HECO Capital Trust III Pref (HE_pu) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for HECO Capital Trust III Pref (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , HECO Capital Trust III Pref is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of HECO Capital Trust III Pref
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that HECO Capital Trust III Pref can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the HECO Capital Trust III Pref, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which HECO Capital Trust III Pref operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of HECO Capital Trust III Pref can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of HECO Capital Trust III Pref
2. Improving business portfolio management of HECO Capital Trust III Pref
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of HECO Capital Trust III Pref
Strengths of HECO Capital Trust III Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of HECO Capital Trust III Pref are -
Diverse revenue streams
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided HECO Capital Trust III Pref 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of HECO Capital Trust III Pref in the sector have low bargaining power. HECO Capital Trust III Pref has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps HECO Capital Trust III Pref to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref is one of the most innovative firm in sector.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled HECO Capital Trust III Pref to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped HECO Capital Trust III Pref to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref is one of the leading players in the industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled HECO Capital Trust III Pref in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management in the industry
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure of United States is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of HECO Capital Trust III Pref comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of HECO Capital Trust III Pref in industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – HECO Capital Trust III Pref staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of HECO Capital Trust III Pref
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing HECO Capital Trust III Pref does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the HECO Capital Trust III Pref 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.
Weaknesses of HECO Capital Trust III Pref | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of HECO Capital Trust III Pref are -
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 HECO Capital Trust III Pref supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, HECO Capital Trust III Pref is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left HECO Capital Trust III Pref vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though HECO Capital Trust III Pref has some of the most successful models in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. HECO Capital Trust III Pref should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring in industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at HECO Capital Trust III Pref has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, HECO Capital Trust III Pref is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help HECO Capital Trust III Pref to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of HECO Capital Trust III Pref is just above the industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High dependence on HECO Capital Trust III Pref ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of HECO Capital Trust III Pref still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though HECO Capital Trust III Pref has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, HECO Capital Trust III Pref is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Need for greater diversity
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, HECO Capital Trust III Pref has high operating costs in the industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract HECO Capital Trust III Pref lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of HECO Capital Trust III Pref is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but HECO Capital Trust III Pref needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help HECO Capital Trust III Pref to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of HECO Capital Trust III Pref products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, HECO Capital Trust III Pref needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
HECO Capital Trust III Pref Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of HECO Capital Trust III Pref are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, HECO Capital Trust III Pref is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. HECO Capital Trust III Pref can utilize new technology in the field of industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help HECO Capital Trust III Pref to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Developing new processes and practices
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref can develop new processes and procedures in industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects HECO Capital Trust III Pref can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref 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.
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. HECO Capital Trust III Pref can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of HECO Capital Trust III Pref has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help HECO Capital Trust III Pref to build a more holistic ecosystem for HECO Capital Trust III Pref products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled HECO Capital Trust III Pref to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help HECO Capital Trust III Pref to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. HECO Capital Trust III Pref can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for HECO Capital Trust III Pref to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Buying journey improvements
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for HECO Capital Trust III Pref in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats HECO Capital Trust III Pref External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of HECO Capital Trust III Pref are -
Increasing wage structure of HECO Capital Trust III Pref
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of HECO Capital Trust III Pref.
Consumer confidence and its impact on HECO Capital Trust III Pref 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 industry and other sectors.
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 HECO Capital Trust III Pref in the sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, HECO Capital Trust III Pref 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 HECO Capital Trust III Pref prominent markets.
Environmental challenges
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. HECO Capital Trust III Pref can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
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. HECO Capital Trust III Pref needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, HECO Capital Trust III Pref needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents HECO Capital Trust III Pref 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 HECO Capital Trust III Pref 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.
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.
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
– HECO Capital Trust III Pref needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that HECO Capital Trust III Pref is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of HECO Capital Trust III Pref Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at HECO Capital Trust III Pref needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of HECO Capital Trust III Pref is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of HECO Capital Trust III Pref is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of HECO Capital Trust III Pref to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that HECO Capital Trust III Pref needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.