SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Credit Acceptance (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Credit Acceptance is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Credit Acceptance
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Credit Acceptance can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Credit Acceptance, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Credit Acceptance 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 Credit Acceptance can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Credit Acceptance
2. Improving business portfolio management of Credit Acceptance
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Consumer Financial Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Credit Acceptance
Strengths of Credit Acceptance | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Credit Acceptance are -
High brand equity
– Credit Acceptance has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Credit Acceptance to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Credit Acceptance in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. Credit Acceptance has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Credit Acceptance to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Consumer Financial Services
– Credit Acceptance is one of the leading players in the Consumer Financial Services industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Consumer Financial Services industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Credit Acceptance in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Credit Acceptance is present in almost all the verticals within the Consumer Financial Services industry. This has provided Credit Acceptance 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Consumer Financial Services industry
– Credit Acceptance is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Credit Acceptance 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 Consumer Financial Services 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.
Organizational Resilience of Credit Acceptance
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Credit Acceptance does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Credit Acceptance 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 Credit Acceptance is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Credit Acceptance emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Credit Acceptance is one of the leading players in the Consumer Financial Services 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.
Digital Transformation in Consumer Financial Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Credit Acceptance digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Credit Acceptance 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Credit Acceptance is one of the most innovative firm in Consumer Financial Services sector.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Consumer Financial Services industry
– Credit Acceptance has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Credit Acceptance to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Consumer Financial Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Credit Acceptance to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses of Credit Acceptance | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Credit Acceptance are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Credit Acceptance is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Credit Acceptance to provide better information regarding Consumer Financial Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Credit Acceptance products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Credit Acceptance needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring in Consumer Financial Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Credit Acceptance 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Credit Acceptance is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Consumer Financial Services industry, but Credit Acceptance needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Credit Acceptance to focus more on services in the Consumer Financial Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Credit Acceptance 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Credit Acceptance has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Consumer Financial Services industry over the last five years. Credit Acceptance 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 Credit Acceptance, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Consumer Financial Services 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 Credit Acceptance ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Credit Acceptance still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Consumer Financial Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Credit Acceptance has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Credit Acceptance needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Consumer Financial Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Credit Acceptance 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 Consumer Financial Services industry.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Credit Acceptance has some of the most successful models in the Consumer Financial Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Credit Acceptance should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Credit Acceptance Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Credit Acceptance are -
Buying journey improvements
– Credit Acceptance can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Consumer Financial Services 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Credit Acceptance can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Credit Acceptance in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Consumer Financial Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Consumer Financial Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Credit Acceptance in the Consumer Financial Services industry. Now Credit Acceptance can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Credit Acceptance 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 Consumer Financial Services industry.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Credit Acceptance 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. Credit Acceptance can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Credit Acceptance can develop new processes and procedures in Consumer Financial Services 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Credit Acceptance 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 Credit Acceptance to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Credit Acceptance 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Credit Acceptance to increase its market reach. Credit Acceptance 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.
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 Credit Acceptance 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Credit Acceptance has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Consumer Financial Services industry. This can help Credit Acceptance to build a more holistic ecosystem for Credit Acceptance products in the Consumer Financial Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Credit Acceptance External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Credit Acceptance are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Credit Acceptance 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 Credit Acceptance prominent markets.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Credit Acceptance in Consumer Financial Services industry. The Consumer Financial Services 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Credit Acceptance 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 Consumer Financial Services 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Credit Acceptance has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Consumer Financial Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Credit Acceptance needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Consumer Financial Services 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Credit Acceptance is facing in Consumer Financial Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Credit Acceptance may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Consumer Financial Services 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 Credit Acceptance business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Credit Acceptance 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Consumer Financial Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Credit Acceptance 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 Credit Acceptance.
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. Credit Acceptance 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
– Credit Acceptance 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. Credit Acceptance can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Consumer Financial Services industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Credit Acceptance Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Credit Acceptance 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 Credit Acceptance 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 Credit Acceptance 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 Credit Acceptance 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 Credit Acceptance needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.