SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Nuernberger Beteiligungs (Germany)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Nuernberger Beteiligungs is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Nuernberger Beteiligungs
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Nuernberger Beteiligungs can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nuernberger Beteiligungs, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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 Nuernberger Beteiligungs can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Nuernberger Beteiligungs
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nuernberger Beteiligungs
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Germany
4. Making a Insurance (Life) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Nuernberger Beteiligungs
Strengths of Nuernberger Beteiligungs | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nuernberger Beteiligungs are -
Strong track record of project management in the Insurance (Life) industry
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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 Nuernberger Beteiligungs is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Nuernberger Beteiligungs emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs is one of the leading players in the Insurance (Life) industry in Germany. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Germany. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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.
Organizational Resilience of Nuernberger Beteiligungs
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Nuernberger Beteiligungs does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Insurance (Life) industry
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nuernberger Beteiligungs to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Insurance (Life) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nuernberger Beteiligungs to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs is one of the most innovative firm in Insurance (Life) sector.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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.
High brand equity
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nuernberger Beteiligungs to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Nuernberger Beteiligungs in Insurance (Life) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Nuernberger Beteiligungs staying ahead in the Insurance (Life) industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs is present in almost all the verticals within the Insurance (Life) industry. This has provided Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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.
Weaknesses of Nuernberger Beteiligungs | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Nuernberger Beteiligungs are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Nuernberger Beteiligungs is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Insurance (Life) industry, but Nuernberger Beteiligungs needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nuernberger Beteiligungs to focus more on services in the Insurance (Life) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Insurance (Life) industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Germany, Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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 Insurance (Life) industry.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Nuernberger Beteiligungs has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the Insurance (Life) industry using digital technology.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nuernberger Beteiligungs has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Insurance (Life) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Employees’ less understanding of Nuernberger Beteiligungs strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Nuernberger Beteiligungs is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Nuernberger Beteiligungs to provide better information regarding Insurance (Life) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on Nuernberger Beteiligungs ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Nuernberger Beteiligungs still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Insurance (Life) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Nuernberger Beteiligungs has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nuernberger Beteiligungs products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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 Insurance (Life) industry, Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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.
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 Nuernberger Beteiligungs supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Nuernberger Beteiligungs is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Nuernberger Beteiligungs vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Nuernberger Beteiligungs, in the dynamic environment of Insurance (Life) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Nuernberger Beteiligungs has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Nuernberger Beteiligungs Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Nuernberger Beteiligungs are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Nuernberger Beteiligungs is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Nuernberger Beteiligungs can utilize new technology in the field of Insurance (Life) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Insurance (Life) 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Nuernberger Beteiligungs can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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 Nuernberger Beteiligungs to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nuernberger Beteiligungs in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Insurance (Life) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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. Nuernberger Beteiligungs can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Insurance (Life) 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Insurance (Life) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Nuernberger Beteiligungs to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nuernberger Beteiligungs to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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 Nuernberger Beteiligungs to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Nuernberger Beteiligungs to increase its market reach. Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs can develop new processes and procedures in Insurance (Life) 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.
Threats Nuernberger Beteiligungs External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Nuernberger Beteiligungs are -
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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 Insurance (Life) industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Nuernberger Beteiligungs
– 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 Nuernberger Beteiligungs.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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 Insurance (Life) industry and other sectors.
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 Nuernberger Beteiligungs business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Nuernberger Beteiligungs may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Insurance (Life) sector.
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 Nuernberger Beteiligungs.
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 Nuernberger Beteiligungs in the Insurance (Life) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nuernberger Beteiligungs in Insurance (Life) industry. The Insurance (Life) 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 Insurance (Life) industry are lowering. It can presents Nuernberger Beteiligungs with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Insurance (Life) sector.
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. Nuernberger Beteiligungs needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Insurance (Life) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Nuernberger Beteiligungs Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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 Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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 Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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 Nuernberger Beteiligungs 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 Nuernberger Beteiligungs needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.