Electricite de Strasbourg (EDSP) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Electric Utilities
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Electricite de Strasbourg (France)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Electricite de Strasbourg is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Electricite de Strasbourg
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Electricite de Strasbourg can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Electricite de Strasbourg, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Electricite de Strasbourg 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 Electricite de Strasbourg can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Electricite de Strasbourg
2. Improving business portfolio management of Electricite de Strasbourg
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in France
4. Making a Electric Utilities sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Electricite de Strasbourg
Strengths of Electricite de Strasbourg | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Electricite de Strasbourg are -
High brand equity
– Electricite de Strasbourg has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Electricite de Strasbourg to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Electric Utilities industry
– Electricite de Strasbourg has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Electricite de Strasbourg to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Electric Utilities industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Electricite de Strasbourg to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Electricite de Strasbourg has one of the best training and development program in Utilities 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
- Electricite de Strasbourg 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 Electricite de Strasbourg is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Electricite de Strasbourg emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Electric Utilities industry
– Electricite de Strasbourg is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Electric Utilities
– Electricite de Strasbourg is one of the leading players in the Electric Utilities industry in France. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Electric Utilities industry in France but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Electricite de Strasbourg in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Electricite de Strasbourg 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Electricite de Strasbourg comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Electric Utilities 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
– Electricite de Strasbourg is one of the most innovative firm in Electric Utilities sector.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Electricite de Strasbourg has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Electricite de Strasbourg 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Electricite de Strasbourg in the Utilities sector have low bargaining power. Electricite de Strasbourg has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Electricite de Strasbourg to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Electricite de Strasbourg is one of the leading players in the Electric Utilities 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.
Weaknesses of Electricite de Strasbourg | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Electricite de Strasbourg are -
Employees’ less understanding of Electricite de Strasbourg strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Electricite de Strasbourg 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, Electricite de Strasbourg needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Electricite de Strasbourg products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Electricite de Strasbourg needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Electricite de Strasbourg, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Electric Utilities 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Electricite de Strasbourg is one of the leading players in the Electric Utilities industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Electric Utilities industry in last five years.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Electric Utilities industry, Electricite de Strasbourg 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Electricite de Strasbourg needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Electric Utilities industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Electricite de Strasbourg can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Electricite de Strasbourg is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Electricite de Strasbourg is just above the Electric Utilities 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Electricite de Strasbourg is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Electricite de Strasbourg to provide better information regarding Electric Utilities products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring in Electric Utilities industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Electricite de Strasbourg 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
– Electricite de Strasbourg 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.
Electricite de Strasbourg Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Electricite de Strasbourg are -
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. Electricite de Strasbourg can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Electricite de Strasbourg has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Electric Utilities industry. This can help Electricite de Strasbourg to build a more holistic ecosystem for Electricite de Strasbourg products in the Electric Utilities industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Electricite de Strasbourg 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 Electricite de Strasbourg to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Electricite de Strasbourg has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Electric Utilities sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Electricite de Strasbourg to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Electricite de Strasbourg to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Electricite de Strasbourg 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 Electric Utilities industry.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Electricite de Strasbourg is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Electricite de Strasbourg can utilize new technology in the field of Electric Utilities industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Electricite de Strasbourg 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 Electricite de Strasbourg to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Electricite de Strasbourg to increase its market reach. Electricite de Strasbourg 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Electricite de Strasbourg can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Electric Utilities 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Electricite de Strasbourg 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Electric Utilities industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Electricite de Strasbourg can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Electricite de Strasbourg can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Electric Utilities 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Electricite de Strasbourg can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Electricite de Strasbourg operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Electric Utilities sector.
Threats Electricite de Strasbourg External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Electricite de Strasbourg are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Electricite de Strasbourg in Electric Utilities industry. The Electric Utilities 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Electricite de Strasbourg 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
– Electricite de Strasbourg 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 Electric Utilities industry.
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 Electric Utilities industry are lowering. It can presents Electricite de Strasbourg with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Electric Utilities sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Electricite de Strasbourg may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Electric Utilities sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Electricite de Strasbourg has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Electric Utilities industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Electricite de Strasbourg needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Electric Utilities 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.
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.
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 Electricite de Strasbourg.
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. Electricite de Strasbourg 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Electricite de Strasbourg is facing in Electric Utilities sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Electricite de Strasbourg
– 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 Electricite de Strasbourg.
Environmental challenges
– Electricite de Strasbourg 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. Electricite de Strasbourg can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Electric Utilities industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Electricite de Strasbourg Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Electricite de Strasbourg 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 Electricite de Strasbourg 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 Electricite de Strasbourg 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 Electricite de Strasbourg 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 Electricite de Strasbourg needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.