SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Chorus Aviation (Canada)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Chorus Aviation is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption,
there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Chorus Aviation can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Chorus Aviation, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Chorus Aviation 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 Chorus Aviation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Chorus Aviation
2. Improving business portfolio management of Chorus Aviation
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Canada
4. Making a Airline sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Chorus Aviation
Strengths of Chorus Aviation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Chorus Aviation are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Chorus Aviation is present in almost all the verticals within the Airline industry. This has provided Chorus Aviation 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Chorus Aviation has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Chorus Aviation 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.
Analytics focus
– Chorus Aviation 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 Airline industry. The technology infrastructure of Canada is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Chorus Aviation in Airline industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Chorus Aviation has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Chorus Aviation to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Chorus Aviation 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Chorus Aviation has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Airline industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Chorus Aviation have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Chorus Aviation 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.
Organizational Resilience of Chorus Aviation
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Chorus Aviation does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Chorus Aviation 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 Chorus Aviation is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Chorus Aviation emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Airline industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Chorus Aviation digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Chorus Aviation 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.
Ability to lead change in Airline
– Chorus Aviation is one of the leading players in the Airline industry in Canada. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Airline industry in Canada but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Chorus Aviation in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses of Chorus Aviation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Chorus Aviation are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Canada, Chorus Aviation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Chorus Aviation supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Chorus Aviation is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Chorus Aviation vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Airline industry, Chorus Aviation 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Chorus Aviation has some of the most successful models in the Airline industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Chorus Aviation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Chorus Aviation is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Airline industry, but Chorus Aviation needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Chorus Aviation to focus more on services in the Airline industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Chorus Aviation, in the dynamic environment of Airline industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Chorus Aviation has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Chorus Aviation, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Airline 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Chorus Aviation 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 Airline industry using digital technology.
Employees’ less understanding of Chorus Aviation strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Chorus Aviation 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Chorus Aviation products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Chorus Aviation needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Airline industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Canada, Chorus Aviation 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 Airline industry.
Chorus Aviation Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Chorus Aviation are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Airline industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Chorus Aviation in the Airline industry. Now Chorus Aviation can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Chorus Aviation can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Chorus Aviation 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 Chorus Aviation to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Chorus Aviation can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Airline 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Chorus Aviation 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 Airline industry.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Chorus Aviation 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 Chorus Aviation to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Chorus Aviation can develop new processes and procedures in Airline 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Chorus Aviation has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Airline sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Chorus Aviation to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Chorus Aviation to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Airline industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Chorus Aviation can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Chorus Aviation has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Airline industry. This can help Chorus Aviation to build a more holistic ecosystem for Chorus Aviation products in the Airline industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Chorus Aviation 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Chorus Aviation 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Chorus Aviation is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Chorus Aviation can utilize new technology in the field of Airline industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats Chorus Aviation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Chorus Aviation are -
Increasing wage structure of Chorus Aviation
– 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 Chorus Aviation.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Chorus Aviation in Airline industry. The Airline 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Chorus Aviation 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 Airline industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Chorus Aviation 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 Airline industry.
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.
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
– Chorus Aviation has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Airline industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Chorus Aviation needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Airline 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Chorus Aviation is facing in Airline sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Chorus Aviation 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Chorus Aviation 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 Airline industry and other sectors.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Airline industry are lowering. It can presents Chorus Aviation with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Airline sector.
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 Chorus Aviation business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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. Chorus Aviation 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Chorus Aviation Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Chorus Aviation 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 Chorus Aviation 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 Chorus Aviation 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 Chorus Aviation 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 Chorus Aviation needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.