Gannett SWOT Analysis / Matrix

Essays, Term Papers & Research Papers

SWOT analysis is a vital strategic planning tool that can be used by Gannett managers to do a situational analysis of the company . It is a handy technique to analyze the present Strengths (S), Weakness (W), Opportunities (O) & Threats (T) Gannett is facing in its current business environment.

The Gannett is one of the leading firms in its industry. Gannett maintains its prominent position in market by carefully analyzing and reviewing the SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis a highly interactive process and requires effective coordination among various departments within the firm such as – marketing, finance, operations, management information systems and strategic planning.

The SWOT Analysis framework facilitates an organization to identify the internal strategic factors such as -strengths and weaknesses, & external strategic factors such as - opportunities and threats. It leads to a 2X2 matrix – also known as SWOT Matrix.

The Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Analysis / Matrix helps the managers of the Gannett to develop four types of strategies:

SO (strengths-opportunities) Strategies
WO (weaknesses-opportunities) Strategies
ST (strengths-threats) Strategies
WT (weaknesses-threats) Strategies

SWOT Matrix Strategies Objective

The core purpose of SWOT matrix is to identify the strategies that a firm can utilize to exploit external opportunities, counter threats, and build on & protect Gannett strengths, and eradicate its weaknesses.

Step by Step Guide to Gannett SWOT Analysis

Strengths of Gannett – Internal Strategic Factors

As one of the leading organizations in its industry, Gannett has numerous strengths that enable it to thrive in the market place. These strengths not only help it to protect the market share in existing markets but also help in penetrating new markets. Based on Fern Fort University extensive research – some of the strengths of Gannett are –

Successful track record of developing new products – product innovation.
Reliable suppliers – It has a strong base of reliable supplier of raw material thus enabling the company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.
Strong Brand Portfolio – Over the years Gannett has invested in building a strong brand portfolio. The SWOT analysis of Gannett just underlines this fact. This brand portfolio can be extremely useful if the organization wants to expand into new product categories.
High level of customer satisfaction – the company with its dedicated customer relationship management department has able to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction among present customers and good brand equity among the potential customers.
Highly skilled workforce through successful training and learning programs. Gannett is investing huge resources in training and development of its employees resulting in a workforce that is not only highly skilled but also motivated to achieve more.
Strong Free Cash Flow – Gannett has strong free cash flows that provide resources in the hand of the company to expand into new projects.
Highly successful at Go To Market strategies for its products.
Automation of activities brought consistency of quality to Gannett products and has enabled the company to scale up and scale down based on the demand conditions in the market.

Weakness of Gannett – Internal Strategic Factors

Weakness are the areas where Gannett can improve upon. Strategy is about making choices and weakness are the areas where a company can improve using SWOT analysis and build on its competitive advantage and strategic positioning.

Days inventory is high compare to the competitors – making the company raise more capital to invest in the channel. This can impact the long term growth of Gannett
Not very good at product demand forecasting leading to higher rate of missed opportunities compare to its competitors. One of the reason why the days inventory is high compare to its competitors is that Gannett is not very good at demand forecasting thus end up keeping higher inventory both in-house and in channel.
High attrition rate in work force – compare to other organizations in the industry Gannett has a higher attrition rate and have to spend a lot more compare to its competitors on training and development of its employees.
The profitability ratio and Net Contribution % of Gannett are below the industry average.
Limited success outside core business – Even though Gannett is one of the leading organizations in its industry it has faced challenges in moving to other product segments with its present culture.
Need more investment in new technologies. Given the scale of expansion and different geographies the company is planning to expand into, Gannett needs to put more money in technology to integrate the processes across the board. Right now the investment in technologies is not at par with the vision of the company.
The marketing of the products left a lot to be desired. Even though the product is a success in terms of sale but its positioning and unique selling proposition is not clearly defined which can lead to the attacks in this segment from the competitors.

