SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Goosehead Insurance (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Goosehead Insurance is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Goosehead Insurance
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Goosehead Insurance can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Goosehead Insurance, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Goosehead Insurance 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 Goosehead Insurance can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Goosehead Insurance
2. Improving business portfolio management of Goosehead Insurance
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Insurance (Miscellaneous) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Goosehead Insurance
Strengths of Goosehead Insurance | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Goosehead Insurance are -
High brand equity
– Goosehead Insurance has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Goosehead Insurance to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Goosehead Insurance has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Goosehead Insurance have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Goosehead Insurance comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) 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
– Goosehead Insurance has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Goosehead Insurance 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.
Digital Transformation in Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Goosehead Insurance digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Goosehead Insurance 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.
Organizational Resilience of Goosehead Insurance
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Goosehead Insurance does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Goosehead Insurance 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 Goosehead Insurance is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Goosehead Insurance emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Goosehead Insurance 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.
Training and development
– Goosehead Insurance has one of the best training and development program in Financial 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry
– Goosehead Insurance is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Goosehead Insurance is one of the leading players in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Goosehead Insurance in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. Goosehead Insurance has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Goosehead Insurance to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of Goosehead Insurance | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Goosehead Insurance are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Goosehead Insurance has some of the most successful models in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Goosehead Insurance should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Goosehead Insurance is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry, but Goosehead Insurance needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Goosehead Insurance to focus more on services in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Goosehead Insurance has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry over the last five years. Goosehead Insurance 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.
High dependence on Goosehead Insurance ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Goosehead Insurance still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Goosehead Insurance has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Goosehead Insurance, in the dynamic environment of Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Goosehead Insurance has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Goosehead Insurance is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Goosehead Insurance to provide better information regarding Insurance (Miscellaneous) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Goosehead Insurance has high operating costs in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Goosehead Insurance lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry, Goosehead Insurance 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Goosehead Insurance 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Goosehead Insurance is one of the leading players in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry in last five years.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Goosehead Insurance is just above the Insurance (Miscellaneous) 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.
Goosehead Insurance Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Goosehead Insurance are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Goosehead Insurance has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Insurance (Miscellaneous) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Goosehead Insurance to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Goosehead Insurance to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Goosehead Insurance can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Insurance (Miscellaneous) sector. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Goosehead Insurance in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Goosehead Insurance to increase its market reach. Goosehead Insurance 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Goosehead Insurance 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 Goosehead Insurance to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Goosehead Insurance has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry. This can help Goosehead Insurance to build a more holistic ecosystem for Goosehead Insurance products in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Goosehead Insurance 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Goosehead Insurance can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Goosehead Insurance 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Goosehead Insurance in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry. Now Goosehead Insurance can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Goosehead Insurance 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 Goosehead Insurance to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Goosehead Insurance can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Goosehead Insurance can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Goosehead Insurance External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Goosehead Insurance are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Goosehead Insurance may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Insurance (Miscellaneous) sector.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Goosehead Insurance 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 Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry and other sectors.
Environmental challenges
– Goosehead Insurance 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. Goosehead Insurance can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry are lowering. It can presents Goosehead Insurance with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Insurance (Miscellaneous) sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Goosehead Insurance has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Goosehead Insurance needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Insurance (Miscellaneous) 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.
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. Goosehead Insurance 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Goosehead Insurance can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Goosehead Insurance 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 Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Goosehead Insurance
– 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 Goosehead Insurance.
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. Goosehead Insurance needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Insurance (Miscellaneous) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Goosehead Insurance is facing in Insurance (Miscellaneous) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Goosehead Insurance.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Goosehead Insurance Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Goosehead Insurance 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 Goosehead Insurance 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 Goosehead Insurance 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 Goosehead Insurance 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 Goosehead Insurance needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.