Genesee & Wyoming Inc. SWOT Analysis / Matrix

Business Essays, Term Papers & Research Papers

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

The Genesee & Wyoming Inc. is one of the leading companies in its industry. Genesee & Wyoming Inc. maintains its prominent position in market by critically 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.

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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 Genesee & Wyoming Inc. to develop four types of strategies:

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

Genesee & Wyoming Inc. swot analysis / matrix

SWOT Matrix Strategies Objective

The main purpose of SWOT matrix is to identify the strategies that a firm can use to exploit external opportunities, counter threats, and build on & protect Genesee & Wyoming Inc. strengths, and eradicate its weaknesses.

Step by Step Guide to Genesee & Wyoming Inc. SWOT Analysis

Strengths of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

As one of the leading companies in its industry, Genesee & Wyoming 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 Genesee & Wyoming Inc. are –

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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.
Successful track record of developing new products – product innovation.
Strong Brand Portfolio – Over the years Genesee & Wyoming Inc. has invested in building a strong brand portfolio. The SWOT analysis of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. just underlines this fact. This brand portfolio can be extremely useful if the organization wants to expand into new product categories.
Reliable suppliers – It has a strong base of reliable supplier of raw material thus enabling the company to overcome any supply chain bottlenecks.
Automation of activities brought consistency of quality to Genesee & Wyoming 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. Genesee & Wyoming 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.
Good Returns on Capital Expenditure – Genesee & Wyoming Inc. is relatively successful at execution of new projects and generated good returns on capital expenditure by building new revenue streams.
Strong distribution network – Over the years Genesee & Wyoming Inc. has built a reliable distribution network that can reach majority of its potential market.

Weakness of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors

Weakness are the areas where Genesee & Wyoming Inc. 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.

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Need more investment in new technologies. Given the scale of expansion and different geographies the company is planning to expand into, Genesee & Wyoming 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.
Financial planning is not done properly and efficiently. The current asset ratio and liquid asset ratios suggest that the company can use the cash more efficiently than what it is doing at present.
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 Genesee & Wyoming Inc. has a higher attrition rate and have to spend a lot more compare to its competitors on training and development of its employees.
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.
Investment in Research and Development is below the fastest growing players in the industry. Even though Genesee & Wyoming 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.
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 Genesee & Wyoming Inc. – External Strategic Factors

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New trends in the consumer behavior can open up new market for the Genesee & Wyoming Inc. . It provides a great opportunity for the organization to build new revenue streams and diversify into new product categories too.
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.
Opening up of new markets because of government agreement – the adoption of new technology standard and government free trade agreement has provided Genesee & Wyoming Inc. an opportunity to enter a new emerging market.
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 Genesee & Wyoming Inc. to drive home its advantage in new technology and gain market share in the new product category.
The new taxation policy can significantly impact the way of doing business and can open new opportunity for established players such as Genesee & Wyoming Inc. to increase its profitability.
Lower inflation rate – The low inflation rate bring more stability in the market, enable credit at lower interest rate to the customers of Genesee & Wyoming Inc..
The new technology provides an opportunity to Genesee & Wyoming 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.
Government green drive also opens an opportunity for procurement of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. products by the state as well as federal government contractors.

Threats Genesee & Wyoming Inc. Facing - External Strategic Factors

The company can face lawsuits in various markets given - different laws and continuous fluctuations regarding product standards in those markets.
Shortage of skilled workforce in certain global market represents a threat to steady growth of profits for Genesee & Wyoming Inc. in those markets.
New technologies developed by the competitor or market disruptor could be a serious threat to the industry in medium to long term future.
Changing consumer buying behavior from online channel could be a threat to the existing physical infrastructure driven supply chain model.
No regular supply of innovative products – Over the years the company has developed numerous products but those are often response to the development by other players. Secondly the supply of new products is not regular thus leading to high and low swings in the sales number over period of time.
New environment regulations under Paris agreement (2016) could be a threat to certain existing product categories .
Growing strengths of local distributors also presents a threat in some markets as the competition is paying higher margins to the local distributors.
Liability laws in different countries are different and Genesee & Wyoming Inc. may be exposed to various liability claims given change in policies in those markets.

Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Genesee & Wyoming 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 Genesee & Wyoming 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 Genesee & Wyoming 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 Genesee & Wyoming 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 Genesee & Wyoming 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)