Harrison Vickers Waterman (HVCW) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Business Services
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Harrison Vickers Waterman (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Harrison Vickers Waterman is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices,
geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Harrison Vickers Waterman
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Harrison Vickers Waterman can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Harrison Vickers Waterman, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Harrison Vickers Waterman can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Harrison Vickers Waterman
2. Improving business portfolio management of Harrison Vickers Waterman
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Business Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Harrison Vickers Waterman
Strengths of Harrison Vickers Waterman | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Harrison Vickers Waterman are -
Innovation driven organization
– Harrison Vickers Waterman is one of the most innovative firm in Business Services sector.
Training and development
– Harrison Vickers Waterman has one of the best training and development program in Services 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Harrison Vickers Waterman is one of the leading players in the Business Services 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Harrison Vickers Waterman in Business 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 Business Services industry
– Harrison Vickers Waterman has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Harrison Vickers Waterman to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Business Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Harrison Vickers Waterman to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Harrison Vickers Waterman comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Business 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.
Organizational Resilience of Harrison Vickers Waterman
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Harrison Vickers Waterman does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Harrison Vickers Waterman has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Harrison Vickers Waterman has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Harrison Vickers Waterman 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Harrison Vickers Waterman has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Business Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Harrison Vickers Waterman have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Harrison Vickers Waterman in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Harrison Vickers Waterman has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Harrison Vickers Waterman to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Harrison Vickers Waterman has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Harrison Vickers Waterman to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses of Harrison Vickers Waterman | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Harrison Vickers Waterman are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Harrison Vickers Waterman has high operating costs in the Business Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Harrison Vickers Waterman lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Harrison Vickers Waterman is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Harrison Vickers Waterman to provide better information regarding Business Services 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 Harrison Vickers Waterman is just above the Business Services 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Harrison Vickers Waterman needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Business Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Business Services industry.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Harrison Vickers Waterman has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Business Services industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
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 Harrison Vickers Waterman supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Harrison Vickers Waterman is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Harrison Vickers Waterman vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Harrison Vickers Waterman products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Harrison Vickers Waterman needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Harrison Vickers Waterman is one of the leading players in the Business Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Business Services industry in last five years.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Business Services industry using digital technology.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Harrison Vickers Waterman has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Business Services industry over the last five years. Harrison Vickers Waterman 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.
Harrison Vickers Waterman Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Harrison Vickers Waterman are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Business Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Harrison Vickers Waterman in the Business Services industry. Now Harrison Vickers Waterman can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Harrison Vickers Waterman has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Business Services industry. This can help Harrison Vickers Waterman to build a more holistic ecosystem for Harrison Vickers Waterman products in the Business Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Harrison Vickers Waterman is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Harrison Vickers Waterman can utilize new technology in the field of Business Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Harrison Vickers Waterman can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Business 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Harrison Vickers Waterman to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Harrison Vickers Waterman 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Business Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Harrison Vickers Waterman 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. Harrison Vickers Waterman 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Harrison Vickers Waterman has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Business Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Harrison Vickers Waterman to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Harrison Vickers Waterman to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Harrison Vickers Waterman to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Harrison Vickers Waterman 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Business Services industry.
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. Harrison Vickers Waterman can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Harrison Vickers Waterman 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.
Threats Harrison Vickers Waterman External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Harrison Vickers Waterman are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Harrison Vickers Waterman is facing in Business Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Business Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Harrison Vickers Waterman can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Harrison Vickers Waterman business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Business Services industry are lowering. It can presents Harrison Vickers Waterman with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Business Services sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Harrison Vickers Waterman
– 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 Harrison Vickers Waterman.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Harrison Vickers Waterman may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Business Services sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Business Services industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Harrison Vickers Waterman prominent markets.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Harrison Vickers Waterman 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. Harrison Vickers Waterman can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Business Services industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Business Services 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 Harrison Vickers Waterman in the Business Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Harrison Vickers Waterman Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Harrison Vickers Waterman 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 Harrison Vickers Waterman needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.