Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. SWOT Analysis / Matrix

Business Essays, Term Papers & Research Papers

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

The Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. is one of the leading organizatations in its industry. Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. 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 company such as – marketing, finance, operations, management information systems and strategic planning.

Order Now - Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. SWOT Analysis
Check out- Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. PESTEL / PEST & Environment Analysis
Article continues after advertisement

The SWOT Analysis framework helps 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 called SWOT Matrix.

The Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Analysis / Matrix enables the managers of the Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. to develop four types of strategies:

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

Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. swot analysis / matrix

SWOT Matrix Strategies Objective

The main purpose of SWOT matrix is to identify the strategies that an organization can utilize to exploit external opportunities, counter threats, and build on & protect Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. strengths, and eradicate its weaknesses.

Step by Step Guide to Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. SWOT Analysis

Strengths of Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

As one of the leading companies in its industry, Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. has numerous strengths that help 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 Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. are –

Read - Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. Porter 5 Forces Analysis & Industry Analysis
Article continues after advertisement

Strong Free Cash Flow – Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. has strong free cash flows that provide resources in the hand of the company to expand into new projects.
Good Returns on Capital Expenditure – Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. is relatively successful at execution of new projects and generated good returns on capital expenditure by building new revenue streams.
Successful track record of developing new products – product innovation.
Successful track record of integrating complimentary firms through mergers & acquisition. It has successfully integrated number of technology companies in the past few years to streamline its operations and to build a reliable supply chain.
Automation of activities brought consistency of quality to Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. products and has enabled the company to scale up and scale down based on the demand conditions in the market.
Reliable suppliers – It has a strong base of reliable supplier of raw material thus enabling the company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.
Highly successful at Go To Market strategies for its products.
Strong distribution network – Over the years Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. has built a reliable distribution network that can reach majority of its potential market.

Weakness of Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

Weakness are the areas where Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. can improve upon. Strategy is about making choices and weakness are the areas where an organization can improve using SWOT analysis and build on its competitive advantage and strategic positioning.

Article continues after advertisement

Not highly successful at integrating firms with different work culture. As mentioned earlier even though Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. is successful at integrating small companies it has its share of failure to merge firms that have different work culture.
The profitability ratio and Net Contribution % of Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. are below the industry average.
Need more investment in new technologies. Given the scale of expansion and different geographies the company is planning to expand into, Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. 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.
Investment in Research and Development is below the fastest growing players in the industry. Even though Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. is spending above the industry average on Research and Development, it has not been able to compete with the leading players in the industry in terms of innovation. It has come across as a mature firm looking forward to bring out products based on tested features in the market.
Organization structure is only compatible with present business model thus limiting expansion in adjacent product segments.
High attrition rate in work force – compare to other organizations in the industry Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. has a higher attrition rate and have to spend a lot more compare to its competitors on training and development of its employees.
The company has not being able to tackle the challenges present by the new entrants in the segment and has lost small market share in the niche categories. Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. has to build internal feedback mechanism directly from sales team on ground to counter these challenges.

Opportunities for Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. – External Strategic Factors

Article continues after advertisement

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 Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. to drive home its advantage in new technology and gain market share in the new product category.
New trends in the consumer behavior can open up new market for the Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. . It provides a great opportunity for the organization to build new revenue streams and diversify into new product categories too.
Economic uptick and increase in customer spending, after years of recession and slow growth rate in the industry, is an opportunity for Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. to capture new customers and increase its market share.
The new taxation policy can significantly impact the way of doing business and can open new opportunity for established players such as Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. to increase its profitability.
Government green drive also opens an opportunity for procurement of Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. products by the state as well as federal government contractors.
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 Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc.. In the next few years the company can leverage this opportunity by knowing its customer better and serving their needs using big data analytics.
The new technology provides an opportunity to Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. to practices differentiated pricing strategy in the new market. It will enable the firm to maintain its loyal customers with great service and lure new customers through other value oriented propositions.
Organization’s core competencies can be a success in similar other products field. A comparative example could be - GE healthcare research helped it in developing better Oil drilling machines.

Threats Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. Facing - External Strategic Factors

Rising raw material can pose a threat to the Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. profitability.
Liability laws in different countries are different and Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. may be exposed to various liability claims given change in policies in those markets.
As the company is operating in numerous countries it is exposed to currency fluctuations especially given the volatile political climate in number of markets across the world.
Changing consumer buying behavior from online channel could be a threat to the existing physical infrastructure driven supply chain model.
The company can face lawsuits in various markets given - different laws and continuous fluctuations regarding product standards in those markets.
Growing strengths of local distributors also presents a threat in some markets as the competition is paying higher margins to the local distributors.
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.
Imitation of the counterfeit and low quality product is also a threat to Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc.’s product especially in the emerging markets and low income markets.

Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc.

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 Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc.
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.

Article continues after advertisement

Weighted SWOT Analysis of Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc.

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 Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. 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 Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc.

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 Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc.

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)