E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref (DD_pb) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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 E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref
2. Improving business portfolio management of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref
Strengths of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref are -
Ability to lead change in Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref is one of the leading players in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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 E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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.
Learning organization
- E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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 E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
High brand equity
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry. The sustainable margins have also helped E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref is one of the most innovative firm in Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber sector.
Training and development
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref has one of the best training and development program in Basic Materials 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref is one of the leading players in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref is present in almost all the verticals within the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry. This has provided E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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.
Weaknesses of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref are -
High bargaining power of channel partners in Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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 Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry, but E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref to focus more on services in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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 Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry using digital technology.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref is one of the leading players in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry in last five years.
Lack of clear differentiation of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber 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 E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ less understanding of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref is just above the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref are -
Buying journey improvements
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber 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 Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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. E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry. This can help E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref to build a more holistic ecosystem for E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref products in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber 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 Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry. Now E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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 Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry.
Developing new processes and practices
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref can develop new processes and procedures in Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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 E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber 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 E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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 Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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.
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. E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref in the Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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.
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 E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref is facing in Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref
– 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 E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref.
Regulatory challenges
– E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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 Chemicals - Plastics & Rubber industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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 E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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 E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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 E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref 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 E I du Pont de Nemours Pb Pref needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.