Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores (GJO) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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 Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores
2. Improving business portfolio management of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores
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 Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores
Strengths of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores are -
Learning organization
- Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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 Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores in industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Organizational Resilience of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management in the industry
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Weaknesses of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Skills based hiring in industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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. Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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 industry using digital technology.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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 Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the industry, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores are -
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. Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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 Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores to increase its market reach. Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores to build a more holistic ecosystem for Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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 Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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. Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
Environmental challenges
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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. Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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 Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores prominent markets.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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.
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. Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores in industry. The 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.
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 Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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 Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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 Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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 Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores 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 Strats SM Trust for Wal Mart Stores needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.