Bendigo & Adelaide Bank (BEN) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Regional Banks
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Bendigo & Adelaide Bank (Australia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Bendigo & Adelaide Bank can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bendigo & Adelaide Bank, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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 Bendigo & Adelaide Bank can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Regional Banks sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank
Strengths of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is present in almost all the verticals within the Regional Banks industry. This has provided Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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 Regional Banks
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is one of the leading players in the Regional Banks industry in Australia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Regional Banks industry in Australia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Bendigo & Adelaide Bank in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bendigo & Adelaide Bank to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank has one of the best training and development program in Financial 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.
Digital Transformation in Regional Banks industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bendigo & Adelaide Bank digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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.
Organizational Resilience of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Bendigo & Adelaide Bank does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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 Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Bendigo & Adelaide Bank emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Bendigo & Adelaide Bank staying ahead in the Regional Banks industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Regional Banks industry
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bendigo & Adelaide Bank to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Regional Banks industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bendigo & Adelaide Bank to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Regional Banks 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is one of the leading players in the Regional Banks industry in Australia. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Australia. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Regional Banks 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is just above the Regional Banks industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Australia, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Regional Banks industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Australia, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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 Regional Banks industry.
High dependence on Bendigo & Adelaide Bank ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Regional Banks industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Bendigo & Adelaide Bank has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Bendigo & Adelaide Bank has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Regional Banks industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is one of the leading players in the Regional Banks industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Regional Banks industry in last five years.
Skills based hiring in Regional Banks industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Bendigo & Adelaide Bank needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Regional Banks industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Bendigo & Adelaide Bank can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Bendigo & Adelaide Bank, in the dynamic environment of Regional Banks industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Bendigo & Adelaide Bank Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank are -
Loyalty marketing
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bendigo & Adelaide Bank in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Regional Banks industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Regional Banks industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Regional Banks industry. This can help Bendigo & Adelaide Bank to build a more holistic ecosystem for Bendigo & Adelaide Bank products in the Regional Banks industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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 Bendigo & Adelaide Bank to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank can utilize new technology in the field of Regional Banks industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Regional Banks sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Bendigo & Adelaide Bank to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Bendigo & Adelaide Bank to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Regional Banks 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bendigo & Adelaide Bank to increase its market reach. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank can develop new processes and procedures in Regional Banks 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 Bendigo & Adelaide Bank External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank are -
Regulatory challenges
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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 Regional Banks industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is facing in Regional Banks sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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 Bendigo & Adelaide Bank prominent markets.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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 Regional Banks industry and other sectors.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bendigo & Adelaide Bank in Regional Banks industry. The Regional Banks 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Regional Banks industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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 Regional Banks industry.
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 Bendigo & Adelaide Bank in the Regional Banks 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.
Environmental challenges
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Regional Banks 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. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Regional Banks industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank
– 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 Bendigo & Adelaide Bank.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bendigo & Adelaide Bank has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Regional Banks industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Regional Banks 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bendigo & Adelaide Bank Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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 Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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 Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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 Bendigo & Adelaide Bank 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 Bendigo & Adelaide Bank needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.