Colony Capital Pref J (CLNY_pj) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Colony Capital Pref J (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Colony Capital Pref J is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Colony Capital Pref J
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Colony Capital Pref J can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Colony Capital Pref J, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Colony Capital Pref J 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 Colony Capital Pref J can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Colony Capital Pref J
2. Improving business portfolio management of Colony Capital Pref J
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Colony Capital Pref J
Strengths of Colony Capital Pref J | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Colony Capital Pref J are -
Analytics focus
– Colony Capital Pref J 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 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
– Colony Capital Pref J has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Colony Capital Pref J to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Colony Capital Pref J
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Colony Capital Pref J does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Colony Capital Pref J is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided Colony Capital Pref J 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.
Digital Transformation in industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Colony Capital Pref J digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Colony Capital Pref J 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Colony Capital Pref J has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Colony Capital Pref J 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.
Learning organization
- Colony Capital Pref J 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 Colony Capital Pref J is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Colony Capital Pref J emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in
– Colony Capital Pref J is one of the leading players in the industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Colony Capital Pref J in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Colony Capital Pref J 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Colony Capital Pref J has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Colony Capital Pref J have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Colony Capital Pref J in industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management in the industry
– Colony Capital Pref J is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses of Colony Capital Pref J | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Colony Capital Pref J are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Colony Capital Pref J is just above the 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Colony Capital Pref J strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Colony Capital Pref J 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Colony Capital Pref J 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Colony Capital Pref J needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Colony Capital Pref J is one of the leading players in the industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the 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 Colony Capital Pref J supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Colony Capital Pref J is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Colony Capital Pref J 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, Colony Capital Pref J is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Colony Capital Pref J to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Colony Capital Pref J 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 industry.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Colony Capital Pref J is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but Colony Capital Pref J needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Colony Capital Pref J to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Colony Capital Pref J has some of the most successful models in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Colony Capital Pref J should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Colony Capital Pref J has high operating costs in the industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Colony Capital Pref J lucrative customers.
Colony Capital Pref J Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Colony Capital Pref J are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Colony Capital Pref J 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Colony Capital Pref J 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Colony Capital Pref J can develop new processes and procedures in 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Colony Capital Pref J can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Colony Capital Pref J 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 industry.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Colony Capital Pref J can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Colony Capital Pref J can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in 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.
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 Colony Capital Pref J 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. Colony Capital Pref J can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Colony Capital Pref J can improve the customer journey of consumers in the 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Colony Capital Pref J 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. Colony Capital Pref J 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 Colony Capital Pref J in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Colony Capital Pref J in the industry. Now Colony Capital Pref J can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Colony Capital Pref J External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Colony Capital Pref J are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Colony Capital Pref J has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Colony Capital Pref J needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Colony Capital Pref J 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 industry and other sectors.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Colony Capital Pref J is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Colony Capital Pref J can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Colony Capital Pref J business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Colony Capital Pref J
– 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 Colony Capital Pref J.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents Colony Capital Pref J with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Colony Capital Pref J needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Colony Capital Pref J.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Colony Capital Pref J in industry. The 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Colony Capital Pref J may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of sector.
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 Colony Capital Pref J in the sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Colony Capital Pref J Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Colony Capital Pref J 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 Colony Capital Pref J 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 Colony Capital Pref J 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 Colony Capital Pref J 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 Colony Capital Pref J needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.