SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Comm& Security (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Comm& Security is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Comm& Security can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Comm& Security, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Comm& Security 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 Comm& Security can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Comm& Security
2. Improving business portfolio management of Comm& Security
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Security Systems & Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Comm& Security
Strengths of Comm& Security | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Comm& Security are -
Organizational Resilience of Comm& Security
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Comm& Security does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Comm& Security has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Comm& Security to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Comm& Security 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 Comm& Security is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Comm& Security emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Comm& Security is one of the leading players in the Security Systems & Services 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.
Digital Transformation in Security Systems & Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Comm& Security digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Comm& Security 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)
– Comm& Security has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Comm& Security staying ahead in the Security Systems & Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Security Systems & Services industry
– Comm& Security has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Comm& Security to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Security Systems & Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Comm& Security to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Comm& Security has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Security Systems & Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Comm& Security have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Comm& Security comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Security Systems & Services 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 Comm& Security in Security Systems & Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Comm& Security has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Comm& Security 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Comm& Security 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.
Weaknesses of Comm& Security | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Comm& Security are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Comm& Security has high operating costs in the Security Systems & Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Comm& Security lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Comm& Security needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Security Systems & Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Comm& Security can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Comm& Security is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on Comm& Security ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Comm& Security still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Security Systems & Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Comm& Security has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Comm& Security is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Security Systems & Services industry, but Comm& Security needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Comm& Security to focus more on services in the Security Systems & Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Comm& Security has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Security Systems & Services industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Comm& Security is one of the leading players in the Security Systems & Services industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Security Systems & Services industry in last five years.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Comm& Security needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Comm& Security, in the dynamic environment of Security Systems & Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Comm& Security has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ less understanding of Comm& Security strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Comm& Security 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Comm& Security 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 Security Systems & Services industry using digital technology.
Skills based hiring in Security Systems & Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Comm& Security 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.
Comm& Security Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Comm& Security are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Comm& Security 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 Security Systems & Services industry.
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 Comm& Security 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Comm& Security has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Security Systems & Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Comm& Security to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Comm& Security to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Comm& Security 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 Comm& Security to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Comm& Security can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Comm& Security 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
– Comm& Security can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Security Systems & Services 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
– Comm& Security can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Security Systems & Services 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Security Systems & Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Comm& Security in the Security Systems & Services industry. Now Comm& Security can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Developing new processes and practices
– Comm& Security can develop new processes and procedures in Security Systems & Services 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Comm& Security can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Comm& Security 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Comm& Security has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Security Systems & Services industry. This can help Comm& Security to build a more holistic ecosystem for Comm& Security products in the Security Systems & Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Comm& Security External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Comm& Security are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Comm& Security may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Security Systems & Services sector.
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. Comm& Security 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.
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 Comm& Security business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, 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. Comm& Security needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Security Systems & Services 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 Comm& Security in Security Systems & Services industry. The Security Systems & Services 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Comm& Security 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 Security Systems & Services industry and other sectors.
Increasing wage structure of Comm& Security
– 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 Comm& Security.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Security Systems & Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Comm& Security can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Comm& Security 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. Comm& Security can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Security Systems & Services industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Security Systems & Services industry are lowering. It can presents Comm& Security with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Security Systems & Services sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Comm& Security 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 Comm& Security prominent markets.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Comm& Security 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 Comm& Security is facing in Security Systems & Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Comm& Security Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Comm& Security 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 Comm& Security 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 Comm& Security 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 Comm& Security 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 Comm& Security needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
