SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for MacDonald Dettwiler (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , MacDonald Dettwiler is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of MacDonald Dettwiler
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that MacDonald Dettwiler can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the MacDonald Dettwiler, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which MacDonald Dettwiler 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 MacDonald Dettwiler can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of MacDonald Dettwiler
2. Improving business portfolio management of MacDonald Dettwiler
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Communications Equipment sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of MacDonald Dettwiler
Strengths of MacDonald Dettwiler | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of MacDonald Dettwiler are -
Training and development
– MacDonald Dettwiler 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– MacDonald Dettwiler has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – MacDonald Dettwiler staying ahead in the Communications Equipment industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– MacDonald Dettwiler 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 Communications Equipment 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of MacDonald Dettwiler comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Communications Equipment 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.
Learning organization
- MacDonald Dettwiler 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 MacDonald Dettwiler is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at MacDonald Dettwiler emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of MacDonald Dettwiler in Communications Equipment industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Communications Equipment
– MacDonald Dettwiler is one of the leading players in the Communications Equipment industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Communications Equipment industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled MacDonald Dettwiler in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– MacDonald Dettwiler has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled MacDonald Dettwiler to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Communications Equipment industry
– MacDonald Dettwiler has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled MacDonald Dettwiler to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Communications Equipment industry. The sustainable margins have also helped MacDonald Dettwiler to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– MacDonald Dettwiler is present in almost all the verticals within the Communications Equipment industry. This has provided MacDonald Dettwiler 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– MacDonald Dettwiler is one of the leading players in the Communications Equipment 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– MacDonald Dettwiler has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Communications Equipment industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of MacDonald Dettwiler have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of MacDonald Dettwiler | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of MacDonald Dettwiler are -
High bargaining power of channel partners in Communications Equipment industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, MacDonald Dettwiler 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 Communications Equipment industry.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, MacDonald Dettwiler has high operating costs in the Communications Equipment industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract MacDonald Dettwiler lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of MacDonald Dettwiler products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, MacDonald Dettwiler needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, MacDonald Dettwiler has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Communications Equipment industry over the last five years. MacDonald Dettwiler 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, MacDonald Dettwiler needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 MacDonald Dettwiler supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, MacDonald Dettwiler is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left MacDonald Dettwiler vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Communications Equipment industry, MacDonald Dettwiler 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at MacDonald Dettwiler, in the dynamic environment of Communications Equipment industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. MacDonald Dettwiler has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, MacDonald Dettwiler is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help MacDonald Dettwiler to provide better information regarding Communications Equipment products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on MacDonald Dettwiler ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of MacDonald Dettwiler still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Communications Equipment industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though MacDonald Dettwiler has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ less understanding of MacDonald Dettwiler strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of MacDonald Dettwiler don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
MacDonald Dettwiler Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of MacDonald Dettwiler are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for MacDonald Dettwiler in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Communications Equipment industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, MacDonald Dettwiler 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 MacDonald Dettwiler to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, MacDonald Dettwiler can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that MacDonald Dettwiler operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Communications Equipment sector.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Communications Equipment industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. MacDonald Dettwiler can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Communications Equipment industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. MacDonald Dettwiler 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. MacDonald Dettwiler 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of MacDonald Dettwiler has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Communications Equipment industry. This can help MacDonald Dettwiler to build a more holistic ecosystem for MacDonald Dettwiler products in the Communications Equipment industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for MacDonald Dettwiler 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for MacDonald Dettwiler 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 MacDonald Dettwiler to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help MacDonald Dettwiler to increase its market reach. MacDonald Dettwiler 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– MacDonald Dettwiler 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– MacDonald Dettwiler has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Communications Equipment sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled MacDonald Dettwiler to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help MacDonald Dettwiler to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 MacDonald Dettwiler 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects MacDonald Dettwiler can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats MacDonald Dettwiler External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of MacDonald Dettwiler are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Communications Equipment industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. MacDonald Dettwiler can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on MacDonald Dettwiler 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 Communications Equipment industry and other sectors.
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. MacDonald Dettwiler 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– MacDonald Dettwiler 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that MacDonald Dettwiler is facing in Communications Equipment sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. MacDonald Dettwiler needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Communications Equipment industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 MacDonald Dettwiler in the Communications Equipment sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– MacDonald Dettwiler 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 Communications Equipment industry regulations.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– MacDonald Dettwiler 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 Communications Equipment industry.
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.
Increasing wage structure of MacDonald Dettwiler
– 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 MacDonald Dettwiler.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, MacDonald Dettwiler may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Communications Equipment sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of MacDonald Dettwiler Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at MacDonald Dettwiler 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 MacDonald Dettwiler 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 MacDonald Dettwiler 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 MacDonald Dettwiler 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 MacDonald Dettwiler needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.