Samse (SAMS) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Home Improvement)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Samse (France)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Samse 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%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Samse can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Samse, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Samse 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 Samse can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Samse
2. Improving business portfolio management of Samse
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in France
4. Making a Retail (Home Improvement) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Samse
Strengths of Samse | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Samse are -
Training and development
– Samse has one of the best training and development program in Services 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Samse in Retail (Home Improvement) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Retail (Home Improvement) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Samse digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Samse 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.
Analytics focus
– Samse 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 Retail (Home Improvement) 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Samse has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Samse 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 lead change in Retail (Home Improvement)
– Samse is one of the leading players in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry in France. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry in France but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Samse in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Samse in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Samse has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Samse to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Samse is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Home Improvement) industry. This has provided Samse 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.
Organizational Resilience of Samse
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Samse 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 Samse comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Retail (Home Improvement) 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Samse 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Retail (Home Improvement) industry
– Samse has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Samse to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Samse to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses of Samse | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Samse are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of France, Samse needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Samse has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry over the last five years. Samse 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Samse needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Samse can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Samse is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Samse is one of the leading players in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry in last five years.
Skills based hiring in Retail (Home Improvement) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Samse 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 Samse has some of the most successful models in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Samse 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, Samse is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Samse to provide better information regarding Retail (Home Improvement) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Samse is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry, but Samse needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Samse to focus more on services in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ less understanding of Samse strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Samse 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Samse, in the dynamic environment of Retail (Home Improvement) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Samse has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Retail (Home Improvement) industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in France, Samse 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 Retail (Home Improvement) industry.
Samse Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Samse are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Samse is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Samse can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Home Improvement) 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 Samse 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 Samse to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Samse to increase its market reach. Samse 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Retail (Home Improvement) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Samse can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Samse 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 Retail (Home Improvement) 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 Samse 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Samse can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Samse operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Home Improvement) sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Samse can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (Home Improvement) 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. Samse 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 Retail (Home Improvement) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Samse 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. Samse 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Samse 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Samse has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Retail (Home Improvement) industry. This can help Samse to build a more holistic ecosystem for Samse products in the Retail (Home Improvement) 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, Samse 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 Samse to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Samse External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Samse 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 Samse.
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. Samse 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Samse 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 Retail (Home Improvement) industry and other sectors.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Samse 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.
Environmental challenges
– Samse 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. Samse can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Samse needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Retail (Home Improvement) industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Samse may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Retail (Home Improvement) sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Samse in Retail (Home Improvement) industry. The Retail (Home Improvement) 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Retail (Home Improvement) industry are lowering. It can presents Samse with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Retail (Home Improvement) sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Home Improvement) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Samse can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Samse in the Retail (Home Improvement) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 wage structure of Samse
– 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 Samse.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Samse Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Samse 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 Samse 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 Samse 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 Samse 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 Samse needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
