMPIA does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of FII OLIMPIA in the NA sector have low bargaining power. FII OLIMPIA has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps FII OLIMPIA to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in NA industry
– FII OLIMPIA has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled FII OLIMPIA to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the NA industry. The sustainable margins have also helped FII OLIMPIA to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– FII OLIMPIA is present in almost all the verticals within the NA industry. This has provided FII OLIMPIA 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.
Ability to lead change in NA
– FII OLIMPIA 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 OLIMPIA in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of FII OLIMPIA in NA industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– FII OLIMPIA is one of the most innovative firm in NA sector.
Learning organization
- FII OLIMPIA 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 FII OLIMPIA is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at FII OLIMPIA emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the NA industry
– FII OLIMPIA is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– FII OLIMPIA has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – FII OLIMPIA 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.
Weaknesses of FII OLIMPIA | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of FII OLIMPIA are -
High dependence on FII OLIMPIA ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of FII OLIMPIA still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in NA industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though FII OLIMPIA has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As FII OLIMPIA 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, FII OLIMPIA has high operating costs in the NA industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract FII OLIMPIA lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the NA industry, FII OLIMPIA 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of FII OLIMPIA is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the NA industry, but FII OLIMPIA needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help FII OLIMPIA to focus more on services in the NA industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, FII OLIMPIA 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 OLIMPIA 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, FII OLIMPIA 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of FII OLIMPIA, 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.
Need for greater diversity
– FII OLIMPIA 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
FII OLIMPIA has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the NA industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that FII OLIMPIA needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the NA industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at FII OLIMPIA can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as FII OLIMPIA is planning to shift buying processes online.
FII OLIMPIA Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of FII OLIMPIA are -
Developing new processes and practices
– FII OLIMPIA can develop new processes and procedures in NA 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.
Loyalty marketing
– FII OLIMPIA 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.
Manufacturing automation
– FII OLIMPIA can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in NA 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in NA industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for FII OLIMPIA in the NA industry. Now FII OLIMPIA can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 OLIMPIA can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for FII OLIMPIA 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.
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 OLIMPIA can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– FII OLIMPIA 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, FII OLIMPIA can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that FII OLIMPIA operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in NA sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– FII OLIMPIA 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at FII OLIMPIA 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, FII OLIMPIA 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 OLIMPIA to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for FII OLIMPIA 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 FII OLIMPIA to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats FII OLIMPIA External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of FII OLIMPIA are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in NA industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. FII OLIMPIA can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– FII OLIMPIA 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.
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. FII OLIMPIA needs to understand the core reasons impacting the NA industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– FII OLIMPIA has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the NA industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, FII OLIMPIA needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the NA 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, FII OLIMPIA 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on FII OLIMPIA 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 NA industry and other sectors.
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 FII OLIMPIA in the NA sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– FII OLIMPIA 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 OLIMPIA can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the NA industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to NA industry are lowering. It can presents FII OLIMPIA with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the NA sector.
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 OLIMPIA business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that FII OLIMPIA is facing in NA sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– FII OLIMPIA 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of FII OLIMPIA Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at FII OLIMPIA 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 OLIMPIA 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 OLIMPIA 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 OLIMPIA 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 OLIMPIA needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
