SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Exacompta Clairefontaine (France)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Exacompta Clairefontaine is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Exacompta Clairefontaine
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Exacompta Clairefontaine can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Exacompta Clairefontaine, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Exacompta Clairefontaine 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 Exacompta Clairefontaine can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Exacompta Clairefontaine
2. Improving business portfolio management of Exacompta Clairefontaine
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in France
4. Making a Paper & Paper Products sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Exacompta Clairefontaine
Strengths of Exacompta Clairefontaine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Exacompta Clairefontaine are -
Innovation driven organization
– Exacompta Clairefontaine is one of the most innovative firm in Paper & Paper Products sector.
High brand equity
– Exacompta Clairefontaine has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Exacompta Clairefontaine to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Exacompta Clairefontaine
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Exacompta Clairefontaine does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Exacompta Clairefontaine has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Exacompta Clairefontaine staying ahead in the Paper & Paper Products industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Exacompta Clairefontaine in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. Exacompta Clairefontaine has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Exacompta Clairefontaine to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Exacompta Clairefontaine is one of the leading players in the Paper & Paper Products 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Paper & Paper Products industry
– Exacompta Clairefontaine is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Exacompta Clairefontaine has one of the best training and development program in Basic Materials 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
– Exacompta Clairefontaine has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Exacompta Clairefontaine 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Exacompta Clairefontaine has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Exacompta Clairefontaine in Paper & Paper Products industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Paper & Paper Products industry
– Exacompta Clairefontaine has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Exacompta Clairefontaine to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Paper & Paper Products industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Exacompta Clairefontaine to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses of Exacompta Clairefontaine | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Exacompta Clairefontaine are -
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Exacompta Clairefontaine, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Paper & Paper Products 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 Exacompta Clairefontaine is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Paper & Paper Products industry, but Exacompta Clairefontaine needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Exacompta Clairefontaine to focus more on services in the Paper & Paper Products industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ less understanding of Exacompta Clairefontaine strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Exacompta Clairefontaine 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Exacompta Clairefontaine is one of the leading players in the Paper & Paper Products industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Paper & Paper Products industry in last five years.
Need for greater diversity
– Exacompta Clairefontaine 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Exacompta Clairefontaine products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Exacompta Clairefontaine needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Paper & Paper Products industry, Exacompta Clairefontaine 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Exacompta Clairefontaine has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Paper & Paper Products industry over the last five years. Exacompta Clairefontaine 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Exacompta Clairefontaine 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Exacompta Clairefontaine is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Exacompta Clairefontaine to provide better information regarding Paper & Paper Products products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Exacompta Clairefontaine is just above the Paper & Paper Products 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.
Exacompta Clairefontaine Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Exacompta Clairefontaine are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Exacompta Clairefontaine can develop new processes and procedures in Paper & Paper Products 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Exacompta Clairefontaine 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Exacompta Clairefontaine 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 Exacompta Clairefontaine to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Exacompta Clairefontaine can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Paper & Paper Products 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Exacompta Clairefontaine in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Paper & Paper Products industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Exacompta Clairefontaine 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 Paper & Paper Products industry.
Loyalty marketing
– Exacompta Clairefontaine 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Exacompta Clairefontaine 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 Paper & Paper Products industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Exacompta Clairefontaine can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Exacompta Clairefontaine can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Exacompta Clairefontaine operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Paper & Paper Products sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Exacompta Clairefontaine has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Paper & Paper Products sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Exacompta Clairefontaine to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Exacompta Clairefontaine to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Exacompta Clairefontaine has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Paper & Paper Products industry. This can help Exacompta Clairefontaine to build a more holistic ecosystem for Exacompta Clairefontaine products in the Paper & Paper Products industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Exacompta Clairefontaine can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Exacompta Clairefontaine External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Exacompta Clairefontaine are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Exacompta Clairefontaine is facing in Paper & Paper Products sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Paper & Paper Products industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Exacompta Clairefontaine can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Exacompta Clairefontaine 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Exacompta Clairefontaine 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 Exacompta Clairefontaine prominent markets.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Exacompta Clairefontaine in Paper & Paper Products industry. The Paper & Paper Products 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Exacompta Clairefontaine 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 Paper & Paper Products industry and other sectors.
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 Exacompta Clairefontaine.
Increasing wage structure of Exacompta Clairefontaine
– 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 Exacompta Clairefontaine.
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. Exacompta Clairefontaine needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Paper & Paper Products industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Exacompta Clairefontaine 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 Paper & Paper Products industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Exacompta Clairefontaine 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. Exacompta Clairefontaine can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Paper & Paper Products 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. Exacompta Clairefontaine 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Paper & Paper Products industry are lowering. It can presents Exacompta Clairefontaine with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Paper & Paper Products sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Exacompta Clairefontaine Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Exacompta Clairefontaine 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 Exacompta Clairefontaine 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 Exacompta Clairefontaine 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 Exacompta Clairefontaine 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 Exacompta Clairefontaine needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
