AJ Greentech (SUIC) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for AJ Greentech (United States)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , AJ Greentech is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of AJ Greentech

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that AJ Greentech can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the AJ Greentech, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which AJ Greentech 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 AJ Greentech can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of AJ Greentech
2. Improving business portfolio management of AJ Greentech
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Chemical Manufacturing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of AJ Greentech

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Strengths of AJ Greentech | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of AJ Greentech are -

Ability to lead change in Chemical Manufacturing

– AJ Greentech is one of the leading players in the Chemical Manufacturing industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Chemical Manufacturing industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled AJ Greentech in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Successful track record of launching new products

– AJ Greentech has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. AJ Greentech 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– AJ Greentech is one of the leading players in the Chemical Manufacturing 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.

Analytics focus

– AJ Greentech 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 Chemical Manufacturing 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

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

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

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

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the AJ Greentech 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.

Digital Transformation in Chemical Manufacturing industry

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

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Chemical Manufacturing industry

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

Innovation driven organization

– AJ Greentech is one of the most innovative firm in Chemical Manufacturing sector.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that AJ Greentech 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of AJ Greentech comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Chemical Manufacturing 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.

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Weaknesses of AJ Greentech | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of AJ Greentech are -

Employees’ less understanding of AJ Greentech strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of AJ Greentech 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As AJ Greentech is one of the leading players in the Chemical Manufacturing industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Chemical Manufacturing industry in last five years.

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

Lack of clear differentiation of AJ Greentech products

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

Products dominated business model

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

High bargaining power of channel partners in Chemical Manufacturing industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, AJ Greentech 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, AJ Greentech has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Chemical Manufacturing industry over the last five years. AJ Greentech even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, AJ Greentech 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.

Skills based hiring in Chemical Manufacturing industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at AJ Greentech 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, AJ Greentech has high operating costs in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract AJ Greentech lucrative customers.

Ability to respond to the competition

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

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AJ Greentech Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of AJ Greentech are -

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for AJ Greentech in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Chemical Manufacturing industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Increase in government spending

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

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects AJ Greentech can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, AJ Greentech 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– AJ Greentech 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.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Chemical Manufacturing industry

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

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Chemical Manufacturing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. AJ Greentech 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. AJ Greentech 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for AJ Greentech 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of AJ Greentech has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Chemical Manufacturing industry. This can help AJ Greentech to build a more holistic ecosystem for AJ Greentech products in the Chemical Manufacturing industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Manufacturing automation

– AJ Greentech can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Chemical Manufacturing 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.

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 AJ Greentech 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.

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. AJ Greentech 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. AJ Greentech can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

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Threats AJ Greentech External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of AJ Greentech are -

Environmental challenges

– AJ Greentech 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. AJ Greentech can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Chemical Manufacturing industry.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, AJ Greentech 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 AJ Greentech prominent markets.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Chemical Manufacturing industry are lowering. It can presents AJ Greentech with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Chemical Manufacturing sector.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that AJ Greentech is facing in Chemical Manufacturing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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 AJ Greentech business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on AJ Greentech 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry and other sectors.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– AJ Greentech 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.

Increasing wage structure of AJ Greentech

– 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 AJ Greentech.

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. AJ Greentech 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.

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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, AJ Greentech may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Chemical Manufacturing sector.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– AJ Greentech 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of AJ Greentech Template, Example

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

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