Fog Cutter Cap Grp# (FCCG) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Restaurants
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Fog Cutter Cap Grp# (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Fog Cutter Cap Grp# is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Fog Cutter Cap Grp#
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Fog Cutter Cap Grp# can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fog Cutter Cap Grp#, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp# can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Fog Cutter Cap Grp#
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fog Cutter Cap Grp#
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Restaurants sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Fog Cutter Cap Grp#
Strengths of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# is one of the leading players in the Restaurants 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.
Learning organization
- Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp# is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Fog Cutter Cap Grp# emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Restaurants 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.
Training and development
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# has one of the best training and development program in Services industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# in Restaurants industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Fog Cutter Cap Grp# has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Fog Cutter Cap Grp# to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# is one of the most innovative firm in Restaurants sector.
Analytics focus
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Restaurants 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Fog Cutter Cap Grp# staying ahead in the Restaurants industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Restaurants industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Fog Cutter Cap Grp# digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Restaurants industry
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp#
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Fog Cutter Cap Grp# does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# are -
High dependence on Fog Cutter Cap Grp# ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Restaurants industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Fog Cutter Cap Grp# has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Restaurants industry, but Fog Cutter Cap Grp# needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Fog Cutter Cap Grp# to focus more on services in the Restaurants industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ less understanding of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Fog Cutter Cap Grp#, in the dynamic environment of Restaurants industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Fog Cutter Cap Grp# has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Restaurants industry using digital technology.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Restaurants industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Restaurants industry.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Fog Cutter Cap Grp# has high operating costs in the Restaurants industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Fog Cutter Cap Grp# lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Fog Cutter Cap Grp# needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Fog Cutter Cap Grp# has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Restaurants industry over the last five years. Fog Cutter Cap Grp# even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Fog Cutter Cap Grp# has some of the most successful models in the Restaurants industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Fog Cutter Cap Grp# should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Fog Cutter Cap Grp# Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# are -
Buying journey improvements
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Restaurants 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Restaurants industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Fog Cutter Cap Grp# can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# can develop new processes and procedures in Restaurants 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Restaurants industry.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Fog Cutter Cap Grp# to increase its market reach. Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Restaurants sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Fog Cutter Cap Grp# to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Fog Cutter Cap Grp# to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp# in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Restaurants industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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. Fog Cutter Cap Grp# can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Fog Cutter Cap Grp# can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help Fog Cutter Cap Grp# to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Fog Cutter Cap Grp# External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Fog Cutter Cap Grp# is facing in Restaurants sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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.
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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp# in the Restaurants sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Restaurants industry and other sectors.
Environmental challenges
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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. Fog Cutter Cap Grp# can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Restaurants industry.
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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp# business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Restaurants industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Fog Cutter Cap Grp# needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Restaurants 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Restaurants industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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
– Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Restaurants industry regulations.
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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp#.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp# prominent markets.
Increasing wage structure of Fog Cutter Cap Grp#
– 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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp#.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Fog Cutter Cap Grp# Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp# 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 Fog Cutter Cap Grp# needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.