Opportunities for Gannett – External Strategic Factors

Opening up of new markets because of government agreement – the adoption of new technology standard and government free trade agreement has provided Gannett an opportunity to enter a new emerging market.
Lower inflation rate – The low inflation rate bring more stability in the market, enable credit at lower interest rate to the customers of Gannett.
The market development will lead to dilution of competitor’s advantage and enable Gannett to increase its competitiveness compare to the other competitors.
The new taxation policy can significantly impact the way of doing business and can open new opportunity for established players such as Gannett to increase its profitability.
New customers from online channel – Over the past few years the company has invested vast sum of money into the online platform. This investment has opened new sales channel for Gannett. In the next few years the company can leverage this opportunity by knowing its customer better and serving their needs using big data analytics.
Stable free cash flow provides opportunities to invest in adjacent product segments. With more cash in bank the company can invest in new technologies as well as in new products segments. This should open a window of opportunity for Gannett in other product categories.
Decreasing cost of transportation because of lower shipping prices can also bring down the cost of Gannett’s products thus providing an opportunity to the company - either to boost its profitability or pass on the benefits to the customers to gain market share.
New environmental policies – The new opportunities will create a level playing field for all the players in the industry. It represent a great opportunity for Gannett to drive home its advantage in new technology and gain market share in the new product category.

Threats Gannett Facing - External Strategic Factors

New environment regulations under Paris agreement (2016) could be a threat to certain existing product categories .
Intense competition – Stable profitability has increased the number of players in the industry over last two years which has put downward pressure on not only profitability but also on overall sales.
The demand of the highly profitable products is seasonal in nature and any unlikely event during the peak season may impact the profitability of the company in short to medium term.
The company can face lawsuits in various markets given - different laws and continuous fluctuations regarding product standards in those markets.
Rising pay level especially movements such as $15 an hour and increasing prices in the China can lead to serious pressure on profitability of Gannett
Changing consumer buying behavior from online channel could be a threat to the existing physical infrastructure driven supply chain model.
Imitation of the counterfeit and low quality product is also a threat to Gannett’s product especially in the emerging markets and low income markets.
Rising raw material can pose a threat to the Gannett profitability.

Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Gannett

Although the SWOT analysis is widely used as a strategic planning tool, the analysis does have its share of limitations.

Certain capabilities or factors of an organization can be both a strength and weakness at the same time. This is one of the major limitations of SWOT analysis . For example changing environmental regulations can be both a threat to company it can also be an opportunity in a sense that it will enable the company to be on a level playing field or at advantage to competitors if it able to develop the products faster than the competitors.
SWOT does not show how to achieve a competitive advantage, so it must not be an end in itself.
The matrix is only a starting point for a discussion on how proposed strategies could be implemented. It provided an evaluation window but not an implementation plan based on strategic competitiveness of Gannett
SWOT is a static assessment - analysis of status quo with few prospective changes. As circumstances, capabilities, threats, and strategies change, the dynamics of a competitive environment may not be revealed in a single matrix.
SWOT analysis may lead the firm to overemphasize a single internal or external factor in formulating strategies. There are interrelationships among the key internal and external factors that SWOT does not reveal that may be important in devising strategies.

Weighted SWOT Analysis of Gannett

In light of the above mentioned limitations of the SWOT analysis / matrix, corporate managers decided to provide weightage to each internal strength and weakness of the firm. Organizations also assess the likelihood of events taking place in the coming future and how strong their impact could be on company's performance.

This method is called Weighted SWOT analysis. It is better than doing simplistic SWOT analysis because with Weighted SWOT Analysis Gannett managers can focus on the most critical factors and discount the non-important one. It also solves the long list problem where organizations ends up making a long list but none of the factors deemed too critical.

Limitation of Weighted SWOT analysis of Gannett

This approach also suffers from one major drawback - it focus on individual importance of factor rather than how they are collectively important and impact the business holistically.

Buy Custom Essay and Term Paper on SWOT Analysis / Matrix , Weighted SWOT Analysis of Gannett

Example of Weighted SWOT Analysis

You can email us to get an example document of Weighted SWOT analysis.

SWOT Worksheet & Template

If you like to do your own SWOT analysis or want to make your own Weighted SWOT SWOT matrix then feel free to download Fern Fort University SWOT Analysis Template.

References / Citations & Bibliography

M. E. Porter, Competitive Strategy(New York: Free Press, 1980)
A. D. Chandler, Strategy and Structure (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1962)
O. E. Williamson, Markets and Hierarchies(New York: Free Press, 1975);
L. Wrigley, Divisional Autonomy and Diversification (PhD, Harvard Business School, 1970)
R. E. White, Generic Business Strategies, Organizational Context and Performance: An Empirical Investigation, Strategic Management Journal7 (1986)