Freddie Mac Var Pr B (FMCCI) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Freddie Mac Var Pr B (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Freddie Mac Var Pr B is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption,
increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Freddie Mac Var Pr B
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Freddie Mac Var Pr B can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Freddie Mac Var Pr B, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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 Freddie Mac Var Pr B can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Freddie Mac Var Pr B
2. Improving business portfolio management of Freddie Mac Var Pr B
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Freddie Mac Var Pr B
Strengths of Freddie Mac Var Pr B | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Freddie Mac Var Pr B are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Freddie Mac Var Pr B comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Ability to lead change in
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B is one of the leading players in the industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Freddie Mac Var Pr B in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Freddie Mac Var Pr B
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Freddie Mac Var Pr B does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Freddie Mac Var Pr B to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B is one of the most innovative firm in sector.
Analytics focus
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure of United States is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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.
Training and development
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B has one of the best training and development program in industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Freddie Mac Var Pr B to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Freddie Mac Var Pr B to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the industry
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Freddie Mac Var Pr B in the sector have low bargaining power. Freddie Mac Var Pr B has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Freddie Mac Var Pr B to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of Freddie Mac Var Pr B | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Freddie Mac Var Pr B are -
Skills based hiring in industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Freddie Mac Var Pr B has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Freddie Mac Var Pr B has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Freddie Mac Var Pr B is just above the industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High dependence on Freddie Mac Var Pr B ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Freddie Mac Var Pr B still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Freddie Mac Var Pr B has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Freddie Mac Var Pr B has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Freddie Mac Var Pr B has some of the most successful models in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Freddie Mac Var Pr B should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Freddie Mac Var Pr B needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Freddie Mac Var Pr B can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Freddie Mac Var Pr B is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Freddie Mac Var Pr B needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the industry, Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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 industry.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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.
Freddie Mac Var Pr B Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Freddie Mac Var Pr B are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Freddie Mac Var Pr B to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Freddie Mac Var Pr B to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Freddie Mac Var Pr B can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B can develop new processes and procedures in industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
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. Freddie Mac Var Pr B can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Freddie Mac Var Pr B to increase its market reach. Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Freddie Mac Var Pr B can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Freddie Mac Var Pr B in the industry. Now Freddie Mac Var Pr B can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Freddie Mac Var Pr B can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the industry.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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 Freddie Mac Var Pr B to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Freddie Mac Var Pr B has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Freddie Mac Var Pr B to build a more holistic ecosystem for Freddie Mac Var Pr B products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Freddie Mac Var Pr B External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Freddie Mac Var Pr B are -
Environmental challenges
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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. Freddie Mac Var Pr B can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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 industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Freddie Mac Var Pr B may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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 industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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 Freddie Mac Var Pr B demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in industry and other sectors.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Freddie Mac Var Pr B is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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 Freddie Mac Var Pr B prominent markets.
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. Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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 wage structure of Freddie Mac Var Pr B
– 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 Freddie Mac Var Pr B.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents Freddie Mac Var Pr B with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Freddie Mac Var Pr B can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Freddie Mac Var Pr B needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Freddie Mac Var Pr B Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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 Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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 Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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 Freddie Mac Var Pr B 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 Freddie Mac Var Pr B needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.