SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for TronicS Microsystems (France)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , TronicS Microsystems is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of TronicS Microsystems
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that TronicS Microsystems can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the TronicS Microsystems, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which TronicS Microsystems 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 TronicS Microsystems can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of TronicS Microsystems
2. Improving business portfolio management of TronicS Microsystems
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in France
4. Making a Semiconductors sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of TronicS Microsystems
Strengths of TronicS Microsystems | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of TronicS Microsystems are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– TronicS Microsystems has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Semiconductors industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of TronicS Microsystems have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– TronicS Microsystems 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.
Innovation driven organization
– TronicS Microsystems is one of the most innovative firm in Semiconductors sector.
Successful track record of launching new products
– TronicS Microsystems has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. TronicS Microsystems 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– TronicS Microsystems is present in almost all the verticals within the Semiconductors industry. This has provided TronicS Microsystems 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.
Ability to lead change in Semiconductors
– TronicS Microsystems is one of the leading players in the Semiconductors industry in France. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Semiconductors industry in France but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled TronicS Microsystems 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 TronicS Microsystems in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. TronicS Microsystems has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps TronicS Microsystems to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that TronicS Microsystems 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.
Analytics focus
– TronicS Microsystems 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 Semiconductors 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.
Learning organization
- TronicS Microsystems 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 TronicS Microsystems is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at TronicS Microsystems emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Semiconductors industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For TronicS Microsystems digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. TronicS Microsystems 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– TronicS Microsystems is one of the leading players in the Semiconductors 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 TronicS Microsystems | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of TronicS Microsystems are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As TronicS Microsystems is one of the leading players in the Semiconductors industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Semiconductors industry in last five years.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, TronicS Microsystems is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help TronicS Microsystems to provide better information regarding Semiconductors 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 TronicS Microsystems is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Semiconductors industry, but TronicS Microsystems needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help TronicS Microsystems to focus more on services in the Semiconductors industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of France, TronicS Microsystems needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at TronicS Microsystems, in the dynamic environment of Semiconductors industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. TronicS Microsystems has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on TronicS Microsystems ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of TronicS Microsystems still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Semiconductors industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though TronicS Microsystems has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
TronicS Microsystems has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Semiconductors industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, TronicS Microsystems 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Semiconductors industry, TronicS Microsystems 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though TronicS Microsystems has some of the most successful models in the Semiconductors industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. TronicS Microsystems should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring in Semiconductors industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at TronicS Microsystems 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.
TronicS Microsystems Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of TronicS Microsystems are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, TronicS Microsystems can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that TronicS Microsystems operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Semiconductors sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– TronicS Microsystems has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Semiconductors sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled TronicS Microsystems to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help TronicS Microsystems 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 TronicS Microsystems 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 Semiconductors industry.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Semiconductors industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. TronicS Microsystems can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for TronicS Microsystems 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– TronicS Microsystems can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– TronicS Microsystems 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for TronicS Microsystems 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 TronicS Microsystems to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects TronicS Microsystems can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Semiconductors industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. TronicS Microsystems 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. TronicS Microsystems 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of TronicS Microsystems has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Semiconductors industry. This can help TronicS Microsystems to build a more holistic ecosystem for TronicS Microsystems products in the Semiconductors industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, TronicS Microsystems is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. TronicS Microsystems can utilize new technology in the field of Semiconductors industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– TronicS Microsystems can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Semiconductors 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.
Threats TronicS Microsystems External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of TronicS Microsystems are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– TronicS Microsystems 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 Semiconductors industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, TronicS Microsystems may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Semiconductors sector.
Environmental challenges
– TronicS Microsystems 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. TronicS Microsystems can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Semiconductors industry.
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 TronicS Microsystems.
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. TronicS Microsystems needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Semiconductors industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 TronicS Microsystems in the Semiconductors 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.
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 TronicS Microsystems business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of TronicS Microsystems
– 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 TronicS Microsystems.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– TronicS Microsystems has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Semiconductors industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, TronicS Microsystems needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Semiconductors 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.
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. TronicS Microsystems 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for TronicS Microsystems in Semiconductors industry. The Semiconductors 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, TronicS Microsystems 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 TronicS Microsystems prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of TronicS Microsystems Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at TronicS Microsystems 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 TronicS Microsystems 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 TronicS Microsystems 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 TronicS Microsystems 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 TronicS Microsystems needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
