LM Ericsson B ADR (ERIC) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Communications Equipment
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for LM Ericsson B ADR (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , LM Ericsson B ADR is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of LM Ericsson B ADR
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that LM Ericsson B ADR can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the LM Ericsson B ADR, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which LM Ericsson B ADR 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 LM Ericsson B ADR can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of LM Ericsson B ADR
2. Improving business portfolio management of LM Ericsson B ADR
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Communications Equipment sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of LM Ericsson B ADR
Strengths of LM Ericsson B ADR | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of LM Ericsson B ADR are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of LM Ericsson B ADR comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Communications Equipment 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.
Innovation driven organization
– LM Ericsson B ADR is one of the most innovative firm in Communications Equipment sector.
Ability to lead change in Communications Equipment
– LM Ericsson B ADR is one of the leading players in the Communications Equipment industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Communications Equipment industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled LM Ericsson B ADR in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of LM Ericsson B ADR in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. LM Ericsson B ADR has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps LM Ericsson B ADR to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– LM Ericsson B ADR has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Communications Equipment industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of LM Ericsson B ADR have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- LM Ericsson B ADR 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 LM Ericsson B ADR is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at LM Ericsson B ADR emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– LM Ericsson B ADR has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. LM Ericsson B ADR 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– LM Ericsson B ADR has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – LM Ericsson B ADR staying ahead in the Communications Equipment industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Communications Equipment industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For LM Ericsson B ADR digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. LM Ericsson B ADR 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– LM Ericsson B ADR is present in almost all the verticals within the Communications Equipment industry. This has provided LM Ericsson B ADR 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
– LM Ericsson B ADR 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 Communications Equipment 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.
Training and development
– LM Ericsson B ADR has one of the best training and development program in Technology 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.
Weaknesses of LM Ericsson B ADR | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of LM Ericsson B ADR are -
Skills based hiring in Communications Equipment industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at LM Ericsson B ADR 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Communications Equipment industry, LM Ericsson B ADR 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, LM Ericsson B ADR is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help LM Ericsson B ADR to provide better information regarding Communications Equipment products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on LM Ericsson B ADR ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of LM Ericsson B ADR still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Communications Equipment industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though LM Ericsson B ADR has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of LM Ericsson B ADR, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Communications Equipment 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As LM Ericsson B ADR is one of the leading players in the Communications Equipment industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Communications Equipment industry in last five years.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, LM Ericsson B ADR has high operating costs in the Communications Equipment industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract LM Ericsson B ADR lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of LM Ericsson B ADR is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Communications Equipment industry, but LM Ericsson B ADR needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help LM Ericsson B ADR to focus more on services in the Communications Equipment industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, LM Ericsson B ADR has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Need for greater diversity
– LM Ericsson B ADR 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of LM Ericsson B ADR products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, LM Ericsson B ADR needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
LM Ericsson B ADR Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of LM Ericsson B ADR are -
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 LM Ericsson B ADR 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help LM Ericsson B ADR to increase its market reach. LM Ericsson B ADR will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for LM Ericsson B ADR 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.
Manufacturing automation
– LM Ericsson B ADR can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Communications Equipment 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.
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. LM Ericsson B ADR can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– LM Ericsson B ADR 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for LM Ericsson B ADR 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 LM Ericsson B ADR to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, LM Ericsson B ADR is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. LM Ericsson B ADR can utilize new technology in the field of Communications Equipment industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at LM Ericsson B ADR 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 Communications Equipment industry.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for LM Ericsson B ADR in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Communications Equipment industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Leveraging digital technologies
– LM Ericsson B ADR can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, LM Ericsson B ADR can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that LM Ericsson B ADR operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Communications Equipment sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– LM Ericsson B ADR has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Communications Equipment sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled LM Ericsson B ADR to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help LM Ericsson B ADR to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats LM Ericsson B ADR External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of LM Ericsson B ADR are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– LM Ericsson B ADR 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 LM Ericsson B ADR.
Consumer confidence and its impact on LM Ericsson B ADR 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 Communications Equipment industry and other sectors.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. LM Ericsson B ADR needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Communications Equipment industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Communications Equipment industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. LM Ericsson B ADR 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
– LM Ericsson B ADR 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 Communications Equipment industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– LM Ericsson B ADR 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. LM Ericsson B ADR can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Communications Equipment industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, LM Ericsson B ADR may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Communications Equipment sector.
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.
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 LM Ericsson B ADR in the Communications Equipment 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. LM Ericsson B ADR 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– LM Ericsson B ADR has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Communications Equipment industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, LM Ericsson B ADR needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Communications Equipment 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of LM Ericsson B ADR Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at LM Ericsson B ADR 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 LM Ericsson B ADR 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 LM Ericsson B ADR 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 LM Ericsson B ADR 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 LM Ericsson B ADR needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.