Nicolas Miguet et Associes (NEWS) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Printing & Publishing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Nicolas Miguet et Associes (France)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Nicolas Miguet et Associes is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Nicolas Miguet et Associes
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Nicolas Miguet et Associes can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nicolas Miguet et Associes, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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 Nicolas Miguet et Associes can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Nicolas Miguet et Associes
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nicolas Miguet et Associes
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in France
4. Making a Printing & Publishing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Nicolas Miguet et Associes
Strengths of Nicolas Miguet et Associes | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nicolas Miguet et Associes are -
High brand equity
– Nicolas Miguet et Associes has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nicolas Miguet et Associes to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Nicolas Miguet et Associes is present in almost all the verticals within the Printing & Publishing industry. This has provided Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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 Nicolas Miguet et Associes
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Nicolas Miguet et Associes does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Nicolas Miguet et Associes is one of the most innovative firm in Printing & Publishing sector.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Printing & Publishing industry
– Nicolas Miguet et Associes has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nicolas Miguet et Associes to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Printing & Publishing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nicolas Miguet et Associes to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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 Printing & Publishing 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Nicolas Miguet et Associes comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Printing & Publishing 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Printing & Publishing industry
– Nicolas Miguet et Associes is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Nicolas Miguet et Associes in Printing & Publishing industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Printing & Publishing industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Nicolas Miguet et Associes digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
Weaknesses of Nicolas Miguet et Associes | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Nicolas Miguet et Associes are -
High dependence on Nicolas Miguet et Associes ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Nicolas Miguet et Associes still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Printing & Publishing industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Nicolas Miguet et Associes has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nicolas Miguet et Associes products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nicolas Miguet et Associes needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Nicolas Miguet et Associes is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Nicolas Miguet et Associes to provide better information regarding Printing & Publishing products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Nicolas Miguet et Associes has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Printing & Publishing industry over the last five years. Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Nicolas Miguet et Associes strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
Skills based hiring in Printing & Publishing industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Nicolas Miguet et Associes supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Nicolas Miguet et Associes is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Nicolas Miguet et Associes vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Nicolas Miguet et Associes is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Printing & Publishing industry, but Nicolas Miguet et Associes needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nicolas Miguet et Associes to focus more on services in the Printing & Publishing industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nicolas Miguet et Associes has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Printing & Publishing industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Printing & Publishing industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in France, Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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 Printing & Publishing industry.
Nicolas Miguet et Associes Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Nicolas Miguet et Associes are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nicolas Miguet et Associes in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Printing & Publishing industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Loyalty marketing
– Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
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. Nicolas Miguet et Associes can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Nicolas Miguet et Associes to increase its market reach. Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Nicolas Miguet et Associes is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Nicolas Miguet et Associes can utilize new technology in the field of Printing & Publishing industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Nicolas Miguet et Associes has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Printing & Publishing sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Nicolas Miguet et Associes to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nicolas Miguet et Associes to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Nicolas Miguet et Associes can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nicolas Miguet et Associes operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Printing & Publishing sector.
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 Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Nicolas Miguet et Associes can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Printing & Publishing 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nicolas Miguet et Associes has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Printing & Publishing industry. This can help Nicolas Miguet et Associes to build a more holistic ecosystem for Nicolas Miguet et Associes products in the Printing & Publishing industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Printing & Publishing industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Nicolas Miguet et Associes in the Printing & Publishing industry. Now Nicolas Miguet et Associes can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Nicolas Miguet et Associes External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Nicolas Miguet et Associes is facing in Printing & Publishing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Nicolas Miguet et Associes may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Printing & Publishing sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Nicolas Miguet et Associes has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Printing & Publishing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Nicolas Miguet et Associes needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Printing & Publishing 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.
Increasing wage structure of Nicolas Miguet et Associes
– 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 Nicolas Miguet et Associes.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Printing & Publishing industry are lowering. It can presents Nicolas Miguet et Associes with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Printing & Publishing 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 Nicolas Miguet et Associes in the Printing & Publishing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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 Printing & Publishing industry.
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. Nicolas Miguet et Associes needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Printing & Publishing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Printing & Publishing industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Nicolas Miguet et Associes can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Nicolas Miguet et Associes business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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.
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. Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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 Nicolas Miguet et Associes Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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 Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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 Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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 Nicolas Miguet et Associes 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 Nicolas Miguet et Associes needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.