SCOR (SCOR) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Insurance (Prop. & Casualty)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for SCOR (France)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , SCOR is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that SCOR can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the SCOR, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which SCOR 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 SCOR can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of SCOR
2. Improving business portfolio management of SCOR
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in France
4. Making a Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of SCOR
Strengths of SCOR | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of SCOR are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– SCOR is one of the leading players in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry in France. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in France. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– SCOR is present in almost all the verticals within the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry. This has provided SCOR 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 SCOR in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. SCOR has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps SCOR to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– SCOR has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. SCOR 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.
Training and development
– SCOR has one of the best training and development program in Financial 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.
Learning organization
- SCOR 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 SCOR is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at SCOR emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– SCOR is one of the most innovative firm in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) sector.
Organizational Resilience of SCOR
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing SCOR does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of SCOR comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– SCOR has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – SCOR staying ahead in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry
– SCOR 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
– SCOR 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 Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry. The technology infrastructure of France 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.
Weaknesses of SCOR | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of SCOR are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry, SCOR 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.
Need for greater diversity
– SCOR 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of SCOR, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of SCOR is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry, but SCOR needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help SCOR to focus more on services in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, SCOR 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though SCOR has some of the most successful models in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. SCOR should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, SCOR has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry over the last five years. SCOR 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at SCOR, in the dynamic environment of Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. SCOR has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As SCOR is one of the leading players in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry in last five years.
Employees’ less understanding of SCOR strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of SCOR 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of France, SCOR needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
SCOR Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of SCOR are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help SCOR to increase its market reach. SCOR 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at SCOR 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 Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry.
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 SCOR 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.
Loyalty marketing
– SCOR 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– SCOR has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled SCOR to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help SCOR to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for SCOR in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, SCOR is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. SCOR can utilize new technology in the field of Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– SCOR 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for SCOR 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 Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for SCOR in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry. Now SCOR can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– SCOR can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) 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.
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. SCOR can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. SCOR 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. SCOR 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.
Threats SCOR External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of SCOR are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– SCOR 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– SCOR 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 Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry.
Environmental challenges
– SCOR 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. SCOR can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, SCOR 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 SCOR prominent markets.
Increasing wage structure of SCOR
– 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 SCOR.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. SCOR can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. SCOR needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. SCOR 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.
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 SCOR in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry are lowering. It can presents SCOR with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for SCOR in Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry. The Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– SCOR has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, SCOR needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of SCOR Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at SCOR 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 SCOR 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 SCOR 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 SCOR 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 SCOR needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.