SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Mcig Inc (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Mcig Inc is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Mcig Inc can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mcig Inc, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mcig Inc 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 Mcig Inc can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Mcig Inc
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mcig Inc
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Tobacco sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Mcig Inc
Strengths of Mcig Inc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mcig Inc are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mcig Inc has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Tobacco industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Mcig Inc have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mcig Inc in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Mcig Inc has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mcig Inc to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Mcig Inc has one of the best training and development program in Consumer/Non-Cyclical 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mcig Inc in Tobacco industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Mcig Inc has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Mcig Inc staying ahead in the Tobacco 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 Mcig Inc 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.
Analytics focus
– Mcig Inc 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 Tobacco industry. The technology infrastructure of United States is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mcig Inc 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Mcig Inc is present in almost all the verticals within the Tobacco industry. This has provided Mcig Inc 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.
Digital Transformation in Tobacco industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Mcig Inc digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mcig Inc 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mcig Inc is one of the leading players in the Tobacco 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Mcig Inc comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Tobacco 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.
Weaknesses of Mcig Inc | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mcig Inc are -
High bargaining power of channel partners in Tobacco industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Mcig Inc 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 Tobacco industry.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Mcig Inc is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Tobacco industry, but Mcig Inc needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Mcig Inc to focus more on services in the Tobacco industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Mcig Inc products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mcig Inc needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Mcig Inc has high operating costs in the Tobacco industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Mcig Inc lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Mcig Inc 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 Tobacco industry using digital technology.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Tobacco industry, Mcig Inc 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 Mcig Inc, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Tobacco 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mcig Inc has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Tobacco industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Mcig Inc, in the dynamic environment of Tobacco industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mcig Inc has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Mcig Inc is just above the Tobacco 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Mcig Inc is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Mcig Inc to provide better information regarding Tobacco products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Mcig Inc Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Mcig Inc are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Tobacco industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Mcig Inc 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. Mcig Inc 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mcig Inc 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 Mcig Inc to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Mcig Inc can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Tobacco 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
– Mcig Inc can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Tobacco 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 Tobacco industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Mcig Inc can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mcig Inc can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mcig Inc operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Tobacco sector.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Tobacco industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Mcig Inc in the Tobacco industry. Now Mcig Inc can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mcig Inc can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Mcig Inc has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Tobacco industry. This can help Mcig Inc to build a more holistic ecosystem for Mcig Inc products in the Tobacco industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Mcig Inc 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 Tobacco industry.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mcig Inc to increase its market reach. Mcig Inc 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.
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. Mcig Inc 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 Mcig Inc in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Tobacco industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Mcig Inc External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Mcig Inc are -
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Mcig Inc is facing in Tobacco sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Mcig Inc 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Mcig Inc 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 Tobacco industry regulations.
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. Mcig Inc 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.
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 Mcig Inc in the Tobacco sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Tobacco industry are lowering. It can presents Mcig Inc with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Tobacco sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Mcig Inc 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 Tobacco industry and other sectors.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mcig Inc has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Tobacco industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mcig Inc needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Tobacco 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mcig Inc 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 Tobacco 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 Mcig Inc
– 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 Mcig Inc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Mcig Inc may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Tobacco sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mcig Inc Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Mcig Inc 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 Mcig Inc 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 Mcig Inc 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 Mcig Inc 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 Mcig Inc needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.