Maxim Power Corp. (MXG) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Maxim Power Corp. (Canada)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Maxim Power Corp. is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Maxim Power Corp.

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Maxim Power Corp. can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Maxim Power Corp., and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Maxim Power Corp. 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Maxim Power Corp. can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Maxim Power Corp.
2. Improving business portfolio management of Maxim Power Corp.
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Canada
4. Making a Electric Utilities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Maxim Power Corp.

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Strengths of Maxim Power Corp. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Maxim Power Corp. are -

Successful track record of launching new products

– Maxim Power Corp. has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Maxim Power Corp. 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.

High brand equity

– Maxim Power Corp. has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Maxim Power Corp. to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Maxim Power Corp. has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Electric Utilities industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Maxim Power Corp. have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Maxim Power Corp. in the Utilities sector have low bargaining power. Maxim Power Corp. has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Maxim Power Corp. to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Maxim Power Corp. is one of the leading players in the Electric Utilities industry in Canada. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Canada. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Diverse revenue streams

– Maxim Power Corp. is present in almost all the verticals within the Electric Utilities industry. This has provided Maxim Power Corp. 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.

Analytics focus

– Maxim Power Corp. 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 Electric Utilities industry. The technology infrastructure of Canada 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Maxim Power Corp. has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Maxim Power Corp. staying ahead in the Electric Utilities industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Maxim Power Corp. comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Electric Utilities 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

- Maxim Power Corp. 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 Maxim Power Corp. is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Maxim Power Corp. emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Maxim Power Corp. in Electric Utilities industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Strong track record of project management in the Electric Utilities industry

– Maxim Power Corp. is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

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Weaknesses of Maxim Power Corp. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Maxim Power Corp. are -

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Maxim Power Corp. is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Maxim Power Corp. to provide better information regarding Electric Utilities products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Need for greater diversity

– Maxim Power Corp. 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Maxim Power Corp. needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Electric Utilities industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Maxim Power Corp. can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Maxim Power Corp. is planning to shift buying processes online.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Maxim Power Corp. is just above the Electric Utilities 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.

Employees’ less understanding of Maxim Power Corp. strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Maxim Power Corp. 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.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Maxim Power Corp. has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Electric Utilities industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Maxim Power Corp. 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Maxim Power Corp. is one of the leading players in the Electric Utilities industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Electric Utilities industry in last five years.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Maxim Power Corp. has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Electric Utilities industry over the last five years. Maxim Power Corp. 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.

High dependence on Maxim Power Corp. ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Maxim Power Corp. still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Electric Utilities industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Maxim Power Corp. has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Maxim Power Corp., in the dynamic environment of Electric Utilities industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Maxim Power Corp. has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

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Maxim Power Corp. Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Maxim Power Corp. are -

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Electric Utilities industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Maxim Power Corp. in the Electric Utilities industry. Now Maxim Power Corp. can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Maxim Power Corp. 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Maxim Power Corp. 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Maxim Power Corp. can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Maxim Power Corp. to increase its market reach. Maxim Power Corp. 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Maxim Power Corp. in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Electric Utilities industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

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. Maxim Power Corp. can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Buying journey improvements

– Maxim Power Corp. can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Electric Utilities 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Maxim Power Corp. 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 Electric Utilities industry.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Maxim Power Corp. can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Maxim Power Corp. operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Electric Utilities sector.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Maxim Power Corp. 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 Maxim Power Corp. to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Electric Utilities industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Maxim Power Corp. can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Manufacturing automation

– Maxim Power Corp. can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Electric Utilities 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.

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Threats Maxim Power Corp. External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Maxim Power Corp. are -

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Maxim Power Corp. 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.

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 Maxim Power Corp. is facing in Electric Utilities sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Environmental challenges

– Maxim Power Corp. 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. Maxim Power Corp. can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Electric Utilities industry.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Electric Utilities industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Maxim Power Corp. 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 Maxim Power Corp. in the Electric Utilities sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Maxim Power Corp. 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 Maxim Power Corp. prominent markets.

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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Maxim Power Corp. may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Electric Utilities sector.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Maxim Power Corp. 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 Electric Utilities industry and other sectors.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Maxim Power Corp. 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 Electric Utilities industry.

Regulatory challenges

– Maxim Power Corp. 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 Electric Utilities industry regulations.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Electric Utilities industry are lowering. It can presents Maxim Power Corp. with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Electric Utilities sector.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Maxim Power Corp. Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Maxim Power Corp. 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 Maxim Power Corp. 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 Maxim Power Corp. 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 Maxim Power Corp. 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 Maxim Power Corp. needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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