Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium
Strengths of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium are -
Ability to lead change in
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium is one of the leading players in the industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium is one of the most innovative firm in sector.
Strong track record of project management in the industry
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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 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 brand equity
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium has one of the best training and development program in 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium in the sector have low bargaining power. Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium is one of the leading players in the industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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 industry using digital technology.
High bargaining power of channel partners in industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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 industry.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring in industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium has some of the most successful models in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ less understanding of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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.
Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium are -
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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium can improve the customer journey of consumers in the 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium in the industry. Now Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium can utilize new technology in the field of industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
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. Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium to build a more holistic ecosystem for Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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 industry.
Threats Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium are -
Environmental challenges
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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. Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the industry.
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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium prominent markets.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the 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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium in the sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium
– 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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium.
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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium 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 Sprott Physical Platinum Palladium needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.