SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for InCity Immobilien (Germany)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , InCity Immobilien is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing,
technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of InCity Immobilien
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that InCity Immobilien can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the InCity Immobilien, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which InCity Immobilien 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 InCity Immobilien can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of InCity Immobilien
2. Improving business portfolio management of InCity Immobilien
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Germany
4. Making a Real Estate Operations sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of InCity Immobilien
Strengths of InCity Immobilien | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of InCity Immobilien are -
Strong track record of project management in the Real Estate Operations industry
– InCity Immobilien is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– InCity Immobilien has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – InCity Immobilien staying ahead in the Real Estate Operations industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of InCity Immobilien
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing InCity Immobilien does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– InCity Immobilien has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled InCity Immobilien to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of InCity Immobilien comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Real Estate Operations 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of InCity Immobilien in the Services sector have low bargaining power. InCity Immobilien has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps InCity Immobilien to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– InCity Immobilien has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Real Estate Operations industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of InCity Immobilien have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– InCity Immobilien has one of the best training and development program in Services industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– InCity Immobilien has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. InCity Immobilien 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.
Learning organization
- InCity Immobilien 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 InCity Immobilien is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at InCity Immobilien emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– InCity Immobilien is present in almost all the verticals within the Real Estate Operations industry. This has provided InCity Immobilien 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.
Innovation driven organization
– InCity Immobilien is one of the most innovative firm in Real Estate Operations sector.
Weaknesses of InCity Immobilien | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of InCity Immobilien are -
High dependence on InCity Immobilien ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of InCity Immobilien still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Real Estate Operations industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though InCity Immobilien has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of InCity Immobilien is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Real Estate Operations industry, but InCity Immobilien needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help InCity Immobilien to focus more on services in the Real Estate Operations industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though InCity Immobilien has some of the most successful models in the Real Estate Operations industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. InCity Immobilien should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
InCity Immobilien has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Real Estate Operations 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, InCity Immobilien 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.
Need for greater diversity
– InCity Immobilien 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As InCity Immobilien is one of the leading players in the Real Estate Operations industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Real Estate Operations industry in last five years.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at InCity Immobilien, in the dynamic environment of Real Estate Operations industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. InCity Immobilien has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of InCity Immobilien, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Real Estate Operations 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.
Employees’ less understanding of InCity Immobilien strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of InCity Immobilien 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of InCity Immobilien products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, InCity Immobilien needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
InCity Immobilien Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of InCity Immobilien are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Real Estate Operations industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for InCity Immobilien in the Real Estate Operations industry. Now InCity Immobilien can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– InCity Immobilien can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Real Estate Operations 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.
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 InCity Immobilien 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Real Estate Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. InCity Immobilien can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help InCity Immobilien to increase its market reach. InCity Immobilien 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– InCity Immobilien can develop new processes and procedures in Real Estate Operations 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– InCity Immobilien 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for InCity Immobilien 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 InCity Immobilien to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, InCity Immobilien 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 InCity Immobilien to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Real Estate Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. InCity Immobilien 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. InCity Immobilien 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 InCity Immobilien has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Real Estate Operations industry. This can help InCity Immobilien to build a more holistic ecosystem for InCity Immobilien products in the Real Estate Operations industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– InCity Immobilien has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Real Estate Operations sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled InCity Immobilien to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help InCity Immobilien to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for InCity Immobilien in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Real Estate Operations industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats InCity Immobilien External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of InCity Immobilien are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– InCity Immobilien 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 Real Estate Operations industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for InCity Immobilien in Real Estate Operations industry. The Real Estate Operations 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, InCity Immobilien 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 InCity Immobilien prominent markets.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, InCity Immobilien may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Real Estate Operations sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– InCity Immobilien 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on InCity Immobilien 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 Real Estate Operations industry and other sectors.
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 InCity Immobilien in the Real Estate Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of InCity Immobilien
– 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 InCity Immobilien.
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 InCity Immobilien business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 InCity Immobilien.
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. InCity Immobilien needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Real Estate Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Real Estate Operations industry are lowering. It can presents InCity Immobilien with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Real Estate Operations sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of InCity Immobilien Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at InCity Immobilien 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 InCity Immobilien 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 InCity Immobilien 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 InCity Immobilien 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 InCity Immobilien needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
