Intevac (IVAC) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Computer Storage Devices
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Intevac (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Intevac is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Intevac can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Intevac, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Intevac 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 Intevac can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Intevac
2. Improving business portfolio management of Intevac
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Computer Storage Devices sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Intevac
Strengths of Intevac | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Intevac are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Intevac 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Intevac is one of the most innovative firm in Computer Storage Devices sector.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Intevac in Computer Storage Devices industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Intevac 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 Intevac is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Intevac emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Computer Storage Devices industry
– Intevac has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Intevac to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Computer Storage Devices industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Intevac to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Intevac has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Intevac 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.
Analytics focus
– Intevac 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 Computer Storage Devices 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.
High brand equity
– Intevac has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Intevac to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Intevac has one of the best training and development program in Technology 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Intevac in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. Intevac has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Intevac to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Computer Storage Devices
– Intevac is one of the leading players in the Computer Storage Devices industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Computer Storage Devices industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Intevac in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Intevac is present in almost all the verticals within the Computer Storage Devices industry. This has provided Intevac 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.
Weaknesses of Intevac | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Intevac are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Computer Storage Devices industry, Intevac needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Intevac, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Computer Storage Devices industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Intevac 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Intevac has high operating costs in the Computer Storage Devices industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Intevac lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Intevac needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Computer Storage Devices industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Intevac can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Intevac is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Intevac 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 Computer Storage Devices industry using digital technology.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Intevac is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Intevac to provide better information regarding Computer Storage Devices products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Intevac has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Computer Storage Devices industry over the last five years. Intevac 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Intevac products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Intevac needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Intevac has some of the most successful models in the Computer Storage Devices industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Intevac should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Intevac supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Intevac is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Intevac vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Intevac Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Intevac are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Intevac can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Intevac operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Computer Storage Devices sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Intevac 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 Computer Storage Devices industry.
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. Intevac can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Computer Storage Devices industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Intevac 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. Intevac 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 Computer Storage Devices industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Intevac in the Computer Storage Devices industry. Now Intevac can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Intevac 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 Intevac to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Intevac can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Computer Storage Devices 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Computer Storage Devices industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Intevac can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Intevac is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Intevac can utilize new technology in the field of Computer Storage Devices industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Intevac 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Intevac can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Computer Storage Devices 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Intevac 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Intevac 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 Intevac External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Intevac are -
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. Intevac needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Computer Storage Devices industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Intevac in Computer Storage Devices industry. The Computer Storage Devices 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Intevac has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Computer Storage Devices industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Intevac needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Computer Storage Devices 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.
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 Intevac in the Computer Storage Devices sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Computer Storage Devices industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Intevac can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Intevac 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 Intevac prominent markets.
Environmental challenges
– Intevac 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. Intevac can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Computer Storage Devices 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. Intevac 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Intevac 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 Computer Storage Devices industry regulations.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Intevac 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Computer Storage Devices industry are lowering. It can presents Intevac with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Computer Storage Devices sector.
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 Intevac.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Intevac Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Intevac 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 Intevac 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 Intevac 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 Intevac 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 Intevac needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.