SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for GoPro Inc (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , GoPro Inc is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that GoPro Inc can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the GoPro Inc, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which GoPro Inc 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 GoPro Inc can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of GoPro Inc
2. Improving business portfolio management of GoPro Inc
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Photography sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of GoPro Inc
Strengths of GoPro Inc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of GoPro Inc are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the GoPro Inc 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Photography industry
– GoPro Inc has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled GoPro Inc to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Photography industry. The sustainable margins have also helped GoPro Inc to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– GoPro Inc 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 Photography 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.
Learning organization
- GoPro Inc 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 GoPro Inc is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at GoPro Inc emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– GoPro Inc has one of the best training and development program in Consumer Cyclical 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of GoPro Inc in the Consumer Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. GoPro Inc has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps GoPro Inc to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Photography industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For GoPro Inc digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. GoPro Inc 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– GoPro Inc has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – GoPro Inc staying ahead in the Photography industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– GoPro Inc has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Photography industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of GoPro Inc have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– GoPro Inc is one of the leading players in the Photography 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of GoPro Inc comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Photography 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– GoPro Inc has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. GoPro Inc 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 GoPro Inc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of GoPro Inc are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, GoPro Inc has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Photography industry over the last five years. GoPro Inc 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, GoPro Inc is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help GoPro Inc to provide better information regarding Photography products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of GoPro Inc is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Photography industry, but GoPro Inc needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help GoPro Inc to focus more on services in the Photography industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Photography industry, GoPro Inc 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, GoPro Inc has high operating costs in the Photography industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract GoPro Inc lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, GoPro Inc needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Photography industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, GoPro Inc 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 Photography industry.
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 GoPro Inc supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, GoPro Inc is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left GoPro Inc vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of GoPro Inc products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, GoPro Inc needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that GoPro Inc needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Photography industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at GoPro Inc can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as GoPro Inc is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring in Photography industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at GoPro Inc 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.
GoPro Inc Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of GoPro Inc are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at GoPro Inc 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 Photography industry.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help GoPro Inc to increase its market reach. GoPro Inc 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects GoPro Inc can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. GoPro Inc can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– GoPro Inc 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, GoPro Inc is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. GoPro Inc can utilize new technology in the field of Photography industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for GoPro Inc 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 GoPro Inc to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for GoPro Inc in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Photography industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for GoPro Inc 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, GoPro Inc can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that GoPro Inc operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Photography sector.
Buying journey improvements
– GoPro Inc can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Photography 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 GoPro Inc has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Photography industry. This can help GoPro Inc to build a more holistic ecosystem for GoPro Inc products in the Photography industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– GoPro Inc has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Photography sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled GoPro Inc to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help GoPro Inc to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats GoPro Inc External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of GoPro Inc are -
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 GoPro Inc in the Photography sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that GoPro Inc is facing in Photography sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– GoPro Inc has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Photography industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, GoPro Inc needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Photography 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.
Regulatory challenges
– GoPro Inc 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 Photography industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– GoPro Inc 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 Photography 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 GoPro Inc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for GoPro Inc in Photography industry. The Photography 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.
Increasing wage structure of GoPro Inc
– 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 GoPro Inc.
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.
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 GoPro Inc business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Photography industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. GoPro Inc can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Photography industry are lowering. It can presents GoPro Inc with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Photography sector.
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. GoPro Inc needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Photography industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of GoPro Inc Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at GoPro Inc 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 GoPro Inc 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 GoPro Inc 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 GoPro Inc 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 GoPro Inc needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.