Australian Agricultural (AAC) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Australian Agricultural (Australia)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Australian Agricultural is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, etc

---

---

---

---

Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Australian Agricultural

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Australian Agricultural can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Australian Agricultural, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Australian Agricultural 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 Australian Agricultural can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Australian Agricultural
2. Improving business portfolio management of Australian Agricultural
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Food Processing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Australian Agricultural

---

Strengths of Australian Agricultural | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Australian Agricultural are -

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Australian Agricultural in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Australian Agricultural has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Australian Agricultural to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Australian Agricultural has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Food Processing industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Australian Agricultural have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

High brand equity

– Australian Agricultural has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Australian Agricultural to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Ability to lead change in Food Processing

– Australian Agricultural is one of the leading players in the Food Processing industry in Australia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Food Processing industry in Australia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Australian Agricultural in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Australian Agricultural has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Australian Agricultural 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Food Processing industry

– Australian Agricultural has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Australian Agricultural to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Food Processing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Australian Agricultural to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Australian Agricultural is one of the leading players in the Food Processing industry in Australia. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Australia. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Australian Agricultural 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Australian Agricultural has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Australian Agricultural staying ahead in the Food Processing industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Organizational Resilience of Australian Agricultural

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Australian Agricultural does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Strong track record of project management in the Food Processing industry

– Australian Agricultural 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

– Australian Agricultural is present in almost all the verticals within the Food Processing industry. This has provided Australian Agricultural 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.

---

---

Weaknesses of Australian Agricultural | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Australian Agricultural are -

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Australian Agricultural, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Food Processing 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.

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

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Australian Agricultural is one of the leading players in the Food Processing industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Food Processing industry in last five years.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Australian Agricultural has high operating costs in the Food Processing industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Australian Agricultural lucrative customers.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Food Processing industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Australia, Australian Agricultural 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 Food Processing industry.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Australian Agricultural is just above the Food Processing 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Australian Agricultural is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Food Processing industry, but Australian Agricultural needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Australian Agricultural to focus more on services in the Food Processing industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Skills based hiring in Food Processing industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Australian Agricultural 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Australian Agricultural products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Australian Agricultural needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Australian Agricultural is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Australian Agricultural to provide better information regarding Food Processing products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Australia, Australian Agricultural needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

---

Australian Agricultural Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Australian Agricultural are -

Buying journey improvements

– Australian Agricultural can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Food Processing 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

– Australian Agricultural can develop new processes and procedures in Food Processing 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Australian Agricultural 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.

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. Australian Agricultural can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Australian Agricultural is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Australian Agricultural can utilize new technology in the field of Food Processing industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Food Processing industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Australian Agricultural in the Food Processing industry. Now Australian Agricultural can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Food Processing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Australian Agricultural 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. Australian Agricultural 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Australian Agricultural in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Food Processing 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 Food Processing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Australian Agricultural can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Leveraging digital technologies

– Australian Agricultural 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.

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 Australian Agricultural 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.

---

Threats Australian Agricultural External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Australian Agricultural 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 Australian Agricultural business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Regulatory challenges

– Australian Agricultural 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 Food Processing industry regulations.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Australian Agricultural may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Food Processing sector.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Australian Agricultural has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Food Processing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Australian Agricultural needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Food Processing 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 dependence on third party suppliers

– Australian Agricultural 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.

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.

Increasing wage structure of Australian Agricultural

– 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 Australian Agricultural.

Easy access to finance

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

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 Australian Agricultural.

Environmental challenges

– Australian Agricultural 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. Australian Agricultural can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Food Processing industry.

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. Australian Agricultural needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Food Processing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Australian Agricultural 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 Food Processing industry.

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.

---

Weighted SWOT Analysis of Australian Agricultural Template, Example

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

--- ---