SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Seychelle Environmtl (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Seychelle Environmtl is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Seychelle Environmtl
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Seychelle Environmtl can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Seychelle Environmtl, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Seychelle Environmtl 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 Seychelle Environmtl can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Seychelle Environmtl
2. Improving business portfolio management of Seychelle Environmtl
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Misc. Capital Goods sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Seychelle Environmtl
Strengths of Seychelle Environmtl | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Seychelle Environmtl are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Seychelle Environmtl comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Ability to lead change in Misc. Capital Goods
– Seychelle Environmtl is one of the leading players in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Seychelle Environmtl in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Seychelle Environmtl has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Seychelle Environmtl to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Seychelle Environmtl has one of the best training and development program in Capital Goods 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Seychelle Environmtl has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Seychelle Environmtl staying ahead in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Seychelle Environmtl is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Capital Goods sector.
Analytics focus
– Seychelle Environmtl 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 Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Seychelle Environmtl 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Seychelle Environmtl has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Misc. Capital Goods industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Seychelle Environmtl have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Seychelle Environmtl has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Seychelle Environmtl 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.
Learning organization
- Seychelle Environmtl 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 Seychelle Environmtl is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Seychelle Environmtl emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Seychelle Environmtl is present in almost all the verticals within the Misc. Capital Goods industry. This has provided Seychelle Environmtl 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.
Weaknesses of Seychelle Environmtl | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Seychelle Environmtl are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, Seychelle Environmtl needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Seychelle Environmtl products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Seychelle Environmtl needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Seychelle Environmtl 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 Seychelle Environmtl supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Seychelle Environmtl is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Seychelle Environmtl vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Seychelle Environmtl needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Misc. Capital Goods industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Seychelle Environmtl can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Seychelle Environmtl is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Seychelle Environmtl has some of the most successful models in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Seychelle Environmtl should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring in Misc. Capital Goods industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Seychelle Environmtl 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Seychelle Environmtl 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry using digital technology.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Seychelle Environmtl is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, but Seychelle Environmtl needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Seychelle Environmtl to focus more on services in the Misc. Capital Goods industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, Seychelle Environmtl needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Seychelle Environmtl has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Misc. Capital Goods industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Seychelle Environmtl Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Seychelle Environmtl are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Seychelle Environmtl can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Seychelle Environmtl can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Seychelle Environmtl operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Misc. Capital Goods sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Seychelle Environmtl in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Seychelle Environmtl 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 Seychelle Environmtl to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Seychelle Environmtl 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Seychelle Environmtl is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Seychelle Environmtl can utilize new technology in the field of Misc. Capital Goods industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Seychelle Environmtl can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Misc. Capital Goods 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Seychelle Environmtl 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. Seychelle Environmtl 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.
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. Seychelle Environmtl can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Seychelle Environmtl can develop new processes and procedures in Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Misc. Capital Goods industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Seychelle Environmtl in the Misc. Capital Goods industry. Now Seychelle Environmtl can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Seychelle Environmtl has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Misc. Capital Goods sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Seychelle Environmtl to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Seychelle Environmtl to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Seychelle Environmtl 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.
Threats Seychelle Environmtl External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Seychelle Environmtl are -
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 Seychelle Environmtl.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Seychelle Environmtl may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Misc. Capital Goods sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Seychelle Environmtl 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.
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. Seychelle Environmtl 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Seychelle Environmtl in Misc. Capital Goods industry. The Misc. Capital Goods 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Seychelle Environmtl can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Seychelle Environmtl 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Seychelle Environmtl 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 Seychelle Environmtl prominent markets.
Environmental challenges
– Seychelle Environmtl 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. Seychelle Environmtl can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Misc. Capital Goods industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Seychelle Environmtl is facing in Misc. Capital Goods sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Seychelle Environmtl
– 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 Seychelle Environmtl.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Seychelle Environmtl 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry and other sectors.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Seychelle Environmtl Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Seychelle Environmtl 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 Seychelle Environmtl 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 Seychelle Environmtl 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 Seychelle Environmtl 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 Seychelle Environmtl needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.