SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for GFI Informatique (France)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , GFI Informatique is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that GFI Informatique can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the GFI Informatique, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which GFI Informatique 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 GFI Informatique can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of GFI Informatique
2. Improving business portfolio management of GFI Informatique
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in France
4. Making a Computer Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of GFI Informatique
Strengths of GFI Informatique | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of GFI Informatique are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Computer Services industry
– GFI Informatique has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled GFI Informatique to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Computer Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped GFI Informatique to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– GFI Informatique is one of the leading players in the Computer Services 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.
Learning organization
- GFI Informatique 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 GFI Informatique is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at GFI Informatique emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– GFI Informatique has one of the best training and development program in Technology 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– GFI Informatique has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. GFI Informatique 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– GFI Informatique has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Computer Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of GFI Informatique have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the GFI Informatique 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.
Analytics focus
– GFI Informatique 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 Computer Services 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of GFI Informatique in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. GFI Informatique has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps GFI Informatique to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of GFI Informatique comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Computer Services 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)
– GFI Informatique has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – GFI Informatique staying ahead in the Computer Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of GFI Informatique
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing GFI Informatique does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses of GFI Informatique | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of GFI Informatique are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
GFI Informatique has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Computer Services industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that GFI Informatique needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Computer Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at GFI Informatique can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as GFI Informatique is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, GFI Informatique has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Computer Services industry over the last five years. GFI Informatique 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.
High dependence on GFI Informatique ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of GFI Informatique still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Computer Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though GFI Informatique has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of GFI Informatique is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Computer Services industry, but GFI Informatique needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help GFI Informatique to focus more on services in the Computer Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of GFI Informatique products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, GFI Informatique needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Computer Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in France, GFI Informatique 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 Computer Services industry.
Skills based hiring in Computer Services industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at GFI Informatique 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though GFI Informatique has some of the most successful models in the Computer Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. GFI Informatique should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, GFI Informatique is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help GFI Informatique to provide better information regarding Computer Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of France, GFI Informatique needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
GFI Informatique Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of GFI Informatique are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of GFI Informatique has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Computer Services industry. This can help GFI Informatique to build a more holistic ecosystem for GFI Informatique products in the Computer Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– GFI Informatique can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Computer Services 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– GFI Informatique can develop new processes and procedures in Computer Services 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for GFI Informatique in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Computer Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at GFI Informatique 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 Computer Services industry.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Computer Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. GFI Informatique can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects GFI Informatique can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for GFI Informatique 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help GFI Informatique to increase its market reach. GFI Informatique 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, GFI Informatique can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that GFI Informatique operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Computer Services sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, GFI Informatique 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– GFI Informatique has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Computer Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled GFI Informatique to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help GFI Informatique to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. GFI Informatique can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats GFI Informatique External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of GFI Informatique are -
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.
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 GFI Informatique business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Computer Services industry are lowering. It can presents GFI Informatique with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Computer Services sector.
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 GFI Informatique in the Computer Services sector and impact the bottomline 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 GFI Informatique.
Increasing wage structure of GFI Informatique
– 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 GFI Informatique.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, GFI Informatique 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 GFI Informatique prominent markets.
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. GFI Informatique needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Computer Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for GFI Informatique in Computer Services industry. The Computer Services 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 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– GFI Informatique has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Computer Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, GFI Informatique needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Computer Services 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.
Environmental challenges
– GFI Informatique 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. GFI Informatique can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Computer Services industry.
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. GFI Informatique 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of GFI Informatique Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at GFI Informatique 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 GFI Informatique 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 GFI Informatique 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 GFI Informatique 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 GFI Informatique needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.