Investors Title (ITIC) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Insurance (Prop. & Casualty)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Investors Title (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Investors Title is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Investors Title can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Investors Title, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Investors Title 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 Investors Title can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Investors Title
2. Improving business portfolio management of Investors Title
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Investors Title
Strengths of Investors Title | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Investors Title are -
Organizational Resilience of Investors Title
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Investors Title does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Investors Title has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Investors Title have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Investors Title has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Investors Title staying ahead in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) 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 Investors Title 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.
High brand equity
– Investors Title has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Investors Title to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry
– Investors Title has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Investors Title to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Investors Title to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Investors Title has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Investors Title has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Digital Transformation in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Investors Title digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Investors Title 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Investors Title comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) 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 Investors Title in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty)
– Investors Title is one of the leading players in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Investors Title in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Investors Title 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 Investors Title is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Investors Title emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses of Investors Title | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Investors Title are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Investors Title is just above the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) 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.
Skills based hiring in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Investors Title 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Investors Title needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Investors Title is one of the leading players in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry in last five years.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Investors Title is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry, but Investors Title needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Investors Title to focus more on services in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Investors Title has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry over the last five years. Investors Title 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, Investors Title has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Investors Title 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 Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Investors Title has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Need for greater diversity
– Investors Title has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Lack of clear differentiation of Investors Title products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Investors Title needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Investors Title Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Investors Title are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Investors Title to increase its market reach. Investors Title 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Investors Title can develop new processes and procedures in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Investors Title in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Buying journey improvements
– Investors Title can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Investors Title 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. Investors Title 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. Investors Title can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Investors Title can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Investors Title has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry. This can help Investors Title to build a more holistic ecosystem for Investors Title products in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Investors Title 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Investors Title 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 Investors Title to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Investors Title 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Investors Title in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry. Now Investors Title can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Investors Title 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.
Threats Investors Title External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Investors Title are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Investors Title in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry. The Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) 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 wage structure of Investors Title
– 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 Investors Title.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Investors Title is facing in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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. Investors Title 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Investors Title may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) sector.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry are lowering. It can presents Investors Title with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Investors Title can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Investors Title in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Investors Title has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Investors Title needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) 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.
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 Investors Title.
Environmental challenges
– Investors Title 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. Investors Title can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Investors Title Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Investors Title 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 Investors Title 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 Investors Title 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 Investors Title 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 Investors Title needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.