SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated (Canada)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated
2. Improving business portfolio management of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Canada
4. Making a Fish/Livestock sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated
Strengths of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Fish/Livestock industry
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated is one of the leading players in the Fish/Livestock industry in Canada. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Canada. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Fish/Livestock industry
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Fish/Livestock industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated is one of the most innovative firm in Fish/Livestock sector.
High brand equity
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Fish/Livestock industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated has one of the best training and development program in Consumer/Non-Cyclical 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated staying ahead in the Fish/Livestock industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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.
Weaknesses of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated are -
High bargaining power of channel partners in Fish/Livestock industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Canada, Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 Fish/Livestock industry.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated, in the dynamic environment of Fish/Livestock industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated is just above the Fish/Livestock 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated has high operating costs in the Fish/Livestock industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Fish/Livestock industry over the last five years. Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated has some of the most successful models in the Fish/Livestock industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Fish/Livestock industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Skills based hiring in Fish/Livestock industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Fish/Livestock industry, but Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated to focus more on services in the Fish/Livestock industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 Fish/Livestock industry using digital technology.
High dependence on Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Fish/Livestock industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated can develop new processes and procedures in Fish/Livestock 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Fish/Livestock industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 Fish/Livestock industry.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Fish/Livestock industry. This can help Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated to build a more holistic ecosystem for Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated products in the Fish/Livestock industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated to increase its market reach. Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Fish/Livestock industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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. Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Fish/Livestock industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated in the Fish/Livestock industry. Now Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated can utilize new technology in the field of Fish/Livestock 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 Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Fish/Livestock 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.
Threats Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated prominent markets.
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 Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 Fish/Livestock industry regulations.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Fish/Livestock industry are lowering. It can presents Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Fish/Livestock sector.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Fish/Livestock industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Fish/Livestock 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.
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, Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Fish/Livestock sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated is facing in Fish/Livestock 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 Fish/Livestock industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 Fish/Livestock 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. Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated 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 Clearwater Seafoods Incorporated needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.