Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd (BIS) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Iron & Steel
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd (Australia)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, 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%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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 Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Iron & Steel sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd
Strengths of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd is one of the leading players in the Iron & Steel 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.
Digital Transformation in Iron & Steel industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd is one of the most innovative firm in Iron & Steel sector.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd in Iron & Steel industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd is present in almost all the verticals within the Iron & Steel industry. This has provided Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Iron & Steel industry
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Iron & Steel industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Iron & Steel industry
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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
- Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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 Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd has one of the best training and development program in Basic Materials 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.
Analytics focus
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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 Iron & Steel industry. The technology infrastructure of Australia 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.
Ability to lead change in Iron & Steel
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd is one of the leading players in the Iron & Steel industry in Australia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Iron & Steel industry in Australia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Iron & Steel industry, Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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 Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Iron & Steel industry over the last five years. Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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.
Skills based hiring in Iron & Steel industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd to provide better information regarding Iron & Steel products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Iron & Steel 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 dependence on Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Iron & Steel industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Iron & Steel industry, but Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd to focus more on services in the Iron & Steel industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd has some of the most successful models in the Iron & Steel industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ less understanding of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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.
Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd are -
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. Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Iron & Steel 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Iron & Steel 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Iron & Steel industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Iron & Steel industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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. Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd can develop new processes and procedures in Iron & Steel 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd to increase its market reach. Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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 Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Iron & Steel sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Iron & Steel industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd are -
Increasing wage structure of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd
– 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 Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Iron & Steel industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Iron & Steel 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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 Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd prominent markets.
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. Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Iron & Steel industry are lowering. It can presents Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Iron & Steel 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 Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd in the Iron & Steel 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 Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd in Iron & Steel industry. The Iron & Steel 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.
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. Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Iron & Steel industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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 Iron & Steel industry regulations.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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 Iron & Steel 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 Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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 Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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 Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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 Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd 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 Bisalloy Steel Group Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
