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First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor (FEO) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor (United States)


Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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 First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor
2. Improving business portfolio management of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Misc. Financial Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor




Strengths of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor are -

Ability to lead change in Misc. Financial Services

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor is one of the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Financial Services industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Innovation driven organization

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Financial Services sector.

High brand equity

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Training and development

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor has one of the best training and development program in Financial 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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor is present in almost all the verticals within the Misc. Financial Services industry. This has provided First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor is one of the leading players in the Misc. Financial Services 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.

Analytics focus

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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 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.

Digital Transformation in Misc. Financial Services industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.






Weaknesses of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor are -

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Misc. Financial Services industry, but First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor to focus more on services in the Misc. Financial Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

High dependence on First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Misc. Financial Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Products dominated business model

– Even though First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor has some of the most successful models in the Misc. Financial Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of United States, First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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 First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor lucrative customers.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Misc. Financial Services industry over the last five years. First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Misc. Financial Services industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor, 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Misc. Financial Services industry, First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.




First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The opportunities of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor are -

Leveraging digital technologies

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor to increase its market reach. First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Misc. Financial Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Loyalty marketing

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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, First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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 First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

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. First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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. First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Misc. Financial Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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 First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.




Threats First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor are -

High dependence on third party suppliers

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Misc. Financial Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

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. First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

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. First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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 First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor prominent markets.

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. First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Misc. Financial Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

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 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the Misc. Financial Services industry.

Consumer confidence and its impact on First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Misc. Financial Services industry are lowering. It can presents First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Misc. Financial Services sector.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor Template, Example


Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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 First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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 First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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 First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor 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 First Trust/Aberdeen Emerging Oppor needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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