SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Ballantyne Strong (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Ballantyne Strong is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ballantyne Strong
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Ballantyne Strong can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ballantyne Strong, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ballantyne Strong 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 Ballantyne Strong can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Ballantyne Strong
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ballantyne Strong
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Photography sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Ballantyne Strong
Strengths of Ballantyne Strong | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ballantyne Strong are -
Analytics focus
– Ballantyne Strong 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 Photography 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.
High brand equity
– Ballantyne Strong has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ballantyne Strong to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ballantyne Strong in Photography industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Ballantyne Strong 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 Ballantyne Strong is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Ballantyne Strong emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Photography
– Ballantyne Strong is one of the leading players in the Photography industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Photography industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Ballantyne Strong 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
– Ballantyne Strong has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ballantyne Strong 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ballantyne Strong has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Photography industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Ballantyne Strong have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ballantyne Strong is one of the leading players in the Photography 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Ballantyne Strong comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Photography 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ballantyne Strong in the Consumer Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Ballantyne Strong has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ballantyne Strong to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ballantyne Strong 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ballantyne Strong is present in almost all the verticals within the Photography industry. This has provided Ballantyne Strong 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 Ballantyne Strong | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ballantyne Strong are -
Need for greater diversity
– Ballantyne Strong 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Ballantyne Strong needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Photography industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Ballantyne Strong can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ballantyne Strong is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Ballantyne Strong is just above the Photography 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ballantyne Strong is one of the leading players in the Photography industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Photography industry in last five years.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ballantyne Strong 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 Photography industry using digital technology.
Skills based hiring in Photography industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ballantyne Strong 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ballantyne Strong has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Photography industry over the last five years. Ballantyne Strong 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Photography industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Ballantyne Strong 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 Photography industry.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ballantyne Strong 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
Ballantyne Strong has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Photography industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ballantyne Strong products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ballantyne Strong needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ballantyne Strong Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Ballantyne Strong are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Photography industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Ballantyne Strong in the Photography industry. Now Ballantyne Strong can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ballantyne Strong can develop new processes and procedures in Photography 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 Ballantyne Strong 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ballantyne Strong 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 Ballantyne Strong to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Photography industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Ballantyne Strong 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. Ballantyne Strong 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Photography industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Ballantyne Strong can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Ballantyne Strong can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ballantyne Strong has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Photography industry. This can help Ballantyne Strong to build a more holistic ecosystem for Ballantyne Strong products in the Photography industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ballantyne Strong is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ballantyne Strong can utilize new technology in the field of Photography industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, 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 Ballantyne Strong 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Ballantyne Strong 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ballantyne Strong in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Photography 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, Ballantyne Strong can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ballantyne Strong operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Photography sector.
Threats Ballantyne Strong External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Ballantyne Strong 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 Ballantyne Strong business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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. Ballantyne Strong needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Photography industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ballantyne Strong 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 Photography industry and other sectors.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Ballantyne Strong 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 Photography industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ballantyne Strong in Photography industry. The Photography 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.
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. Ballantyne Strong 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.
Environmental challenges
– Ballantyne Strong 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. Ballantyne Strong can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Photography industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ballantyne Strong 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 Photography industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Ballantyne Strong may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Photography sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ballantyne Strong 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 Ballantyne Strong prominent markets.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ballantyne Strong has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Photography industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ballantyne Strong needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Photography 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ballantyne Strong Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Ballantyne Strong 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 Ballantyne Strong 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 Ballantyne Strong 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 Ballantyne Strong 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 Ballantyne Strong needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.