Energy Transfer Pref D (ETP_pd) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Energy Transfer Pref D (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Energy Transfer Pref D is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Energy Transfer Pref D
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Energy Transfer Pref D can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Energy Transfer Pref D, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Energy Transfer Pref D 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 Energy Transfer Pref D can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Energy Transfer Pref D
2. Improving business portfolio management of Energy Transfer Pref D
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 Energy Transfer Pref D
Strengths of Energy Transfer Pref D | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Energy Transfer Pref D are -
Organizational Resilience of Energy Transfer Pref D
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Energy Transfer Pref D does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Energy Transfer Pref D 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 Energy Transfer Pref D is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Energy Transfer Pref D emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Energy Transfer Pref D in the sector have low bargaining power. Energy Transfer Pref D has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Energy Transfer Pref D to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Energy Transfer Pref D is one of the most innovative firm in sector.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Energy Transfer Pref D has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Energy Transfer Pref D 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
– Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Energy Transfer Pref D comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Analytics focus
– Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Energy Transfer Pref D is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Energy Transfer Pref D in industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses of Energy Transfer Pref D | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Energy Transfer Pref D are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Energy Transfer Pref D is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but Energy Transfer Pref D needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Energy Transfer Pref D to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Energy Transfer Pref D, 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Energy Transfer Pref D is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Energy Transfer Pref D to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Energy Transfer Pref D needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Energy Transfer Pref D has some of the most successful models in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Energy Transfer Pref D should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Energy Transfer Pref D products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Energy Transfer Pref D needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ less understanding of Energy Transfer Pref D strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
High dependence on Energy Transfer Pref D ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Energy Transfer Pref D still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Energy Transfer Pref D has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Energy Transfer Pref D has high operating costs in the industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Energy Transfer Pref D lucrative customers.
Energy Transfer Pref D Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Energy Transfer Pref D are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Energy Transfer Pref D 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 Energy Transfer Pref D to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Energy Transfer Pref D can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Energy Transfer Pref D 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 industry.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Energy Transfer Pref D is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Energy Transfer Pref D can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Energy Transfer Pref D operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Energy Transfer Pref D has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Energy Transfer Pref D to build a more holistic ecosystem for Energy Transfer Pref D products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Energy Transfer Pref D 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 Energy Transfer Pref D to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Energy Transfer Pref D to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Energy Transfer Pref D External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Energy Transfer Pref D are -
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. Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
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 Energy Transfer Pref D business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Energy Transfer Pref D.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Energy Transfer Pref D demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in industry and other sectors.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Energy Transfer Pref D in the sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Energy Transfer Pref D
– 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 Energy Transfer Pref D.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Energy Transfer Pref D 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 Energy Transfer Pref D prominent markets.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents Energy Transfer Pref D with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Environmental challenges
– Energy Transfer Pref D 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. Energy Transfer Pref D can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Energy Transfer Pref D 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.
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. Energy Transfer Pref D can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Energy Transfer Pref D Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Energy Transfer Pref D 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 Energy Transfer Pref D 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 Energy Transfer Pref D 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 Energy Transfer Pref D 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 Energy Transfer Pref D needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
