Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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 Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK
2. Improving business portfolio management of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK
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 Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK
Strengths of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK are -
Ability to lead change in
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK is one of the leading players in the industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK in the sector have low bargaining power. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
Strong track record of project management in the industry
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK in industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
Organizational Resilience of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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 dependence on Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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 industry using digital technology.
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 Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring in industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the industry, but Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK to focus more on services in the industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK to build a more holistic ecosystem for Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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 Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK to increase its market reach. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
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 Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
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. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Buying journey improvements
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK can improve the customer journey of consumers in the 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
Threats Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK are -
Environmental challenges
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
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 Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
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. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the 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.
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. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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 Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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 Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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 Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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 Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK 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 Intesa Sanpaolo SpA PK needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.