Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Navios Maritime Midstream Partners is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Navios Maritime Midstream Partners can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Navios Maritime Midstream Partners, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 Navios Maritime Midstream Partners can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners
2. Improving business portfolio management of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Water Transportation sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners
Strengths of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Water Transportation industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners has one of the best training and development program in Transportation 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Water Transportation 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.
Digital Transformation in Water Transportation industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Navios Maritime Midstream Partners digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners is present in almost all the verticals within the Water Transportation industry. This has provided Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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.
Analytics focus
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 Water Transportation 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.
Learning organization
- Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 Navios Maritime Midstream Partners is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Navios Maritime Midstream Partners emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners in Water Transportation industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Navios Maritime Midstream Partners staying ahead in the Water Transportation industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners is one of the most innovative firm in Water Transportation sector.
Weaknesses of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Water Transportation industry, but Navios Maritime Midstream Partners needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Navios Maritime Midstream Partners to focus more on services in the Water Transportation industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring in Water Transportation industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Navios Maritime Midstream Partners has high operating costs in the Water Transportation industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Navios Maritime Midstream Partners lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Water Transportation industry, Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners is just above the Water Transportation 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Navios Maritime Midstream Partners has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Water Transportation industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Navios Maritime Midstream Partners needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Water Transportation industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Navios Maritime Midstream Partners can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Navios Maritime Midstream Partners is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Navios Maritime Midstream Partners needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Water Transportation industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 Water Transportation industry.
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 Navios Maritime Midstream Partners supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Navios Maritime Midstream Partners is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Navios Maritime Midstream Partners vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Navios Maritime Midstream Partners is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Navios Maritime Midstream Partners to provide better information regarding Water Transportation products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Navios Maritime Midstream Partners Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 Water Transportation industry.
Buying journey improvements
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Water Transportation 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Water Transportation industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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. Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Water Transportation industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Navios Maritime Midstream Partners can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Navios Maritime Midstream Partners in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Water Transportation industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Water Transportation sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Navios Maritime Midstream Partners to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Navios Maritime Midstream Partners to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Water Transportation industry. This can help Navios Maritime Midstream Partners to build a more holistic ecosystem for Navios Maritime Midstream Partners products in the Water Transportation 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 Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Navios Maritime Midstream Partners can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Navios Maritime Midstream Partners operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Water Transportation sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Navios Maritime Midstream Partners to increase its market reach. Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Water Transportation 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 Navios Maritime Midstream Partners to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Water Transportation industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Navios Maritime Midstream Partners in the Water Transportation industry. Now Navios Maritime Midstream Partners can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Navios Maritime Midstream Partners External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Water Transportation industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Navios Maritime Midstream Partners can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners
– 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 Navios Maritime Midstream Partners.
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. Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 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. Navios Maritime Midstream Partners needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Water Transportation 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 Navios Maritime Midstream Partners in Water Transportation industry. The Water Transportation 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 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 Water Transportation industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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.
Environmental challenges
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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. Navios Maritime Midstream Partners can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Water Transportation industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 Water Transportation industry regulations.
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 Navios Maritime Midstream Partners business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Navios Maritime Midstream Partners has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Water Transportation industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Navios Maritime Midstream Partners needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Water Transportation 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 Navios Maritime Midstream Partners prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Navios Maritime Midstream Partners Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 Navios Maritime Midstream Partners 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 Navios Maritime Midstream Partners needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.