Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Canlan Ice Sports Corp. is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Canlan Ice Sports Corp.
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Canlan Ice Sports Corp. can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Canlan Ice Sports Corp., and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Canlan Ice Sports 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.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Canlan Ice Sports Corp. can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Canlan Ice Sports Corp.
2. Improving business portfolio management of Canlan Ice Sports Corp.
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Canada
4. Making a Recreational Activities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Canlan Ice Sports Corp.
Strengths of Canlan Ice Sports Corp. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Canlan Ice Sports Corp. are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Canlan Ice Sports Corp. in Recreational Activities industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Canlan Ice Sports Corp. in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Canlan Ice Sports Corp. has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Canlan Ice Sports Corp. to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Canlan Ice Sports Corp. is present in almost all the verticals within the Recreational Activities industry. This has provided Canlan Ice Sports 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.
High brand equity
– Canlan Ice Sports Corp. has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Canlan Ice Sports Corp. to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Canlan Ice Sports Corp. is one of the leading players in the Recreational Activities 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Canlan Ice Sports Corp. 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Recreational Activities industry
– Canlan Ice Sports Corp. has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Canlan Ice Sports Corp. to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Recreational Activities industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Canlan Ice Sports Corp. to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Canlan Ice Sports Corp. is one of the most innovative firm in Recreational Activities sector.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Canlan Ice Sports Corp. 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.
Digital Transformation in Recreational Activities industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Canlan Ice Sports Corp. digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Canlan Ice Sports Corp. 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 lead change in Recreational Activities
– Canlan Ice Sports Corp. is one of the leading players in the Recreational Activities industry in Canada. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Recreational Activities industry in Canada but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Canlan Ice Sports Corp. in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Canlan Ice Sports Corp. has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Canlan Ice Sports Corp. staying ahead in the Recreational Activities industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of Canlan Ice Sports Corp. | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Canlan Ice Sports Corp. are -
Employees’ less understanding of Canlan Ice Sports Corp. strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Canlan Ice Sports 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Canlan Ice Sports Corp. is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Canlan Ice Sports Corp. to provide better information regarding Recreational Activities products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Canlan Ice Sports Corp. needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Recreational Activities industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Canlan Ice Sports Corp. can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Canlan Ice Sports Corp. is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on Canlan Ice Sports Corp. ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Canlan Ice Sports Corp. still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Recreational Activities industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Canlan Ice Sports Corp. has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Canlan Ice Sports Corp. products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Canlan Ice Sports Corp. needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Canada, Canlan Ice Sports Corp. needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Recreational Activities industry, Canlan Ice Sports Corp. 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.
Skills based hiring in Recreational Activities industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Canlan Ice Sports Corp. 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Canlan Ice Sports Corp. is one of the leading players in the Recreational Activities industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Recreational Activities industry in last five years.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Canlan Ice Sports 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 Recreational Activities industry over the last five years. Canlan Ice Sports 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Canlan Ice Sports Corp. 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 Recreational Activities industry using digital technology.
Canlan Ice Sports Corp. Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Canlan Ice Sports Corp. are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Canlan Ice Sports Corp. 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Canlan Ice Sports Corp. can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Recreational Activities 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Recreational Activities industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Canlan Ice Sports Corp. can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Canlan Ice Sports Corp. can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Canlan Ice Sports 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 Recreational Activities industry.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Canlan Ice Sports Corp. to increase its market reach. Canlan Ice Sports 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Canlan Ice Sports 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 Canlan Ice Sports 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Canlan Ice Sports Corp. has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Recreational Activities sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Canlan Ice Sports Corp. to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Canlan Ice Sports Corp. to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Canlan Ice Sports 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Canlan Ice Sports Corp. can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Recreational Activities 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.
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 Canlan Ice Sports Corp. 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.
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. Canlan Ice Sports Corp. can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Canlan Ice Sports Corp. can develop new processes and procedures in Recreational Activities 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.
Threats Canlan Ice Sports Corp. External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Canlan Ice Sports Corp. are -
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 Canlan Ice Sports Corp. business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Recreational Activities industry are lowering. It can presents Canlan Ice Sports Corp. with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Recreational Activities sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Canlan Ice Sports 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 Canlan Ice Sports Corp. prominent markets.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Recreational Activities industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Canlan Ice Sports Corp. 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 Canlan Ice Sports Corp.
– 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 Canlan Ice Sports Corp..
Environmental challenges
– Canlan Ice Sports 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. Canlan Ice Sports Corp. can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Recreational Activities industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Canlan Ice Sports Corp. in Recreational Activities industry. The Recreational Activities 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Canlan Ice Sports 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 Recreational Activities industry regulations.
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 Canlan Ice Sports Corp. in the Recreational Activities sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Canlan Ice Sports 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.
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, Canlan Ice Sports 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 Recreational Activities sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Canlan Ice Sports Corp. Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Canlan Ice Sports 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 Canlan Ice Sports 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 Canlan Ice Sports 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 Canlan Ice Sports 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 Canlan Ice Sports Corp. needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.