Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref (GCV_pb) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref
2. Improving business portfolio management of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref
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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref
Strengths of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref are -
Training and development
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref is one of the leading players in the 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref in industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref is one of the most innovative firm in sector.
Organizational Resilience of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref in the sector have low bargaining power. Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
Weaknesses of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref has high operating costs in the industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring in industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the industry, Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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, Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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. Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref is one of the leading players in the industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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, Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref can utilize new technology in the field of industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref in the industry. Now Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in sector.
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. Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref to build a more holistic ecosystem for Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
Threats Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref are -
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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref
– 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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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. Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
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. Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref.
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
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the 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. Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref 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 Gabelli Convertible Income Sec Pref needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.