Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , IBC Advanced Alloys is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of IBC Advanced Alloys
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that IBC Advanced Alloys can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the IBC Advanced Alloys, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which IBC Advanced Alloys 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 IBC Advanced Alloys can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of IBC Advanced Alloys
2. Improving business portfolio management of IBC Advanced Alloys
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Metal Mining sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of IBC Advanced Alloys
Strengths of IBC Advanced Alloys | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of IBC Advanced Alloys are -
Ability to lead change in Metal Mining
– IBC Advanced Alloys is one of the leading players in the Metal Mining industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Metal Mining industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled IBC Advanced Alloys in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Metal Mining industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For IBC Advanced Alloys digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. IBC Advanced Alloys 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
– IBC Advanced Alloys is one of the leading players in the Metal Mining 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– IBC Advanced Alloys is present in almost all the verticals within the Metal Mining industry. This has provided IBC Advanced Alloys 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– IBC Advanced Alloys has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Metal Mining industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of IBC Advanced Alloys have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management in the Metal Mining industry
– IBC Advanced Alloys is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– IBC Advanced Alloys has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. IBC Advanced Alloys 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Metal Mining industry
– IBC Advanced Alloys has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled IBC Advanced Alloys to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Metal Mining industry. The sustainable margins have also helped IBC Advanced Alloys to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the IBC Advanced Alloys 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of IBC Advanced Alloys comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Metal Mining 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 IBC Advanced Alloys in Metal Mining industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of IBC Advanced Alloys in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. IBC Advanced Alloys has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps IBC Advanced Alloys to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of IBC Advanced Alloys | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of IBC Advanced Alloys are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
IBC Advanced Alloys has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Metal Mining industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of IBC Advanced Alloys is just above the Metal Mining 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 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 IBC Advanced Alloys supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, IBC Advanced Alloys is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left IBC Advanced Alloys vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of IBC Advanced Alloys is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Metal Mining industry, but IBC Advanced Alloys needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help IBC Advanced Alloys to focus more on services in the Metal Mining industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of IBC Advanced Alloys products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, IBC Advanced Alloys needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though IBC Advanced Alloys has some of the most successful models in the Metal Mining industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. IBC Advanced Alloys should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ less understanding of IBC Advanced Alloys strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of IBC Advanced Alloys don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Metal Mining industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, IBC Advanced Alloys 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 Metal Mining industry.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, IBC Advanced Alloys is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help IBC Advanced Alloys to provide better information regarding Metal Mining products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that IBC Advanced Alloys needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Metal Mining industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at IBC Advanced Alloys can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as IBC Advanced Alloys is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, IBC Advanced Alloys has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Metal Mining industry over the last five years. IBC Advanced Alloys 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.
IBC Advanced Alloys Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of IBC Advanced Alloys are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Metal Mining industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. IBC Advanced Alloys can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, IBC Advanced Alloys 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 IBC Advanced Alloys to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– IBC Advanced Alloys 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, IBC Advanced Alloys is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. IBC Advanced Alloys can utilize new technology in the field of Metal Mining industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at IBC Advanced Alloys 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 Metal Mining industry.
Buying journey improvements
– IBC Advanced Alloys can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Metal Mining 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for IBC Advanced Alloys in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Metal Mining industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Metal Mining industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for IBC Advanced Alloys in the Metal Mining industry. Now IBC Advanced Alloys 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 IBC Advanced Alloys has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Metal Mining industry. This can help IBC Advanced Alloys to build a more holistic ecosystem for IBC Advanced Alloys products in the Metal Mining 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 IBC Advanced Alloys 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Metal Mining industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. IBC Advanced Alloys 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. IBC Advanced Alloys 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.
Manufacturing automation
– IBC Advanced Alloys can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Metal Mining 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help IBC Advanced Alloys to increase its market reach. IBC Advanced Alloys 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 IBC Advanced Alloys External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of IBC Advanced Alloys are -
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 IBC Advanced Alloys 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 IBC Advanced Alloys in Metal Mining industry. The Metal Mining 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.
Regulatory challenges
– IBC Advanced Alloys 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 Metal Mining industry regulations.
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. IBC Advanced Alloys needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Metal Mining industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on IBC Advanced Alloys 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 Metal Mining industry and other sectors.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Metal Mining industry are lowering. It can presents IBC Advanced Alloys with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Metal Mining sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, IBC Advanced Alloys 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 IBC Advanced Alloys prominent markets.
Increasing wage structure of IBC Advanced Alloys
– 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 IBC Advanced Alloys.
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 IBC Advanced Alloys.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– IBC Advanced Alloys has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Metal Mining industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, IBC Advanced Alloys needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Metal Mining 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– IBC Advanced Alloys 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 Metal Mining industry.
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. IBC Advanced Alloys 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of IBC Advanced Alloys Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at IBC Advanced Alloys 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 IBC Advanced Alloys 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 IBC Advanced Alloys 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 IBC Advanced Alloys 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 IBC Advanced Alloys needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.