Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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 Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Auto & Truck Manufacturers sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd
Strengths of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd is present in almost all the verticals within the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry. This has provided Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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)
– Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd staying ahead in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd in the Consumer Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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 Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd is one of the leading players in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers 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 Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry
– Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd in Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd to provide better information regarding Auto & Truck Manufacturers products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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 Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd is just above the Auto & Truck Manufacturers 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd has high operating costs in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd is one of the leading players in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry in last five years.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring in Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry, but Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd to focus more on services in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Auto & Truck Manufacturers 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.
Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd are -
Manufacturing automation
– Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Auto & Truck Manufacturers 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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. Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Auto & Truck Manufacturers sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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 Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Developing new processes and practices
– Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd can develop new processes and procedures in Auto & Truck Manufacturers 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Auto & Truck Manufacturers sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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 Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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. Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd to increase its market reach. Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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.
Threats Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd are -
Environmental challenges
– Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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. Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry are lowering. It can presents Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Auto & Truck Manufacturers sector.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Auto & Truck Manufacturers sector.
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 Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd in Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry. The Auto & Truck Manufacturers 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.
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. Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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 Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd
– 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 Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd.
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. Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd is facing in Auto & Truck Manufacturers 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 Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd.
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 Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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 Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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 Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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 Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd 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 Hystr Yl Mrl Hnd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.