Superior Uniform (SGC) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Superior Uniform (United States)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Superior Uniform is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, 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, increasing commodity prices, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Superior Uniform

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

According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Superior Uniform can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Superior Uniform
2. Improving business portfolio management of Superior Uniform
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Apparel/Accessories sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Superior Uniform

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Strengths of Superior Uniform | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Superior Uniform are -

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Superior Uniform 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.

Strong track record of project management in the Apparel/Accessories industry

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

Digital Transformation in Apparel/Accessories industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Superior Uniform digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Superior Uniform 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.

Analytics focus

– Superior Uniform 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 Apparel/Accessories 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Superior Uniform has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Apparel/Accessories industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Superior Uniform have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Ability to lead change in Apparel/Accessories

– Superior Uniform is one of the leading players in the Apparel/Accessories industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Apparel/Accessories industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Superior Uniform 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)

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

Innovation driven organization

– Superior Uniform is one of the most innovative firm in Apparel/Accessories sector.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Superior Uniform 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 Apparel/Accessories industry

– Superior Uniform has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Superior Uniform to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Apparel/Accessories industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Superior Uniform to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Superior Uniform comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Apparel/Accessories industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.

Learning organization

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

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Weaknesses of Superior Uniform | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Superior Uniform are -

Lack of clear differentiation of Superior Uniform products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Superior Uniform needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Apparel/Accessories industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Superior Uniform 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 Apparel/Accessories industry.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Superior Uniform is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Apparel/Accessories industry, but Superior Uniform needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Superior Uniform to focus more on services in the Apparel/Accessories industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Superior Uniform, in the dynamic environment of Apparel/Accessories industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Superior Uniform has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Superior Uniform is just above the Apparel/Accessories 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

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

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Superior Uniform 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 Apparel/Accessories industry using digital technology.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Superior Uniform has some of the most successful models in the Apparel/Accessories industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Superior Uniform should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Superior Uniform 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 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 Superior Uniform supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Superior Uniform is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Superior Uniform vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Superior Uniform, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Apparel/Accessories 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.

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Superior Uniform Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Superior Uniform are -

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Superior Uniform 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Superior Uniform has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Apparel/Accessories industry. This can help Superior Uniform to build a more holistic ecosystem for Superior Uniform products in the Apparel/Accessories 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 Apparel/Accessories industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Superior Uniform 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. Superior Uniform 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Superior Uniform can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Apparel/Accessories 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Superior Uniform has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Apparel/Accessories sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Superior Uniform to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Superior Uniform to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Superior Uniform 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 Apparel/Accessories industry.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Superior Uniform can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Superior Uniform operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Apparel/Accessories sector.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Superior Uniform 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.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Apparel/Accessories industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Superior Uniform in the Apparel/Accessories industry. Now Superior Uniform can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

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. Superior Uniform can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

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

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Superior Uniform in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Apparel/Accessories industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Manufacturing automation

– Superior Uniform can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Apparel/Accessories sector. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

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Threats Superior Uniform External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Superior Uniform are -

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Superior Uniform 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 Superior Uniform prominent markets.

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 Superior Uniform business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Environmental challenges

– Superior Uniform 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. Superior Uniform can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Apparel/Accessories industry.

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. Superior Uniform needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Apparel/Accessories industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Superior Uniform 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 Apparel/Accessories industry.

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 Superior Uniform.

Regulatory challenges

– Superior Uniform 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 Apparel/Accessories 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 Superior Uniform in the Apparel/Accessories sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Superior Uniform 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Superior Uniform has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Apparel/Accessories industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Superior Uniform needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Apparel/Accessories 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Superior Uniform is facing in Apparel/Accessories sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Superior Uniform in Apparel/Accessories industry. The Apparel/Accessories 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.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Apparel/Accessories industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Superior Uniform can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Superior Uniform Template, Example

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

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