Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed
2. Improving business portfolio management of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed
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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed
Strengths of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed are -
Learning organization
- Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
Ability to lead change in
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
Organizational Resilience of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the industry
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed in the sector have low bargaining power. Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the 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.
Weaknesses of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed, in the dynamic environment of industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact 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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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 industry using digital technology.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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. Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
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. Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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. Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed in the industry. Now Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed are -
Environmental challenges
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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. Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed in the sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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. Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed prominent markets.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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 industry.
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. Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed 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 Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Closed needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
