Customers Bancorp Pref E (CUBI_pe) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Customers Bancorp Pref E (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Customers Bancorp Pref E is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Customers Bancorp Pref E
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Customers Bancorp Pref E can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Customers Bancorp Pref E, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Customers Bancorp Pref E 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 Customers Bancorp Pref E can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Customers Bancorp Pref E
2. Improving business portfolio management of Customers Bancorp Pref E
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 Customers Bancorp Pref E
Strengths of Customers Bancorp Pref E | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Customers Bancorp Pref E are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Customers Bancorp Pref E has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
Training and development
– Customers Bancorp Pref E has one of the best training and development program in 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Customers Bancorp Pref E in industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Customers Bancorp Pref E is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
Analytics focus
– Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– Customers Bancorp Pref E has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Customers Bancorp Pref E to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Customers Bancorp Pref E to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Customers Bancorp Pref E
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Customers Bancorp Pref E does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Customers Bancorp Pref E 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 Customers Bancorp Pref E is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Customers Bancorp Pref E emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Customers Bancorp Pref E has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Customers Bancorp Pref E staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management in the industry
– Customers Bancorp Pref E is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Customers Bancorp Pref E is one of the most innovative firm in sector.
Ability to lead change in
– Customers Bancorp Pref E 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 Customers Bancorp Pref E in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses of Customers Bancorp Pref E | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Customers Bancorp Pref E are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
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 Customers Bancorp Pref E supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Customers Bancorp Pref E is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Customers Bancorp Pref E 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, Customers Bancorp Pref E is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Customers Bancorp Pref E to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Customers Bancorp Pref E, 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Customers Bancorp Pref E products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Customers Bancorp Pref E needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the industry, Customers Bancorp Pref E needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Customers Bancorp Pref E is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but Customers Bancorp Pref E needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Customers Bancorp Pref E to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Customers Bancorp Pref E needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Customers Bancorp Pref E can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Customers Bancorp Pref E is planning to shift buying processes online.
Customers Bancorp Pref E Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Customers Bancorp Pref E are -
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 Customers Bancorp Pref E in the industry. Now Customers Bancorp Pref E can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Customers Bancorp Pref E 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 Customers Bancorp Pref E to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Customers Bancorp Pref E to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Customers Bancorp Pref E can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Customers Bancorp Pref E is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Customers Bancorp Pref E can utilize new technology in the field of industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, 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, Customers Bancorp Pref E can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Customers Bancorp Pref E operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in sector.
Buying journey improvements
– Customers Bancorp Pref E 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
– Customers Bancorp Pref E 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. Customers Bancorp Pref E 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. Customers Bancorp Pref E 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 Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Customers Bancorp Pref E 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 Customers Bancorp Pref E to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Customers Bancorp Pref E has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Customers Bancorp Pref E to build a more holistic ecosystem for Customers Bancorp Pref E products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
Threats Customers Bancorp Pref E External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Customers Bancorp Pref E are -
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.
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 Customers Bancorp Pref E.
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. Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
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. Customers Bancorp Pref E needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Customers Bancorp Pref E is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Customers Bancorp Pref E 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. Customers Bancorp Pref E can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
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.
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 Customers Bancorp Pref E business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
Increasing wage structure of Customers Bancorp Pref E
– 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 Customers Bancorp Pref E.
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. Customers Bancorp Pref E 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 Customers Bancorp Pref E 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Customers Bancorp Pref E Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Customers Bancorp Pref E 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 Customers Bancorp Pref E 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 Customers Bancorp Pref E 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 Customers Bancorp Pref E 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 Customers Bancorp Pref E needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
