Retail Properties of America, Inc. SWOT Analysis / Matrix

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

The Retail Properties of America, Inc. is one of the leading firms in its industry. Retail Properties of America, 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 organization such as – marketing, finance, operations, management information systems and strategic planning.


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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 called SWOT Matrix.

The Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Analysis / Matrix enables the managers of the Retail Properties of America, Inc. 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 primary purpose of SWOT matrix is to identify the strategies that a firm can utilize to exploit external opportunities, counter threats, and build on & protect Retail Properties of America, Inc. strengths, and eradicate its weaknesses.

Step by Step Guide to Retail Properties of America, Inc. SWOT Analysis

Strengths of Retail Properties of America, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

As one of the leading organizations in its industry, Retail Properties of America, Inc. 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 Retail Properties of America, Inc. are –

Read - Retail Properties of America, Inc. Porter 5 Forces Analysis & Industry Analysis
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• Reliable suppliers – It has a strong base of reliable supplier of raw material thus enabling the company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.
• Strong distribution network – Over the years Retail Properties of America, Inc. has built a reliable distribution network that can reach majority of its potential market.
• Automation of activities brought consistency of quality to Retail Properties of America, Inc. products and has enabled the company to scale up and scale down based on the demand conditions in the market.
• Highly skilled workforce through successful training and learning programs. Retail Properties of America, Inc. 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 – Retail Properties of America, Inc. has strong free cash flows that provide resources in the hand of the company to expand into new projects.
• Strong dealer community – It has built a culture among distributor & dealers where the dealers not only promote company’s products but also invest in training the sales team to explain to the customer how he/she can extract the maximum benefits out of the products.
• 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.
• Strong Brand Portfolio – Over the years Retail Properties of America, Inc. has invested in building a strong brand portfolio. The SWOT analysis of Retail Properties of America, Inc. just underlines this fact. This brand portfolio can be extremely useful if the organization wants to expand into new product categories.

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Weakness of Retail Properties of America, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

Weakness are the areas where Retail Properties of America, Inc. can improve upon. Strategy is about making choices and weakness are the areas where a firm can improve using SWOT analysis and build on its competitive advantage and strategic positioning.

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• 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 Retail Properties of America, Inc.
• 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.
• Investment in Research and Development is below the fastest growing players in the industry. Even though Retail Properties of America, 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.
• There are gaps in the product range sold by the company. This lack of choice can give a new competitor a foothold in the market.
• 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 Retail Properties of America, Inc. is not very good at demand forecasting thus end up keeping higher inventory both in-house and in channel.
• Not highly successful at integrating firms with different work culture. As mentioned earlier even though Retail Properties of America, 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 Retail Properties of America, Inc. are below the industry average.

Opportunities for Retail Properties of America, Inc. – External Strategic Factors

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• 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 Retail Properties of America, Inc. to drive home its advantage in new technology and gain market share in the new product category.
• 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 Retail Properties of America, 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 taxation policy can significantly impact the way of doing business and can open new opportunity for established players such as Retail Properties of America, Inc. to increase its profitability.
• Economic uptick and increase in customer spending, after years of recession and slow growth rate in the industry, is an opportunity for Retail Properties of America, Inc. to capture new customers and increase its market share.
• Opening up of new markets because of government agreement – the adoption of new technology standard and government free trade agreement has provided Retail Properties of America, Inc. an opportunity to enter a new emerging market.
• New trends in the consumer behavior can open up new market for the Retail Properties of America, Inc. . It provides a great opportunity for the organization to build new revenue streams and diversify into new product categories too.
• Government green drive also opens an opportunity for procurement of Retail Properties of America, Inc. products by the state as well as federal government contractors.
• The market development will lead to dilution of competitor’s advantage and enable Retail Properties of America, Inc. to increase its competitiveness compare to the other competitors.

Threats Retail Properties of America, Inc. Facing - External Strategic Factors

• New environment regulations under Paris agreement (2016) could be a threat to certain existing product categories .
• Rising raw material can pose a threat to the Retail Properties of America, Inc. profitability.
• New technologies developed by the competitor or market disruptor could be a serious threat to the industry in medium to long term future.
• Liability laws in different countries are different and Retail Properties of America, Inc. may be exposed to various liability claims given change in policies in those markets.
• 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.
• Rising pay level especially movements such as $15 an hour and increasing prices in the China can lead to serious pressure on profitability of Retail Properties of America, Inc.
• Changing consumer buying behavior from online channel could be a threat to the existing physical infrastructure driven supply chain model.
• 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.

Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Retail Properties of America, 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 Retail Properties of America, 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Retail Properties of America, 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 Retail Properties of America, 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 Retail Properties of America, 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.

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Example of Weighted SWOT Analysis

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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)