Skyline (SKY) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Mobile Homes & RVs
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Skyline (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Skyline is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Skyline can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Skyline, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Skyline 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 Skyline can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Skyline
2. Improving business portfolio management of Skyline
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Mobile Homes & RVs sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Skyline
Strengths of Skyline | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Skyline are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Skyline is present in almost all the verticals within the Mobile Homes & RVs industry. This has provided Skyline 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.
Organizational Resilience of Skyline
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Skyline does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Mobile Homes & RVs industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Skyline digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Skyline 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Skyline has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Skyline staying ahead in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Skyline 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 Mobile Homes & RVs 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Skyline 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.
Ability to lead change in Mobile Homes & RVs
– Skyline is one of the leading players in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Skyline in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Skyline has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Skyline to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Skyline comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Mobile Homes & RVs 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Skyline is one of the most innovative firm in Mobile Homes & RVs sector.
Strong track record of project management in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry
– Skyline is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Mobile Homes & RVs industry
– Skyline has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Skyline to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Skyline to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses of Skyline | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Skyline are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Skyline has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Mobile Homes & RVs industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Skyline 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 Mobile Homes & RVs industry.
Lack of clear differentiation of Skyline products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Skyline needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Skyline is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry, but Skyline needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Skyline to focus more on services in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Skyline 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.
Skills based hiring in Mobile Homes & RVs industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Skyline has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Skyline has high operating costs in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Skyline lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Skyline is just above the Mobile Homes & RVs 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Skyline, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Mobile Homes & RVs 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Skyline needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Skyline can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Skyline is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on Skyline ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Skyline still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Mobile Homes & RVs industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Skyline has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skyline Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Skyline are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Mobile Homes & RVs industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Skyline 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 Skyline has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Mobile Homes & RVs industry. This can help Skyline to build a more holistic ecosystem for Skyline products in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Skyline can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Mobile Homes & RVs 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Skyline can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Mobile Homes & RVs 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Skyline 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. Skyline 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Skyline can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Skyline operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Mobile Homes & RVs sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Skyline 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Skyline 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 Skyline to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Skyline to increase its market reach. Skyline 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Skyline 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Skyline 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 Skyline to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Skyline can develop new processes and procedures in Mobile Homes & RVs 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Skyline 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.
Threats Skyline External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Skyline are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Skyline is facing in Mobile Homes & RVs sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Skyline
– 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 Skyline.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Skyline 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 Skyline prominent markets.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Skyline 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Skyline demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in Mobile Homes & RVs industry and other sectors.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Mobile Homes & RVs industry are lowering. It can presents Skyline with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Mobile Homes & RVs sector.
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 Skyline.
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. Skyline needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Mobile Homes & RVs industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Skyline in Mobile Homes & RVs industry. The Mobile Homes & RVs 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Skyline 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 Mobile Homes & RVs industry.
Environmental challenges
– Skyline 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. Skyline can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Skyline has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Mobile Homes & RVs industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Skyline needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Mobile Homes & RVs 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Mobile Homes & RVs industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Skyline can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Skyline Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Skyline 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 Skyline 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 Skyline 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 Skyline 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 Skyline needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.