Great Lakes Dredge&Dock (GLDD) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Construction Services
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Great Lakes Dredge&Dock (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Great Lakes Dredge&Dock is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Great Lakes Dredge&Dock can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Great Lakes Dredge&Dock, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock
2. Improving business portfolio management of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Construction Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock
Strengths of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock in Construction Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Construction Services industry
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Great Lakes Dredge&Dock to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Construction Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Great Lakes Dredge&Dock to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock is present in almost all the verticals within the Construction Services industry. This has provided Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Great Lakes Dredge&Dock staying ahead in the Construction Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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.
High brand equity
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Great Lakes Dredge&Dock to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 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.
Training and development
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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.
Learning organization
- Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Great Lakes Dredge&Dock emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Construction Services
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock is one of the leading players in the Construction Services industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Construction Services industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Great Lakes Dredge&Dock in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Great Lakes Dredge&Dock has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Construction Services industry over the last five years. Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Great Lakes Dredge&Dock is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Great Lakes Dredge&Dock to provide better information regarding Construction Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Construction Services industry, Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Great Lakes Dredge&Dock is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Great Lakes Dredge&Dock vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Great Lakes Dredge&Dock needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Construction Services industry, but Great Lakes Dredge&Dock needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Great Lakes Dredge&Dock to focus more on services in the Construction Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Construction Services 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 strategic competitive environment developments
– As Great Lakes Dredge&Dock is one of the leading players in the Construction Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Construction Services industry in last five years.
High dependence on Great Lakes Dredge&Dock ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Construction Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Great Lakes Dredge&Dock has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Construction Services industry using digital technology.
Great Lakes Dredge&Dock Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Great Lakes Dredge&Dock is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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.
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. Great Lakes Dredge&Dock can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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. Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Great Lakes Dredge&Dock can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Great Lakes Dredge&Dock operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Construction Services sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Construction Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Great Lakes Dredge&Dock in the Construction Services industry. Now Great Lakes Dredge&Dock can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Construction Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Great Lakes Dredge&Dock can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock can develop new processes and procedures in Construction Services 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.
Threats Great Lakes Dredge&Dock External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock prominent markets.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Construction Services industry are lowering. It can presents Great Lakes Dredge&Dock with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Construction Services sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Construction Services industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Great Lakes Dredge&Dock is facing in Construction Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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.
Increasing wage structure of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock
– 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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock.
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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Construction Services industry and other sectors.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Great Lakes Dredge&Dock has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Construction Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Great Lakes Dredge&Dock Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock 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 Great Lakes Dredge&Dock needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.