Sleep Country Canada (ZZZ) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Sleep Country Canada (Canada)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Sleep Country Canada is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sleep Country Canada

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Sleep Country Canada can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sleep Country Canada, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sleep Country Canada 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Sleep Country Canada can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Sleep Country Canada
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sleep Country Canada
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Canada
4. Making a Furniture & Fixtures sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Sleep Country Canada

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Strengths of Sleep Country Canada | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Sleep Country Canada are -

Ability to recruit top talent

– Sleep Country Canada is one of the leading players in the Furniture & Fixtures industry in Canada. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Canada. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Sleep Country Canada 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Furniture & Fixtures industry

– Sleep Country Canada has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sleep Country Canada to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Furniture & Fixtures industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sleep Country Canada to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Sleep Country Canada in Furniture & Fixtures industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Diverse revenue streams

– Sleep Country Canada is present in almost all the verticals within the Furniture & Fixtures industry. This has provided Sleep Country Canada 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Sleep Country Canada in the Consumer Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Sleep Country Canada has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sleep Country Canada to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Strong track record of project management in the Furniture & Fixtures industry

– Sleep Country Canada 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 Sleep Country Canada

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Sleep Country Canada does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Sleep Country Canada has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Sleep Country Canada staying ahead in the Furniture & Fixtures industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Analytics focus

– Sleep Country Canada 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 Furniture & Fixtures 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.

Ability to lead change in Furniture & Fixtures

– Sleep Country Canada is one of the leading players in the Furniture & Fixtures industry in Canada. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Furniture & Fixtures industry in Canada but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Sleep Country Canada in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Sleep Country Canada has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Furniture & Fixtures industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Sleep Country Canada have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

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Weaknesses of Sleep Country Canada | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Sleep Country Canada are -

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Sleep Country Canada is just above the Furniture & Fixtures 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Furniture & Fixtures industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Canada, Sleep Country Canada 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 Furniture & Fixtures industry.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Sleep Country Canada 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.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Sleep Country Canada has high operating costs in the Furniture & Fixtures industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Sleep Country Canada lucrative customers.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Canada, Sleep Country Canada needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Sleep Country Canada needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Furniture & Fixtures industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Sleep Country Canada can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sleep Country Canada is planning to shift buying processes online.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Sleep Country Canada is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Furniture & Fixtures industry, but Sleep Country Canada needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sleep Country Canada to focus more on services in the Furniture & Fixtures industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Sleep Country Canada 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 Furniture & Fixtures industry using digital technology.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Sleep Country Canada has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Furniture & Fixtures industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Sleep Country Canada, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Furniture & Fixtures 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 Furniture & Fixtures industry, Sleep Country Canada 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.

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Sleep Country Canada Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Sleep Country Canada are -

Manufacturing automation

– Sleep Country Canada can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Furniture & Fixtures 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Sleep Country Canada can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Furniture & Fixtures 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Sleep Country Canada 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sleep Country Canada 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 Sleep Country Canada 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 Furniture & Fixtures industry.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sleep Country Canada 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 Sleep Country Canada to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sleep Country Canada can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sleep Country Canada operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Furniture & Fixtures sector.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Furniture & Fixtures industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Sleep Country Canada in the Furniture & Fixtures industry. Now Sleep Country Canada can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sleep Country Canada 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Sleep Country Canada has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Furniture & Fixtures industry. This can help Sleep Country Canada to build a more holistic ecosystem for Sleep Country Canada products in the Furniture & Fixtures industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Loyalty marketing

– Sleep Country Canada 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sleep Country Canada 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 Sleep Country Canada to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

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. Sleep Country Canada can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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Threats Sleep Country Canada External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Sleep Country Canada are -

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.

Environmental challenges

– Sleep Country Canada 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. Sleep Country Canada can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Furniture & Fixtures industry.

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. Sleep Country Canada needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Furniture & Fixtures industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Increasing wage structure of Sleep Country Canada

– 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 Sleep Country Canada.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Sleep Country Canada is facing in Furniture & Fixtures sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Regulatory challenges

– Sleep Country Canada 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 Furniture & Fixtures industry regulations.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Furniture & Fixtures industry are lowering. It can presents Sleep Country Canada with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Furniture & Fixtures sector.

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. Sleep Country Canada 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.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Furniture & Fixtures industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Sleep Country Canada can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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 Sleep Country Canada.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Sleep Country Canada may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Furniture & Fixtures sector.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Sleep Country Canada 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 Furniture & Fixtures industry.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sleep Country Canada Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Sleep Country Canada 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 Sleep Country Canada 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 Sleep Country Canada 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 Sleep Country Canada 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 Sleep Country Canada needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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