Quintana Energy Services (QES) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Oil Well Services & Equipment
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Quintana Energy Services (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Quintana Energy Services is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Quintana Energy Services
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Quintana Energy Services can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Quintana Energy Services, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Quintana Energy Services 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 Quintana Energy Services can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Quintana Energy Services
2. Improving business portfolio management of Quintana Energy Services
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Oil Well Services & Equipment sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Quintana Energy Services
Strengths of Quintana Energy Services | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Quintana Energy Services are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Quintana Energy Services in Oil Well Services & Equipment industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Quintana Energy Services comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Oil Well Services & Equipment 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Quintana Energy Services is one of the leading players in the Oil Well Services & Equipment 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Quintana Energy Services has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Analytics focus
– Quintana Energy Services 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 Oil Well Services & Equipment 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.
Training and development
– Quintana Energy Services has one of the best training and development program in Energy 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Quintana Energy Services in the Energy sector have low bargaining power. Quintana Energy Services has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Quintana Energy Services to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Quintana Energy Services is one of the most innovative firm in Oil Well Services & Equipment sector.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Oil Well Services & Equipment industry
– Quintana Energy Services has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Quintana Energy Services to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Quintana Energy Services to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry
– Quintana Energy Services is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Oil Well Services & Equipment
– Quintana Energy Services is one of the leading players in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Quintana Energy Services in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Oil Well Services & Equipment industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Quintana Energy Services digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Quintana Energy Services 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.
Weaknesses of Quintana Energy Services | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Quintana Energy Services are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Quintana Energy Services needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Quintana Energy Services can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Quintana Energy Services is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Quintana Energy Services, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Oil Well Services & Equipment industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Lack of clear differentiation of Quintana Energy Services products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Quintana Energy Services needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Quintana Energy Services is one of the leading players in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry in last five years.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Quintana Energy Services is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Quintana Energy Services to provide better information regarding Oil Well Services & Equipment products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Quintana Energy Services has some of the most successful models in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Quintana Energy Services should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Quintana Energy Services, in the dynamic environment of Oil Well Services & Equipment industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Quintana Energy Services has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Quintana Energy Services is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry, but Quintana Energy Services needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Quintana Energy Services to focus more on services in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ less understanding of Quintana Energy Services strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Quintana Energy Services 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 dependence on Quintana Energy Services ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Quintana Energy Services still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Oil Well Services & Equipment industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Quintana Energy Services has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Quintana Energy Services is just above the Oil Well Services & Equipment 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.
Quintana Energy Services Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Quintana Energy Services are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Quintana Energy Services 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 Quintana Energy Services to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Quintana Energy Services 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 Oil Well Services & Equipment industry.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Oil Well Services & Equipment industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Quintana Energy Services can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Oil Well Services & Equipment industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Quintana Energy Services in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry. Now Quintana Energy Services can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Quintana Energy Services can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Oil Well Services & Equipment 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.
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 Quintana Energy Services 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Quintana Energy Services has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Oil Well Services & Equipment industry. This can help Quintana Energy Services to build a more holistic ecosystem for Quintana Energy Services products in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Quintana Energy Services 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Quintana Energy Services 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, Quintana Energy Services can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Quintana Energy Services operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Oil Well Services & Equipment sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Quintana Energy Services 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 Quintana Energy Services 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. Quintana Energy Services can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Quintana Energy Services to increase its market reach. Quintana Energy Services 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.
Threats Quintana Energy Services External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Quintana Energy Services are -
Environmental challenges
– Quintana Energy Services 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. Quintana Energy Services can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Oil Well Services & Equipment industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Quintana Energy Services can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Quintana Energy Services needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Quintana Energy Services business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Quintana Energy Services 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 Quintana Energy Services prominent markets.
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 Quintana Energy Services in the Oil Well Services & Equipment sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Quintana Energy Services 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Quintana Energy Services may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Oil Well Services & Equipment sector.
Increasing wage structure of Quintana Energy Services
– 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 Quintana Energy Services.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Quintana Energy Services has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Quintana Energy Services needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Oil Well Services & Equipment 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.
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. Quintana Energy Services 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Oil Well Services & Equipment industry are lowering. It can presents Quintana Energy Services with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Oil Well Services & Equipment sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Quintana Energy Services Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Quintana Energy Services 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 Quintana Energy Services 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 Quintana Energy Services 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 Quintana Energy Services 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 Quintana Energy Services needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.