Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , BRP Inc is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that BRP Inc can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the BRP Inc, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which BRP Inc 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 BRP Inc can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of BRP Inc
2. Improving business portfolio management of BRP Inc
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Canada
4. Making a Conglomerates sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of BRP Inc
Strengths of BRP Inc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of BRP Inc are -
Ability to lead change in Conglomerates
– BRP Inc is one of the leading players in the Conglomerates industry in Canada. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Conglomerates industry in Canada but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled BRP Inc in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– BRP Inc has one of the best training and development program in Conglomerates industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– BRP Inc is one of the most innovative firm in Conglomerates sector.
Analytics focus
– BRP Inc 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 Conglomerates industry. The technology infrastructure of Canada 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– BRP Inc is present in almost all the verticals within the Conglomerates industry. This has provided BRP Inc 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– BRP Inc has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Conglomerates industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of BRP Inc have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– BRP Inc has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. BRP Inc 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.
Digital Transformation in Conglomerates industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For BRP Inc digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. BRP Inc 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.
Learning organization
- BRP Inc 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 BRP Inc is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at BRP Inc emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of BRP Inc in Conglomerates industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of BRP Inc comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Conglomerates 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.
Organizational Resilience of BRP Inc
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing BRP Inc does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses of BRP Inc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of BRP Inc are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
BRP Inc has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Conglomerates industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Skills based hiring in Conglomerates industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at BRP Inc 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though BRP Inc has some of the most successful models in the Conglomerates industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. BRP Inc should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of BRP Inc is just above the Conglomerates 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of BRP Inc, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Conglomerates industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Need for greater diversity
– BRP Inc 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As BRP Inc is one of the leading players in the Conglomerates industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Conglomerates industry in last five years.
High dependence on BRP Inc ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of BRP Inc still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Conglomerates industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though BRP Inc has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, BRP Inc is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help BRP Inc to provide better information regarding Conglomerates products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of BRP Inc is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Conglomerates industry, but BRP Inc needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help BRP Inc to focus more on services in the Conglomerates industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Canada, BRP Inc needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
BRP Inc Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of BRP Inc are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Conglomerates industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. BRP Inc can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– BRP Inc can develop new processes and procedures in Conglomerates 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects BRP Inc can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help BRP Inc to increase its market reach. BRP Inc 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at BRP Inc 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 Conglomerates industry.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, BRP Inc 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 BRP Inc to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– BRP Inc 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, BRP Inc can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that BRP Inc operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Conglomerates sector.
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. BRP Inc 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 BRP Inc has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Conglomerates industry. This can help BRP Inc to build a more holistic ecosystem for BRP Inc products in the Conglomerates industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Conglomerates industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for BRP Inc in the Conglomerates industry. Now BRP Inc can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for BRP Inc in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Conglomerates industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Buying journey improvements
– BRP Inc can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Conglomerates 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.
Threats BRP Inc External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of BRP Inc are -
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. BRP Inc 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, BRP Inc 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 BRP Inc prominent markets.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– BRP Inc 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.
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 BRP Inc business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of BRP Inc
– 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 BRP Inc.
Regulatory challenges
– BRP Inc 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 Conglomerates industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Conglomerates industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. BRP Inc can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on BRP Inc 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 Conglomerates industry and other sectors.
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. BRP Inc needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Conglomerates industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– BRP Inc has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Conglomerates industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, BRP Inc needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Conglomerates 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Conglomerates industry are lowering. It can presents BRP Inc with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Conglomerates sector.
Environmental challenges
– BRP Inc 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. BRP Inc can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Conglomerates industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of BRP Inc Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at BRP Inc 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 BRP Inc 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 BRP Inc 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 BRP Inc 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 BRP Inc needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.