SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Dream Unlimited (Canada)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Dream Unlimited is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Dream Unlimited can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dream Unlimited, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dream Unlimited 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 Dream Unlimited can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Dream Unlimited
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dream Unlimited
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Canada
4. Making a Construction Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Dream Unlimited
Strengths of Dream Unlimited | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dream Unlimited are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Dream Unlimited comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Construction 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.
High brand equity
– Dream Unlimited has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Dream Unlimited to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Dream Unlimited 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 Dream Unlimited is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Dream Unlimited emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Dream Unlimited has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Construction Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Dream Unlimited have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Dream Unlimited in the Capital Goods sector have low bargaining power. Dream Unlimited has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Dream Unlimited to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Dream Unlimited in Construction Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Dream Unlimited has one of the best training and development program in Capital Goods 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.
Digital Transformation in Construction Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Dream Unlimited digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Dream Unlimited 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Dream Unlimited is one of the most innovative firm in Construction Services sector.
Ability to lead change in Construction Services
– Dream Unlimited is one of the leading players in the Construction Services industry in Canada. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Construction Services industry in Canada but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Dream Unlimited in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Dream Unlimited 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 Construction Services 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Dream Unlimited 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.
Weaknesses of Dream Unlimited | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Dream Unlimited are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Construction Services industry, Dream Unlimited 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 Dream Unlimited has some of the most successful models in the Construction Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Dream Unlimited 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 Dream Unlimited needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Construction Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Dream Unlimited can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Dream Unlimited is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Dream Unlimited is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Construction Services industry, but Dream Unlimited needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Dream Unlimited to focus more on services in the Construction Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Dream Unlimited has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Lack of clear differentiation of Dream Unlimited products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Dream Unlimited needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Canada, Dream Unlimited needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Dream Unlimited, in the dynamic environment of Construction Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Dream Unlimited has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Dream Unlimited supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Dream Unlimited is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Dream Unlimited vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Construction Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Canada, Dream Unlimited 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 Construction Services industry.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Dream Unlimited has high operating costs in the Construction Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Dream Unlimited lucrative customers.
Dream Unlimited Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Dream Unlimited are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Dream Unlimited can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Dream Unlimited operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Construction Services sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Dream Unlimited in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Construction Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Dream Unlimited can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Dream Unlimited is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Dream Unlimited can utilize new technology in the field of Construction Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Dream Unlimited can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Construction Services 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Dream Unlimited to increase its market reach. Dream Unlimited will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Dream Unlimited has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Construction Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Dream Unlimited to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Dream Unlimited to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Dream Unlimited 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 Dream Unlimited to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Dream Unlimited 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 Construction Services industry.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Construction Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Dream Unlimited 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. Dream Unlimited 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Dream Unlimited 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 Dream Unlimited has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Construction Services industry. This can help Dream Unlimited to build a more holistic ecosystem for Dream Unlimited products in the Construction Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Dream Unlimited 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 Dream Unlimited to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Dream Unlimited External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Dream Unlimited are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Dream Unlimited 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 Dream Unlimited prominent markets.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Dream Unlimited has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Construction Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Dream Unlimited needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Construction 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.
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. Dream Unlimited needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Construction Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Dream Unlimited.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Construction Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Dream Unlimited can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Dream Unlimited in Construction Services industry. The Construction Services 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.
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 Dream Unlimited business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Construction Services industry are lowering. It can presents Dream Unlimited with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Construction Services sector.
Environmental challenges
– Dream Unlimited 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. Dream Unlimited can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Construction Services 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Dream Unlimited 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 Construction Services industry regulations.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Dream Unlimited in the Construction Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Dream Unlimited Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Dream Unlimited 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 Dream Unlimited 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 Dream Unlimited 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 Dream Unlimited 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 Dream Unlimited needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
