Order custom Harvard Business Case Study Analysis & Solution. Starting just $19
Fern Fort University
Approach Resources, Inc. SWOT Analysis / Matrix
Business Essays, Term Papers & Research Papers
SWOT analysis is a vital strategic planning tool that can be used by Approach Resources, Inc. managers to do a situational analysis of the company . It is an important technique to analyze the present Strengths (S), Weakness (W), Opportunities (O) & Threats (T) Approach Resources, Inc. is facing in its current business environment.
The Approach Resources, Inc. is one of the leading organizatations in its industry. Approach Resources, Inc. maintains its dominant 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.
Order Now - Approach Resources, Inc. SWOT Analysis
Check out- Approach Resources, Inc. PESTEL / PEST & Environment Analysis
Article continues after advertisement
The SWOT Analysis framework enables 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 enables the managers of the Approach Resources, 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 central purpose of SWOT matrix is to identify the strategies that a company can use to exploit external opportunities, counter threats, and build on & protect Approach Resources, Inc. strengths, and eradicate its weaknesses.
Step by Step Guide to Approach Resources, Inc. SWOT Analysis
Strengths of Approach Resources, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors
As one of the leading companies in its industry, Approach Resources, 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 Approach Resources, Inc. are –
Read - Approach Resources, Inc. Porter 5 Forces Analysis & Industry Analysis
Article continues after advertisement
- Highly successful at Go To Market strategies for its 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.
- 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 Approach Resources, Inc. products and has enabled the company to scale up and scale down based on the demand conditions in the market.
- Strong Free Cash Flow – Approach Resources, 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.
- Strong Brand Portfolio – Over the years Approach Resources, Inc. has invested in building a strong brand portfolio. The SWOT analysis of Approach Resources, Inc. just underlines this fact. This brand portfolio can be extremely useful if the organization wants to expand into new product categories.
- Highly skilled workforce through successful training and learning programs. Approach Resources, 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.
Weakness of Approach Resources, Inc. – Internal Strategic Factors
Weakness are the areas where Approach Resources, 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 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 Approach Resources, 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 Approach Resources, Inc. is successful at integrating small companies it has its share of failure to merge firms that have different work culture.
- 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.
- Need more investment in new technologies. Given the scale of expansion and different geographies the company is planning to expand into, Approach Resources, 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.
- Limited success outside core business – Even though Approach Resources, Inc. is one of the leading organizations in its industry it has faced challenges in moving to other product segments with its present culture.
- 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.
- 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 Approach Resources, Inc.
Opportunities for Approach Resources, Inc. – External Strategic Factors
Article continues after advertisement
- Economic uptick and increase in customer spending, after years of recession and slow growth rate in the industry, is an opportunity for Approach Resources, 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 Approach Resources, Inc. to increase its profitability.
- New trends in the consumer behavior can open up new market for the Approach Resources, Inc. . It provides a great opportunity for the organization to build new revenue streams and diversify into new product categories too.
- The market development will lead to dilution of competitor’s advantage and enable Approach Resources, Inc. to increase its competitiveness compare to the other competitors.
- 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 Approach Resources, Inc. to drive home its advantage in new technology and gain market share in the new product category.
- Lower inflation rate – The low inflation rate bring more stability in the market, enable credit at lower interest rate to the customers of Approach Resources, Inc..
- Decreasing cost of transportation because of lower shipping prices can also bring down the cost of Approach Resources, Inc.’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.
- Opening up of new markets because of government agreement – the adoption of new technology standard and government free trade agreement has provided Approach Resources, Inc. an opportunity to enter a new emerging market.
Threats Approach Resources, Inc. Facing - External Strategic Factors
- 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.
- Liability laws in different countries are different and Approach Resources, Inc. may be exposed to various liability claims given change in policies 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.
- New environment regulations under Paris agreement (2016) could be a threat to certain existing product categories .
- Increasing trend toward isolationism in the American economy can lead to similar reaction from other government thus negatively impacting the international sales.
- Imitation of the counterfeit and low quality product is also a threat to Approach Resources, Inc.’s product especially in the emerging markets and low income markets.
- The company can face lawsuits in various markets given - different laws and continuous fluctuations regarding product standards 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.
Limitations of SWOT Analysis for Approach Resources, 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 Approach Resources, 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 Approach Resources, 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 Approach Resources, 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 Approach Resources, 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 Approach Resources, 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)
Order Now
Previous 5 SWOT Analysis
- Arc Logistics Partners LP SWOT Analysis
- Arch Coal, Inc. SWOT Analysis
- Antero Resources Corporation SWOT Analysis
- Archrock Partners, L.P. SWOT Analysis
- Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. SWOT Analysis
Next 5 SWOT Analysis
- Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. SWOT Analysis
- Arconic Inc. SWOT Analysis
- Archrock, Inc. SWOT Analysis
- Ashland Global Holdings Inc. SWOT Analysis
- AdvanSix Inc. SWOT Analysis