Int Consolidated Airlines (ICAGY) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Int Consolidated Airlines (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Int Consolidated Airlines is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Int Consolidated Airlines
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Int Consolidated Airlines can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Int Consolidated Airlines, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Int Consolidated Airlines 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 Int Consolidated Airlines can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Int Consolidated Airlines
2. Improving business portfolio management of Int Consolidated Airlines
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Int Consolidated Airlines
Strengths of Int Consolidated Airlines | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Int Consolidated Airlines are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Int Consolidated Airlines has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Int Consolidated Airlines have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Int Consolidated Airlines is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided Int Consolidated Airlines 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.
Strong track record of project management in the industry
– Int Consolidated Airlines is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Int Consolidated Airlines is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure of United States is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Int Consolidated Airlines 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.
Learning organization
- Int Consolidated Airlines 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 Int Consolidated Airlines is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Int Consolidated Airlines emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Int Consolidated Airlines comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Training and development
– Int Consolidated Airlines has one of the best training and development program in 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.
Organizational Resilience of Int Consolidated Airlines
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Int Consolidated Airlines does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Int Consolidated Airlines is one of the leading players in the 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– Int Consolidated Airlines has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Int Consolidated Airlines to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Int Consolidated Airlines to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Int Consolidated Airlines has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Int Consolidated Airlines 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.
Weaknesses of Int Consolidated Airlines | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Int Consolidated Airlines are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Int Consolidated Airlines needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Int Consolidated Airlines can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Int Consolidated Airlines is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Int Consolidated Airlines has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Int Consolidated Airlines 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Int Consolidated Airlines has high operating costs in the industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Int Consolidated Airlines lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Int Consolidated Airlines is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Int Consolidated Airlines to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Int Consolidated Airlines has some of the most successful models in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Int Consolidated Airlines should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Int Consolidated Airlines is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but Int Consolidated Airlines needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Int Consolidated Airlines to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Int Consolidated Airlines, in the dynamic environment of industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Int Consolidated Airlines has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Int Consolidated Airlines products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Int Consolidated Airlines needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Int Consolidated Airlines has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the 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 Int Consolidated Airlines is just above the industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Int Consolidated Airlines is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Int Consolidated Airlines Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Int Consolidated Airlines are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Int Consolidated Airlines can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Int Consolidated Airlines can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Int Consolidated Airlines has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Int Consolidated Airlines to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Int Consolidated Airlines to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Int Consolidated Airlines can develop new processes and procedures in industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Int Consolidated Airlines can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Int Consolidated Airlines operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Int Consolidated Airlines 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Int Consolidated Airlines 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 industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Int Consolidated Airlines 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. Int Consolidated Airlines 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Int Consolidated Airlines is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Int Consolidated Airlines can utilize new technology in the field of industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Int Consolidated Airlines in the industry. Now Int Consolidated Airlines can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Int Consolidated Airlines 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Int Consolidated Airlines 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 Int Consolidated Airlines to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Int Consolidated Airlines has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Int Consolidated Airlines to build a more holistic ecosystem for Int Consolidated Airlines products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Int Consolidated Airlines External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Int Consolidated Airlines are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents Int Consolidated Airlines with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Int Consolidated Airlines can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Int Consolidated Airlines in industry. The industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Int Consolidated Airlines 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 Int Consolidated Airlines 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Int Consolidated Airlines is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Int Consolidated Airlines demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in industry and other sectors.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Int Consolidated Airlines may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Int Consolidated Airlines needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Int Consolidated Airlines 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 industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Int Consolidated Airlines 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.
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 Int Consolidated Airlines.
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. Int Consolidated Airlines needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Int Consolidated Airlines Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Int Consolidated Airlines 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 Int Consolidated Airlines 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 Int Consolidated Airlines 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 Int Consolidated Airlines 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 Int Consolidated Airlines needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.