Orbital Corporation (OEC) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Orbital Corporation (Australia)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Orbital Corporation is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc

---

---

---

---

Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Orbital Corporation

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Orbital Corporation can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Orbital Corporation, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Orbital Corporation 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 Orbital Corporation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Orbital Corporation
2. Improving business portfolio management of Orbital Corporation
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Australia
4. Making a Aerospace & Defense sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Orbital Corporation

---

Strengths of Orbital Corporation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Orbital Corporation are -

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Orbital Corporation in the Capital Goods sector have low bargaining power. Orbital Corporation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Orbital Corporation to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Orbital Corporation has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Orbital Corporation 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Orbital Corporation is present in almost all the verticals within the Aerospace & Defense industry. This has provided Orbital Corporation 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Orbital Corporation 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Orbital Corporation is one of the leading players in the Aerospace & Defense 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.

Analytics focus

– Orbital Corporation 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 Aerospace & Defense 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.

Organizational Resilience of Orbital Corporation

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Orbital Corporation does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Ability to lead change in Aerospace & Defense

– Orbital Corporation is one of the leading players in the Aerospace & Defense industry in Australia. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Aerospace & Defense industry in Australia but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Orbital Corporation in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Training and development

– Orbital Corporation has one of the best training and development program in Capital Goods 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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Orbital Corporation in Aerospace & Defense industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Digital Transformation in Aerospace & Defense industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Orbital Corporation digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Orbital Corporation 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.

High brand equity

– Orbital Corporation has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Orbital Corporation to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

---

---

Weaknesses of Orbital Corporation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Orbital Corporation are -

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Orbital Corporation 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Orbital Corporation is one of the leading players in the Aerospace & Defense industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Aerospace & Defense industry in last five years.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Orbital Corporation is just above the Aerospace & Defense 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Orbital Corporation, in the dynamic environment of Aerospace & Defense industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Orbital Corporation has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Australia, Orbital Corporation needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Lack of clear differentiation of Orbital Corporation products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Orbital Corporation needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Orbital Corporation is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Orbital Corporation to provide better information regarding Aerospace & Defense products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

High dependence on Orbital Corporation ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Orbital Corporation still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Aerospace & Defense industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Orbital Corporation has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Aerospace & Defense industry, Orbital Corporation 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Orbital Corporation has some of the most successful models in the Aerospace & Defense industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Orbital Corporation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Employees’ less understanding of Orbital Corporation strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Orbital Corporation 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.

---

Orbital Corporation Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Orbital Corporation are -

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Orbital Corporation can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Orbital Corporation operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Aerospace & Defense sector.

Loyalty marketing

– Orbital Corporation 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Orbital Corporation can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Aerospace & Defense industry.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Orbital Corporation has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Aerospace & Defense industry. This can help Orbital Corporation to build a more holistic ecosystem for Orbital Corporation products in the Aerospace & Defense industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Orbital Corporation to increase its market reach. Orbital Corporation 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Orbital Corporation to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Orbital Corporation 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 Orbital Corporation to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Aerospace & Defense industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Orbital Corporation 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. Orbital Corporation 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.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Aerospace & Defense industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Orbital Corporation can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Buying journey improvements

– Orbital Corporation can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Aerospace & Defense 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.

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. Orbital Corporation can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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 Orbital Corporation 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Orbital Corporation can develop new processes and procedures in Aerospace & Defense 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 Orbital Corporation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Orbital Corporation are -

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Aerospace & Defense industry are lowering. It can presents Orbital Corporation with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Aerospace & Defense sector.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Orbital Corporation 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 Orbital Corporation 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. Orbital Corporation 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Orbital Corporation in Aerospace & Defense industry. The Aerospace & Defense 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.

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 Orbital Corporation 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 Orbital Corporation.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Aerospace & Defense industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Orbital Corporation can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Increasing wage structure of Orbital Corporation

– 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 Orbital Corporation.

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 Orbital Corporation in the Aerospace & Defense sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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. Orbital Corporation needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Aerospace & Defense industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Orbital Corporation has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Aerospace & Defense industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Orbital Corporation needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Aerospace & Defense 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.

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.

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.

---

Weighted SWOT Analysis of Orbital Corporation Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Orbital Corporation 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 Orbital Corporation 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 Orbital Corporation 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 Orbital Corporation 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 Orbital Corporation needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

--- ---