Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Sycamore Entmt Grp is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices,
technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sycamore Entmt Grp
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Sycamore Entmt Grp can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sycamore Entmt Grp, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Sycamore Entmt Grp can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Sycamore Entmt Grp
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sycamore Entmt Grp
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Motion Pictures sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Sycamore Entmt Grp
Strengths of Sycamore Entmt Grp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sycamore Entmt Grp are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sycamore Entmt Grp has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sycamore Entmt Grp 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Motion Pictures industry
– Sycamore Entmt Grp has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sycamore Entmt Grp to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Motion Pictures industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sycamore Entmt Grp to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Sycamore Entmt Grp has one of the best training and development program in Services 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sycamore Entmt Grp is present in almost all the verticals within the Motion Pictures industry. This has provided Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Sycamore Entmt Grp 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.
High brand equity
– Sycamore Entmt Grp has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sycamore Entmt Grp to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Motion Pictures 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
- Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Sycamore Entmt Grp is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Sycamore Entmt Grp emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sycamore Entmt Grp in Motion Pictures industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sycamore Entmt Grp has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Sycamore Entmt Grp staying ahead in the Motion Pictures industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sycamore Entmt Grp in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Sycamore Entmt Grp has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sycamore Entmt Grp to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Motion Pictures
– Sycamore Entmt Grp is one of the leading players in the Motion Pictures industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Motion Pictures industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Sycamore Entmt Grp in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses of Sycamore Entmt Grp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sycamore Entmt Grp are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sycamore Entmt Grp has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Motion Pictures 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 Sycamore Entmt Grp needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Motion Pictures industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Sycamore Entmt Grp can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sycamore Entmt Grp is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Sycamore Entmt Grp supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Sycamore Entmt Grp is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sycamore Entmt Grp vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Sycamore Entmt Grp, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Motion Pictures 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Sycamore Entmt Grp, in the dynamic environment of Motion Pictures industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sycamore Entmt Grp has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Sycamore Entmt Grp products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sycamore Entmt Grp needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Sycamore Entmt Grp 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Sycamore Entmt Grp strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Sycamore Entmt Grp 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Sycamore Entmt Grp 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Sycamore Entmt Grp has high operating costs in the Motion Pictures industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Sycamore Entmt Grp lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sycamore Entmt Grp is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Sycamore Entmt Grp to provide better information regarding Motion Pictures products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Sycamore Entmt Grp Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Sycamore Entmt Grp are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Motion Pictures industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Sycamore Entmt Grp in the Motion Pictures industry. Now Sycamore Entmt Grp can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Sycamore Entmt Grp to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sycamore Entmt Grp 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Motion Pictures industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Sycamore Entmt Grp can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sycamore Entmt Grp has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Motion Pictures industry. This can help Sycamore Entmt Grp to build a more holistic ecosystem for Sycamore Entmt Grp products in the Motion Pictures industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Motion Pictures industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Sycamore Entmt Grp 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. Sycamore Entmt Grp 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Sycamore Entmt Grp 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sycamore Entmt Grp 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Motion Pictures industry.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sycamore Entmt Grp can develop new processes and procedures in Motion Pictures industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sycamore Entmt Grp can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sycamore Entmt Grp in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Motion Pictures industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Sycamore Entmt Grp External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Sycamore Entmt Grp are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sycamore Entmt Grp is facing in Motion Pictures sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Sycamore Entmt Grp may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Motion Pictures sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Sycamore Entmt Grp prominent markets.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Motion Pictures industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Sycamore Entmt Grp can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Sycamore Entmt Grp 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. Sycamore Entmt Grp can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Motion Pictures industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Motion Pictures industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Motion Pictures industry regulations.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sycamore Entmt Grp 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.
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 Sycamore Entmt Grp business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sycamore Entmt Grp has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Motion Pictures industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sycamore Entmt Grp needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Motion Pictures 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.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Sycamore Entmt Grp.
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 Sycamore Entmt Grp in the Motion Pictures sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sycamore Entmt Grp Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Sycamore Entmt Grp 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 Sycamore Entmt Grp needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.