Fairfax India Holdings Corp (FIHu) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Misc. Financial Services
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Fairfax India Holdings Corp (Canada)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Fairfax India Holdings Corp is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices,
geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Fairfax India Holdings Corp
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Fairfax India Holdings Corp can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fairfax India Holdings Corp, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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 Fairfax India Holdings Corp can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Fairfax India Holdings Corp
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fairfax India Holdings Corp
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Canada
4. Making a Misc. Financial Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Fairfax India Holdings Corp
Strengths of Fairfax India Holdings Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Fairfax India Holdings Corp are -
Ability to lead change in Misc. Financial Services
– Fairfax India Holdings Corp is one of the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services industry in Canada. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Financial Services industry in Canada but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Fairfax India Holdings Corp in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Fairfax India Holdings Corp comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Misc. Financial Services 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.
High brand equity
– Fairfax India Holdings Corp has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Fairfax India Holdings Corp to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Fairfax India Holdings Corp in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. Fairfax India Holdings Corp has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Fairfax India Holdings Corp to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Fairfax India Holdings Corp has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Fairfax India Holdings Corp staying ahead in the Misc. Financial Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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 Misc. Financial Services 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Fairfax India Holdings Corp is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Financial Services sector.
Learning organization
- Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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 Fairfax India Holdings Corp is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Fairfax India Holdings Corp emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Fairfax India Holdings Corp is one of the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services industry in Canada. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Canada. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Misc. Financial Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Fairfax India Holdings Corp digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Misc. Financial Services industry
– Fairfax India Holdings Corp is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Fairfax India Holdings Corp
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Fairfax India Holdings Corp does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses of Fairfax India Holdings Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Fairfax India Holdings Corp are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Fairfax India Holdings Corp needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Misc. Financial Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Fairfax India Holdings Corp can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Fairfax India Holdings Corp is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Fairfax India Holdings Corp is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Misc. Financial Services industry, but Fairfax India Holdings Corp needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Fairfax India Holdings Corp to focus more on services in the Misc. Financial Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Fairfax India Holdings Corp products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Fairfax India Holdings Corp needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ less understanding of Fairfax India Holdings Corp strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Fairfax India Holdings Corp is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Fairfax India Holdings Corp to provide better information regarding Misc. Financial Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Fairfax India Holdings Corp, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Misc. Financial Services 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.
Skills based hiring in Misc. Financial Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Misc. Financial Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Canada, Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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 Misc. Financial Services industry.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Fairfax India Holdings Corp has high operating costs in the Misc. Financial Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Fairfax India Holdings Corp lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Misc. Financial Services industry, Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Fairfax India Holdings Corp is just above the Misc. Financial Services 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.
Fairfax India Holdings Corp Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Fairfax India Holdings Corp are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Fairfax India Holdings Corp can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Fairfax India Holdings Corp operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Misc. Financial Services sector.
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 Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Fairfax India Holdings Corp in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Misc. Financial Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Fairfax India Holdings Corp is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Fairfax India Holdings Corp can utilize new technology in the field of Misc. Financial Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Fairfax India Holdings Corp to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Fairfax India Holdings Corp can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Fairfax India Holdings Corp can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Misc. Financial Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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. Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Fairfax India Holdings Corp can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Misc. Financial Services 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 Fairfax India Holdings Corp has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Misc. Financial Services industry. This can help Fairfax India Holdings Corp to build a more holistic ecosystem for Fairfax India Holdings Corp products in the Misc. Financial Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Fairfax India Holdings Corp can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Misc. Financial Services 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Misc. Financial Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Fairfax India Holdings Corp in the Misc. Financial Services industry. Now Fairfax India Holdings Corp can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Fairfax India Holdings Corp External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Fairfax India Holdings Corp are -
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 Fairfax India Holdings Corp.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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 Fairfax India Holdings Corp prominent markets.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Fairfax India Holdings Corp may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Misc. Financial Services sector.
Increasing wage structure of Fairfax India Holdings Corp
– 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 Fairfax India Holdings Corp.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Fairfax India Holdings Corp in Misc. Financial Services industry. The Misc. Financial Services 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.
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 Fairfax India Holdings Corp business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Fairfax India Holdings Corp has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Misc. Financial Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Fairfax India Holdings Corp needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Misc. Financial Services 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.
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. Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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 Misc. Financial Services industry and other sectors.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Misc. Financial Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Fairfax India Holdings Corp can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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 Misc. Financial Services industry regulations.
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 Fairfax India Holdings Corp in the Misc. Financial Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Fairfax India Holdings Corp Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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 Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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 Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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 Fairfax India Holdings Corp 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 Fairfax India Holdings Corp needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
